Always nice to see your images in the finished piece!  The design sent over a PDF from my CHOC shoot like 6 months ago.  Its inspired me to add a resolution to my shooting schedule this year....really want to chase those institutions that have money, value great photography and NEED great photography.   Schools, universities, health care, hospitals and pharmaceuticals...hear i come!  I should writes some of the goals down...right!?  Who are you shooting this year?

Happy New Year!

So I have really wanted to do more fun family sessions but just have not had the time for it, but I did manage to squeeze in some friends and this is Matt and Jessica and their family of 4.  Matt is a good friend of mine from Penn State, back in the day.

Saw a great show this past weekend.  The 94.9 Holiday Hootenanny.  My favorites were The White Rabbits, Phoenix and Vampire Weekend.  Hands down Phoenix was the best.  Here are some shots, wanted to be a bit closer but did not have Girl Jay there pushing our way up.

 

Hi Everyone,

Looking for that last minute gift for the Paris lover in your life?  Why not a photographic print from Paris.  Choose from 50 images, professionally printed 18x24 inches, presented with a 3 inch matte and a signature black frame - $300.00 per print and frame.  Custom proposal for more than 1 print.  Does not include shipping fee.  No fee for in-studio pickup.

This series of images are intended to be loose and quirky look at Paris.  From urban scapes to small street details.  The simplest images looks great finished and presented.

See one you like, just email me the image number, I will return your email with a invoice and payment form.  Print ordered upon payment received. 

to see the gallery of images, click here

Hi Everyone - just some quick news to let everyone know that I am now working with Wonderful Machine for much of my proposals, negotiations, and producing.  Pretty excited about that and hope to keep them very busy.  For smaller more regional assignments, I will still be handling all the details.

Just some points of contact for WM:

Jess Dudley // Producer
Ben Weldon // Producer
Amanda Hanley // Producer

Just in case you get a call back from an inquiry...hopefully they will turn into a second family here at the studio, despite them being on the East Coast!

so i am now officially part of the machine ;-) thanks Carolyn for the tshirt:

Looking for something fantastic to do on December 5th and your in San Diego, or can get here!   Well you have found it! 

Happenstance
A Photographic Exhibition Benefitting Monarch School
Reception & Silent Auction: Saturday, December 5th, 6-10pm

Sometimes the best photographs come out of the least expected circumstances. Maybe the planets were aligned, maybe it was good karma, or maybe it just comes down to sheer luck. Either way, certain photos were meant to be. Subtext is proud to present Happenstance, a group photography exhibition that celebrates being in the right place at the right time.

For one night only, Subtext will host a silent auction featuring the work of over 30 regional photographers. A portion of the proceeds from the silent auction will benefit Monarch School. Founded in 1988, Monarch School is dedicated to helping San Diego's homeless and at-risk children break the cycle of poverty through education. The school provides them with an accredited education and enrichment programs as well as providing for their basic needs such as medical and dental care, food and clothing supplements, and bus and trolley passes. Monarch serves more than 500 kids each year, ages 4-18, grades K-12. Monarch School is the only program of its kind for homeless kids in the U.S. and is a prototype for how a community can successfully educate homeless children to become productive citizens. So come out and celebrate our community, buy some great photography, and help make a big difference. Mark your calendars, we hope to see you there!

Participating Photographers: Jim Marshall (above), Frank Rogozienski, Lou Mora, Sarah Yates, Bil Zelman, Jeff Lancaster, Dana Niebert, Mark Yaggie, J. Grant Brittain, Tim Mantoani, Marc Tule, Dave Harrison, Nick Nacca, Sean Cassidy, Embry Rucker, Marshall Harrington, Chris Wimpey, John Durant, Joseph Llanes, Daniel Bergeron, Kari Pfeffer, Myles McGuinness, Jeremiah Sullivan, Liz Cockrum, Max Dolberg, John Mireles, Cindy Saylor, Matt Rainwaters, Alicia Stauffer, & Charles Banzon

Photographed below are a few frames of me working on my submission.  One of the first times I have formally shown any work in a gallery, so its pretty exciting.  The beer on the table was one i printed and held back on submitting.  I am submitting a photograph from my black and white series of Paris from 2009.  A shot of gypsy jazz guitarists in a small club in Paris.  Sometimes things just come together for an image and other times, you travel 4000 miles and turn the city upside down looking for that image.

