Matthew Clarkson for Dallas Modern Luxury

Matthew Clarkson runs the brand new Tom Ford boutique at Neiman Marcus in NorthPark. He is a one dapper dude, and was extremely fun to shoot. His excitement and passion about style and fashion is contagious. My thanks to the folks over at Modern Luxury for the assignment.

Here are a couple of outtakes from the shoot:

all images © Nick Prendergast

New Tear Sheet: Conor Lyons for Dallas Child

I had the pleasure of shooting Conor Lyons for a story about gifted kids in the new issue of Dallas Child. Creative Direcor Lauren Niebes had told me about the assignment a week or so before the shoot, and we immediately began thinking of ways to illustrate his quirky personality and his advanced intellect. Conor was a fun subject to shoot, and a cool kid to hang out with. He draws really detailed maps, builds amazing WWII figurines, and has an incredibly inquisitive mind. Here's an outtake from the shoot featuring some of the clay soldiers he's created:

© Nick Prendergast

{from the Dallas Child website}

Many thanks to Conor, his mom Julie, and Lauren for her amazing concept and direction.

Cassy Lawson for Dallas Child Magazine

I had the pleasure of photographing Cassy Lawson and her lovely family for the current issue of Dallas Child. I shoot for this column frequently, and the challenge quickly becomes finding new ways to capture the feel of a family in their home without it getting visually repetitive. When I suggested to Cassy that she and her family sit on the floor behind their couch, she must've thought I was crazy. I really like the location, though, because I think it gives the shot a sense intimacy that other, more obvious spots around a family home wouldn't provide. Check out Cassy's activities-for-mothers organization, PROJECT MOM.

Three New Covers to Ring In The New Year!

Goodbye, 2011. You were a year filled to the brim with great surprises, unexpected joy, gut-wrenching loss, familiar frustration, amazing opportunity and - as with any passage of time - lessons that will forever inform my life. I look forward to the ways in which 2012 will whip those same ingredients into its own entirely new concoction.  

I awoke this morning to find that the three January covers I shot for Dallas Child, Fort Worth Child and North Texas Child are out! My thanks to the wonderful, creative folks over at Dallas Child for this fantastic assignment.

My First Magazine Cover: Thrive!

My cover for Thrive Magazine is finally out, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's another one of those hallmarks in a photographer's career that let you know (or help you believe, anyway) that you're on the right track. My many thanks to the wonderful folks over at Lauren Publications for the work!

Joe Gumm For North Texas Child

I shot this portrait of Fox Sports anchor and author Joe Gumm with his family for North Texas Child. It was a really fun shoot. My many thanks to the Gumm family and the folks over at Lauren Publications.

Alison Viktorin for Fort Worth Child Magazine

© Nick Prendergast

I recently had the pleasure of shooting voice-over and commercial actress Alison Viktorin and her son Cyrus for the current issue of Fort Worth Child. Many thanks to Alison, Cyrus and Lauren!

New Small Magazine Shoot

The new issue of Small Magazine just came out, and I thought I'd share it. Many thanks to my talented art director and set designer Valerie Mangum and wardrobe stylist Aften Owens.

All images © Nick Prendergast

Breck Woolsey for Modern Luxury

Breck is an very talented interior designer based here in Dallas. I had the privilege of shooting his portrait for the current issue of Modern Luxury. Breck was an extraordinarily fun and enthusiastic subject. We ended up shooting for a couple of hours, every now and then taking a break to talk about music, style and travel. It was a blast. I wish they could all be like this one.

Here are a couple of other versions and outtakes:

Museum Tower

I shot John Sughrue and Dan Boekman, investor and developer of Museum Tower for the new issue of Modern Luxury. 

Here are a couple of outtakes:

Major General Jim Williams for D Magazine

My Dad is a retired military officer, so I naturally have a lot of respect for the men and women (and their families) who serve in the Armed Forces. Meeting General Williams - and later reading his interview that ran with the portrait I shot - I definitely feel honored to have met the man. As a tall-ish person myself, I was immediately struck by how tiny I felt occupying space with him. On top of his physical presence, there's his service record to consider: Major General Jim Williams is one of only 70 Major Generals in the world. He is a Two-star General, which is the third-highest commissioned rank in the U.S. Military. He worked at the White House under Reagan as a Marine military social aide, and went on to command the 4th Marine Division, one of the largest military units on the planet. Then he resigned his commission because he fell in love with his now wife, Maria. She was a teacher here in Dallas and didn't want to leave her job. So he did. How amazing is that?

Here's the shot that D Magazine ran, for their monthly "People of Interest" column:

Thank you, General. It was a pleasure to work with you.

