My First British Editorial Spread

The new issue of Mumsense Magazine is out, featuring a story I shot called 'Silent Nights.' Mumsense is a brand new British magazine for parents who want tips on 'making sense of family life.' It is a beautifully designed publication, and I'm so thrilled to have contributed to it. Once again, I had the great pleasure of working with my good friend and extraordinarily talented stylist/set designer Valerie Mangum. They gave us three full bleed pages!

Thanks, Mumsense. I sincerely hope we can work together again very soon.

New Business Cards

I should be receiving my new business cards, designed by my good friend Yen Tan, in four business days. I'll try and post an entry when they arrive so you can see how they turned out.

Bleeding Arms or, Justin Meaders Makes Me Feel Lazy

When this assignment came in, I was immediately excited. There's something very compelling about shooting portraits of athletes; the opportunity to try and catch (or recreate) their bodies in motion, capturing the intensity in their eyes, as well as the intrinsic acceptability of making the lighting and angles punchier and more graphic than other types of portraiture.

The magazine wanted a clean portrait of Justin on white, and they wanted to feature his racing chair. Justin is paraplegic, resulting from a motorcycle racing accident. He now participates in all three events in numerous triathlons. When that season is over, he plays hockey. Not only is he the Wheelchair Racing Director for Dallas' White Rock Marathon, he has also won 3 events so far, and is an incredibly cool guy.

Below is the magazine's pick for their interview, which features one of the toughest pull quotes ever: "When I finish races, sometimes the inside of my arms will be bleeding."

My many thanks to Justin for being such a gracious and willing subject. I wish him all the best on his many athletic endeavors.

Perception Is Everything

I read this on aphotoeditor.com and and was pleasantly surprised to hear it from someone on the other side. 

I'm posting it verbatim, but make sure you check out Rob's excellent blog for consistently insightful content.

"Perception Is Everything – For Photo Editors

One of the mistakes I made as a photo editor early on was copping a “can do” attitude when it came to finding photography or making assignments. I figured I would just work as hard as I could and the end result was what it was. The problem with this is nobody factors in the limitations of the job they handed you after you’re done. A Creative Director I worked for once said “we need to manage the expectations” which basically means we need to discuss the limitations before heading off to try and solve the problem. When making assignments this means knowing beforehand what the subject looks like; what the environment in which they will be shot looks like; how much time you will have to make a picture; will there be a budget for wardrobe, hair & makeup, props; is the subject even aware thry’re to be photographed. There is nothing worse than discovering upon arrival of the shoot in the office that what was pitched doesn’t not match what exists.

When it comes to stock, a little investigation into whether there is good coverage of a subject matter is always a good strategy before a meeting. That way you can tell them “stock doesn’t exist so we need to shoot a picture and I’ve not turned up any photographers I like in the area so we need to fly someone in.”

The sooner you have these conversations in the editorial process the better it is for everyone. That way if the stock is crap and there’s no time/budget for a shoot making the decision to still run a story means they don’t care if the magazine looks horrible. At least they know they’re the one’s making that decision."

Glory At Sea

There are an infinite number of ways to bring attention to a tragedy: memorials, activism, legislation, riots, denial, apathy... the list goes on. 

My favorite - and (in my opinion) one of the most honorable reactions - is creativity.

Glory At Sea is many things, but at it's core it is a film about people who never give up hope, even when hope seems like a fantasy.... (It should also be said that this is a poetic narrative about those who lost love ones at the hands of Hurricane Katrina.)

This film made its festival run in '07, so I am extremely late in blogging about it. It is, however, an amazing film, and deserves as much attention as it can garner.

Boys Named Sue

I'm not going to lie to you... This was a tough one. The band had very little time before a three hour show, and I had a couple of versions I desperately wanted to try. It is worth noting, however, that the most challenging shoots are the ones that tend to produce the most unexpected (and often surprisingly good) results.

Boys Named Sue are a no-fuss, honky tonk/country-inspired band. I only include the hyphen because the genre they inhabit (rather tongue-in-cheekily) is a genre that I really respect. These Boys don't disrespect country, by any means, but they ain't exactly penitent for their version of it, either. But I digress...

After listening to some of their songs, I decided it might make a nice portrait to shoot these Boys at a poker table, drinking PBR and playing some bastardization of the game. Having wasted much precious time trying to unload the table and props, my assistant suggested I shoot the Boys hanging out while he prepped the set. Great advice... Funny how that works.

I'll post a version of the poker scenario out-take for good measure:

I like the poker shot. But I'm glad I broke away to shoot the Boys with their guard down. I can definitely see why the magazine picked one from that session instead. 

Here's to heeding good advice...

Have Fun

The great thing about working in a creative field is that, in one way or another, most of us are right brainers who are happy to have found ourselves on a team with others of our ilk. Don't get me wrong - You will occasionally find yourself on a set with someone (or several someones) who work better in under duress, and so that's the environment they nurture.

Our work can definitley get stressful - it is business, after all - but I think individuals in our field who create stress for themselves and those around them are:

1) shooting themselves in the foot, because the crew (and the client) will remember it...

2) forgetting that a crew is a team. Everyone wants the shoot to turn out well. Nurture the team, and the end product will always be better...

Here's the deal: Creative jobs are, in the end, fun. I don't envy lawyers and doctors: individuals for whom the result of their work could mean the difference between freedom and imprisonment, or life and death. We're just making good pictures. Pictures that tell stories. Sometimes, they're important stories that need to be told, and other times we're just helping advertise something or someone. Either way, we're damn lucky to be doing it.

So, when you can - and as often as you can - remember to have fun. The approach will reflect in your work, and - as an added bonus - you'll probably live longer.