I was approached by Devincio to supply images of the a/v and space automation services and installs that they provide. They wanted to look slick, high end and commercial, so I was tasked with pulling together cohesively branded images that highlighted the cool a/v gear while taking advantage of the space that the gear was installed in. Here’re some images of what felt like a very successful day.
I recently finished a set of images for, as always, top notch client PITCH Concepts. The below pictured pandemic-beating urban oasis is one of my personal favorites by this designer, every inch of the space is well thought out, right down to the dartboard. Also, a pair of friendly pups decided to keep us company for part of the shoot and even posed for some portraits, which were fun to make because I had to change gears on a dime and go from ‘architectural’ shooting mode to ‘portrait’ shooting mode about as quickly as it takes a dog to lose interest in sitting still. This mainly just meant swapping lenses and reconfiguring my lights so the idea of ‘changing gears on a dime’ might be a bit colorful for a description, but I’m nothing if not colorful. Check em out!
Recently, I was lucky enough to visit some family friends who live and work on a proper Illinois farm. Its harvest season, which means golden, beautiful light, cool big machines and long days. Photographic opportunities abounded so despite mainly being there on a social visit, I managed to snap a few stills that I really, really like.
For a city slicker like me, it was profoundly interesting to learn about the intricacies of soybean sewing, growing, harvesting and exporting, to take a ride in a Polaris side-by-side and in a combine harvester, and to hear tales about the rich soil in the Mississippi River valley and how its second only to certain dirt in parts of South America.
There is a visceral, honest feeling about being ‘on the farm’, and I feel like I got close to capturing it in these images. Close, but not completely. I think you have to be there, covered in dust and soybean hulls, to really get it. I’m glad I got to.
These past two weeks I’ve managed to shoot portraits of both my own and my sister’s kids and have found out that I really enjoy the process...the actual hanging out with kids and shooting, the edits, the big smiles when folks see their portraits. I’m thinking of branching out a little and trying my hand at some good old fashioned family portraits, and, well…
Anyone know any families?
Door County is dope. Like, among my favorite places on the planet. I was up there a few weeks ago with my family, and my sister mentioned that she wanted to buy a print by a local photographer of the night sky with the stars glowing and I was like ‘I can do that…I think?’. So I grabbed my camera, tripod and brother in law and ventured to the middle of the peninsula, to where man-made lights don’t really reach, pointed the camera to the heavens and left that shutter open.
I am so jacked about the results for a number of reasons. One, that’s one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy in the photo, so that’s humbling and wonderful and inspiring to see. Next, this was the first time in a while that I just took the damn camera out for fun, and it was really invigorating to get to make some personal work. Lastly, it was nice to be able to feel confident in my technical shooting ability to know exactly where to go and how to get the shot I had in my head. I hope you like the image as much as I do!
One of my last pre-lockdown gigs was to shoot this roller-converted-to-ice rink by Kennedy Mann Architecture, and although it was mainly an interiors jam, I did get super excited by the actual hockey game taking place and sort of made that a bit of a focus. Look ma, I’m a sports shooter…
Also, got into a bit of a yelling match with the owner of the place about using flash but cooler heads prevailed and we struck a deal. I’m including this to give potential clients an idea of the lengths I will go to to get you your shot. I’ll fight a guy (provided there’s no blow-back on you, my client). Here’s some pictures, some with flash, some without!
Hidden behind a giant, rusted sliding steel door is an urban oasis of a place, a little for rent venue called Lytle House. I was lucky enough to get to shoot this gem, tucked away from view on a major Chicago thoroughfare. With landscape design by my client Reveal Design, this place truly feels a world away from the city while still retaining urban hipness. Lucky me, the photographer who gets to shoot it. Images below.
I’m a photographer. I see and can manipulate light pretty well, I can put three dimensional shapes into a two dimensional rectangle in an orderly and aesthetically pleasing way, and I have the technical know how to utilize myriad gear in crafting digital files with lots of good data to play with in digital editing software. I’ve even gotten pretty good at moving objects around in a space so that they ‘feel’ their best inside the frame. But…I am no stylist.
I’ve given it a try and the results were passable. My favorite part of the admittedly fun process was heading to Homegoods with $400 worth of swag to return, but occasionally a project’s budget will allow me to bring in a professional…and the results speak for themselves.
Recently, I had the opportunity to shoot what would have been a barren office space, a few tables and chairs sitting sad and lonely in an otherwise empty space, until stylist Jim Lichon took his talents and nearly five grand worth of everything office oriented and gave the space some life. Results below, and thank you Jim!
The format of my website really lends itself to horizontal compositions. As such, I generally don’t get to show vertical images unless I toss them up here on the blog. I used to mess around with pairing two verticals to show as a singular horizontal image, but the margins between images and the arranging and the out-of-format feel made the ocd tendencies I have (that make me pretty good at shooting interiors) go haywire, so I stopped that pairing nonsense a while back. That said, on a recent shoot for M. Lavender Interiors, we nailed a few verticals that I think are lovely and am therefore tossing them up on the aforementioned blog. Here they are!
