Traveling.

It's time to drive through the UP of Michigan to visit family for the Holidays, which can mean only one thing: an epic snow storm. Epic. This happens every time we try to drive across the UP. I'm convinced that even if you drive through the UP in the middle of summer you would still hit a snow storm at some point. I'm also convinced that some fraternal order of map-makers got together at some point and decided not to draw the UP to scale on maps. You look at it on paper and think "Oh, that's not so far, that shouldn't take long at all. No problem." Then two days later when your still driving, desperately peering through the windshield (half covered in snow) to catch even a fleeting glimpse of the Mackinaw Bridge up ahead, you start quietly cursing the cartographer who made this seem possible. I suspect it has some thing to do with the MI tourism board. If people knew the true size of the UP, they'd never try to cross it and eventually the whole region would be completely abandoned. Anyway, that aside, I'm looking forward to a whole week off for the holiday. Just eating and sitting around and eating some more. Should be grand. I hope I can still fit in the car for the ride back. Wish me luck.

Back from Florida. It's cold.

 

Made it back from my whirl-wind tour of Florida just fine. Naples is a crazy town. Definitely a little money floating around in that community. Most of the gardeners I saw working in peoples yards were more dressed up than me. Beautiful place though and a fun little break from the Wisconsin winter. This trip wrapped up my work travel for 2010, and it was a busy year. Assignments took me all over. I dipped my toes in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. I shot from planes and helicopters, shot on top of skyscrapers and underwater. On top of that I met a ton of cool people. That's what makes this such a great job: I'm constantly meeting interesting people. Can't wait for another year. Happy Holidays Everyone.

 

 

Winter.

For anyone out there who hasn't been paying attention, it is now winter. Got that reminder from Mother Nature this morning when I got stuck in the ditch. Not in a car though, just walking.

I saw this frosty spool of barbed wire on a fence post by the side of the road this morning and stopped to take a photo. Stepped off the road to get closer and discovered that the ditch was full of snow. And I'm talking full here, waist deep. Do you know hard it is to walk in waist-deep snow? Really hard. I couldn't lift my leg high enough to get above the snow and make a new post hole to keep walking and I could turn around enough to go back up the other side. I was stuck down there for about 5 minutes thrashing and wallowing around. A guy driving past actually stopped his car to ask if I needed help. I wish someone had been filming me, it must have been hilarious. Got a nice photo out of it though. I really like the hint of pink in the sky. I'm glad I stopped.

I'm also glad I got the last kayaking photos of the year out of the way a couple weeks ago. The last shoot was for a national magazine (can't show it here until it runs in print, but check back for that later this winter). I eeked it in right before the real ice. It's a photo of Gail Green, owner of Living Adventure Inc., a really great guiding service just outside of Bayfield. Ended up floating in a dry suit in the lake before the sun came up to get a photo right around dawn, great images though. Can't wait to see them in print. I hope they run it big (insert crossed fingers here).

Next up, flying to Naples, Florida, for two days at the end of this week. Portraits and an interview for another magazine article. Never been to Florida before. Always an adventure. Stay tuned.

Ashland Yoga Studio.

 A few weeks ago I shot some promotional images for Ashland Yoga Studio. If you're in the Ashland area check them out; lots of great classes for people at all different levels of expereince. They're also teaching pilates and kettlebell classes too. It's a bunch of cool people teaching in a great space. Part of the project I shot for them included a stop-motion movie of one of the yoga classes taught by Charmaine Swan. Check it out:

 

Food.

And now for something completely different: Food. I spent part of last week down in Eau Claire, Wisconsin shooting food images for a catalogue--a big change of pace from the other things I've been working on lately. It felt good to stretch some different photographic muscles for a few days. Food is all about arrangement and lighting. You spend all kinds of time setting things up, making small adjustments, arranging scenes, tweeking the lighting, and then you take one photo, break it all down, and set up something else. It's way different than making portraits or covering live events--a lot calmer, a lot more calculating. You can really zone in on building the image one element at a time. It's a cool way to work, really focused. The end of this week is going to be something else completely different too. It's already been a pretty crazy fall and things aren't slowing down yet. Stay tuned.

 


A few more from Yosemite.

Okay, so the photo above is the picture that everyone, literally everyone, who has ever been to Yosemite National Park brings home with them. In fact, I think you're required to show the ranger this photo at the gate before they'll let you leave the park. You, and everyone else, can take this picture from the first big overlook that you hit when you drive into the valley. Call it cliche or call it classic, no one can drive past that overlook and say "Eh, let's skip it." It is debatably the most incredible view in the United States: the largest vista in America's premier national park. So yes, I stopped for a photo. The next couple images below, on the other hand, are views that most visitors to the park don't get. A special thanks to Kelly Martin and the crew of H-551 for giving me an incredible perspective.

 

 

A Good Day at Work.

