This past Sunday I joined with Paparazzi Girl to complete the Super Team as we photographed hair for two hair stylists competing in a Toni & Guy hair competition. Both the Stylist, Kaili and Karen are super talented . . . as you can see in the pictures. And the models were fabulous. Please note, none of these shots have been touched up so . . . hence the fly-aways.
If you’re interested you can view editorial shots of the Kaili’s hair and outfits on Anginet’s blog.
I had the good fortune of photographing the EnvirOvation event for the city of Fort Collins. In short, companies are honored for being good stewards of the environment as well as business leaders. It was a very cool event.
A company gave out saplings as their promotional item.
Two weekends ago the Super Team had the fun of once again shooting together. Here are a few of my favorites from the day. You can see more on the Super Team Wedding Blog.
I must admit . . . I’m always happy when I see a photo of mine on the cover of a magazine. And it’s even cooler when the picture happens to be of my wife.
I had the good fortune of working with Southern Exposure Landscaping over the last few months. One of the shots they needed was a group shot . . . this is what we got.
Southern Exposure
Their new website went live about a month ago. I think it is super cool . . . and if you have a few minutes I would recommend taking a look. Southern Exposure Landscaping.
It may come to you as a surprise, but we (Paparazzi Girl & Lighting Boy, AKA The Super Team ) once again were called into the line of duty . . . a wedding had to be photographed. This time we found ourselves at the Brookside Gardens Spa and Events Center photographing Jamie and Jared. Here are my top two favorite photos of the day. First shot was by Paparazzi Girl.
Beautiful Bride.
Second Shot, by Lighting Boy.
Lovely Couple.
If you’d like to hear the whole story please visit the Super Team Blog.
I’m blogging on this a bit late, but the following photo was used in the February issue of Runner’s World. A special thanks goes to Jennifer Lee (left) and Kara Roy (right) for modeling (i.e. running) for me on moments notice in our huge October snowstorm. Thanks again ladies!
~SMG
Jennifer Lee and Kary Roy run in the snow down Mountain Avenue.
I had the good fortune of working with Ana Arias of Primal Echo, an eco and socially inspired company. We spent an evening photographing chocolate bars, which are now being sold in numerous stores around Fort Collins. She has a very cool concept and I’d recommend people learning more about her company if you want to make changes through the products you purchase.
Primal Echo Bittersweet Spices Chocolate.
Recycled wallpaper is used to wrap the variety packs.
Primal Echo members Ana Arias (middle) the found of Primal Echo discusses and packages goods with helpers Bethany Grosser, and David Howell.
During our slew of snowstorms I found a morning where I was able to shoot the clubhouse of a the Stanford Apartments. The only problem was that the solar cells were covered that day by snow . . . No worries. I went back a few days later and got a few pictures of the solar cells.
The Stanford Apartments
Solar Panels are used on the Stanford Apartments to heat the water as well as provide electricity for the clubhouse.
I had the good fortune of working with a past wedding client a few weeks back to take pictures of their beautiful baby daughter. Below are a few of my favs.
On of my favorite people on the planet to collaborate with is Jeremy Monroe of Freshwaters Illustrated. He’s the founder and visionary of Freshwaters Illustrated, a non-profit who’s mission is:
“(1) to educate diverse public audiences about the life, study, and conservation of freshwater ecosystems through illustrative science-based efforts, and (2) to provide illustrative resources and services to scientists, educators, and media specialists”
Their Vision is:
“to create a public that is more conscious of freshwater life, and more sympathetic to freshwater conservation.”
So this was one of those exciting days where Jeremy took me to a river. He explained that we were going to be snorkeling with White Fish that were spawning. He also explained how these fish prefer the areas of the stream where the water is really flowing. Sure enough the White Fish were in the middle of the highest currents were the other fish (rainbows) hid behind rocks.
This was one of the better images from the day. White Fish spawning with Jeremy in the background rolling video.
A few years later, what you know, it’s on the cover of the American Fisheries Journal, helping to illustrate an article that Jeremy co-authored.
