“Heritage Haven”

Recent project featured on the  cover of Log Home Living’s  “Best Homes of the Year” issue. We just love the layout Art Director Edie Fleshood Mann designed for the home in the magazine!

The project was originally shot for my long time client Hearthstone Log Homes. The home was located outside Dandridge, Tennessee and photographed last Fall. This project is just another example of us helping our clients get published with great exposure in a  national publication by using our long time relationships with the magazine world. “It’s all who you know” as the saying goes….

“Trends Magazine Feature 2012″

Recently I had a home I shot on the East Coast featured in the New Zealand based magazine “Trends”. Trends has several titles….this project was featured in the Home & Architectural issue.

I originally shot the home for my long time client Stone Mill Log Homes. A remodel was completed about a year after. I was then contacted by Sherry Moeller from the PR firm Moki Media. Sherry represented Jim Rill of  Rill Architects who designed the home. Jim wanted to do a full shoot on the home now that the remodel was completed…..so back I went

We spent two days photographing the home and will admit it was one of the most peaceful and serene locations that I have ever been on. Hard to believe over one hundred years ago it was the site of several major Civil War battles…..Being a Civil War buff and a direct descendant of several relatives who fought in the war I tried to imagine what the sound of the cannons and the smell of the smoke must have been like……a truly difficult thing to do in a setting such at this.

“March 2012 Featured Project”

I just spent the last three weeks in shorts and tennis shoes shooting for BCII Productions and HGTV in Los Angeles and Hollywood. I traded that attire in last week for pants, ugg boots, down jacket and wool hat for a shoot in Aspen, Colorado.

I was hired by my good client  Rebecca Richardson of Charles Cunniffe Architects out of Aspen. Rebecca Richardson Marketing Director for Charles worked closely with me on the shoot as well as my wife Carolyn helping style and set up for each shot. Without either of their help the two-day shoot would have turned into a five-day shoot.

When we arrived for the first day of shooting my plan was to shoot the exteriors that evening at dusk to eliminate them and their need for dealing with the elements. Well that sounded like good plan, but since it was snowing and blowing sideways we deferred to start shooting the interiors first.

Using the overcast skies mother nature had given we were able to shoot several low lit exteriors that really showcased to sexy lighting of the house.

Shoot day two offered a blue bird day with sunny skies throughout the evening…this light was taken into consideration and interior spaces were chosen that would best utilize the natural light..

Day two was wrapped and finished with dusk exteriors as seen above. The storm that hit the day before provided some beautiful snow coverage for the exteriors….hard to get sometimes when a shoot is booked several weeks out and not knowing what the weather may do.

The shot below was the final image from the shoot and one that was not on the shot list. As I was walking back into the house from shooting the exteriors I grabbed this composition  thinking it was a nice addition to the portfolio of images we had shot over the course of the two days……I’m always thinking above and beyond the shot list for my clients…

Now if I could only put my shorts and tennis shoes  on and be projected back to that nice Cali weather. Looks like I will only have to wait about a week  or two before that happens when I return for more work in that region at the end of March…

“January 2012 Featured Project

A few months ago I had the opportunity to work with a really great client of mine out in LA. I first worked William Hefner of Studio William Hefner a few years back when I was shooting an assignment for Luxe Magazine out in Los Angeles.

William called  and wondered if I would be interested in shooting three projects of his for a coffee table book that he was putting together on his work. The project shown here is one of three that I am highlighting  over the next few months….

The beautiful thing about William is how hands on he is on the shoots and how he challenges me to find just the right angle and light he is after. Collaborating with him for three days  in a row is a very rewarding and creative process.

If asked how to describe his work or the projects of his that I have photographed I would have to say clean and contemporary. Its a real treat to shoot one of his homes……

The image below showcases the homeowners art studio which is located on the roof of the house…….

Projects like this one make my job a real pleasure and one that I would not trade…..Thanks for the work William!

“View Finder”

I shot this home last winter for my good client Daniel J. Murphy Architect and Nick Holgate of Holgate Construction. The project was located in my own neck of the woods Crested Butte, Colorado. It’s always a treat and very special when I get to work locally and not have to board an airplane. If you already don’t know,  the mountain behind the house is Crested Butte Mountain and the ski area. My kids can be seen every weekend riding like the wind on their snowboards down those actual runs. It’s a great place to call home base and raise a family.

After I shot the home I secured a magazine spread from my client Home Buyers Publication who ran a full feature as seen here in December 2011 Timber Home Living (this image actually ran on the cover of the magazine as well). Now if we only had snow like we did last year as seen in this picture…….

“Recent Spread In New York Times”

About a month ago I shot the newly completed Marimekko Flagship store on Fifth Ave in New York City. The New York Times ran a story on the opening featuring several of my images. This is one image and page from the article!

“Colorado National Guard Armory Shoot”

I had a great project come my way recently that involved shooting the new Colorado National Guard Readiness Center in Grand Junction, Colorado. I was contacted by the architectural firm CooverClark out of Denver to shoot the project for them as well as the contractor FCI and for The Colorado National Guard.