As a photographer, most days are pretty good. I routinely get to go interesting places, meet cool people, and of course get some great images along the way. But let's be honest, in any job, some days are better than others. For example Saturday was well above average. For me anyday that you get to hang out the open door of a moving helicopter to take photos is a good day at work. Now, if that helicopter also happens to be flying over autumn wildfires in Yosemite National Park, well that's pretty dang hard to beat. Here's a couple of my favorites, stay tuned for more:

On the Road.

Everything's packed up and ready to go for a whirl-wind tour of the west coast (even remembered to clean out the office coffee pot this time, see Coffee Vs. Time). I'm on the road until next Wednesday doing shoots in California, Washington and Oregon. I'm pretty excited, this loop should hit some really iconic places and I'm meeting up with some cool people along the way. I don't want to give away too much, but this trip may involve a helicopter ride if I'm lucky (I probably just jinxed it by saying that, but I'm too excited to keep it to myself). Keep an eye out for some rockin' new photos next week. Take it easy out there people.

Sponsor a Paddler.

This post is a little different than alot of the things I put up on this site. I usually have something to show you, a new photo, some random thought to share. This post is different, because this time I have something to ask of you.

Above is a photo of Rick Fairbanks' well-travelled and personally-treasured P&H Baidarka Explorer. Rick is a good friend and colleague. He's also an accomplished paddler. That photo was taken more than two years ago during a paddling trip I took with Rick and his daughter Jess (also a close friend). We drove from Ashland to Wawa Ontario to join a group of college students for a few days of paddling as part of their month-long trip around Lake Superior. I was sent along to photograph the paddling portion of the trip for an article in the Northland College magazine. The trip also happened to fall over my 25th birthday. I didn't tell Rick or Jess that I would be passing the quarter century mark on the trip. I kept that information as a quiet little secret, but the conversation (and scotch) we had sitting around a drift wood fire on the Canadian Shore of Lake Superior the night of my birthday (also the last night of the trip) is something I will also remember and cherish. We talked about life, about religion, about philosophy (one of Rick's favorite topics). It was the perfect, quiet contemplative way to ease into another year. Two years later, I took the photo of Rick below. Shortly after it was taken, Rick was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He is currently undergoing treatment.

Here's where you come in. On Saturday, October 9, I'm participating in the Fairbanks Paddle-A-Thon and I need people to sponsor me as a paddler. Funds raised by the event will assist the Fairbanks family with medical bills and other expenses related to Rick's cancer. Go to www.northland.edu/rickfairbanks to learn more about the event. Any level of sponsorship is welcomed. Please call me if you'd like to pledge your support: (262) 305-9187. You can also give directly (or after the event) by mailing a check to "Fairbanks Benefit Account", c/o Northern State Bank, 321 Main Street, Ashland WI 54806.

Okay, I lied. One more senior portrait.

 

 I thought the portrait season was all over, but I ended up having one more senior portrait session Monday evening with Brooke. Again we got really lucky with weather. We started with a few shots in Prentice Park and then went down to the lake front right before sunset and got some great shots with a little bit of color in the sky. It was a beautiful evening; warm with just a whisper of breeze. Honestly, I think this was the last senior portrait of the season. It looks like I'll be on the road for most of the rest of the month, one round of shoots in California and another in the Pacific Northwest. Should be a fun, stay tuned. (If there's anyone else out there who still needs portraits, give me a call. If we're really sneaky we might still be able to fit you in.)

 

Fall Sunlight.

 

It was another perfect fall weekend here in Northern Wisconsin and I managed to get out to shoot some more photos just for fun. I'm loving this beautiful fall sunlight. I've been playing with backlighting things a lot lately, I really like how it reveals shape. It's amazing what light can do, how it shapes our perception of the things around us. Try looking at something with light hitting it from the front. Now move 180 degrees to put the light directly behind it. It's amazing how much it changes, sometimes it looks like a completely different thing. Maybe I'm just simple minded, but I think it's incredible. Stay tuned for more.

Winding Down the Portrait Season.

 

It's been a great year for senior portraits, and with the photo deadline in the local schools fast approaching, I suspect my fall is starting to wind down a little bit. Although, for all you procrastinator's out there, I still have some slots open before the cutoff. Give me a call to set somthing up if your still thinking about it. That blatant sales pitch aside, I had another great portrait session yesterday afternoon with Taylor. We did a few studio shots on white and then headed outside for some photos by the lake and another little spot downtown. I watched the weather all weekend and called Taylor monday night to talk about possibly cancelling our Tuesday shoot because it was supposed to rain. We decided to play it by ear, but mentally I was clearing time later in the week, expecting a rainy afternoon. Despite some gloomy weather in the morning, yesterday afternoon turned out to be beautiful: clear skys and 70. There was a bit of a breeze, but even that worked in our favor a little bit. Hell, some studios spend hundreds of dollars on wind machines to get that "tossled" look, and we got it for free. Not bad. If no one else books senior portraits this season, this was a great shoot to wind down the season with. Now I'm ramping up for more commercial work during the fall, a completely different kind of shooting. Should be fun. Watch for some of that coming down the pipe in the next few weeks.

