Keeping Things Straight

I had the pleasure to shoot John Elway's Crown and Manhattan Toyota campaign shots last week for David with Handcrafted Media. Working with him, as always, is just a darn great time. We really had great models, hair make-up crew and I also had the pleasure of meeting John's wife, Paige. She is as beautiful of a person as she looks.

BUT the best part of this gig was having my son, Zach, be my grip and assistant. We had a blast together preparing, hanging out before and after the shoot, and working together. While growing up he only heard about the shoots I was doing, he finally got to see his ol’ dad in action.

I think he enjoyed working with me, but as you can see by the look on his face working side by side with John Elway was really the highlight of his day...here he is holding a ruler so John would have a guide to help him stand perfectly straight. This shot will be used for a "live" 6'-3" high cutout of Mr. Elway.

Prius Love

Well I'm way behind on my posts, but wanted to share a few images from a shoot a few weeks ago. I had the pleasure shooting and meeting Rick Johnson and his wonderful family. Rick, a Phoenix area resident was the first in the Southwest region to take ownership of the 2010 Prius. He really has a long standing love affair with the hybrid car – he purchased his first Toyota Prius in 2001 and loved the first generation hybrid so much he still owns it today.  When the second generation Prius was announced in 2004 he thought the extra improvements Toyota made to the car justified owning a second hybrid so he bought one of those too.

Avondale Toyota with Handcrafted Media wanted me to do some PR and marketing shots, so here's a few shots showing all SIX of his loves: 

Go Team Avondale Toyota!

Here's a few images from yesterday's shoot for Avondale Toyota. As always, great working with them on their additional Team Member's photos. Thanks Brad and Angie! (btw - she's the beautiful lady the upper right corner of the image below.)

Here's me in action and the set-up: single strobe and softbox with ambient back and fill light. 

Down Right Sexy

I was lucky enough to have the time today to shoot some beautiful autos belonging to a small group of enthusiasts who get together Sunday mornings to show off their classic cars. Some are just down right sexy!

Click on this link or  the one to the left to see gallery of images.

Contraption Thingy

First off I want to clarify, no matter how much I would like to be seen as very clever and brilliantly creative, I can’t take any credit for this cool contraption thingy. The credit and inspiration all goes to a great designer and photographer, Jason Garcia, whom I ran into at Lux coffee shop. He was lugging around this weird, black tube like thing taking pictures of scooters in the parking lot. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to go find out what he was up to. Turns out he shoots down a constructed tube into the viewfinder of a vintage Kodak Duaflex. The result is a square, grainy, artsy fartsy, retro picture. Cool. I just had to go right out and get my own Duaflex and build my contraption. Below are a few of the first results of images in and around our garden:

Below are a few shots of the Kodak Duaflex and my contraption.

In The Mood

Last Saturday night I had the great opportunity again to donate my skills to the annual Commemorative Air Force Arizona Wing (a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to the preservation of historic aircraft) "A Night in the 40s Big Band Dance". A great cause to honor the men and women who served our country and loads of fun. The Sun Lakes Big Band did a great job swingin' to Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and my favorite tune from Glenn Miller, "In The Mood.” Now if I could only dance...

To see the images, click here.

A Quickie

Just a few shots from the quick PR shoot last week for John Elway's Crown Toyota in Ontario CA and his Manhattan Beach Toyota in Manhattan Beach CA for Handcrafted Media. After the shoot I got to follow John to a celebrity golf tournament. He's not only a NFL legend, but also an amazing golfer!

Office With More Than A View

After getting back from a week vacation in the beautiful ski town of Red River, NM, I was able to sort through some of my favorite shots.

Our vacation turned into more like a working vacation - it was either staying and working here in Phoenix, or being up in the cool pines and aspens where the average high temps were in the mid 60s. It's not a real hard choice where I would rather work! We were also lucky enough to time our trip with the aspens putting on their yearly fall show. Breathtaking at every turn.

Even with work I had time fish and play with my pinhole camera (as soon as I get the film developed, I will post shots).






Here are a few infrared images...

Faces of Success

It was great and very fulfilling to see a portrait project I have been working on since February for Human Services Campus finally displayed in their newly renovated historic building in downtown Phoenix.

All of these eleven individuals were once homeless. Today, they all sleep in their own beds, in their own homes or apartments. No longer on the streets, they are now self-reliant, productive, fulfilled citizens. Human Services Campus, with many Phoenix agencies, corporations and individuals have worked to enable the breakthroughs described in their stories. Each one of these people were remarkable to work with and have remarkable stories.

To see the finished eleven portraits, click here.

As Promised...

As promised here are a few of my favorite shots from last week's shoots for Handcrafted Media at John Elway's Crown Toyota and then his Manhattan Beach Toyota's Grand Opening event. John is not only a NFL legend, but a incredibly intelligent, generous, pretty darn funny and a really great guy to work with. And of course there is never a dull moment when you are working with David at Handcrafted Media and as always, great gigs. Thanks David!

Happenstance

Going through the numerous images from my Elway shoot last week I came across one of the coolest shots I've taken - just happened to drop one of my cameras at the Manhattan Beach Toyota event and hit the shutter as I caught it - sometimes you're just lucky in more ways than one.

Worth the Long Road Trip Back Home

On my drive back from the Elway shoot for Handcrafted Media in Ontario I stopped off between the cities of Indio and Blythe at an abandoned elementary school in Desert Center, town (pop. 125) located in the Colorado Desert of Southern California.

The first school in the area was this Desert Center School, which was originally a red-brick schoolhouse built by Steve Ragsdale in the 1940s. Their motto 'Where Children Come First' must of been easy to stand by because the K-8 school had a staff around 2 and averaged 19 students!

I have passed by this school many times in the last 20+ years and always thought it would be a great place to shoot. I was right. After hiking with flip-flops through the hot desert and broken glass to find the music room - it made it all worth it!

...and as promised, I'll be posting some pics from the Elway shoot soon