i’m headed out to Orlando today to shoot some I Am Second stuff and feeling rather tropico, tropico. i’m hoping for at least one beverage with an umbrella in it. maybe i can do a travel diary while i’m away… it’s been a while.

here’s some new work from the country club renovation project:

we’re about at the halfway mark; i’m 6 months in and it’s amazing to me that i can see anything new or find new ways to see the things i’ve seen a hundred times. this job has been an incredible exercise in learning to look harder. i’m rather happy with my latest effort on that project.

i’m a reluctant covert… but, i’m on twitter & you can follow me here.

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs… and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”

-Exodus 31:1-5

tomorrow marks one year of my involvement with I Am Second and the first person i shot for the campaign was Jason Castro. i remember being pretty nervous.

i had pitched the idea of shooting production stills to use as additional content on iamsecond.com, but the folks at E3 knew they would need studio portraits for the print & outdoor efforts, so they asked me to try my hand at those as well. at the time, studio photography wasn’t something that i had a ton of experience with – which was the root cause of 97% of my nervousness.

here’s that first image:

so much about the campaign was still in a process of discovery when we shot Jason & as much as we liked this image, it was a unanimous belief that it wasn’t the right feel for the campaign. so, twenty days later, i did a full day test which led us to the current high contrast look that has become a staple of all the I Am Second photography.

i’m actually floored that it has only been one year since I Am Second started for me. i’ve grown so much, personally and professionally, since i came on board with I Am Second, that it feels like a lot more time has passed since it all began. looking forward, i’m incredibly excited about all the stories still to be told.

i destinctly remember almost every detail from the day. it felt like trial by fire, but looking back, i realize that there was a heavy dose of divine grace given to me. just as God gave the plans for the tabernacle to Moses on Mt. Ararat & then prepared Bezalel & Oholiab, he worked in the heart of Norm, provided the direction with E3, and gifted craftsmen like Sam, Scott & me -  it’s incredibly humbling to realize that not only are you part of the plans, you were called by name and given grace for just such an occassion.

the best thing about shooting Jason is that it lead us, creatively, to refine our thinking about how photography could, and should, be used. and, for my part, the effort has lead to results i’m incredibly proud of.

a print ad that ran on the back cover of D Magazine’s April 2009 issue.

My RSS feeds are many & varied… but one of my favorites is a new visual journalism blog that the New York Times runs called LENS. It’s special for many reasons, like big images in a simple, unobtrusive design, a straightforward navigational structure that doesn’t feel tired or boring and quality, original content like images from the Archives, they publish timely and striking photojournalism every day, showcase photographers, talk shop and on and on. But, more than anything else, I think LENS is special because of the access it gives a viewer into the story behind the story.

Take, for example, the story that came up Tuesday – Behind the Scenes: Tank Man of Tiananmen, which digs into the iconic image from the 1989 protest on Tiananmen Square in China. It happend on June 5th, 1989 – I was eleven years old, but the image was seared into my brain. It may be the single most memorable image of my generation – and there are four versions. Who knew, right?

photo by Stuart Franklin/Magnum Photos

LENS takes you behind the scenes of one of recent histories most famous photographs and relates the story in the voice of the four men who shot the image – four photographers, four perspectives, four separate creative choices and four striking images. That’s why it’s one of my first stops every morning.

EDIT** Apparently the feature that ran Tuesday on LENS brought out a new, never before seen image of Tank Man shot by Terril Jones at street level. Jones’ story shows that timing is everying in journalism and is a great example of how a single image can define a story and the result that has on other images.

“There will be an emergence of “social thinking” and I think that this would be a great start in the right direction. Photography will play a very big part — as it has done so powerfully in the past — in the presentation of truth and the transformation of social and historical consciousness.

My intention as a photographer is to be a participant in this process.”

- Jeff Riedel

the new PDN photo annual is out. and it’s available online. and it’s superb.

photo by Dan Winters

the best photographs of the last year, from every imaginable discipline – advertising, editorial, photojournalism, sports, corporate and student work – as well as top portfolio sites, all in one place. it’s an inspirational goldmine. i found myself completely sucked in by the images in the editorial section – especially the work of Dan Winters, who I freaking love. I’m not sure there is a better editorial portrait photographer working today.

here are a few of the other images that really stood out to me.

photo by Rodney Smith

photo by Justin Stephens

photo by Afton Almaras/AP

but the standout work, in my opinion, was a photo essay on homelessness in New York entitled A Night on the Streets by Jeff Riedel, which originally appeared in New York Magazine and is this year’s Arnold Newman winner. there’s a great interview about the project & his work in general over on the ASMP website that is well worth the read. i can’t say it’s ever occurred to me to inject artificial light into social scenes, but i really apprecaite the approach he took with the essay and i’m drawn to the cinematic quality of the images.

photo by Jeff Riedel

David Hume | children’s ministry volunteer at Irving Bible Church

I recently shot a series of conceptual portraits for Irving Bible Church. They are in constant need of volunteers to help out with their kids programs and we came up with this idea of everyday heroes. I think the push to recruit new volunteers begins next month and I’m excited to see what they end up doing from a copy and layout perspective. You can see the whole series here.

