Nike Women's Training

Last week I had a shoot for Nike Women's Training. There wasn't much direction given for this job and the budget was small because the photos were only going to be used in an internal powerpoint presentation as background imagery. The only instructions I had were "fun images of women around 20 years old working out." It's some of the best pressure and excitement going into a shoot without any expectations but to make good pictures.

I set up 2 shoots around Austin one early in the morning and one in the early evening that got moved thanks to me. I think the clients were happy, here's some snaps I liked:

Published in Pop Sci

I think I shot this in July for this month's issue of Popular Science, which was published on September 16th. The Jackson's were really nice people and very accommodating as the elements pushed the partially submerged sub around. The sub is called the Argonaut Jr. and was made to replicate that of Simon Lake's submarine built in 1894. Read the story online here at Popular Science.

We shot on Skiatook (prounounced sky- tuk) Point, a lake near Tulsa and I had a great time taking in Oklahoma's rolling green hills that are home to some of country music's most prominent musicians.

Updating with snaps from Texas' loss to UCLA and last week's Nike women's training shoot...

Robert King for the Guardian Weekend Magazine

I photographed former Black Panther Robert King for the The Guardian Weekend Magazine in London a few weeks ago at his home in Austin. King was held at Angola Prison in Louisiana for 31 years total, 29 of those in solitary confinement, after being wrongly convicted of a crime.

He's the only one of the suspected three men involved in the crime to be released. They are known as the Angola 3. He has been interviewed and photographed repeatedly since his release nearly 10 years ago and continues to spread the word about the injustice.



With this clip I was inspired to update the publications section of my website. Check out the newest clips!

Dyer Pond

Recently, I went to Cape Cod with my girlfriend Maria to 'get away' for her birthday. I was coming from Las Vegas and she had spent a week in New York City with her sisters, so we were looking to find a peaceful place to decompress. We decided Wellfleet would be a nice place to stay and luckily found an available cabin at Chez Sven's bed and breakfast in the forest of the National Seashore.

The Atlantic Ocean was cold and crashing on one side, while the bay was calm and full of wild life on the other side of the cape. In between were countless freshwater ponds, one of which we sought during our stay. Very few people were there the week before the Labor Day holiday and the natural serenity and preserved scenery were perfect for us.

So perfect, I made a video capturing our time there:




As it turns out Cape Cod's ponds have been logged, charted, preserved and written about by many including Henry David Thoreau and even the New York Times.


A still image from Dyer Pond.


Flora on the bay side of Cape Cod.



A lifeguard stand on the Atlantic side of Cape Cod where Thoreau walked years ago.

Friends and Type 55

I'm preparing to shoot a portrait project on the no longer produced but highly revered type 55 positive/negative film from Polaroid. I decided it would be a good idea to test the film with my Polaroid back, a Toyo view 4x5 camera and sync it to my Profoto lighting kit. This is my friend Eric Powell who has had some interesting and difficult life experiences recently, but has found himself in a good place going to school with a bright future. I've wanted to shoot some of his life story as it unfolded and was happy to make the first step with a b/w portrait while we were hanging out.

These are 2 of the positives from the 4 that I shot last week. Overall I was very pleased with the look of the images and the toning. I think a different lens in the future could be more effective.


My friend Drew recently moved back to Austin from Washington DC where he and his girlfriend have been hanging on to this newspaper clipping for almost a year. Thanks! It gives me a confusing mix of emotions to see the paper and these images again, but I'm definitely happy to have this clip in physical form and my friends back in town.

The Ogden Museum show, New Orleans!

Big thanks to Karl for making some snaps of the show in New Orleans at the Ogden Museum which opened last night. Looks like it was a packed house and the walls were packed with photos. Personally the intensity of Katrina continues to resonate with me every day and I'm sure the victims of the storm and other photographers feel the same way.

Major props to Smiley Poole and the rest of the Telling Their Stories crew for putting the event together and coordinating an effort like this. It takes a lot of work and they deserve a major pat on the back for a job well done.

Also a big thanks to Lance Rosenfield, fellow Zilker neighborhood photographer compadre, for helping me out and making a headshot for the event!

Here are some snaps:


Karl checking out the images.


People looking at the photos.

A woman who looks really concerned about my photograph.


A band is a must at a New Orleans event as cool as this. Is that a Moog? It matches the chairs nicely!

