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!

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…….

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?

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!

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…….

Last Tuesday the 6th and the day after Labor Day I had planned on spending the day on the phones and at the computer returning emails and spending the rest of the day on marketing. Well that was the plan as least and up till about 11:00 am this is what I was doing until my phone rang. On the other end was Emily Zorrilla Marketing Director at Haselden Construction (a very large contractor to say the least). Back in May Emily had called me and asked if I could meet with her and her graphic designer to put a name with a face and go over my services and prices. During the meeting she mentioned that Haselden had several projects that needed to be shot and would I be interested?

Back to that phone call with Emily last Tuesday. Emily explained to me that she needed a project at The University of Wyoming in Laramie photographed and in Casper Wyoming she also had a Medical Center that she needed shot as well. The only problem was that she needed six shots of each project and she needed them Friday by 5:00pm. Yikes……was my first response. I work on tight deadlines all the time, but this one was extraordinary. So my response to Emily was “sure no problem”!

After Emily and I hung up I  spent exactly one hour on the phone with my contacts on the ground who would be helping with access to the buildings. I spent exactly one more hour packing gear into the truck and making hotel accommodations. I was on the road by 2:00pm almost exactly three hours after Emily called me. Talk about not knowing what a day may hold. Six hours later after driving in a non stop rain storm I rolled into Laramie and hit my hotel and the sack.

The next day I arrived at the University in yet another rain storm and after a quick walk through with the project manager began shooting interiors of the spaces chosen by the two of us. I wrapped up the interiors in the afternoon and returned to my hotel for a quick power nap and then returned to the University to finish up the exteriors as dusk. The rain had stopped so I had perfect conditions to get capture some real dramatic light and sky.

Day one was a real success. Now onto the Casper Medical Center. I awoke at 3am……yes 3am to make the two-hour drive to Casper to beat the dawn light and be in position for a twilight shot of the Medical Centers exterior. I arrived in the nick of time and again captured some great light.

I then moved into the interiors of the complex and immediately began shooting. Shooting in hospitals is a tricky matter because of the security and sensitivity of the patients. Time was of the essence…….

After the interiors were shot I then revisited the exterior and captured a few more images with the sun rising on the building.

I wrapped the shoot at roughly 8am and headed for the nearest Starbucks for a much-needed Venti and to download the images to my back up hard drives. I was on the road and headed back to Colorado by 10:00am for the eight-hour drive home. Friday was spent processing the images starting at 4:00 am and completing them by 3:00pm. I had somehow managed to not only make Haselden’s deadline, but did so with two hours to spare. The shoots were just another example of never knowing what might pop up on my plate at any given time……….Experience, determination and planning all went into making the shoots a success. Something I must say that I am very proud of. Until next time!!