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Studio BTS

While in between productions in 2018 I had intended to post more frequently (more than 2017 at least) but as time is limited, the posts seem to be as well. I did want to get a recent collaboration out there. Awhile back Motivity Pictures stopped by the studio. Motivity is a production company producing excellent work. They spent an afternoon in the studio for new portraits for their website. And as all photographers/videographers tend to do, they brought their cameras along. What followed was great conversation, awesome photos, and a wonderful little bts video. Check out the bts...

And here is the group image from my side of the camera....

Motivity Pictures

Motivity Pictures

There's a heavy tone here for a different look. All in all, a good afternoon's work. Hopefully more to follow here sooner than later...

Quick Shout Out

Along the road of photography I love to meet people and be a part of their journey. Awhile back I met Terrence... Super cool guy and incredibly hard worker. His journey in-front of the camera has only continued to grow over the months and yesterday he gave me shout on Instagram after a lot of that work. I'm happy to help and working with him over the last few months has been great. Super excited to see where he goes.

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Anyway, pretty cool stuff. Aaaaand it's a pretty busy week so it's a short one. Looking forward to a video production with a new client that should be pretty fun. More to follow on that... Have a good one!

Back At It w/Cranium

When I meet up with passionate people who want to collaborate I always make the time. Vinh and Skotty of Cranium are definitely those people (follow them Cranium.club!) I spent part of the night in the studio with them this week photographing. And with tons of help from Artie we managed to put together some looks for their upcoming release at All City Kicks. All good things from them. Anyway, short post for the day. Could be the last one of the year! Crazy. Have a good one out there...more to follow...

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Hotwheels

About a year ago there was a significant transportation change in my life. In fact you can see the progression start here. Coming in hot, on route to Chicago, I lost the majority of a muffler on I-94. Well, didn't loose it, but started dragging most of it down the road. I was "that guy you did not want to follow" down the expressway. After that, it did make me wonder what the larger implications were of having a 2002 Subaru with 250,000 miles on it. I still believe that it had some life left, but it was a gamble. And after more consideration, gambling with safety isn't a good idea. And if I were going to a production where my car couldn't physically get me there, that would have been a problem as well. In fact, depending on the contract you sign, many have a clause built in for needing reliable transportation. While I had unyielding faith in my ride, it may at times, been misplaced. Maybe. I mean look how majestic it looked. 

2002, Subaru Outback

2002, Subaru Outback

It is a strange thing, that year, that car, as it was a year ago...was probably one of the rapidly disappearing mechanical cars out there. It had a CASSETTE TAPE DECK. Virtually all of it was mechanical. There's something strange about that now. You really feel the idea of it being a tool, device...a machine when driving it. It wasn't a computer. Modern day cars are a computer. Very little question about it. The gas petal doesn't make the car go. But it's how you tell the computer that you would like to go and it determines if that's going to happen. Times change. Computer or no computer I had plenty of fond memories in that car. It lived through a time in my life where change was never ending. Virtually everything was changing every 3-6 months. I crossed the country from east to west, north to south and all back again several times over. Through sun, rain, whiteout blizzards, late nights and early mornings. It saw, along with me, virtually everything. Sights, sounds, places, weather... clichés and drama... it was sad to let it go. But as with time, things change, cars change. One thing that does seems to stay with us is music. Odd how that works. I remember finding, for better or worse, Coldplay in 2002. A Rush Of Blood To The Head was essential listing for me. I had a cassette tape that I would play in the darkroom at college. Printing in the darkroom until early hours of the morning. Always last to leave. There were floating boomboxes that would find themselves in darkrooms and random classrooms. You had to search them out if you wanted one because there were only two, but if you got one, that was lucky timing. They only played tapes though. The Coldplay cassette made it to the Subaru, to the darkroom, and back again, over and over... and then eventually to the shelf because CDs became cheap to make. And now, CDs are becoming the rare commodity as well. Such is time. But as time changes, the music seems to stay. Coldplay and Dashboard Confessional occupied the majority of what I listened to in college. And I still find myself listening to those albums from time to time. And with a little imaginative encouragement, I'm back in the darkroom, or as this frame of mind would have it, a 2002 Subaru off to a new place and a new adventure. Nice little reflection for midweek. Hey Subaru, let me help you tell a story, because as I have it now, this photographer's off on a new adventure and with a newer #Subaru. 

A Newer Subaru Outback

A Newer Subaru Outback

Portrait: Daphne

There are times when I get a great opportunity to randomly work with someone... this is a pretty good case in point. Daphne had some time in Michigan before heading back to the sunny southwest and we took a hour or two to put together a few solid portraits in the studio before she left. There were a lot of really good moments. It was awesome that we had a chance to work together. Daphne is going places for sure. It'll be great to say, "I knew you when..." but until then, these are some great portraits. I'll post a few here over the weeks and a few more on insta.

Daphne, 2017

Daphne, 2017

Also, I cannot believe it's Thanksgiving. Time is racing by. That being said, there is a lot to be thankful for. Both in life and work I am continually grateful for so many of the people and opportunities that are part of who I am and what I do. I'm looking forward to a lot, but it's impossible not to look back and feel a lot of gratitude. For those of you stateside, I hope you have a good Thanksgiving with family and friends. If you happen to not read this in the states, be well my friends. More to follow...

New Work Coming

I've been siting on a lot of work I've created over the last few months. I've found, for me at least, it's a bit process to add it to the portfolio and take on new jobs/projects at the same time. The greatest resource in the arts, or as much as anything I suppose, is time. Hands down. Always time. I never seem to have enough of it.

But I am happy with a lot of new work I've been producing. It's been a lot of collaboration and hustle. But it's all coming together. I'll post some here, and for sure on my Instagram. I'll probably post backstory here for a few that DID make it into the studio page but never here. Like I said, it's a process.

This image never made it here or on Instagram but it signifies my first collaboration Jordan. His work and skill can really take the image further. His mastery with skin tone, luminosity in the shadows, and background gradients is excellent.

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I've worked with him on some select images and I can't say enough good things. Anyway, it was awesome to work with Jennie, The Matthew Agency, and Lauren Nicole Makeup. So many fun moments. More to follow...

Architecture Photography

Like I said in the last post, things have been busy behind the desk, but I'm happy I've been able find time to post here in the last week or two. It feels good to write again.

That being said I've never been a photographer who does "one thing" in terms of subject matter. When someone says, "You're a photographer? what do you photograph?" And my answer is usually, "a lot" or "everything" ...and while those are "answers" it's never an answer that people can latch onto. "Everything" doesn't really give them a relatable concept. But it's true! I find myself photographing such a wide range of content. There isn't anything I haven't photographed or won't photograph. I suppose I lead "studio first" but there's nothing I leave off the table.

Recent case in point, a project for River City Studios. They celebrated 40 years of providing quality sound to those needing professional audio. I spent the day along with Artie photographing their studios and space. It was a fun project and allowed different levels of collaboration. Here's two quick images from the production. And if you need quality audio, don't hesitate to reach out to them. River City Studios is an excellent team to work with. More to follow...

Studio A Control Room at River City Studios

Studio A Control Room at River City Studios

Studio B Control Room at River City Studios

Studio B Control Room at River City Studios

Michigan Fall

Lake Michigan is looking pretty fall-ish these days.

I'm really into slow shutter speeds lately. This is a rather beautiful image from Northern Michigan. There's been a lot of travel lately but it seems things are going to slow down for a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to dive into a few images sitting on my drive that I haven't had a chance to look at. That being said, it's the weekend. Have a good one. More to follow...