Recovered film

I was recently digging through a box of miscellaneous photo gear, leather scraps and old boxes when I recovered 3 sheets of exposed Polaroid Type 59 film. The writing on the film revealed they were exposed during a tour with the band Sunset in late 2007.

Anyway here's a positive from one of the sheets.

CEO Portrait

I went to Smooth Stone Inc.'s headquarters last Thursday to meet Barry Evans, CEO of the underdog chip maker. His company has been developing new chips that will do some really important things for those in the technology business mostly by decreasing the energy needed to operate devices that control servers remotely. You can read about it in this article in the Times. The just received some major funding from global companies to release a chip that will contend with the chip giant Intel. The name Smooth Stone is a nice way of making an analogy between their small office outfit to Intel's power house operation and the weapon David chose for his epic battle with Goliath.

The headquarters are based in a '70s building shell in North Austin that is run by a few companies and the University of Texas for research labs. It was an odd place that gave me the impression people who made movies like Office Space and even Tron found inspiration.

Barry was very open to my ideas for photography as we walked around the building to various locations scouting light, position and pre-historic security cameras that monitored a relatively empty parking lot.

Enjoy!

Telling their stories exhibit

A photo of mine from Hurricane Katrina has been accepted to be in the "Telling Their Stories" exhibit at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans next week. There's an opening on Thursday, August 19, a lecture the following day and a seminar on Saturday. I hope you can make it if you happen to be in New Orleans (check the schedule of events here).

This appears to be a nice event, but unfortunately it looks like its more about the photographers who made the pictures rather than the subjects of the pictures. I will say that the educational program is an outstanding thing to do and takes a lot of energy from everybody involved. I'm really not sure New Orleans with ever get out of the shadow of Katrina. It seems like it will always be remembered as a turning point or marker of history for the city. I wonder if these events, largely put on by outsiders of the community, reinforce Katrina's wrath or help heal the wounds it left behind. Will we ever get over it?

It's hard to believe the 5 year anniversary of Katrina is 2 weeks away. If you're interested, please have a look at the work I did in Hancock County Mississippi during Katrina and the 5 year anniversary project that I am continuing to work on.

I'm planning on posting some photos next week from a shoot I did with a CEO of a computer chip company for the New York Times Monday Business section and another shoot for the Guardian Weekend Magazine in London. Stay tuned...


ps: If you're looking for something to do, find you're nearest theater and go see Restrepo. It's Tim Hetherington's new film from time he spent in Afghanistan with the 173rd Airborne in the Korangal Valley. It's hard to watch, but absolutely worth it. I'm glad there are people dedicating themselves to this type of work that we all learn and benefit from.

Political Promos

I shot these promotional photos for Texas Senate Candidate Jose Rodriguez back in January in El Paso. The political marketing strategy firm MAP hired me to photograph Rodriguez in a documentary-portrait style to show him as a well rounded candidate to represent El Paso.

We shot all day long, but were rewarded with a steak dinner in the end. I'm happy with how the photos were used on full page spreads and I think the client/candidate were pleased too.

Today I was in the darkroom for the first time in a few months processing some film I shot on a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye my sister gave year a few years ago. Turns out it works and works well. I also processed the first roll of film from Mark and Annie's wedding almost a year ago, yikes! It looks real sharp. The excitement of seeing film turn into photos after taking it out of the chemicals never goes away.

Stay posted for more snaps.

Snaps

Here are some old photographs I found on my computer that I thought were interesting. I've mostly been working on promos and contracts aside from last minute shoots. Yesterday was a productive day as I made a scripted short film with some hired friends as actors and crew. We lit, shot and wrapped in under 4 hours; this will be a short short.

I'll post the video after we finish producing it and show some photos of the modified shoulder mount that I used with the 5d Mark II soon. I've been meaning to post these political promos too, so hopefully I can get them up tomorrow.


Dead Red Bird on my sidewalk.


Winnie the dog tranquilized at the vet.

Camino de Santiago, ruta de norte

I'm back in Austin and finally found time to edit through and update my archive with photos from my recent trip to Spain. Four friends and I hiked about 500 miles in 25 days from San Sebastien to Santiago de Compostela in June. We did the Northern route and primitive section of the trail, which is regarded as the most challenging and oldest of all the St. James Way trails.

The weather was up and very down. The first week was perfect, it rained so much the second week that it caused a 100 year flood in Asturias and the last 2 weeks were fairly hot. Overall the trip was a lot of fun and was a good time with friends. We passed through small towns nearly everyday to collect food and indulge in cafe con leche, but maintained a renegade camino by camping in forests or fields half the time. Mostly when it was not raining.

