Traveling on Assignment
Looking for absent royalty in Gila Bend
In late September an assignment for People Magazine took me to the small town of Gila Bend, Arizona. The premise was to photograph where Prince Harry would be staying during his visit for military training in October. Gila Bend is a small town in the desert off Highway 8 between Tucson and San Diego. It is home to a United States Air Force Base and is a regular training place for Allied Foreign troops.
Other than the Air Force Base there just isn’t a whole lot there. The town only has three restaurants, one bar and doesn’t even have a grocery store. It has several hotels including the somewhat well known Space Age Inn that carries a UFO theme throughout.
Most of my editorial work involves photographing people and places but rarely empty spaces. This project was about showing how different the area is than where Prince Harry comes from in England and capturing the personality of the town.
We spent the day on base and around town gathering photographs and some on camera interviews with the local people. Many of whom were very friendly but seemed unconcerned with a visiting celebrity who would be third in line as the king of England.
Bicycling Magazine cover, June 2010
Who shot that cover for Bicycling Magazine this month? I DID! wellll sorta… I had to post this since it is kind of funny, here is the story….
I was contacted by one of my clients Bicycling Magazine a couple of months ago. They were looking for a photo of bike riders in traffic for an article about safety on the road. I had shot a story for them in 2007 about a weekly bike ride in Tucson, Arizona. Remembering the assignment, they thought I might have something that would work for the story.
I checked my archive and submitted a web gallery of a few shots that I thought might fit. They decided to license one of the photos for the inset to the cover….
So one of my photos is on the cover of Bicycling this month. My photograph was slightly bigger than a postage stamp and the main cover image was shot by Thomas Macdonald. Nice work on the real cover shot!
Travel days: on assignment for a national magazine
In an earlier post I mentioned traveling to Salt Lake City, Utah in March for a shoot for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine. The assignment was to photograph a couple who had recently purchased a house for an article about the fluctuating housing markets around the country.
I wanted to share some photos from the trip that weren’t published and give a timeline for the events of a travel day while shooting for a national editorial client.
Pine Magazine, Spring 2010
In February, I photographed professor Darrell Kaufman at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona for Pine Magazine, NAU’s Alumni Magazine. Pine is an entirely digital publication and the Spring issue is online now. Below is the opening spread to the article.
Dr. Kaufman researches climate change by studying core samples from different locations. I also photographed the core sample pictured at the right of the layout above that Dr. Kaufman brought back from Alaska last summer.
Running with the bulls, in Utah?
Last week I traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for an editorial shoot for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. After the shoot I came across a scene that was completely unrelated to the shoot, but I thought was interesting….
It was a quick day trip for the shoot and the story for the magazine will be published in May. I will post tearsheets here after the magazine hits newsstands.
Images are available for commercial and editorial licensing in the online archive: Running with the Bulls
Archive: San Francisco
I am starting to mix in some old photos to the blog from my archive. Most of these are going to be photos that I like but have never really used for portfolio or currently don’t have in my book. The following images were shot in 2008 on a trip to San Francisco. These images are available for licensing in the online archive: San Francisco
Shawna Bowen, sweat lodge deaths in Sedona for People Magazine
I recently traveled to Sedona, Arizona to photograph an assignment for People Magazine. The magazine was writing a story about deaths that occurred during a sweat lodge at a resort south of Sedona.
My subject Shawna Bowen is a substance abuse therapist who was one of the first people on the scene the day of this tragic event. This portrait of Shawna is my favorite outtake from the shoot. She was a great subject and very kind to allow us to go back to the area where the event took place. The photo below is the road leading down to the valley where the resort is located.
The magazine ran the story in the Friday, October 30, 2009 edition. More information on the story can be found at various locations online. These images can be licensed in the online archive: Shawna Bowen, sweat lodge deaths in Sedona, Arizona
On location in Bisbee…
On a recent weekend, I was on the road again for a shoot for Runner’s World Magazine, this time the location was in Bisbee in southern Arizona. I photographed the Bisbee 1000 race for the magazine. Here are a few personal shots from the trip. The feature for RW will publish next year so I won’t be able to show that work until publication.
Location scouting in Arizona and California
I am starting to plan some personal work to be shot over the next few months. I recently spent some time scouting locations in western Arizona and southern California.
I am always looking to find interesting locations that offer a unique perspective. While things are still in the planning stages, I am excited about the challenges this new work will bring and hope to have new work to show by the new year…
On assignment in Flagstaff for Runner’s World
Last week I photographed a feature for Runner’s World Magazine in Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona on the Run S.M.A.R.T Project. The project is essentially a training camp for distance runners. The article won’t be published for awhile so I can’t show any of the final shots but I have worked up some personal and iphone photos that show the experience.
Travel collage of photos while on the road in Flagstaff, Arizona.
I spent two days during the week working on the project and in between had to go to Tucson shooting for a different magazine. It was great to get out of town to do some work and some of the locations up north were amazing. The photos will be featured as a preview for the 2010 camp and will be published next year.
