Portfolio: new books in progress
Working on new portfolio books and cases this week, getting things ready for Palm Springs at the end of the month. I have been in re-grouping stage for a while while making sense of all this new work. So I can’t wait to start printing all the new personal projects, including a full website update…
Luis Palau for Outreach Magazine
In November I spent time photographing Luis Palau and his son Kevin for a feature in Outreach Magazine. It appears below as it was published in the January/February edition…
Local Motors advertorials for TIme Magazine & Fortune Magazine
I have a couple different advertorials running this month in Time Magazine and Fortune Magazine for Local Motors featuring CEO Jay Rogers.
Local Motors helps create, develop, build and modify custom cars for individuals and has a mirco factory in Phoenix, Arizona where they build their Rally Fighter car (and where we shot these portraits). It’s a really unique and amazing business and you can find out more at their site Local Motors.
Barron’s Magazine: 25 Most Impactful Philanthropists
Jerry Hirsch of the Lodestar Foundation for Barron’s Magazine’s 25 Most Impactful Philanthropists of 2010. Photographed at his Phoenix, Arizona office in November.
Excerpt from the article at barrons.com:
Former real-estate developer Hirsch was distressed to find in philanthropy the same kinds of problems he’d seen in business: big egos and territorial instincts. So he made it his business to encourage nonprofits to work together to magnify their results. There have been plenty of opportunities for that amid the proliferation of foundations in recent years; Hirsch has overseen mergers of everything from homeless groups to wrestling museums. Says he: “Everyone is good-hearted; sometimes you just need an outside party to get them all on the same page.”
RECENT COUP: Helped spark a historic merger of the United Nations Association of the USA (Eleanor Roosevelt was an early champion) with the United Nations Foundation (Ted Turner started it in 1998 with a $1 billion gift).
Alice Cooper for Lufthansa Magazin
The October edition of Lufthansa Magazin features a shoot I did in June with Alice Cooper. The magazine is Lufthansa Airlines’ in-flight publication and features my work on the cover and a 12 page spread inside. It will be on all Lufthansa flights in Germany and the article coincides with Alice’s European tour this fall.
The concept for the story was to have Alice take us to all of his favorite places in Phoenix and show Arizona as a travel destination for European readers. The locations included The Arizona Biltmore, Cafe ZuZu, Old Town Scottsdale, Chase Field and of course Alice’s restaurant Cooper’stown.
More than meets the eye…
We started off at The Arizona Biltmore where Alice plays a round of golf almost daily. He was just finishing an early morning round of golf when we set off on our adventure. Next we went to Cafe ZuZu at the Hotel Valley Ho for a cup of coffee and a scone. We stopped at one of Alice’s favorite stores at Arizona Fashion Square that is one of the few places in the valley that sells European style jeans according to Alice. We then hit a couple stores in Old Town Scottsdale where they sell authentic Indian Jewelry. Alice’s mother used to own a jewelry store in downtown Scottsdale and he definitely knows how to find the authentic stuff from the imitations.
From Scottsdale we headed to downtown Phoenix and had lunch with Alice at his restaurant Cooper’stown. After lunch we walked down to Chase Field to get a few photos of Alice at the stadium. Unfortunately, we hadn’t arranged to get inside the stadium to take any photos. However, the Diamondbacks media people were very accommodating on such short notice. It was just hours before the Diamondbacks game and oddly enough we walked right in and were escorted down to the dugout and walked onto the field just before batting practice began. It would have taken days of phone calls to coordinate such efforts. So I found it very nice to have to be able to have a celebrity and local business owner allow us that type of access.
We ended up shooting a few portraits back at Cooper’stown to finish up a crazy day of following Alice around town. It’s nice to see the work in print and available to a large audience. Unfortunately I don’t have any trips to Germany planned during October so I won’t be able to see the article in person. I guess it’s just as well since the article is in German I wouldn’t be able to read it anyway.
The St. Francis Hotel in Santa Fe
A few shots from a recent stay at the St. Francis Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I loved the minimal rustic modern theme to the hotel that sits right on the square in downtown Santa Fe.
Self Magazine’s “Women Doing Good” Awards: Lisa Scarpinato
Here is some recently published work from the September edition of Self Magazine for another back-to-school article. I photographed Lisa Scarpinato who was nominated for the magazine’s “Women Doing Good” Awards. Lisa created an organization that provides free school lunches to children on the weekends.
