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ASMP Christmas party…

ASMP Dallas Christmas Party:

At Ghost Bar Dallas Roof Top Lounge “W” Hotel

When: Thursday December 10
Where: Ghost Bar 2440 Victory Park Lane Dallas, TX 75219 (214) 397.4100

members and non-members are welcomed — In fact, the entire photography, design, advertising, commercial art, art, modeling community is welcomed to join our soirée. Just mention one of our members (or say you saw the poster =).

The “private” party is from 7:00 – 9:00 PM (the bar opens to the public at 9:00 PM). We can stay as long as we like until closing.

There is no charge to enter for us, or our invited guests, spouses, or dates. ($20.00 per person to the public after 9:00 PM). No one under 21 years old is allowed, please dress appropriately for the Ghostbar or you may be refused entrance.

There are a limited number of snacks & free drinks and after they are exhausted the party will become a cash bar. We will have a live band Luv Bus, fronted by Gary Boren, which is a mix of jazz/indie/salsa fusion band, that also plays Johnny Cash covers, YeeHaw! (hey, I happen to like Johnny Cash). The clubs Disco starts at 9:00 PM and will be up-volume, up-tempo, and get-up- & dance.

Parking — There will be valet parking at the W hotel that is NOT paid for by ASMP – there is limited self parking in the area – since there is a Mav’s game at 7:30 that evening we suggest you use the valet and be aware there will be traffic.

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Digging through old photos…

I was digging through old photo files, looking for an image that The Recording Academy (the Grammy Awards people) wanted to use. While searching for it, I found a bunch of photos that were either:

a.) terrible to look at now, but I thought were cool way back then.
b.) terrible then and now. Why did I even bother shooting them?!?
c.) still cool after all these years.
I always liked this series of images strung together. It is of the Texas indie band Eisley from 2002. I shot it with my good old Mamiya medium format camera using available light and a small extension tube on the lens. That camera made for some great images. I think these would still hold up today…
I also thought this image below was decent, considering where my skill level was back in 2002. If I shot it today, I wouldn’t throw it away, but I’d definitely feel like I phoned it in. It’s still got a place in my heart, though. And, at least it shows that I didn’t suck back then, but I’ve also grown a lot as a photographer over the years.
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It’s not all Rock and Roll…

Dallas just doesn’t have enough music photography to pay all the bills, plain and simple. It makes up a big chunk of my annual income, but I’d be driving a 1980’s Honda Civic and eating Ramen noodles if I ONLY shot music in Dallas. We’d all like to herald the vibrant and talented scene here, and it IS amazing. However, it’s not LA, NY or Nashville.
I bring this up, because you’ll have to diversify in Dallas. Yes, I shoot a lot of music here in Big D, but I also shoot a lot of corporate and PR stuff. And it can be fun, because it gives me some variety. For example, I was recently commissioned to do some shots of a private school during their family day and during a community performance.
These images will most likely be used in brochures and on a website for the school. There wasn’t much rock and roll, but I liked it! Was that a bad pun? Yeah, I know… I’m cheesy like that sometimes. Anyway, enjoy the non-rock side of my shooting…




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Christmas cover…

The holidays are here and Christmas pictures are starting to pop up in newspapers and magazines. Here is the most recent cover of Quick with one of my photos. It was a fun shoot, doing a little naughty Santa style theme. The girls were supposed to be spiking the holiday punch. The pics go with a feature on fun holiday gift ideas…

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No flash wedding…

I normally don’t book more than one wedding per month, but I had a friend getting married. He was my photo assistant for several years, and he’s a real nice guy. He needed a photographer, and of course I was going to say yes!

The cool thing about his wedding was the great lighting in the church. There was actually enough decent, even lighting that I was able to shoot most of my pics without flash! I’m a big flash guy, so this was special for me. It gave me a chance to blend in with the crowd more – just a few quiet snaps vs. a popping flash. It was nice that there wasn’t a constant flashing to draw attention to me. I was able to get some real nice “fly on the wall” type images.
The other bonus is that it forced me to take more shallow depth of field pics, since I didn’t want to push the ISO too high. This gave me the opportunity to really isolate my subjects, bringing more focus to their subtle gestures and emotions. It was definitely a plus!
Here’s a good example, where I caught one of the brothers holding flowers as he waited for the bride and a bridesmaid. It’s just a quiet little moment that I think would’ve been spoiled with a bunch of flash and a giant DOF…
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A sweet deal…

Not directly photo-related, but with video, graphic design and photo so closely related these days:


Hershey’s is looking for Film Makers, Animators & Graphic Designers to create commercials for its new “Making the World a Sweeter Place” ad campaign.

$1,500 will go to the creator of the best video ad, $450 to the creator of the best print. A total of $6,000 will be earned in this campaign.

Sign up to Zooppa to get the creative brief and materials for this competition:

http://zooppa.com/signup

Zooppa is a platform that connects independent film makers, graphic designers, animators & advertising creatives with major brands looking for user-generated advertising.

Zooppa members have supplemented their income with over $500,000 in awards since 2007.

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Cabe Booth…

As many of you already knew, I did a lot of PR and marketing work this year for the annual Rhett Miller charity concert – benefitting CF research. I also donated a few of my limited edition prints and acquired a couple other charitable donations – including an awesome commissioned painting by Cabe Booth.

However, I didn’t get to actually attend the show this year, due to my Disney trip. I didn’t get to hear the bands perform. I didn’t get to see all the people enjoying the evening. I never got to see my photos sitting at the silent auction table. I never got to see Cabe’s artwork in person.

Luckily, Cabe sent me a photo he took of his painting. Not quite the same as seeing it live, but still pretty cool. The painting was done from one of my photos, so it is special to me. I’ve always been a huge fan of Cabe’s work, and love everything he does! I hope the high bidder has already hung this piece in their home/office/wherever and is enjoying it right now…
It is hard to tell from the small picture, but this is painted on wood and the edges are torn and roughed up. It is somewhere between three and four feet wide and tall.
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Where have you been?!?

You may be wondering why I dropped off the face of the earth recently. Well, I got swamped with shoots when I got back from Disney World. Plus, I haven’t had anything really important to say or share on the blog in the last few days. I’ll post some cool pics from some recent shoots sometime soon. But not now… I’m off to yet another shoot.

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Wonderful wedding…

Yes, I shoot a small number of weddings each year. I can’t help it. Maybe I’m a romantic, but I love getting caught up in the moment, capturing all the joy and excitement. Last night, I shot the most awesome wedding ever. It was a mixture of western and eastern traditions, and it was a blast! Lots of dancing and singing, laughing and smiling.

There was a big entrance, where all the guests danced and chanted as they led the bride and groom into the reception hall. I got a ton of great still photos of the event. However, the music, movement and excitement were so great that I had to switch over to video for a few seconds (eight seconds to be exact). Doesn’t this look like fun?!?