Whenever I shoot for a designer or an architect, I try to plan a series of shots that walks through a given space with the mindset that we’re shooting for an editorial and trying to tell a story. Having images that link spaces together and sequence nicely helps everyone involved as publications look for preexisting content. With that in mind, I try to shoot prefab stories that can be scooped off of my hard drive and dropped into a layout with minimal fuss. For example:
Last summer I got to shoot a feature for Cottages and Bungalows Magazine, and I’ve recently been given the go ahead to share those images. Sadly, they’re banished here to the blog because they’re not quite on brand for my portfolios or whatever, but I really love the way the light pops around in some of these. Also, this is one of the first shoots where I started running around shooting details and vignettes and such with a hand-held long lens. Although this is far from revolutionary for most of the shooters out there I’m sure, it was something of an epiphany for me…the guy usually throwing that wide angle even wider. Just saying.
I was recently brought on by Tishman Speyer, a real estate company, to shoot a shared work space in the Franklin Building in Chicago that they’ve recently completed called Studio. In a fun twist, they asked me to roll with a lifestyle approach, giving them a more editorial look by incorporating some humans…which is crazy outside the comfort zone of a lot of real estate work I’ve seen. Granted this firm is massive, has an advertising department with a budget and a cool creative director, but I’m hoping that this is a trend. All too often, I hear of shooters (myself included) being asked to come in and make a pile of not lit images from the corners of rooms with a wide angle lens and send off unedited images same day. It was lovely to work with a real estate company that took the time to understand and value good photography and to give me license to play a little bit and really give them what I feel is killer work. I really enjoyed this one, here’re some images…
So I do this thing on a shoot day with a late start where I always fight with myself about whether or not to go to the gym beforehand. Usually I remember that a shoot is often a workout unto itself and that I’m not really missing out on my mood sustaining exercise if I take a day off. Glad that was the case on the day of my recent shoot for Pitch Concepts. 3 locations, all landscape design rooftop decks and living spaces, all 5th floor walk ups, all requiring a certain amount of gear. The images are worth it, and the client is one of my favorites, but damn,…I got my exercise. Here’re some pics!
This girl is about to be a teenager. She’s got it down already…
For the 4th year in a row, I’ve been privileged enough to get to shoot the BuzziSpace showroom at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago for NeoCon. In addition to the work, some of my favorite aspects of repeat clients are the relationships I get to build with the various agency folk and creative types that are on set. It’s to the point where I genuinely look forward to seeing the Buzzi people and the work we make is really just a perk of hanging out for a day every summer. Till next year!
Apparently people who build and own massive skyscrapers still have to get tenants. Obviously, they’re not looking to rent a two bedroom to Bob and Nancy, they’re looking to rent several floors to Google, or Amazon, or I guess to Bob and Nancy if they can make rent. Which I’d imagine is a lot.
In order to make these giant, vacuous, unfinished open floors seem appealing, building owners call companies like ASH-NYC to come and stage the space like any piece of real estate. I didn’t know this, and the result is surreal.
Picture an elaborate living room, board room, office space or break room and then mentally knock out the walls and zoom out quite a bit so that these little setups are surrounded by nothing but empty space. This is what a recent shoot with the aforementioned ASH-NYC entailed. The trick for me was to make the spaces seem encapsulated and grounded, and not floating in the void that they actually were. It was a challenge, and quite a bit of fun.
I was at the bastion of American culture that is ‘The Mall’ with my fiancee a few weekends ago doing some shopping for a thing. As we’re cruising the plastic wasteland, something catches my eye, the very corner of my eye, just in passing…something not processed and plastic. Its…art. Actual fine art. It’s in fact a skateboard, done up in cool graffiti, hanging on the wall in a storefront among a few other skateboards. We go in and discover…more art. Actual hand made fine art. Much of it very good.
We are standing in Peace of Art Gallery at Stratford Square Mall, and its really quite nice. As are the owners. We get to chatting, and short story even shorter, the following weekend, I’m shooting their portraits. Always fun to get to meet cool people and shoot cool stuff however I feel I want to. Making more personal work is the resolution for this year, and so far I’m off to a good start! Here are some images from that shoot.
Allstate Insurance just built out a cool new office in Chicago’s loop, and I got to shoot it for them. The whole time we were working, any time any question arose regarding the photography process, a little voice in my head said ‘Don’t worry, you’re in good hands’. Because I am a child.
So…I shoot interiors, no secret. That said, in addition to modern design, I have a few other passions. Among them, fitness. Boxing specifically. I started training a little while ago and absolutely love it. I thought I’d give shooting it a try, and these are the results.
To any art directors or photo buyers who may be scrolling this blog, I want you all to know that I shot these in my building’s fitness room with a Craigslist model, my girlfriend assisting and a half hour shoot window before I had to pick my daughter up from school. I had no stylist, HMUA, or much of anything else and would be thrilled to get a chance to shoot similar work with a bigger production crew. Imagine the possibilities…
Just sayin’.
