Studio BTS

While in between productions in 2018 I had intended to post more frequently (more than 2017 at least) but as time is limited, the posts seem to be as well. I did want to get a recent collaboration out there. Awhile back Motivity Pictures stopped by the studio. Motivity is a production company producing excellent work. They spent an afternoon in the studio for new portraits for their website. And as all photographers/videographers tend to do, they brought their cameras along. What followed was great conversation, awesome photos, and a wonderful little bts video. Check out the bts...

And here is the group image from my side of the camera....

Motivity Pictures

There's a heavy tone here for a different look. All in all, a good afternoon's work. Hopefully more to follow here sooner than later...

Back At It w/Cranium

When I meet up with passionate people who want to collaborate I always make the time. Vinh and Skotty of Cranium are definitely those people (follow them Cranium.club!) I spent part of the night in the studio with them this week photographing. And with tons of help from Artie we managed to put together some looks for their upcoming release at All City Kicks. All good things from them. Anyway, short post for the day. Could be the last one of the year! Crazy. Have a good one out there...more to follow...

Portrait: Daphne

There are times when I get a great opportunity to randomly work with someone... this is a pretty good case in point. Daphne had some time in Michigan before heading back to the sunny southwest and we took a hour or two to put together a few solid portraits in the studio before she left. There were a lot of really good moments. It was awesome that we had a chance to work together. Daphne is going places for sure. It'll be great to say, "I knew you when..." but until then, these are some great portraits. I'll post a few here over the weeks and a few more on insta.

Daphne, 2017

Also, I cannot believe it's Thanksgiving. Time is racing by. That being said, there is a lot to be thankful for. Both in life and work I am continually grateful for so many of the people and opportunities that are part of who I am and what I do. I'm looking forward to a lot, but it's impossible not to look back and feel a lot of gratitude. For those of you stateside, I hope you have a good Thanksgiving with family and friends. If you happen to not read this in the states, be well my friends. More to follow...

Portrait: Ednis

Another week, a little more new work. Or at least backstory. Ednis of The Grand Rapids Ballet Company stopped by the studio forever ago but I never spoke of it. He's great guy and a talented dancer.

He was nice enough to sit for a portrait and then again for my tattoo series. 

Ednis, 2017

This was another opportunity to collaborate with Jordan and Jackson. Really great people. Have a good weekend... More work to follow...

New Work Coming

I've been siting on a lot of work I've created over the last few months. I've found, for me at least, it's a bit process to add it to the portfolio and take on new jobs/projects at the same time. The greatest resource in the arts, or as much as anything I suppose, is time. Hands down. Always time. I never seem to have enough of it.

But I am happy with a lot of new work I've been producing. It's been a lot of collaboration and hustle. But it's all coming together. I'll post some here, and for sure on my Instagram. I'll probably post backstory here for a few that DID make it into the studio page but never here. Like I said, it's a process.

This image never made it here or on Instagram but it signifies my first collaboration Jordan. His work and skill can really take the image further. His mastery with skin tone, luminosity in the shadows, and background gradients is excellent.

I've worked with him on some select images and I can't say enough good things. Anyway, it was awesome to work with Jennie, The Matthew Agency, and Lauren Nicole Makeup. So many fun moments. More to follow...

Architecture Photography

Like I said in the last post, things have been busy behind the desk, but I'm happy I've been able find time to post here in the last week or two. It feels good to write again.

That being said I've never been a photographer who does "one thing" in terms of subject matter. When someone says, "You're a photographer? what do you photograph?" And my answer is usually, "a lot" or "everything" ...and while those are "answers" it's never an answer that people can latch onto. "Everything" doesn't really give them a relatable concept. But it's true! I find myself photographing such a wide range of content. There isn't anything I haven't photographed or won't photograph. I suppose I lead "studio first" but there's nothing I leave off the table.

Recent case in point, a project for River City Studios. They celebrated 40 years of providing quality sound to those needing professional audio. I spent the day along with Artie photographing their studios and space. It was a fun project and allowed different levels of collaboration. Here's two quick images from the production. And if you need quality audio, don't hesitate to reach out to them. River City Studios is an excellent team to work with. More to follow...

Studio A Control Room at River City Studios

Studio B Control Room at River City Studios

cranium.club

Forever ago (because nothing posted here is recent lol) I paired up for a quick project with cranium.club for a quick spread. Cranium is the creation of Vinh Nguyen and Doms Nguyen.

Their brand, their site, their ideas...all full of hustle and love. Recently I was happy to be able to attend their pop up shop at ACK. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do and where they go. Visit their site for more info. And none of this could have been possible without the talented Amanda. Now that it's done and dusted, here's two from that project. And a fun one from the popup. Always more to follow...

BTS + New Work

I've never been big into BTS images for some reason. Maybe I feel mine are always lacking when there are some amazing photographers out there doing really great work in the studio and on location, but I have to admit that I'm warming to the idea. Awhile ago one of my images was picked up by Famous BTS Magazine. It kinda changed my thoughts on BTS and the community creating them (thanks Jess for your help on mine!).

My BTS image is the closest thing my work has come to "going viral" and that was a kinda fun.

Also kinda fun, imminently after they picked up my image was a stunning image from a rooftop in Santorini.

It does make for a nice contrast.

Anyway, 2,844 people liked my image and there was a rather small debate about it's purpose in the commments. I found that amusing considering the content on the BTS feed. Arguably each image there is not "the final image" and yet at the same time, for the BTS feed, every post is "the final image." Each image has a true double purpose.

But as I said, this is more about fun than anything else. This isn't the greatest place to have a deep meaningful discussion about the purpose of photography. All BTS images have a "look at me" element about them as they are. And maybe that's why I resisted them for awhile. I don't naturally have that characteristic to my personality. On the other side, I feel it is a bit of an invitation...

"Join me. Let's make your production happen. I will make the content you want, and if you look at my BTS images, you'll see I never hold back to when creating."

Could be reading into it but that idea does excite me. Because I think collaborating with people to bring their vision to life is exciting. And if a BTS image inspires collaboration, I'm all about that. Artie was on set with me the other day and he snapped this wonderful moment (thanks Artie!).

Super fun. Matthew Agency talent Dani was awesome in the studio. It was about as quick of a shoot as you can have, but none the less yielded some great images.

New work to come and more collaborations with Artie as we take on some new video projects!

And of course, some more BTS images :) More to follow...