My wife & I have been attending IBC for the better part of the last nine years & have had our kids in their children’s ministry for almost six years. So, when the opportunity to give a little bit of time and energy to the church we love came up, I jumped. Actually, I have been doing quite a bit with the church recently, because I really believe that The Church (the big, universal Christian church) needs to be doing a better job of telling the story of Jesus’ love.

To be rather blunt, I think we mostly suck at it.

But, instead of sitting around moaning about how things aren’t as they should be, I’ve really tried to be more proactive in bringing about change. Actually, this is at the heart of that article I wrote for COLLIDE that should be coming out next month(ish). At IBC, I’ve started a collective of photographers to help share the burden of telling The Story and my hope is that this concept catches on at other churches across the country. Photographers are observers by nature, but my hope is that we would start to be an agent of change inside our local congregations by showing that Jesus is alive and well in the hearts and actions of those that follow him.

i mentioned, back in January, a photo shoot i did with Selena Gomez for Borden milk. the campaign launched recently and i just received some of the final artwork.

Local, Fresh, Delecious

Agency: Marchman Associates

Creative: Sam Ditore, Scott Mayo, Kevin Shivers & Taryn Owen

the creative is a derivative of the TV concept & i think it all turned out brilliantly. Kevin did an amazing job of creating a universe that blends urban youthfulness with the pastoral freshness that has been a staple of the Borden brand for decades; props to you my friend. and, i’m quite happy with the way Taryn was able to marry the photography with the world Kevin created.

if they ever put the TV spots online, I’ll make sure to post a link. i think the TV creative was next level cool.

i shot alongside the commercial production & would get to spend time with Selena in little burst between their setups. it was definitely a challenging way to work because just about the time she and I would find our rhythm, they would take her off my set & into the sound stage. but, this way of working did afford me the opportunity to shoot lots of production stills, which i love doing.

here are a few of those:

Salena rocks out to Forever The Sickest Kids.

(clockwise from top left) PM, Andi Budman & her coffee, Kevin, Sam & the storyboards, production meeting

the spots were shot on the Red One; the final spot has a mix of virtual & physical set pieces.

the initial concept sketch and the lighting scheme used to bring it to life; definitely my favorite shot in the spot.

i’ve learned one very valuable lesson while documenting the renovation of Royal Oaks Country Club, construction is messy. very, very messy.

workers put the finishing touches on the pool area at Royal Oaks, which opened memorial day weekend.

as i mentioned when i last wrote, which seems like eons ago, i’ve been hard at work finalizing the redesign of my website in-between various shooting assignments. i’m happy to report that my good friend and Dallas most talented interactive marketer has begun the blah, blah that is required to turn photoshop files into web wonderment. and i’m really excited. but i also know that the road ahead will be messy, full of unexpected disasters creative challenges and will probably take me right up to the wire (i have a loose & self imposed late summer, like, late August, early September) goal.

fingers crossed.

i should be blogging more. i have a ton of new work to show, recently launched two personal projects and have written an article for COLLIDE that should be going to print soon. so check back soon & often.

I’ve been hard at work finishing up all my promotional materials, including doing all the initial design work on the redesign of my new website – which I hope is getting close. It’s been a great experience to dream about where I want to go as a photographer and think, in practical terms, about the best way to get there.

One of the items I’ve really put a ton of time and energy behind is my book. I don’t feel like my current portfolio really does a good enough job of showcasing my storytelling abilities. And since that is where I see myself heading, I really wanted a tangible something to put in people’s hands (or inboxes) that showed that side of my work.

When it came to layout & the purpose behind the piece, I set a few pretty straightforward goals for myself:

Let the images do all the work. No sense trying to be a visual communicator if you can’t say what needs to be said without words. Turns out this is hard for a person who spent the first two-thirds of his life dreaming about being a writer.

Include a few story lines. If you’re going to say “I’m a storyteller” you have to have a few stories to tell. So, this goal was as much about mining my work for the strongest examples of story as it was about not overdoing it.

Make story-like connections between unrelated things. This is one of those ideas that I’ve been obsessed with for quite a long time. I like finding commonality in seemingly unrelated scenes. It’s really fun to put a couple of images together and see what happens.

You can download my book by clicking on one of the follow links: choose the large version if you want something big, but if you’re on a slow internet connection or want to email it to someone, choose the small version.

There are a few spreads from the book after the jump.

from the renovation of Royal Oaks Country Club, an ongoing project commissioned by the club.

i love the symmetry of these two images, especially in light of Head’s story of rebirth.

Mike Huckabee, one-time Baptist preacher turned presidential candidate.