S L A M

Yesterday I had a shoot for S L A M Magazine. I really enjoy shooting for them, especially when you meet people like "HOMICIDE". What a great guy. So Scott (my assistant) and I headed down to La Familia Rec Center. First we have to make a stop for some gin and juice. Actually a Latte. It was Scotts idea. He paid. I had nothing to do with it. But everyone should get a good coffee before shooting in the hood, right? I had seen the place before, but never payed much attention to it. We get there, park the car, and start looking around for a guy that looks like he could be named Homicide. I see a group of guys across the parking lot and head over to talk with them. I think Scott was stayed at the car. I yell out to them, "hey any of you guys named Corey" that's his real name. There were a few stares from the group and one guy shakes his head no. So i take it I have the wrong group of guys. So Scott and I stand around waiting to find our guy. We keep looking in cars as they drove by, making guesses at who it may be. I figured Corey would have an easier time spotting me than the other way around. So we see some guy driving slow looking out his window back at us. Scott is sure it is our guy and waves frantically back at him. So much that they guy must have thought he may be mentally challenged. The guy gets out of his car and yells at the group of guys i originally went up to. We look like total idiots. A few minutes later I get a call from Corey. He is there at the center and he just happens to be that guy in the car. So Scott was right. I think Corey was expecting someone else. We made our way over to his group of friends and shouts out, " you must be thinking i am up to something, walking around the hood with 2 white guys" They all laugh and then come the rounds of handshakes and hugs. I guess Corey used to play ball with these guys. They always had a standing Saturday game. It had been that way for years, and didn't look like it was going to change. It was nice to see the respect they all had for each other. No egos, no shit talking, just true friends. Even with Corey being on the verge getting his shot at the NBA, they were all equal. It was nice to see.

SMART GUY

So have you ever met a genius? Well I just did the other day. I shot a photo for a Vancouver magazine of Carl Wieman. He was the 2001 Nobel prize winner in Physics. When I made it to C.U. the other day, I was very curious to see what this guy was like. Was he going to be working on formulas as we were shooting? Would he be the type of nerdy guy that wouldn't come out of his office? Or was he going to be smart guy that knew he was smarter than everyone else around him, especially the photographer? Well he turned out to be a very nice guy. He was busy, calling people, reading papers as I was setting up. You could tell he was working in his head, and couldn't wait to be done so that he could get back to his office and write it all down. I did get my 7 minutes with him in front of my camera, so that was good. I guess the main thing I figured out while I was there was that I am really glad that I went to Art school.

REAL PEOPLE

There is something about shooting photos of real people that really makes me enjoy what I do. Hiring models from an agency and setting up a nice shot has its place as well, but its just different. This last week I worked on a job for a company called Knudson. I wont go into all of the details of what they do, lets just say they make machines. The job came up quick. Talked about it on Friday, propped and cast over the weekend, started shooting on Tuesday, and finished it up on Wednesday. We did 3 sets of portraits and about 70 detail/shop shots. This job was a little mix of editorial and advertising, it was kind of nice that way. We did end up shooting real people, but not all of them worked for the company. I guess what is nice about the people we shot the other day is that they are who they are. I doubt that you would find these people at an agency, at least not here in Denver. They are real human beings with real stories. Getting the chance to meet those real people is what keeps me interested in photography. I am glad I got the chance to work on the project.

Did you ever see deliverance?

Super scary movie starring Burt Reynolds. I just shot a story for a local magazine where the guy that I shot may have looked like he came from the movie, but that is about it. The story, or at least the parts I know, is just a profile story about a large animal vet in Longmont, Colorado. Super nice guy, quiet. Maybe just a thinker. He grew up on a farm, lives on a farm, and mostly works out on a farm. I am sure it takes a special person to do this kind of job. Even though I thought i heard that banjo song playing in his truck, he was a really great person to photograph. Here are just a couple from the shoot.

SKIING MAGAZINE

Just finished up with a super fun shoot for Skiing Magazine. We shot up at Copper Mountain the past few days... these photos are going to be on the "last chair"page. Most likely spread out over a few issues.. They are supposed to be knock offs of the "succesories" photos.. the ones that are supposed to make you feel empowered, and ready to take on anything.. the photos are pretty funny, kind of campy, a nice change of pace from the big Frontier project.. here are a few quick pics with there sayings..

