How do you make Baltimore’s toughest Cowboy bashful?


you just have to put a lens about 18″ away from his nose. These are from way back in May of last year. Arty Hill and I did another round of promotional shots of him. Just about all of the images were very serious except a couple of frames where arty broke from the intimacy of the lens being right up in his face. They turned out to be my favorite shots from the morning.

I really love working with Arty. He’s a true perfectionist in every aspect of his music, right down to the artwork.

Corbis

At the end of last year I was contacted by one of the Art Directors over at Corbis about having them manage the rights to some of my personal work. I was honored by this request and am proud to have them representing much of the work you see up on my website. In addition to the rights management of my “legacy” work, Corbis produces research briefs several times a year about what the industry is demanding and what their catalogue is lacking. These briefs act as a great exercise for me to get out and shoot more “personal” work which I am always struggling to find time for anyway. I enjoyed the first round of this, but I must say it’s a weird feeling shooting for someone without any sort of client or art director on set and really no specific product in mind. Here’s a couple images from that first round late last year. The concentration was on education and intelligence.


and even more bellevedere’s 5 of 5


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bellevederes 4 of 5


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bellevederes 3 of 5


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bellevederes 2 of 5


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bellevederes


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I was hired by the bellevederes back in October to shoot their expansive band. With a band of 10 general members and the potential for them to be switching out over time we had to get creative on how to capture all these different characters but stay flexible in case musicians were added or subtracted over time. Just getting these 10 people in the same room for a shot was hard enough (in fact it didn’t happen). I couldn’t imagine reshooting it every time someone new played with the band. Inspired by Avedon’s shot of the the chicago seven we decided to shoot everyone on white, therefore giving me the ability to move, add and replace people later if needed. The added bonus was that we could then arrange and rearrange everyone in post and in turn it gave us endless variations of the same shot. I initially imagined that I would do a down and dirty mask to cut the players out but once I began to piece them together I realized that they really had to be cut out meticulously to make the illusion work.

We wanted the players to be overlapped and really crammed into the tight space to enhance the size of the band. In the end I delivered 5 variations of the shot with and with out their sometimes collaborator/front man Tommy Tucker (A.K.A. Bosley for his upcoming release.) Up top is the first of the 5 delivered shots with the other 4 coming every day this week.

A Year of Building, A Year of Growing, A year of Love.

BUILDING


The year of building started a year ago today when my wife and I took ownership of our 2nd house. A 100 year old “fixer.” A house with “Character.” I knew from the little bit of home improvement stuff I had done on our first house that this project would consume me for the better part of 2010, and it did. The first five months were a sprint to dissemble and reassemble just about every piece of this termite eaten, water damaged, house of filth. You learn a lot about your house when you take it apart. You learn a lot about yourself too. You discover your strengths and your limits and you find a drive in yourself that you never knew you had. You realize what your body is capable of. You realize that you could work 12 hour days by yourself in a cold shell of a house because you know in your mind where the finish line is and what needs to be done to get there. There’s no better way to get to know yourself then working on an old house. There’s also no better way to get to know your Dad, than to have him by your side while you do this. While I learned a lot about myself during this project on the days I spent working alone, I learned more on the days when my dad was their with me. He made countless journey’s up and down the Jersey turnpike to spend a few days every week swinging a hammer with me in the cold filthy mess that I had gotten myself into. He taught me a lot about construction and demolition, but I learned more about being a dad. He never once complained and rarely expressed any frustration in a place where most would run away crying. He came to the project with the experience and expertise he had acquired from years of taking his own antique houses apart. He brought with him a calm that made every overwhelming part of this process feel manageable. He also brought with him my mom. She would join us for the long days and stay busy pulling nails from miles of trim, scraping, painting, sweeping, filling trash cans, whatever she could do to help. Being a new dad, I became very aware of how much kids need these stable forces in there life. It made me realize how much I am being observed. There were many many helping hands throughout the process and I’m forever grateful for all the friends and family who pitched in. It was everyone’s efforts that allowed us to meet the 5 month goal, but the most underrated position by far goes to our project manager, My wife Sarah. While I was off playing “Handy Manny” in my new “workshop”, she was the one ordering materials and appliances, ordering fixtures, returning wrong parts, hiring contractors, making them show up, ordering dumpsters, bringing lunch for the troops, balancing the budget, and packing our first house for the move, all while working her day job, caring for our 2 year old and carrying our second child. How’s that for a healthy dose of stress.
GROWING
The year of growing started on August 6, 2010. Welcome Tessa Bean O’Leary. I guess the growing started about 9 months previous, but our family grew again on August 6th. She’s a very welcome addition and has brought with her a calm that we like to see in infants. She’s happy to sit back and watch everything that’s happening around her. Nonetheless infants still require time, and paired with a now 3 year old, spare time is now a hot commodity that rarely finds its way to our neck of the woods. I always imagined that 2 kids would be busier than 1, but wow.

LOVE
At the end of the day and the end of a busy year I feel lucky. This year was busy for all the right reasons. A new home, a new second healthy kid, lots of time with my family and a wife I love.

The point of all this rambling is that 2010 was a very busy and hard year. I know we’re all busy and there’s nothing I hate more than bloggers apologizing that they haven’t posted in a while. by the way, sorry I haven’t posted in a while. During the busy times one of the first things for me to cut is my personal work and of course the blog posts go to the wayside. I knew going into 2010 that this would be the case so it was easy to let go for the year, but the year is just about over. I’m excited for all the projects that are already piling up on the front end of 2011 and for all of the personal work I have stored up in my head that will hopefully somehow find it’s way to a digital sensor this year. So long 2010. You were a long hard year, but I’m better for it. Happy 0-11′ -more to come.

lion-sleeper


This house rehab has taken over most area’s of my life, especially any time I once had for personal work. Here’s a spontaneous Iphone grab of my daughter that I couldn’t have directed any better if I tried.

Portrait of a friend

A shot I did of painter, Magnolia Laurie last year.  I like to barter with other artists.  Magnolia asked me to photograph her work and in return she agreed to stand for a portrait.  This was the beginning of a series I started on artists in their work spaces.  The series stalled when I got busy in other area’s last year but I hope to revisit it soon.  See more of Magnolia’s work here.
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