Timing was critical on the shoot for the fact that all the parties involved wanted the building photographed before the staff actually moved into the space and gave it that…..lived in look you could say. Again flexibly was key to scheduling.

The architectural firm emailed me site plans of the project with notes describing angles and composition that they wished to capture. These were then reviewed over the phone with Brian Duggan from  CooverClark in detail and a game plan was drawn up for the shoot.

When discussing the exteriors with Brian and asking if they should be shot in the day verse dusk I found out that the exterior lights on the building could not be overridden. I always like to have the option of turning on any exterior or landscape lighting a good hour before actual dusk for insurance. You never really know what a structure will look like until that magic hour……by have the lights on sooner than later it takes out the last minute factor of running around and getting lights on and bulbs changed.

To cover my bases I shot all of the exteriors twice. Once in  daylight and then again at dusk. After reviewing the images in post it was plain to see that the dusk images were stronger than the daylight and more dramatic.

One thing to note. My assistant got one heck of a workout on this shoot. As you can see in the above images all of the interior lights are on in the building. What you don’t see is my assistant running back and forth through the interior spaces keeping all the lights on. The whole buildings lighting system is run off of motion sensors to conserve energy…..so once a room is idol of movement out go the lights…..this is when a young fit assistant comes in handy. Who said photography is not a physical career?

“Jasper Arkansas Shoot”

Just returned from a great run through the south, east coast and on up into Canada. Sixteen States, one Country and twelve different shoots, not to mention  the twenty Starbucks Venti  coffees along the way. Each project was unique in its own right. Thought I would highlight each one in the coming weeks and wanted to start with the first.

I was hired by my long time client  Ira Martin (I.T. Martin Group) who I have shot several projects for over the last eight years to shoot a recently completed project of his  down in Jasper Arkansas. When you work with a client over several years you get to know and understand their philosohpy of architecture and construction . After you get to know Ira, right away you  find out how passionate he is about his projects. Details are everything to him.

Ira drove up for the shoot from Austin to lend a hand and help with direction. That’s the beauty of a client on site while shooting, they can really challenge me and make me think outside of the box because of what their vision of a project is. Most of the projects I shoot have been in a construction process for several years, so working with a client on the shoot  I get the full vision of the project through their eyes, words and direction. A client such as Ira challenges me visually, technically and in the end makes me a better photographer…

We spent two days shooting the house. Not a leisure I have on the majority of other projects. Two days gives a nice even flow to the shoot and gives me more options to work with the light and its  nuances. A real treat as any photographer will tell you….

This will wrap up shoot number one from my Fall trip for this months Blog.  Shoot two and Venti two to come shortly!

“Marimekko Flag Ship Store Photo Shoot”

I was recently hired by Marimekko to photograph their brand new flagship store in New York City in the Flatiron District on 5th Ave. If you are not familiar with Marimekko they are a Finnish company based in Helsinki that has made important contributions to fashion, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. They are particularly noted for brightly colored printed fabrics and simple styles, used both in women’s garments and in home furnishings. This is their first store in the US.

Marimekko was on an extremely tight deadline for the shoot as well as needing the finished images right away. The grand opening would be two days from the actual shoot and the images would be needed for press releases as well as articles running in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times the same week.

I flew out of Denver on a Monday morning and arrived in New York at about 1:00pm. Dropped my bags at the store and ran out for a quick bite and returned back at the store at 4:00pm to start shooting. The skies were pouring rain on and off and capturing exteriors of the store were a high priority before the ambient light diminished.

This is my assistant Jenna protecting the camera during the down pour. Trust me when I say that trying to shoot exteriors on a busy New York Street at rush hour in the rain is no easy feat to say the least. Throw in a subway entrance fifty feet from your subject matter and all hell breaks loose. Foot traffic was incredible and never-ending, Jenna and I waited at least an hour trying to get a couple of good exteriors before the light faded. I almost gave up and was about to make the decision that we would just have to have people in the shot, but persistence paid off and we found a break in the crowd!

Again remarkable we got the shot without the crowds. If you look closely to the bottom right of this image you can see one person with an umbrella. I was originally going to take them out in post, but decided that the figure actually added perspective to the image. This image will be on the record books in my travels for sure.

A few behind the scenes images of the clients from Finland and visual coordinators from New york. A great team to work with. It should be noted that we shot till 2am and if it was not for the famous Shake Shack burgers during the shoot we all would have faded sooner than later.

The deadline for final processed images was the following day by 5:00pm. Not having access to my own studio obviously on the road, I made arrangements ahead of time to rent a space and equipment to process my images. This is where Jack Studios came in. They had everything I needed and then some to complete the job. A great work space and environment to say the least and a perfect way to wrap the project……..oh and did I mention the images were not only delivered on time, but an hour before deadline…….

“Overweight baggage fees”

Just made it through check-in with no overweight baggage fees. It helps to only put half your bag on the scale while making eye contact and chit chat with the person behind the counter. “Have a great flight”!