INNOVATION: "Innovation is seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.



"PATIENCE: "He that can have patience can have what he will."


CUSTOMER SERVICE: "Always give the customer more than they expect."


ATTITUDE: "A positive attitude is a powerful force."

Trying to get caught up..

Ok, so here are a few more from the Scarpa shoot. We still have a bunch more people to shoot, that will all happen in the next couple of weeks. I am trying to get caught up on everything else so that you have more to look at.. hang tight.. they will be up soon. I will also be sure to update with a few more details.. thanks for looking.

I am back from the dead..

so. lets see.. I haven't blogged since last year.. wow.. most of the time I would just say i am lazy.. but i have been busy.. i am going to try and catch up with things over the next week but this will get it all started.. So over the past couple of months I have been working on numerous projects, the biggest (and most time consuming) is a project for Frontier Airlines. Included in the list: Business 2.0, Guitar World, Skiing, Breckenridge Brewery, Flying Dog Brewery, and others.. so i will start posting some photos just to catch up a bit.. These wont be in order, sorry about that. Here are some images from a job that I am doing for a climbing company called Scarpa. They are for ads that will run in climbing mags like Rock and Ice, and Urban Climber. check it out..

PHOTOS FROM LORE MAGAZINE-SHOOT IN CHICAGO

I haven't seen the magazine yet, but it is on their website. I thought I would check and there it was.. These photos are a couple they had posted along with the story. I am anxious to see the real thing, the art director always does a nice job putting it all together. If you want to take a look at the story, here is their address. www.loremagazine.com

I HAD TO SHOOT A ANTELOPE...

I had brought all my gear.. Drove to the perfect spot. Walked down the steep hill, trough the river, over some rocks, then stopped. There was a skunk nearby.. I was only hoping that i hadn't just stepped on his home.. I waited for a minute but never heard anything.. So i traveled a little farther. There was a nice grove of trees that opened up into a clearing. This might be it.. The perfect spot.. The perfect spot to shoot my photo of a mounted pronghorn wearing a red nose.. It was magical..

here are the photos from today..The photo is for an agency here in town. They are making xmas cards for one of their clients..

JUDGING A PHOTO CONTEST FOR CMYK MAGAZINE..

Recently I received a call from CMYK Magazine. They asked me to judge the photography section of their upcoming student competition. Of course I said yes. How could I turn it down. First it was really nice that someone respected my opinion to judge, and I was so interested to see what students were doing. When I got the package, i was so excited to open it up. It was a large fed-ex box, which I new was filled with tons of talent and a few people that would threaten my job. I didn't have time to judge right then, so i made some time to go down to the studio and give it a good look. I laid everything out, made sure to have comfortable clothing on, and started in on what was hoped to be a journey of inspiration. I was a little dissapointed at first. Then a little more dissapointed. Then I would be super excited about a beautiful photo. Then another Gem! Overall my critique of the work would be a C+. There were some beautiful photos. Some photos where I said to myself, "wow, I wish I had that in my book". I knew that I would have a good mix of talent, and after it was all done, it was good. Maybe I was a little hard at first, maybe I was a little to eager to see the great talent the future would hold.

One thing I have to say to anyone reading this. (especially if you are a student entering a photo contest). Please, Please, Please, make sure that anything you send out, wheather it is for a contest, a promo, or a thank you card. Be sure to have it look as nice as possible. People are judging you all the time. You may not like it, but they are. I couldn't believe that so many photos looked as if you got a coupon for some free color copies at office depot, and this was the perfect so that you didn't have to waste your paper or money on this silly student competition. This may be the only time that someone gets to look at your work or your promo. When I was looking through all of the work for the contest, I really tried to leave that behind. "oh its just a student competition, it doesn't have to be perfect." Why not? My stuff has to look good. I cant go to a client and show some crappy color copies or a bad ink jet print. My stuff has to look nice, so why can't theirs? These are the people that are just out of school, ready to take on the world. The photographers that are going after my clients. If you don't want to do anything about it, that is your decision. At least that means a little more job security for me.

