2011 in Review

2011 has been trying and rewarding; very challenging, yet created incredible memories. I just wrapped my last shoot for the year, and December, in and of itself, has been a busy month, and I am anxious and excited for 2012, beginning with a magazine cover right out of the gate in January with JEMS Magazine.

I had a lot of fun this year, and not to even mention, I married my best friend this year.

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Favorite Shoots of 2011:
1. HALO 151
2. Southwest Ambulance
3. USMC
4. Security Guard
5. Gas Mask

Most Embarrassing Moment:

Most embarrassing / frustrating moment was also, thankfully, very private! I wanted to shoot something to put on the front of a Christmas card I planned on sending to all of my clients, and to art directors and art buyers I have worked with in the last few years. So I wanted to do something simple, something seasonal, and something that would just fit the cover of a Christmas card. I decided I would do a sunset silhouette shot of the desert with dozen saguaros in the frame, and one of them wrapped in Christmas lights.

So I loaded up on ladders, camera, tripod, strings of Christmas lights, and an inverter to run the lights off the car cigarette lighter, picked the location, set up the ladder, wrapped a full-size saguaro in Christmas lights, and began setting up the shot. I had just a few moments of perfect light and it was the last day I'd be able to get the shot and still produce the card in time for Christmas.

I didn't have a single CF card in my gear.

I was so incredibly frustrated and couldn't believe I didn't bring a memory card. Luckily only my wife was with me at the time.

Favorite Images of 2011: (some captioned below the image)

Being able to shoot on the rooftop of Banner Thunderbird at sunset was amazing, it was a great shoot and can't wait to shoot with HALO again.

I love the look of this image, and the light flare on the left. Long day of shooting, but was a blast.

This image was originally just a light test, but the light combined with Kim's casual pose worked as it was and I ran with it. My only regret was the car in the background, but the light was changing too fast to get the same shot again.

This was a shoot I had been wanting to do for a long time, I wanted to shoot something apocalyptic, and the gas mask was a natural prop choice. The location is an abandoned town in northern Arizona, and it was just a fun and creative day of shooting.

The twilight portraits were my favorite part of the shoot with Southwest Ambulance. The fading lights of the sky mixed with the ambulance lights and subject lighting just came together perfectly. Couldn't have worked with a better group of people.

Classic fashion shoot, models, lights, fans, and a studio - always fun.

Another personal project that I was excited to shoot, the concept of illustrating the expressions and responses of an incompetent security guard when his warehouse is robbed. I just love his face here.

The HALO shoot has been one of this year's highlights, and it's a classic example of right lighting and right locations. It was a lot of work, but even more fun.

Lastly, still on the HALO rave, what could be more fun than coordinating your subjects, assistants, lighting and a hovering helicopter?

2012:

I cannot wait to get 2012 going, a lot of projects in the works, and getting ready to launch a marketing campaign to start the year. Definitely gonna hit the ground running on January 1st.