OLIVER LOPENA photography

At the movies with GANG

Oliver — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:31:37 +0000

In case you didn’t know, GANG is undoubtedly the most awesome band from here to Pluto! Yes, that’s right. No wonder I was supremely psyched to shoot these guys at the historic Roxy Theatre located in the Rittenhouse Square area of Philly… fun times! If you’ve been a follower of my live music work, you’ll know that GANG is one of my all-time most photographed acts. Watch them perform live and you’ll realize why I can’t get enough of them.

For the uninitiated, do yourself a favor and head over to GANG’s MySpace page to listen to some of their tunes. You’ll also want to check out their new music video for “Why Can’t You Just Be” so you can see them roll around town in their convertible 6 Series Bimmer… hehe.

Renata and Johnny

Oliver — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:44:05 +0000

When Renata asked me to shoot portraits of her with her 8 month old German Shepherd, Johnny, I figured sure, why not? It shouldn’t be too challenging to get a dog to behave and act natural for the camera, right? Kids, dogs… same difference. Not surprisingly, it turns out that 8 month old German Shepherds are just about as cooperative as 2 year old toddlers… not very, that is.

FYI, for you Weird NJ fans, the fountain in the background is known as “Light Dispelling Darkness” located in Roosevelt Park in Edison, NJ.

Accordion busker shoot with Susan

Oliver — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:03:53 +0000

Let me just start off by saying, Susan Coffey is so hot right now! Despite that, she was happy to oblige my cheese ball accordion busker concept. I initially had some reservations committing the accordion into the shoot, but I think Susan actually started to like it after a while… or maybe not. Regardless, she did a super crazy bang up job and just might have single-handedly managed to elevate the worldwide coolness level of the accordion. Not only that, I would argue she even added some major points to my coolness stats (of which I am in dire need). Mission accomplished!

FYI, you can keep track of Susan’s work at deviantART.

Sculpture garden shoot with Alyson

Oliver — Mon, 31 May 2010 20:32:33 +0000

I recently had the opportunity (and honor) to shoot with the lovely Miss Alyson Allegra at a beautiful sculpture garden in Central Jersey. Conceptually speaking, we were going for a “fairytale journey through the wilderness” theme. Regardless of whether or not we actually stuck to that theme, I’m loving the aesthetic. FYI, Alyson was a fantastic model! Hopefully, we’ll be shooting together much more in the future.