Tanya Foster of the Dallas Film Society

I shot this portrait of Tanya Foster, President and CEO of the Dallas Film Society, for an article promoting the DFS's inaugural Dallas International Film Festival, which kicks off this week. In it's first year without the illustrious AFI brand, the festival is still screening plenty of interesting-looking films including:

- 'Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No,' an animated retelling of the Major League Baseball player who allegedly dropped acid then pitched a no-hitter in 1970.

-'I Am Love,' an Italian film starring the always amazing Tilda Swinton, the photography of which looks incredible.

-'American: The Bill Hicks Story,' about Houston native Bill Hicks, one of the smartest and funniest comedians who ever lived. (I know - I've already hyped this one. I can't help myself.) If you happen to live in Dallas and plan on seeing this film, you will most definitely see me there.

I would be remiss not to mention some of my filmmaker friends whose work will be showing at the festival as well:

'Earthling' by Clay Liford, 'HOLD' by Frank Mosley, 'Brotherhood' by Will Canon, and 'Carried Away' by Tom Huckabee. Congratulations and good luck, gentlemen.

Architect Svend Fruit for Modern Luxury

As a huge fan of modern architecture and design, I was beyond excited to get to shoot in a Howard Meyer-designed home in Greenway Parks. The subject of the shoot is Svend Fruit, architect half of the amazing design firm bodron+fruit. Svend specializes in carefully and beautifully restoring historic homes, and when the trend is to demolish the old and build something ugly and new in its place - it's refreshing to meet someone who sees the importance in saving what is already here. Especially when what's being saved is a gorgeous testament to a historically significant period in American style.

Here are a couple of outtakes that show a bit more of the house:

I had a great time shooting Svend. My only regret is that because his schedule was fairly restricted, I wasn't able to explore more options in and around that incredible house with him.

SOLID: James M Johnston

My great friend, ex-roommate, co-conspirator, filmmaker, vegan chef and (in many circles) semi-celebrity James M Johnston has a blog that he wanted to promote. Somehow, we came up with the idea to lampoon the American Apparel advertising campaign. This series was a blast to shoot. The copy - based entirely on the early American Apparel ads that read like Playboy Playmate bios - was a lot of fun to write.

Gert Kopera - Chef Hunter

Gert Kopera has a cool job, but he wouldn't call it 'chef hunting.' He is the vice president of food and beverage for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which consists of (at least in part) traveling the world, eating at the finest restaurants and meeting the best chefs the world has to offer. He keeps numerous little black books filled with interesting dishes, names of chefs, fine dining establishments spanning the planet, and concepts that come to him that might prove useful in the future. He is also a badge-weilding member of Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, an exclusive international gastronomic society founded in Paris in 1950, devoted to 'promoting fine dining and preserving the camaraderie and pleasures of the table.'

From a photographer's standpoint, Gert is a fantastic subject: gregarious, patient, worldly, full of interesting anecdotes and, it must be noted - a penchant for designer suits. I shot his portrait above at Rosewood's luxury hotel The Mansion in Dallas, TX for D Magazine.

Songwriter John Lefler

I know I've been indulging in way too many tear sheet postings, but hey - seeing your work make it to print is one of the more exciting aspects of a photographer's gig. This shoot with John Lefler was great. It was a Sunday afternoon, John was excited about the article and in no hurry to get it over with. John is a multi instrumentalist and songwriter who also plays with the band Dashboard Confessional - so he's no stranger to being in front of the camera. I can't tell you what a difference it makes shooting somebody who's comfortable on the other side of that lens.

We went about the shoot in a very relaxed manner - taking frequent long pauses for conversation about music, photography, business, mutual acquaintances and the like. I cannot emphasize enough what a luxury time is on an assignment like this. Frequently, you get between 10-30 minutes. John let me hang out with him for a couple of hours.

I've bumped into John a handful of times since our shoot, and he's always quick to shake my hand and thank me for my time. I can honestly always reply, "The pleasure was all mine."

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.

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.

Shnit 09!

My good friend James M Johnston wrote and directed a short film called Receive Bacon that was selected to play at the Shnit International Film Festival in Switzerland. He was very surprised to discover that the festival's graphic design team chose to use my portrait of him as the inside cover of the festival program. Needless to say, I am surprised and pleased as well. I especially applaud the use of his beard for copy placement. Excellent.

Dallas Center For The Performing Arts

This was a cool assignment.  Mark Nerenhausen is the CEO of the new Dallas Center For The Performing Arts. The only direction I was given was to photograph him somewhere on-site at the new Center. I was very surprised that the magazine picked the shot it did.

Don't get me wrong. I liked the shot above. If I didn't, the magazine would never have seen it. But that's what's so great about working with a talented photo editor. They have a different set of eyes, a different take on things, a more objective - and I'll admit it, sometimes better - vision for the work than I do. I think photographers are lucky to have that second opinion built into the process. It makes us better at our job.

Seeing it printed - I love it. I love it way more than I did when I was making my picks for the gallery. The out-takes below were, in my opinion, pretty strong contenders as well...