India

in

It's funny that just a couple posts ago I talked about how much I love work travel, and here I am so soon doing another entry about an international work trip.  This time I was in India for four days, and while I'm not able to share any images from three of them (sorry), I can post a few that I shot during the one non-work day I had there.  I had an amazing time, and I hope you enjoy these few things that caught my eye.

Yeah, pretty sure he's got this under control.

I actually bought a copy of Animal Farm and read it on the plane ride back to Seattle.

The jankiest scaffolding you've ever seen.

Super janky electrical work.

Friendly reminder.

Jewish In Seattle: Fashion Feature

in , , ,

A short time ago I was contacted again by Neomi Rapoport (art director of Jewish in Seattle), this time to ask me about shooting a fashion feature for a holiday issue of the magazine.  "Do they really mean to be asking me?" was my first thought, as I'd never claim to be a fashion photographer and do not, in fact, even feel that I'm particularly fashionable myself.  I was nevertheless totally happy to do it, of course, because it's fun to branch out and do different things, and I'd never pass up the opportunity to work with Emily (editor) and Neomi.  And wouldn't you know it?  When you have a great location, art director, model (Devon at SMG), stylist (Emma Ranniger), and HMUA (Kathy Evans), it turns out you wind up looking pretty good.  Especially when you have lovely clothes as well, provided by some of Seattle's finest designers.  Here are just a few images from the day's shoot, beginning with my personal favorite:

And then, because there was some question at the magazine about fashion for the cover, we did a few photos in my studio depicting different takes on honey and apples.  I quite liked them all.

Work Travel

in ,

I love to travel for work.  Love it.  It's not without its difficulties, of course—just last week I spent an entire night in the Toronto airport because my late afternoon flight home was canceled and there were no hotels available anywhere (ironically because of the conference I was there to photograph)—but there's nothing better than getting out of Seattle once in a while for a fresh perspective.  It really gets my creative juices in a blender.  (That's a good thing, in case that wasn't clear.) Over the past year and a half, I've been so, so fortunate to do more work travel than ever before.  Domestically, work has taken me to Palo Alto, Chicago (twice), San Francisco (lost count), Miami, Orlando, Portland, and San Diego (for the Comic Con, no less!).  Internationally, I've been to Toronto, Barcelona, Helsinki, Singapore, and Nairobi and Nanyuki in Kenya.  It has been nothing short of amazing.  Kenya was an especially unique experience, and one I'll never forget.  I've made space on my website for some images from that job, and I'd encourage you to have a look if you are interested.  It's a great story.

Truthfully, each trip deserves its own blog entry...but instead, I'm just going to post a very few highlights.  These aren't images I shot for clients, but rather quirky people and things of interest to me along the way.

Easily the best Leeloo you or I or anyone else has ever seen.  Taken at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con while covering the Halo presence for Microsoft.

You can't walk through La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona without thinking over and over again, "Are you kidding me with this?"  I was extremely lucky to see this place while in Spain to shoot the 2015 GSMA Mobile World Congress.

Spiral staircase in one of the towers at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, definitely the most audacious work of architecture I've ever witnessed.  Except for the few moments I spent taking these pictures, I hugged the outside of this staircase as I contemplated whether US safety regulations would ever allow such a thing.  Certainly not.

Door detail, La Sagrada Familia.

I didn't have a ton of time in Helsinki, but I did go out one night for drinks with our makeup artist, Pinksu.  Here we are exchanging glasses for a moment.  I'd've made the trade permanent—I think I look fetching—but she doesn't wear anything that isn't pink.  Meeting her was the highlight of the Finland visit, and I'm delighted that we still keep in touch.  Be sure to check out her work, because it's every bit as amazing as she is.

And this is, without question, the most...um, intriguing(?) thing I saw in Helsinki.  It's across the street from the ferry terminal, at...well, nowhere in particular.  Seriously, is this not the most arbitrary placement of public art you've ever seen?  What's going on here?  This is a statue called Bad Bad Boy, and I found it equal parts hilarious and grotesque.  Best part is, it's a fountain—like Manneken Pis in Brussels, this guy pees.  I'm bummed it wasn't active for this photo, and also that I didn't get a photo of its saggy little butt.  If you'd like to see these things, though, check out this video.