MORE PHOTOS FROM FIELD AND STREAM

So here are a few more photos from the trip. The first photo was taken at the ranch about 7:30 am. This was out side the cabin where we stayed. The photo of the mountain and valley at sunset was taken in the town of Paonia. It is located about 25 miles north of the ranch. The Dog's name is Ruger. He is one of the ranch dogs. Then there is the photo of the city slicker. This was shot in the morning as they were packing up all of there gear.

SHOOT FOR FIELD AND STREAM MAGAZINE

So I just got back from a trip to Crawford Colorado. Crawford is located about 2 hours SW of Aspen. It is a total of about 5 hours from Denver. I have never been out there or even thought of going out that way. I was very surprised at how beautiful it was. There is a lot of vineyard's, rolling hills, valleys. It was quite a bit different than I had thought. I was going to a place called the Smith Fork Ranch. I was there shooting a story for Field and Stream Magazine. The basics of the story: pretty girl from New York City goes out on her first Elk hunt. She was not a novice at adventure, but this would be her first trip hunting. I have put together a few photos from the trip. The first few photos were taken near Carbondale Colorado.

WILMA!!!

Alright enough with the hurricanes.. I am not even close to the hurricane and I am feeling it.. If anyone has tried to visit my website, it is down right now. Seems that my web host is in south Florida.. They are out of power and are trying to get the generators going. So no email or anything else for now. It may be a few days until they get everything up and running again. I hope the hurricanes stop soon. Everyone needs to go back to normal.

An afternoon out...

On the Chicago job, we did have an afternoon to go out and sight see. We ended up at the Art Institute Museum and Millenium park. That is where the big orb is. Here are a few shots from that afternoon.

Finally Catching up.. Chicago...

So Finally I get a minute to catch up.. As I was saying before, I went to Chicago just recently. I worked on a job for a Magazine named Lore. It is a real estate magazine, but focuses on the more human side of the business. The people we shot for the cover were from Baird and Warner. It is a father and son team. They are celebrating their 150th year in business. We ended up trying to recreate a bit of history with their photos. We had a stylist come in, prop and wardrobe them so that we could create that feel from the early 1900's. All I have to post right now are a couple of head shots from the shoot. I will be sure to post the final once I get it. Take a look.

I am so lame....

I have been seriously slacking on the 'Ol blog thing.. I could give tons of excuses, but I won't.. The main one being that I have been busy and forget about it. Anyway, I have had a bunch of shoots lately. Been to Chicago, Steamboat, Beaver Creek. Have had shoots for Runners world, Ski, Lore Magazine, and some others. I will try and post some pix of some of the stuff. I also was asked to judge a photo contest for CMYK magazine. Should be a lot of fun. Anyway, I will try and update with photos soon.

Hurricane bound!!

I am in Texas right now, sitting at the airport. I am headed to West Palm Beach, Florida for a shoot. It is supposed to be sunny and beautiful there, but I am looking at the weather and there seems to be a hurricane on its way. Right now it is a tropical storm, but by the time I am supposed to leave it is supposed to be a hurricane. I don't know what they will name it, but I am now naming it Hurricane Juanito. Here is the link if you want to check
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/204604.shtml?3day

should have brought my rain gear!

On top of the mountain...

just got back from the mountains again. This time up to Hoosier pass. It is the pass between Breckenridge and Fairplay, Colorado. We stayed up at a friends cabin. It is a little over 11,000 feet where we were. This photo was taken about midnight at the cabin.

BACK FROM DURANGO

Well, we are back from Durango. I haven't gotten through all of the images from the trip yet. I got a call from INC. Magazine on the way back home, and had to shoot it the next day. So I am still playing catch up. Here are a few photos from the journey back home. The Scenic is just after we had come over Lavetta pass. I missed getting some really great stuff, but if we would have stopped, we would have most likely shown up on the news for being run over by a semi. The other is Mia at the Great Sand Dunes. What a cool place. Next time we are going to have to camp there for a few days. The Semi photo, that was taken on our way out of the Sand Dunes looking west on highway 160. Check them out.