American Fisheries Society Vol 34, No 12.
It’s a great article dealing with why imagery is so important to the future of freshwaters. If you’d like to read it click here.
Boo Ya! Shooting Jill - again - definitely one of my favorite models!
It was wonderful to see her familiar face face through the view finder - it’d been a while (over a year). She’s the gal that I first shot when I got my lighting kit. When I was like, “uhmmm, where does this cord go.” Needless to say my photography skills have grown over the past few years, and so I’m not fumbling around quite as much as I used to. She’s great and always patient to my “hmms and oh’.” Also a special thanks to Tye Eyden of Tye’s Eye Photography for lending me the new pocket wizards. Love the flexibility with depth of field. Thanks again!
Anyway . . . enough jabbering . . . . So, she’s go this dress . . . A Badgley Mischka dress. It is stunning.
Jill Chodak looking gorgeous in a Badgley Mischka gown.
A stunning dress, a beautiful model. They had to be photographed. I love the flow and interplay of light and wind on the material.
Jill Chodak looking gorgeous in a Badgley Mischka gown.
We went for the Colorado theme . . . out in nature, at a park.
Jill Chodak looking gorgeous in a Badgley Mischka gown.
Of course, people lingered (and accosted her in NY when she wore it) as they encountered this women as she strolled through the park. It’s not an everyday occurrence here in Colorado.
Jill Chodak looking gorgeous in a Badgley Mischka gown.
And this was an exhausting shoot. So why not take a nap . . . on a log.
Jill Chodak looking gorgeous in a Badgley Mischka gown.
Isn’t that what every women does when in an elegant gown? Nap on log?
Jill Chodak looking gorgeous in a Badgley Mischka gown.
I’m loving the cold weather . . . a cup of tea and sometime to catch up on blogging. I can’t believe I’m finally blogging on Brook and Jeremy’s wedding. How time passes!
This was one of those fabulous days I felt so lucky to be a part of. Here are three of my favorite images from the day.
Brook, our beautiful bride!
Jeremy, our handsome groom.
And our couple in love!
Brook & Jeremy Thanks so much for having me share in your wedding day!
Overall Landscape created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC.
Photographing Landscapes are difficult. Typically you can’t control the light, they are on a huge scale, there’s weahter issues, and most importantly how do you transfer something that is by nature 3D into a 2D image that portrays the uniqueness of a particular landscape? Throw in a tight timeline, racing oncoming snow and you have a very exciting problem to solve.
Overall Landscape created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC
Thankfully, despite the hurdles, this assisgnment went extremely smooth. I had the good fortuen of working with the gracious Leslee of Southern Exposure Landscape. She conveyed what they were looking for and helped with the shooting schedule. In less then a week of time we photographed portions of 5 properties and won the race with the oncoming winter weather. When I shot the last property it was begining to snow. The timing could not have worked out better.
Three tiered water feature created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC
Patio Lighting by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC
Grand Avenue in Windsor Colorado created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Spinkler LLC
Walkway created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC
Southern Exposure Landscape & Spinkler LLC
Water feature created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC
Night Lighting created by Southern Exposure Landscape & Sprinkler LLC
What is this? Well for the non-farmers (like myself) it’s the thingy-ma-bob that plows out the old corn stalks and the one further down the post plants new seeds and fertilizes them too. In short - for the city slickers - this sort of thing allows us to have popcorn in a microwave, corn for tortillas, and all the other gazillion uses of commercially grown corn. Check out the Groff Ag here.
The Groff Row Flex Placer – Fertilizer Application Equipment
This was also one of my favorite commercial jobs this past year. Why? Because it made my brain hurt. When I first saw this “thing,” my immediate thought was how to lift it up. It stands about 2-2.5 feet tall and seems as if it weights about 60lbs. It is one of those awkward weights that shift when you hold it. So it makes it really difficult to hold.
When I brought it home and set in on my shooting table, which now seemed uncomfortable flimsy, I jerry-rigged a safety strap from the rafters so it didn’t accidentally meet the concrete floor.