These are some of my favorite photographs from the trip:






You can see whole set of photos from the Camino de Santiago in the archive. There is also a gallery featuring Spanish dogs that warmly welcomed us to the Spanish country side.

As I'm now back in Austin please stay tuned for more regular updates, including a recent trip I took to Tulsa for a new client!

Snaps de Mayo

Since I got back to Austin 10 days ago I've kept myself busy with freelance jobs, editing, archiving and climbing. I've found a lot of photos of no particular theme that I made back in May. Check it out...

Mom with Teddy the cat sporting his lion inspired summer fur cut.


The Texas Capitol's North facing rotunda.


Mom's suburban backyard featuring Teddy in the window.

Vines.

Brandon Wilde of Austin Multimedia Group during a shoot for Active Life at the Dell Foundation in Westlake. I helped Wilde shoot a tv spot for the non profit that promotes fitness through its programs. We used the 5d mk II with an ican screen in the hotshoe, a beachtek audio preamp with boom mics, arri lights, and a teleprompter for the interviewees. Worked fluidly and was a lot of fun to shoot.

The best bbq in Texas from Cooper's in Llano!

Back in the US of A

I returned from a month long, 500 mile walk last Thursday and have a lot of stories and photographs to share. In the meantime, watch these videos...

The first comes from my New York based filmmaker friend Willi Patton, who is seeking support for his next project. His previous film, The Big Fiddle, was a half hour project that made its debut and was very well received in March at the SXSW film festival.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/willipatton/monk-fish

This is a video MAP produced with my photographs for prospective Texas Senator Jose Rodriguez. We shot the photos in January and the video ran for a week locally in El Paso. I thought it was pretty unique to have a television commercial made up of only still photos. The MAP crew was really excited when they saw the photos and came up with the idea for the 30 second spot. Check it out:

http://pictureboxproductions.com/clients/MAP/JR_ENG.html


Stay tuned for more updates with photos of recent work and snaps from el Camino.

Oil Rig Explosion Survivor, Chris Choy

Saturday National Public Radio.org sent me to Houston to photograph Chris Choy with his wife Monica and their attorney Steve Gordon. NPR partnered with PBS Newhour to do an exclusive radio-tv interview with reporter Joe Shapiro. The PBS Newshour video shows Chris and Monica telling their tragic and gripping story.


A few different portraits have accompanied the first and second NPR stories, but I had a few hours to make photos and listen to Choy's story. I felt like it was important for me to put my camera down at times and just listen to what he had to say and try to relate to him as a human, not just a subject to point my camera at. I feel that when a reporter or photographer takes a genuine interest in the people he/she surrounds himself with rather than just doing their job, the work they create with that person will transcend the person's experience. Sacrificing one's own personal interests isn't routine for any body, but I think it proves instrumental in good journalism when trying to tell a story that is difficult to understand and out of a normal person's comprehension.

I hope this commitment to people's stories gives viewers a better understanding of what is taking place around them.

Photographs of the Choys in the archive and a few of my favorite images from the hours I with the Choys:

Clip time

Just got back from a photography shoot I did yesterday in Houston for National Public Radio. One of the survivors from the Gulf oil rig explosion gave an interview to NPR reporter Joe Shapiro and in cooperation with Newshour and their attorneys. More on this story tomorrow...




In the mean time... style:




Last month I met Ashley Chiles and made some photographs of her for the Statesman's Glossy style magazine. Chiles co-founded the Texas Huntress, a tv mini series about 3 women who globetrot, shoot to kill and then have the kill prepared for them by a well known chef.


We had time to do a few different sets with mixed lighting opportunities at Laguna Gloria in Austin. Marques Harper did an outstanding job assisting with the styling and working with Chiles to make the shoe fit. Thanks Marques!


It's ironic how the image we shot on the fly for fun in ambient light go the cover, but perfect for just that reason.


Brad Bourland lives in Lakeway and has compiled a list of nearly 10,000 english language films and ranked them based on public opinion and polling. The Times did a story on him and I shot some photos in front of his sisters home.


Ed Marcotte is starving cells to find links to genes that respond to drugs to cure cancer... capiche? He's really smart and works at the University of Texas with other bio researchers and a lot of graduate students. The Times ran a last minute story on him and the project. They have a secret lab full of frogs that they draw embryos from for their research. Good luck with you're research!