The most striking thing about Singapore that's readily apparent is the imaginative architecture.  These are just a couple buildings I was able to snap from the car.

In Singapore, you can go to a place called Selfie Coffee and have your photo printed on your latte's foam.  This is Jen, the very talented writer for the Singapore story.  Her selfie coffee is epic because she did her photo in such a way that she could have the straw sticking out of her mouth.

Just for fun, a selfie with a monkey hanging from the ceiling at Selfie Coffee in Singapore (I'm on the right).  In the middle there is Jen, laughing at me.

After the work in Singapore, we flew up to Thailand for a personal week instead of heading home.  This is a group of plastic zebras in Bangkok.  Lawn ornaments, maybe? Fun fact: a group of zebras is called a zeal, or a dazzle (see: dazzle camouflage).

Whether it's a painting of Mark Ruffalo or soap in the shape of a penis, you can get anything your heart desires at the sprawling, downright overwhelming Chatuchak Market in Bangkok.

In Chiang Rai, a couple hours north of Chiang Mai, is an astonishing place called The White Temple.  Designed and constructed by local artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, it's not so much a Buddhist temple as it is an art exhibit in the style of one.  It's gloriously insane.  Oddest of all are the western pop culture references peppered throughout.  In the temple itself is an otherworldly mural (no photography allowed, unfortunately)—against a  backdrop of flames and strange planets, you'll recognize familiar elements such as Spider-Man, Kung Fu Panda, the Terminator, Freddy Krueger, Michael Jackson, Harry Potter, the Twin Towers on fire, Transformers, Elvis Presley, Neo from The Matrix, and Angry Birds.  I kid you not.

Pop culture references on the White Temple grounds—Batman, Pinhead from Hellraiser, Hellboy, and others.  And a Predator, because why not?

Outstretched hands below the bridge to the White Temple.  I could have photographed them all afternoon, but the guards were quite insistent that people keep moving.

They even did the traffic cones.  Amazing.  And there's me hanging out with...geez, I don't even know what.

Jewish In Seattle: Conceptual Product Feature

in ,

In October I was contacted by Emily Alhadeff, the editor of the new magazine Jewish In Seattle, about a feature shoot highlighting the best of Jewish Washington.  She and Neomi Rapoport, the art director, envisioned a spread containing several images depicting Jewish objects and foods, all photographed in a clean, graphic, colorful and conceptual style.  I had worked with Emily before on projects for Microsoft, and was delighted that she thought of me for this one.  If you're familiar with my work, you probably know I'm not a product photographer.  But clean, graphic, colorful, and conceptual is exactly what I do, so it was great fun to apply those sensibilities to altogether different subject matter. I spent a day in the studio with Emily, Neomi, and Jonathan Kruger (my right hand on many projects), creating as many unique images as we could think of.  Here are a few of my favorites below, as well as scans of the final magazine layout (apologies for the quick and dirty scans—you know how it is).

I thought the above image would make a dandy cover.  You know, best of Jewish Washington, bagel is iconic, finger doing the "number one" thing...

I was really quite happy with this idea.  I like the way the round mirror echoes the bagel's shape, and it's just...delightfully weird.  I love quirky.  For this one, I shot a couple images and stitched them together in order to keep sharp focus throughout.  If I were a product photographer, I'd have a tilt/shift lens for that, but I'm not.  So I don't.  No big deal.

This one was Emily's and Neomi's idea—little jewels standing in for capers.  Very fun, very sparkly and happy.  And I particularly like it because if you think about it, it's a jewel caper.  So, you know, it works as a visual pun as well.  Here again, due to depth of field, I shot several arrangements of beads to hold sharp focus front to back.

Love this one.  Idea from team Emily/Neomi.  I forget how long we spent placing candles so they were spaced correctly, but...it was a while.

Three different loaves, replicated and patterned in Photoshop.

This, I think, is my favorite.  To be honest, I was having a hard time coming up with a conceptual idea for the sandwich until I started to think about that toothpick that holds a sandwich together, and what might take its place.  Receipt spindle!

And now the magazine!  Again, apologies for the rough scans—they don't do the magazine justice.

Thanks again to Emily, Neomi, and Jonathan!  It was a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to the next collaboration.