2011 has been a year of high’s and low’s which I am not going to relive here and now. Let me just say I am thankful to have carved out another year of business behind the camera, appreciative for the loyal clients and new clients that made it possible, and excited for the many images that I have yet to make. Now excuse me while I contemplate updating my website…stay tuned.

The story was about a Kansas City man that had to make a really difficult decision. He broke his leg badly in a freak accident at his house. After over a year of therapy and all types of medical intervention the leg wasn’t healing properly and he faced the decision of going through years of additional therapy with the hope the leg would heal properly or amputation. He made the difficult decision to amputate.

From a visual standpoint going into this shoot I knew I had a fine line to walk obviously the story is a large part about his amputated leg which is a graphic element but ultimately it is also about his decision. My goal was to try and find a way visually to tell his story without making it unnecessarily graphic. In my mind he made a brave decision that was the right thing for him and his family and that deserves some credit.

Thankfully the subject was an open book. He was willing to talk about his experience and he was open to shooting at his home where the accident took place.

We started on his back porch where this whole thing began. While he was up on his roof cleaning the gutters he slipped and fell (if you look closely you can see a dent in the gutter where he hit it on his way down).

Never satisfied with just one setup I decided to take him to the street next to his house for a secondary option.

In the end the magazine choose an image from the street.

I have to say it was pretty cool to be in Chicago a few weeks after the shoot and pick up the magazine and find my image on the last page.

Big thanks to the subject Jason for being such an open and willing subject, to my assistant “Goose”, and Chicago Magazine for the assignment. You can read the full article online here.

In the past few months I visited Oregon for the first time but definitely not the last time:

Did a shoot for Chicago Magazine in Kansas City (a full post coming on this shoot sometime soon):

Did a shoot in Branson, Missouri for AARP: (see the full multimedia piece here)

Spent a couple quick days in La Jolla shooting a wedding for a long time client/friend:

Officially retired from Rec League Basketball after another ankle injury:

After said ankle injury I hobbled around the amazing city of Chicago for a few days:

Then went back to my old stomping grounds in Arizona and shot in Phoenix for five days:

Then back to KC just long enough to photograph a gentleman in Topeka that has sold 30,000 cars in his career for another magazine published out of Chicago. Future post and pictures coming once the images are published.

Spent a few days in New York:

And Philly:

And finally back to Kansas City just in time to shoot a video piece that my brother directed:

All while building out a studio space and launching a collaborative portrait project with my studio partner Colby Lysne. Check out the project website here: the roadway studio project

A little iPhone “before” pic action for you:

Lots of decisions to be made and work to be completed but as they say in the real estate biz she has “good bones.”

As a small business owner myself I have a heart for small local businesses. My wife works for a small locally owned company, our favorite restaurants in town are all locally owned places, and we make an effort to support companies like ourselves. Every small business owner I have ever met has a passion for the work that they are doing and more often than not there is also a story behind that passion and I simply dig that.

So if you will allow me to put this all together I am announcing a new endeavor that focuses specifically on small businesses in the Kansas City area to help them create content that tells their story. I recently wrapped my first piece of this nature for Donna’s Dress Shop a vintage/new shop in the Westport area of Kansas City. Check it out below (if you are reading this blog in an e-mail reader you will need to visit the blog itself to see the video):

A big thanks to Donna for being such a great subject and to my partner in crime/editor Steve Hagelman. I am proud of this piece for a variety of reasons and love the response that Donna has received from the piece already. It has already been featured on a popular KC based blog.

If there are other small business owners reading this that have any interest in creating some content in this regard please get in touch. I would love to help you tell your story.

My music video for the band “Bad Lucy” was featured on the Wonderful Machine Blog:  http://www.wonderfulmachine.com/blog/2011/06/bad-lucy/

I participated in the Urban Photo Safari in Kansas City and managed to walk away with a wining shot: http://urbanphotosafari.com/?p=246

I was a featured contributor in this month’s KC Magazine see my close up here:

I have a photograph that will be appearing on the cover of a book by Dr. James Van Slyke. See the mock up here: http://t.co/LYUGQde

Oh…and I just signed a lease on what should be a sweet studio space in Kansas City. 90 Days till opening. Good times!