Then . . . . I just looked at. Yup. I looked at it for about 2 days. I kept peaking my head in and looking. I was a bit perplexed on how to create a picture of it, that would make it look and feel as cool as it actually is. After looking for a few days, and talking with other photographers I finally began photographing it. Lots of white foam core involved.
14 hours of shooting, and 6 finished images later, the job was done.
I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Lindgren Landscapes this past summer photographing a few of their properties. As you can see, they can design and create anything under the sun. Here are are a few of my favorite images from their properties.
Water Feature, Deck, Pergala. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Water Feature. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Deck. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Mature Landscape. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Pergala. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Pergala. And I love the bug on this flower. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Outdoor Living Space. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Outdoor Fireplace. Landscape by Lindgren Landscape.
Diana Hermann, owner of Zi Zai,at work on her herbal recipes for skin care. Photographed on October 2, 2009.
I had the excellent fortune of working with Diana Hermann of Zi Zai creating pictures of Chinese herbs. It was SOOOO cool. All this really gnarly textured herbage (is that a word – prolly not) that made an excellent subject. Well then . . . better get a photograph of the legend herself.
I’ll jump at any chance I get to take an environmental portrait. Zi Zai is going to launch in a short bit. When it does, I’ll be sure to let you all know. Until then you can just love the picture of this awesome herbalist.
The dog, Sam, was a major inspiration on why to start Zi Zai her skin care company.
Anginet Page and I had the good fortune of doing a little mini fashion shoot a few weeks back. Our kids played in the grass while we pretended we knew what we were doing. Sarah Johnson who is a fabulous model was our first subject. Sara has a zillion - yes that’s a lot - of looks to give.
The shoot with Sara was thrown together minutes before we began shooting . . . Despite the last minute effort I think we got some great stuff. Our background was unforgiving that day, and I have so many, “I think I’ll use the sky as my background shots” that I had to flirt with the actual background too. Here was my favorite from the day.
Sarah Johnson.
And my wife liked this one . . . so I thought I’d post it too.
Sarah Johnson.
Then there was our darling Tara. The shoot with Tara morphed a bit from our original idea and I don’t think we got what we planned for, but regardless there was one frame that I thought was fabulous. Here it is:
Tara.
To both Sarah and Tara, you ladies were absolutely wonderful to work with and I look forward to working with both of you again.
Jennifer Lee and Kara Roy and run down Mountain Avenue during our October snowstorm. Love the dedication ladies.
Gotta love the snow days! I looked out the window late one night and oh my goodness, it was coming down. I emailed a few friends and what you know we had a photo shoot. Both are super athletes . . .
Jenifer Lee and Kara Roy (Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon) met me and Tuscan for a 20 minute shoot.
Kara Roy extraordinaire! She ran in the last Olympic Trials for the Marathon. As you can see she’s dedicated . . .
By the end my fingers were frozen and screaming for warmth, but I think we made it a wrap with a few great frames.
Kara Roy and Jennifer Lee taking a quick breather before resuming their run down Mountain Avenue in a snowstorm.
Next to Starbucks. 1/2 caff Grande Mocha for my wife (she’ll do anything for a Mocha). Pick her up on lunch break and then to a local park. Oh what’d you know, Tuscan is ready for the snow too . . . . . . . .
Marcie and Tuscan in the snow.
Tuscan hated it. It was really windy, but again a few successful frames. Gotta love the snow. Weeks later my fingers work again and so I’m finally typing this post.
When I got an inquiry to shoot a CLO, my first question was, “what is a CLO?” It turns out that would be Chief Learning Officer. So, I got to meet the CLO for Agilent Technologies during a 90 minute portrait session. Teresa was super fun to work with and we got some great frames. Also, it was my first double trunk (2 page spread) in a magazine, so I was pretty psyched about that. Here’s the frame that was published in T & D Magazine. T & D stands for Training and Development.
Portrait of Teresa Roche, CLO of Agilent Technologies, shot on Assignment for T & D Magazine.