Hope to see you all at Subtext on Saturday!

 

Next to camera equipment, I tend to spend most of my money on books... and always photography books. Anything from the business, the art, the inspiration and instruction on photography. I have been amassing a collection and here are a few recent ones and some old ones I love. Just thought I would share! Pictured below and in the order a bit about them:

The Photo Book, Phaidon - A fantastic collection of any and all photographers that have made serious contributions to the art and evolution of photography. All in alphabetical order, not one more important than the other, but very insightful, inspiring and collective. These are photographs that matter. Anything from art, journalism, fashion, portrait... images that stop you in your tracks and you want to know more. The nice thing is there is some layman insight to the images included that does give you just enough to move on to the next one. But in many cases leaves you wanting to know more about the image and the photographer. At $9.99 from Urban Outfitters, I recommend it!

The Polaroid Book, Tashen - A collection of Polaroids that really makes me regret not shooting my 6x7 Polaroid back for the 10 years I owned it! Just a fantastic collection of art and day to day captures in all its Polaroid wonderful. Inspiring on the creative side, and informative on the history side of the format. This book is offered at a discounted rate celebrating 25 years of Taschen. I also found this one at Urban Outfitters.

Gilles Bensimon Photography, No Particular Order, Filipacchi - My favorite source of inspiration for fashion photography.  Some of the most wonderfully produced portraits and fashion images of some of the most beautiful people. Not a bad combination. But the subjects, fashions, light, color and contrast is timeless and will continue to be a go to book for inspiring images.

Metro, Larry Yust - Probably my favorite book I own. I have a signed first edition of this book and love it. Like the photographer, I feel in love with Paris and the Metro on my first visit. This book is a collection of stitched images of each metro stop and some information of each quarter of the stop. The images are gritty and contrasty and takes me back to Paris each time i look at it!

This will be on ongoing idea for the blog, so if you have a photo book, send it my way, email me for an address, thanks! Jay

Hey Everyone,

Just a fun post from a commercial shoot about 2 months ago, just have not had time to really follow up on it.  I was hired to produce a 7 image campaign for my favorite sweetener SPLENDA!  I played producer as well as photographer on this job.  I would rather just be photographer but the budget was a bit tighter and i need to stretch what they had.  years of producing my own images pays off when you need it to...

15 models, an East Hampton modern dwelling, gym rental, tons of props and prop products, a crew of about 10, food, transportation and lots of profoto rental stuff...not so bad but planning it all from 3000 miles a way was a challenge.

Here are 3 of the images produced, the comped one actually has my son playing model, as well as some assigned friends kids as the kid models.

The images are really very simple in concept but in perfection are very particular abut the expressions, the energy, the composition, and the interaction between models and between their products/food.  In some instances using FUEL Digital retouching services in NYC to perfect the image on all points.

Hey Guys - just for fun...was digging up some old film stuff and came across a bunch of really old images, here is the first concert I shot, way back when... Big Head Todd -- wish i knew what this was shot on, but have no idea, and do not have the negatives.  man i love digital! ;-)

Hi Everyone,  I write this from Puerta Vallarta after a few margaritas so please forgive any typos or slurring.  I always look forward to getting the Patagonia catalog for a few reasons.  I love the products, the imagery and design.  This month's is no exception.  Only its better!  Lots of peope in the world of photography are talking about the integration of photography into rich media and video formats.  This month's Patagonia integrates motion film into printed media, which  is very cool.  In 1968, a film entitled Mountains of Storm was shot and produced with featured Yvon Chionard, Patagonia's founder and creator and stills from the film were used in the layout, ina  graphically delight nature.  Plus there is no shortage of fantastic imagery and great products to spend your money on as well.

Did anyone else enjoy it as much as me, or am I just a bigger photo dork than all of you! ;-)

A you tube clip of Mounatains of Storms:

Some shots of the spreads from patagonia: