Ring, phone. Ring.

I always wonder what other photographers do while they wait for the phone to ring. I know no one admits to sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, but I also know there are days when you aren't shooting, editing or delivering. What are these other photographers doing? Sometimes I feel like the Maytag repair man. I'm sure they do to. I once reached the end of the internet.

One thing I'm doing is trying to inspire myself to shoot personal stuff. I have a really bad habit of waiting to get all the details perfect before setting out to shoot, and perfection is rarely achievable...so I don't get it shot. I need to quit that.

In other news, I saw that Entrepreneur is using my cover (along with 2 others) to sell subscriptions. That's cool, to me. It's an additional verification that they were happy with it.

How about some old work?

Everyone likes to post the latest and greatest. You should always be moving forward and trying new things...but there is something to be said for the great work you've already done. When I first started I thought I wanted to shoot models and started to do a lot of model tests. Eventually I changed direction to more real people and story telling, but I don't regret those early shoots even though they don't really have a place in my current portfolio. Sometimes I like to go back and take a look at the old stuff and try and figure out where I was coming from and what was inspiring me.

Every time Romo gets blamed, I picture him doing this. Then I hope and pray someone will give me lots of money to run the pic.

Yousuf, I suf

One thing you don't see in contemporary people photography very often is the traditional seated portrait. So, recently, I was commissioned to photograph a bank CEO for a trade publication cover and I decided to shoot a photograph the way I thought Yousuf Karsh, one of my heroes, would shoot it. If you don't know who Yousuf Karsh is, google is your friend. I know you've seen his work in some history book or something :). Basically it's a stripped down study of a subject's personality through their eyes and body language. At least that's what I get.

Covers can be tricky with mastheads and taglines, so often clean and simple is the best choice. I was lucky in finding a great simple location that still had some personality, and I was lucky that I had such a patient and willing subject.

Dust in the Wind

You may recognize Krystal from a few posts below. I went to Lubbock to photograph her for Entrepreneur magazine and the original idea was to do an outdoor shot with some of her crafts. Well, they forgot to mention that Lubbock was in the middle of a severe drought and winds were approaching 40 mph.

Luckily, Krystal's workshop had an adjacent door that opened down-wind which allowed me to stand in the workshop and shoot her as she was just outside the door protected by the large building. So the sky is brown because of the dust giving you about 100 yards of visibility.


Here is the image as it appeared in the magazine. I have to admit I have a surplus of luck when it comes to these things.

Kids say the darndest things.

This is Riley, she recently signed on to be the daughter of some good friends. They don't visit often, they live too close, but when they do I like to take a few shots for posterity.

I really like the look of setting up seamless in open shade...you just can't replicate natural light.

Look what I found.

Remember the old guy I shot in a diner in Lubbock? Well I was in Lubbock to shoot Krystal O'Mara of Remain Designs for Entrepreneur Magazine and I wanted to let you know that issue is on stands now. And while you are at it...if you like Krystal's designs get it now because I believe she hasn't fully realized the value of her work and is selling is extremely cheap for custom art/functional furnishings.

As I've said before, I always like to come back with something extra and after the shoot we played around for a little while shooting an extra scene (above). Krystal was extremely charming and completely open to me trying out an idea that I had no idea would work or not. What a champ! The photo has no relevance to the story I was shooting and would have been no use to the magazine, but it's a picture I would want to shoot even if I wasn't on assignment. I'm not sure the message or meaning of the picture...the room, which was unoccupied, just gave me a haunting loneliness feeling so I had Krystal pose in such a fashion.

Check out Krystal's work and the article in Entrepreneur.

Remain Designs

Entreprenuer