After our shoot for Runner’s World in Gunnison my wife and I had the great idea of taking a new route home by driving through Crested Butte.
Well once we got to the town, we realized the pass “out” of the town (aka, our way home) was still closed due to snow. Oh well.
At this point we figured we were going to get home late, so what’s the difference between really late. Off to explore the areas just outside of town. Here we did a quick model shoot with Marcie.
Marcie Glass outside of Crested Butte.
It was windy and cold . . . (just like Gunnison). The wind did catch one 1 umbrella and made it go tumbling through the meadow. I chased it for a 1/4 mile, but it eventually landed in raging torrent of a river - never to be seen again. Poor umbrella.
Marcie and Tuscan Glass outside of Crested Butte Colorado.
And it one natural light shot of the family.
Steve, Marcie and Tuscan Glass outside of Crested Butte Colorado.
I was ecstatic when a few weeks after the first shoot Runner’s World contacted me again for another. So off to Gunnison, Colorado we trekked.
Keri Nelson photographed for Runner’s World Magazine August 2009.
The day was hellaciously windy and we had to use a ton of weight on the light stands as well as hold one to keep it from blowing over. Thankfully despite the wind we had a great shoot.
We photographed Keri Nelson trail runner extraordinaire! To the east we had rocky terrain and to the west we had high mountain sage. It was a very cool and dynamic place to photograph. Kerri was a ton of fun to work with and was a great sport despite the Hurricane winds.
Keri Nelson photographed for Runner's World Magazine August 2009.
Below is the the Copyrighted and Published Material from the August 2009 issue of the “Backstory” and “Table of Contents” page.
Runner's World Magazine, Backstory August 2009, Keri Nelson
Table of Contents Page.
Runner's World Magazine, , Backstory August 2009, Keri Nelson
I was super excited when we got this assignment. In my mind I’ve always viewed Runner’s World Magazine as a creme de le creme type publication. They have great articles and fantastic photography. So, when I was asked to shoot for them I was excited, and extremely nervous.
The athlete was Jenny Barringer out of Boulder, Colorado. She’s a superstar in the distance running world. Google her and you’ll see what I mean - Olympian, records galore, super fast.
And she was also super fun to work with! In fact, it was hard to take pictures of her not smiling. She was incorrigibly happy, the perfect person for my first shoot with Runner’s World. Thanks Jenny for giving me such a great first shoot. And thank you everyone at Runner’s World for giving me the assignment!
A copy of the Copyrighted and Published Material from the July 2009 issue of the “Backstory” and “Table of Contents” page.
Table of Contents Page. Runners World July 2009
Backstory Runners World July 2009 - Jenny Barringer
Ron Z - Pilot Extraordinaire. And That not the plane we flew . . .
A few weeks back Ron Z the owner of the super-cool website company, Code Geek, invited a few friends to fly to Laramie to go have coffee from a Clover Press. Uhm, can you say “yes?”
Ron Z in action
Ron Z flew. As a physicist and flight instructor (with 18 zillion flight hours to his credit) he explained G forces with cool little diagrams with those arrows. You know the arrows . . . from your physics class. If you drew enough of them in all sort of directions at different lengths then maybe, just maybe your teacher would show mercy and give you a passing grade. But funny enough, since Ron Z doesn’t know me that well, he offered to let me steer. I immediately had vision of being a fighter pilot and cranked us into a barrel role - kidding, kidding, kidding - about that barrel role. I did fly! And it was super cool.
Machiato on the house.
Once we got to Laramie, we went to the coffee shop that has the “Clover Press.” Matt West, a man of refined taste enlightened us on the finer points of true coffee snobbery and the genius of the Clover Press. Even I, as a neanderthalian-folgers-gas station-coffee-drinker could taste the unique bouquet of flavors. I kid you not, mine had hints of blueberry. It was fantastic!
The aftermath.
And since I don’t know how to fly planes, anything about coffee I took a few pics of the Sunday excursion.