The Forest and the Trees.

Sometimes, as a photographer you need to step back and ask yourself what the hell you're doing--why you're a photographer. I got into photography because I love making photographs. Well, duh. That's obvious--who goes into photography if they don't like taking photos. I know, I know, but bear with me. The thing is this: sometimes I forget why I do this. Sometimes I get so bogged down in the business end of things--the booking, the marketing, the equipment budget--that I lose sight of why I started doing this in the first place. Pretty soon I'm only hauling the camera out when I've got a paying shoot, otherwise it sits in it's case waiting for the next client to call. That was never the kind of photographer I set out to be. I want to be a photographer that shoots for the love of shooting. I want to be so excited about creating good work that I do it whether there's any promise of money on the other end or not. I don't want photography to be just another job, I want it to be my passion. And sometimes that means I need to take some time to reset my focus. Step back to see the forest instead of the trees.

That was yesterday. For the first time in a long time I hauled out the cameras and went on an old fashioned photo safari. A Photo Safari is this: you put on your boots, some grubby pants, and head into the woods to photogrpahy anything you find. You take every side trail, you crawl around on your hands and knees, you peek under big rocks and into hollow trees looking for anything and everything. At the end of it your sweaty and tired and utterly filthy, but you have a camera full of the most amazing things you've ever seen. That's kind of day that made me fall in love with photography to begin with, and now I need to have one every once in a while to remind myself why I'm doing this. 

Yesterday got me so inspired again that I got up before dawn this morning and went out to catch the sunrise. It feels good. Stay tuned for more...

Bagpiper.

 

Caught this image of a bagpiper warming up before an event I was covering last week in Ashland. I love the backlight; it makes the lines so crisp. There was no special setup, no controlled lighting, no stage direction. Just the afternoon sun and a brief moment in time captured by the camera. A very differnt kind of photography than the senior portrait sessions I've been doing lately. I don't even think he saw me making this photo. He was absorbed in tuning his pipes, focused on the sound. These are the kind of images that photojournalism is all about.

More Portraits and Even More Mosquitoes.

 

Here are a few of my favorites from Tatiana's senior portrait shoot on Sunday. We started out inside for some shots on white seamless, and then moved outside as the afternoon light got nicer. Another day with great weather, but the mosquitoes were absolutley epic. Seriously, I need to get an industrial fogger for these shoots or something. Tatiana got eaten alive. In a couple of the photos you can actually see mosquitoes hovering around her. It was ridiculous, but she managed to keep smiling through all of it.

Day Two.

 

A few more photos from day two of the senior portrait shoot with Andrea and Allison. This time we hit some locations in Ashland, and then headed up to a section of the Souix River near Washburn. It was another beautiful afternoon for photos and not nearly as buggy. These two were supposed to be my guinea pigs for the underwater portrait experiment, but we had to bail out on that plan because the bay is too full of silt from all the rain we've been getting. Not to mention, really freakin' cold. Such is life. We may give it a shot on another warm afternoon in early fall if mother nature cooperates. Plan B was using the local pool, but I just found out that it's closed until mid-October for repairs. That leaves us with Plan C...and once I figure out what Plan C actually is, I'll let you know...In the mean time, more shoots this weekend. Busy busy.

Bright Sunshiny Day.

 

We had beautiful weather yesterday evening for a senior portrait shoot with Allison and Andrea. Instead of booking each of their sessions separately, these two decided to do their shoots together split over two days, so we have more photos tonight too. Yesterday, we drove down to Mason, Wisconsin, to find some locations out in the country. It was a bit of a haul, but we found some great spots and the sunlight was perfect. Aside from a new hatch of mosquitoes it was a great shoot. Keep your eyes peeled for more in the next few days.

 

Coffee vs. Time.

 

This is why one must always remember to empty the office coffee pot before travelling for two weeks. When I was getting ready to leave, I went over my packing lists again and again. I packed lenses, checked my memory cards, charged batteries, counted out clean socks. I had everything. I was ready. But there was still that nagging feeling that I had forgotten to do something. What was it? What did I forget to do?...Oh.

Hmmm, so it goes. I decided to go out for coffee this morning. Other than that the trips were great and now I'm back on my home turf processing everything from the road. And cleaning the coffee pot...

Home...for a minute.

Well, I'm back from my trip out to the East Coast. Above you'll see my toes enjoying the Atlantic Ocean just outside of Portland, Maine. Great trip. Met some cool people, got some good photos. I could spend a lot more time exploring that area someday. I'm back in Washburn for a few days before I'm off to Michigan next week for more photos and interviews. I'm not even going to unpack most of my stuff, just leave it all in the cases ready to go. After the week in Michigan I'll be back home for a little while. Travelling is fun, but it'll also be nice to be home for a while.