Kitchen On The Street partners with Arizona schools to provide “Bags of Hope” to children in need. On a Saturday in May I spent the morning with Lisa and a group of volunteers that quickly assembled a large number of lunch packages for students. Special thanks to my crew including Laura Flagler for doing the hair, makeup and on set styling. You can find out more information about the organization through Kitchen On the Street website here.
Here is part of the story from the Self Magazine website:
Forty-one year old Phoenix-native Lisa Scarpinato and her husband started Kitchen on the Street after learning that children in their town were starving on weekends (when they don’t have access to free school lunches). Through her non-profit, more than 300 needy kids are sent home on Fridays with backpacks full of food. Take it from her: “Don’t make assumptions. There are folks who show up at food banks in very nice cars, but what you can’t know is they may be living in those cars.”
At the Mecca promo piece featured on No Plastic Sleeves
My recently completed promo piece “At the Mecca” is being featured on the No Plastic Sleeves blog. The NPS blog is the website extension of the book No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers published by Focal Press. Check out the feature on the blog: No Plastic Sleeves.
Back to School with Family Circle Magazine
In the September edition of Family Circle Magazine is a 4 page Back to School article that I shot in May. I photographed Barbara Blalock who is the director of a program called Treasures 4 Teachers that assists educators with limited funds in purchasing supplies for educational purposes. Barbara started the not-for-profit program in 2003 working out of her home and they now operate out of a 10,000 square foot warehouse in Tempe, Arizona. The center accepts donations from companies and individuals.
Excerpt from the story by Sondra Forsyth:
Several days a week, Barbara Blalock pulls up to the 10,000-square-foot facility in Tempe, Arizona, that houses Treasures 4 Teachers, her not-for-profit center which assists educators who have big ideas but limited funds. Inside, aisles and aisles of shelves hold bins of brightly colored buttons and beads, stacks of stickers and scrapbooking supplies, and an ever-changing assortment of paper, pencils and three-ring binders.
Barbara greets her crew and they all go to work preparing for the influx of teachers—50 to 100 a day—who arrve on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. For a nominal fee shoppers fill as many bags as they want with supplies. They also have access to a die-cut machine, a copier, a laminator and a library of how-to books. There’s even an ongoing series of free hands-on workshops packed with ideas for how to use the materials. “Our goal is for everyone to leave here with lots of suggestions to implement in their classrooms,” says Barbara.
These are goods and services the teachers wouldn’t have any other way. Barbara first became aware of the need in 2003, when she was the regional director of 13 preschools run by the YMCA. “We didn’t have a budget for even the basics,” she says. “Kids can’t learn to write and draw without pencils and crayons and paper. Teachers can’t be creative and effective without binders and scissors and staplers and paper clips.” Parents, she knew, could not be expected to fill the gap. “It’s beyond most people’s budget,” she says.
With a little research she realized that the problem was more widespread than she had thought. In Arizona over half of all K-8 students can’t afford lunch, let alone school supplies—typical of many areas. Across the country teachers are averaging $493 a year of their own money to make up the difference, with 7% of them shelling out around $1,000, according to a study by the National School Supply and Equipment Association.
If you want to read more, here is the link to full story on Family Circle website.
At the Mecca promo, digital magazine and print piece
My new Fall 2010 promotional piece in digital magazine and print format. Click to view the digital magazine.
About the Project:
Over the past couple of years, I have been exploring a darker narrative for much of my lifestyle work. At the end of 2009 when I was planning out shoots for my marketing materials for 2010, I wanted to create a story driven piece that would take my promotional efforts a step further than just a traditional postcard. Before shooting began, I hadn’t decided what format the end piece would really be. I wanted to explore a number of different options and that included different formats, layouts, paper types and even printing techniques. I finally settled on a magazine style format where I could tell a story within the layout from the narrative that I had created from multiple shoots. I really wanted to create a mix between a promo piece, a catalog and a fine art piece.
About the Print Verison:
Instead of getting a large number printed, I decided to get a smaller quantity done that would allow me to control the product as well as manage the custom aspect of the piece. The version I am sending out as a marketing piece is hand numbered and includes a photo printed on water color paper that is inserted into the magazine.
The piece will be sent out this fall to a select list of existing clients and potential clients around the country. If you are interested in getting a copy please see the MagCloud site where you can order one. The copies from MagCloud do not include the additional print and are not hand numbered.
About the Digital Magazine:
I knew that whatever I created as a print piece would also have to have a digital component as well. After exploring a few options, I collaborated with Greg Welch of Welch Publishing who specializes in digital magazines.
