There is this really great artist I think you need to check out. My wife and best friend Lisa Wharton is having her first online art sale. You can find a variety of sizes and prices to fit your needs. All are hand made mono prints on wood.  Check it out and support the art world if you can. You can also go to Lisa’s site here.

It was a nice surprise to get an email today from the Denver Egotist. The Egotist keeps you up to date on who is hired, who is fired, and who’s making interesting work. Sometimes what they have to say is good, sometimes not.  It was nice to be on the good side. I really appreciate the time they took to review my work and place me on their recommended list of photographers.  I would also like to say thanks to Monte over at Cultivator for his part in it.  I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do. I remember quitting assisting July 1st, 2000. It was a hard thing to do. I told everyone that if I were actually going to make it on my own, I need to be on my own. I gave everyone the date and told them not to call. I explained that even if I came begging them for work, calling them in the middle of the night, not to give in and give me assisting work. So the phone stopped ringing. I begged, probably called some people in the middle of the night, but it eventually all worked out. I was shooting weddings, kids, dogs, anything and everything I could. Eight years later this is where I am at. I love what I get to do everyday. I enjoy the people I get to work with and I am inspired by them all. It was nice to hear other people enjoy what I do. Thanks. Click this link and read what they had to say.

I have been lucky enough to get some assignments lately for Entrepreneur Magazine.  Just finished this one up today. I don’t usually get much of the story before I shoot, I don’t think that is in the budget. These are the instructions I received from the magazine.

“Do NOT just shoot him in front of a sign. Rather … we want him doing what it is he does.” He is a franchise owner. I asked if he was a stylist, wanted to be, etc.  Nope, just an owner. I am happy with the shot. He was super nice and willing to do the shoot. Most of the time the people I photograph for editorial shoots could care less about doing it. More often than not, it is an inconvenience to them. It was nice to have one go smoothly.

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I got a call to do a shoot for Forbes just recently. The assignment was to go out and shoot at the Staples distribution center. The Photo Editor said that the warehouse was run by robots. He said go out and get a “portrait” of the robots in action. I actually think we both were thinking something like Wall-e or at least the Honda robot Asimo. It was actually nothing more than a large orange photo case. That is at least what it looked like. When you entered the warehouse, you were shocked at how quiet and clean everything was.  I didn’t even think that they had started for the day. Usually you go into a place like that, get some sort of hard hat, ear plugs, and have to use sign language to talk. When I walked out on to the floor, it was one coolest things to see. There were all of these little orange boxes moving around picking things up and working effortlessly.  At first you think, these little things are going to run into each other. How are the doing all of this? I figured there has to be one computer geek locked in a little room with endless cans of Mountain Dew programing this entire thing. I guess that is not the case. They get a simple set of directions and they take care of the rest. They all know what they are doing, know when to pull into the central hub and recharge their batteries, and know when to take a break. Pretty amazing and somewhat peaceful to watch in person. Click the photo to see the animation.

Lately I have had a ton of editorial shoots. I think that is great. I really truly love doing those types of shoots. They never really turn out anything close to what I was originally thinking. No one ever gives me the time needed. Sometimes you set up for a hour or two and in the last minute you have to totally change directions for one reason or another. Sometimes your subject is unwilling or thinks they they cant take the time out of their busy day for a 20 minute shoot. It doesn’t matter, I still love it. It may be nice to have all the time you need for a editorial job, but maybe it wouldn’t spawn extra creativity.  I am a procrastinator at heart and would guess that it would probably still come down to the wire.  I guess there is something about finding it and making it happen.  I am not always sure what “it” is, but I believe most of the time I do alright.  Here are a few from the last few weeks.

The first two photos were for the ABA Journal. This is definitely one of those shoots where we worked and worked on trying to get the shot in his office. The office would not have been what the art director wanted. We really did try to make it happen. With the list of things that weren’t working growing, we scrapped the entire set up time and went for what I really thought would be a better shot. We had 15 minutes with our subject, that is what they were giving us. We had already set up for almost two hours, and needed to get two set ups. The assignment was simple. Straight forward, full body, limited background, interesting location, portrait. We talked him into going out doors for the shoot. We had already scouted a few possibilities when I knew things looked grim inside.   He was a little nervous, especially since the first shot was right outside the busy entrance to the building. The other location was shot in a parking garage. No time to ask the parking attendant permission. This was the time for shoot first act dumb later.

The next shot was for Entrepreneur magazine. This shot was set up last minute, since the subject was leaving town. So of course the only time to shoot is at 1pm. Perfect for when you are shooting outside.  I was hoping for something later in the evening, something a little darker and moodier.  I was told to think about color and adding simpleness to the shot. I went to his house looked around decided I really wanted to shoot outside. The house was beautiful, but not quite what I was thinking.  I found a spot and made the best of it. It was a pretty simple set up, but think that it was the color that I was drawn to.

This last shot was for Smart Money. The main thing with this shoot was to get a straightforward portrait, while still showing a beautiful area of the space.   The space was supposed to be an equal partner of what was important in the photo.

I went to Fort Collins today to install the new piece. I asked Val to come along for the ride and he actually accepted. I have asked Val for the last couple of years but never even a thought about it. I was hoping that Val would go into the brewery, sit down, drink a bunch of beers and have a good time talking with people. Instead, we get there and Val took a nap in the car for 2 hours.  I can’t really complain, that is what he wanted to do. I was just hoping to show him a good time a little out of his element. While Val was sleeping I was able to get it all installed, drink some beer, have some conversations, and make a few calls.  Where we ended up installing it was in what they call Brew House 2. I wasn’t sure about the location at first, but I think it will be a good spot. It is kind off the beaten path, but that is a good thing. This piece is one of those pieces that shouldn’t really be messed with.  There are a lot of delicate things on the piece and wont be able to handle much abuse. The only way you will be able to view the piece is to take a tour at the brewery. So it is not like it locked away, you just have do the tour which is not a bad thing at all. Here is the piece and where it is at. The sand bag at the bottom of the piece will leave as soon as the bolt the piece to the wall.

 The Ad is done. The piece is done.  Here is what it looks like so  far. Now this could always change a bit, but this is a good idea of what it will look like. As you saw, the piece I made is a large 3-D piece and the Ad now looks totally different. It was a fun piece to make. I did make some adjustments to the actual art after the ad was made. Monte and I were talking about the piece and how to display it. I believe it was Monte’s idea to actually turn the piece into an actual label on a bottle. So Chris over at Cultivator is quite a craftsmen with metal, so we had him make a bottle for us. I made a fat tire bottle out of metal for our bike seat artwork a while back. Chris just took my original and created a similar one, just much larger.  I will show you the final once it is installed.

things have changed. No more nice clean paint, no more messing around. It is in  the final stages. Just a few more tweaks then I can shoot the piece.  That is actually one of my least favorite things to do.   Basically I have to build the entire piece, put all the details on and finish it. Then take the piece apart and start shooting it in pieces or elements. It is not fun but necessary. Certain things need to be tweaked in the computer and shooting it and rebuilding it in the computer the same what I build it is the way to go.  Here are a few pics before the finished product.

here is the progress. After tomorrow things will really start to change. I will update more, but for now just photos.