If you don’t know Terey was recently a finalist on the OWN Network’s “Your Own Show” vying for her own talk show on Oprah’s new network. She finished third and appearing on that show has given her a launching pad for other endeavors. She and I had been chatting for several months about putting together a shoot that would give her some fresh new material to market herself with and we finally made that happen on a recent trip of mine to Phoenix.

We set up a shoot in two parts. First she needed some updated headshots and second I wanted to shoot something that would utilize her comedic talents.

As I often do when shooting headshots I used a mix of natural light to get those great catch lights in her eyes with a mix of flash to separate her from the background.

After nailing down the headshot portion of the shoot we started working towards something that would showcase Terey’s outsized personality and our plan was to put her in full Queen regalia. With a huge assist from my makeup artist/stylist Laura Flagler who secured access to a great wig and the wardrobe department of Phoenix Theater we put together quite an outfit.

I have always been a fan of putting subjects where they are out of place (something I realize has been done many times over) but the idea of an outlandish subject in an ordinary setting just works for me visually. So in full Queen costume I took Terey on the light rail in downtown Phoenix. I knew we would encounter some interesting people along the way and placing “Queen Terey” in an everyday scenario like the train would be visually interesting.

We certainly got reactions and thankfully very little resistance from fellow passengers. In fact most people just kinda cleared out of the way which I understand given the circumstances. It isn’t everyday you encounter someone in a full Queen costume and an entourage that includes a photographer, makeup artist, and a couple videographers. We kinda stood out if you catch my drift.

Despite the size of our group we were also able to capture some nice quiet moments which is the direction my work often ends up going. I feel like this last image really captures Terey at this stage of her life. Hopeful, playful, and ready for her next destination wherever her talents might take her.

J. and I have worked together many times and each time the production gets a little more ambitious which hopefully is an indication of our growth in our chosen creative endeavors. One of the things that I really appreciate about J. is that he doesn’t mind trying things that have the potential for failure. Having a client/friend that is willing to take that leap with you makes for a fruitful creative partnership.

The shoot itself played out over three half days of shooting. Day one with J. and the lovely Lauren Alonzo in a variety of locations in downtown Phoenix including the light rail. Our second shoot day was a quick sunset adventure with J. and Lauren at North Mountain which sadly didn’t make the final cut of the video and the third day with the entire band which makes up a bulk of the final product.

As I have said before shooting motion is truly a team effort and thankfully I had a small but agile crew of helpers including the band which in addition to J. and the two Alex’s include appearances by Gabe Williams on guitar and Samuel Vulaca on keys and tambourine.  Thanks also to band manager Anita Malik and my hair/makeup artist Laura Flagler who not only kept the boys pretty but chased down guitars and helped me direct traffic. I shot the entire video on the Canon 5D Mark II using a Steadicam 1000 it was great fun to be able to move the camera so freely and not to be locked down on a tripod.

The video was edited by my new friend/collaborator Ethan Simmons. Ethan and I found each other via twitter and if I get nothing else out of twitter it would have been worth my time just to get to meet and work with Ethan. He has some serious talent and rolled with changes throughout the editing process. I couldn’t recommend him any higher. Not to mention he is tall and always wears cool shoes. Ethan is moving soon to NYC and I am excited to see where his talents take him in the big city.

So finally after many hours of planning, shooting, and editing I give you Bad Lucy with “Forward”

Again my sincere thanks to J. Miller, Alex Kyhn, Alex Lee, Gabe Williams, Samuel Vulaca, Lauren Alonzo, Anita Malik, Laura Flagler, Ethan Simmons, and Sully for the couch.

If you dig the song follow Bad Lucy on their facebook page they play frequently in some great venues in the Phoenix market and should be hitting the road to tour soon.

Until next time…