Our Crew

Wow. Time seems to be flying by at an alarming rate these days. These past few weeks have been truly remarkable on a deeply personal level. For those who don’t know, my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world on May 16. My son, Crew, is one amazing little dude who totally rocks my world. I’m sure every parent out there can relate. For those who aren’t–let me just say that having children is one of the most amazing experiences in life. Period. Nothing else I’ve experienced in my 34 years has come even close. Although it has only been a short time since my son’s arrival I cannot image life without our little guy. I just can’t seem to get enough of him. It’s an exciting chapter, and I look forward to the new adventures ahead.

I’ve been on a bit of a babymoon these past few weeks and haven’t really done much other than spend tons of quality time with my little guy and our family. I do apologize for the recent lack of posts but trust that you all understand. I’m finally back into the swing of things full time and there is lots on the horizon. More soon . . .

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Tornado Alley

I don’t know about you but tornados get me excited–especially since I grew up in Western Kansas and tornados were a huge part of my childhood. Check out the trailer for the new IMAX film Tornado Alley by film maker Sean Casey. Back in May of 2009 I was blessed with the opportunity to tag along and photograph Sean and the Vortex 2 project for 10 days including their historic day on June 5. (You can read about it here.) What an experience! Sean is one of the most passionate film makers I’ve met dedicating over 8 years to this project. Needless to say I cannot wait to see this on the big screen!

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Favorite Photos of the Decade

Over the past week I have seen numerous other photographers post their personal favorite images from the past decade. I found reading these posts and the reasons for choosing the images they did to be extremely interesting so I thought I would follow suit and offer up something similar here in hopes that you too might enjoy. Narrowing down a decade worth of work to just ten images (plus one bonus) wasn’t easy, but I kept the criteria simple. I chose each image based on either an intense or particularly memorable experience or because the photo represents what I enjoy shooting most. I gave no weight to portfolio “worthiness,” and if you asked me to pick ten photos again tomorrow, they would probably all be different. I hope you enjoy reading about each photo as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Before the days of digital (back in 2003) I was invited to cover the second edition of the Red Bull Rampage in Southern Utah. I was just starting out and at the time I had never photographed athletes of that caliber. I was blown away by both their athleticism and the magnitude of the whipe-outs. Michael Marosi’s 20ft fall into the chasm between a drop-down know as the “Leap of Faith” was dramatic to say the least. More impressive than the fall was watching him get up, dust himself off as though nothing had happened and ride his broken bike to the finish within the time allotment. Amazing. I still remember the excitement of getting the film back from the lab and seeing this image for the first time.

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2010

Number of days “on the road”: 128

Favorite travel experiences: 1. Volunteering in the Olancho Region of Honduras with my wife – the people were amazing. 2. Shooting new work for my portfolio on Maui in February. Is there anything better than Hawaii in the dead of winter? 3. The MANY trips to different cities around the US to share my work with creatives.

Personal highlights: 1. Celebrating two amazing years of marriage.  2. Finding out I was going to be a father and hearing our child’s heartbeat for the first time. 3. Watching my little sister walk down the aisle. 4. Witnessing my mother battle a reoccurrence of breast cancer with such an amazing attitude and grace. She is one of my biggest inspirations. 5. Continued rapid growth of my business despite the economy.

Best purchases: My new custom print portfolio. An Apple iPad. Angry Birds.

Worst purchases: 2nd and 3rd iPhones – what can I say. I’ve got a plumber with slippery hands and I’m pretty good at losing things . . .

Best business books read: The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau, Visionmongers by David DuChemin and The Dip by Seth Godin (not all were released in 2010)

Some of my favorite new music: OK GO (Of The Blue Colour of the Sky), Blind Pilot (3 Rounds and a Sound – discovered in but not released in 2010), The Avett Brothers (I and Love and You) and Ray LeMontagne and the Pariah Dogs (God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise), KMTT’s Live From the Mountain Music Lounge Vol 16 (a great collection of live acoustic performances by some amazing artists)

Most creative music video: OK GO’s music videos are You Tube sensations for a reason. They are highly addictive and ubber creative. My personal favorite from this year is This Too Shall Pass. Make sure to check out White Knuckles as well. Highly entertaining and extremely well done.

