“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….

“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!

“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!

“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”!

Casper Medical Center Shoot

On the road at 3am to get in position for this shot in Casper Wyoming. The things we do to get that perfect shot!

University of Wyoming shoot

On location at the University of Wyoming for Haselden Construction!

“August 2011 Featured Project”

Because I travel so much I get the question a lot “where is the most interesting place or project that you have photographed”. Having been very fortunate to have shot in every state of the US as well as been lucky enough to shoot in Paris, Mexico and the French West Indies  its always very tough to name just one place or project. Well that has changed for a while. Who would ever  have guessed a location two hours from my home would be at the top of my list.

I got a call awhile back from my good client and collaborator Whitney Richardson Editor at Log Home Living. Whitney said she had a project to shoot in Lake City Colorado and would I be available to shoot it. As I always say, anytime I don’t have to get on an airplane with all my gear and instead drive to the location to shoot is a good day and real treat. Not that I mind flying, I just can’t stand the food, security, crappy seat selection, delayed flights, stewardesses with bad attitudes, being x-rayed in the nude, extra bag fees, overweight bag fees, lost bags, being coughed on, ten-dollar beers, turbulence…….. well anyway you get the point.

So you can imagine my excitement about this assignment. The project was a one thousand square foot log home at an elevation of thirteen thousand feet up Engineer Pass. I know Whitney will appreciate this when I say it was up ” The road from hell”. Eighteen miles of the worst switch backs, rocks, potholes, trees in the way road I have been on since a shoot I was on in Costa Rica a few years back. Oh and did I mention as on my shoot in Costa Rica it rained like it was the end of the world. I guess that’s why they call it the Rain Forest (never go in April by the way). But that’s another story for another time.

Back to this project. As mentioned it was raining cats and dogs when I arrived and the sun was going down. After turning on the solar power and getting my gear out the sun broke for about fifteen minutes and I was able to capture the above exteriors before the heavens closed up again. The bridge you see here is the only way to get to the house from your parked car on the other side of the bridge. I must have made at least fifty trips back and forth. The homeowner was kind enough to let me stay at the location over night to help facilitate the shoot. So I was all by myself at the home for two days. After the sun went down it was time for bed. Now I normally read before I hit the hay, but on a shelf above the TV I saw the VHS version of the movie the “Perfect Storm” you know the one where George Clooney is a fishing captain and him and his men are lost at see and die a horrible death by drowning in a monster hurricane. Well I felt it apropos to watch it since basically there was a hurricane outside the cabin and I feared for my life and getting back home to my loved ones in one piece down  ” The road from hell”….

Day two I was up before the sun and ready to grab a few more exteriors before the wrath of God showed up again. I then moved onto the interiors. Interesting enough I have shot a handful of homes this size and believe it or not smaller. They are a challenge to say the least. A space this size does not offer many angles on the inside so I maximized the spaces the best I could knowing the magazine would need as much info as possible. I also tried to show as much of the views as possible through the windows.

Overall the shoot went very smoothly, besides the rain, road, size of the cabin, bears, lions and tigers. At least I didn’t have to pay for ten-dollar beers………..as a few of you know, I am a  seasoned professional and brought my own.

“Recent Client Ad’s”

A couple of recent Ad’s two of our good clients are running in the latest issue of Luxe Interiors & Design magazine using our photos to highlight their services. This first one if for Charles Cunniffe Architects out of Aspen and the one below is for Carol Moore Interior Design out of Edwards Colorado. Both clients value dynamic photography and the power it brings to their image and marketing collateral……….