Inspiring blog discovery: Yello by Smashbox Studios.

The year in movies: A creative 6 minute edit of clips from over 270 movies from 2010 by Gen Ip. Pretty dope if you ask me.

Smartest business investment: Hiring a consultant to help me take my business to the next level along with the many trips taken to get out and meet creatives in person.

Best advice: It wasn’t given to me directly but the advice from actor Kevin Spacey in the clip above is pretty powerful.

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My Greatest Adventure?

Anyone who knows me understands that I consider myself a fortunate man. I’ve built the career of my dreams and feel truly blessed by the places my eyes have seen and the experiences I’ve had thus far in my life. As a photographer, I’ve frolicked with penguins at the southern tip of South America, climbed 20,000+ ft volcanoes in Ecuador, traversed massive glaciers on skis in the Canadian Rockies and sea kayaked with humpbacks in SE Alaska. Heck I’ve even swam with Oscar (the shark) off the coast of Maui. Life has been one big adventure after another, and I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

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iPad as a Portfolio?

Confession time. This will probably come as no surprise, but I’m an Apple fan boy through and through. My wife thinks I am a bit obsessed but it is true. I love all things Apple and am starting to think I should buy stock in the company. In the last 18 months I’ve purchased several new computers and 3 iPhones. Yes 3. What can I say? I’m hard on gear, and our plumber has slippery hands. It was no surprise then when the iPad was released earlier this year I was immediately enamored. The technology is changing how media is consumed while opening new doors for photographers. It wasn’t until my latest round of portfolio reviews in California that I took the plunge and purchased an iPad.

As many of you may know, I recently invested a truck load of money into a new print portfolio that has been getting great response from creatives. So what then possessed me to add an iPad to the mix? Simple. The cost of updating my printed portfolio to show my latest work and images tailored to a specific project/client was simply too great. Now that I’ve used the iPad in numerous portfolio reviews I thought I would share some pros and cons based on my experiences and feedback from real-world, in-person meetings.

Pros:

• Portability – nothing beats having a portfolio with you at all times for those chance encounters
• Ease of updating/customizing presentations
• Multiple “portfolio” apps available. I personally use (and highly recommend) FolioBook.
• Ability to share motion/multimedia presentations through a medium less bulky than a laptop
• Cutting edge technology and slick user interface keeps the photographer looking up-to-date
• Great way to supplement a print portfolio with your latest work or show images tailored to a specific client
• Option to show personal work in a personal setting. For me this meant creating a portfolio of portraits taken on a service trip to Honduras last February. I definitely didn’t show these to all clients but when it felt appropriate it was a great way to show more of my personality and the things that are important to me.
• Cost is minimal when compared to the traditional custom print portfolio.

Cons:

• In my mind an iPad will never come close to the wow factor of a custom built portfolio with high-quality prints. There is something to be said for the tactile feel of fine art paper and beautiful prints.
• Surprisingly intimidating for many users. Some had never used one and were unsure how to navigate.
• Liability for the viewer. Most art buyers I met enjoyed reviewing work this way, but commented they wouldn’t want someone to ship them an iPad for fear of theft, damage etc. I found this interesting since my printed portfolio cost 3 times that of the iPad, but understand their point given the universal appeal of an iPad.
• Viewing size – a little small.
• Finger prints – must clean after each use.
• Cost is significant, if used in conjunction with a printed portfolio.
• Since many photographers are starting to use iPads it will become increasing difficult to make presentations stand out and leave an impression during meetings. While it’s true a photographer’s work should be enough to garner attention, there are other factors to consider too, like branding and the overall experience.

All that said given my own experiences thus far I would not personally feel comfortable showing just an iPad at a formal “meet and greet”–especially for the high-end advertising and commercial work I am after. To me it simply doesn’t have the same “wow” factor as my printed book. However, I do believe the iPad is an excellent tool to supplement my custom print portfolio and share more recent work than what is in my printed book. It is also a great tool for sharing motion/multimedia and is great for those chance meetings.

For those looking for more opinions, check out A Photo Editor’s recent post on this very topic.

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