8.30.2012

Illustrative work

Besides entering some prints into competition I also  entered some of my digital art into the PPA Digital Artist Category.  It is judged a little differently than normal prints and other factors are taken into consideration besides just the final result.  Judges look at the artistic vision and the original elements the maker used to create the art piece.  Three of my four prints merited with one of those prints being accepted into the Loan collection.    Below are the images I entered.

Titled - Final Drive - created for a senior football player

Titled - Persephone's Solace  The entire landscape for this piece was created from a single bush...

Titled- A Sound In The Wood.   The forest in this art piece was drawn entirely in photoshop.  I originally created this background while teaching a class in Cincinnati with the amazing fashion photographer Lindsay Adler
 

This robot was created entirely from images I captured of metal working machines in New Orleans. The building I photographed the machines in was also used in the movie the Expendables - it was their home base in the movie. The background behind the robot was from an abandoned factory in Cincinnati.

8.27.2012

International Diamond Photographer of the Year 2012!

Each year the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) hold an international print competition in which photographers from all over the world send in their best images to be judged. PPA’s International Judging and Annual Exhibition of Professional Photography is known worldwide for setting the standard by which photographic imaging is judged for both artistic and commercial appeal. The very best of the best images are accepted into the Loan Collection.

I'm pretty excited to announce that for the second year in a row all four of my entries were accepted into the Loan collection! Only 7  other photographers in the world had all four of their entries accepted! It's a pretty amazing accomplishment to say the least and an even bigger accomplishment to be named International Diamond Photographer of the Year for the second year in a row!

The awards ceremony is held each year at Imaging USA, one of the photographic industry’s largest annual tradeshows and educational events. Last year an estimated 10,000 photographers attended the event. Last year was my first year ever attending and I was almost overwhelmed at the amount of photographers and things to learn. This year I was asked to be a main stage speaker! It's kind of crazy to me that I will be standing up in front of all those people talking about my photography (I try not to think about it too much).


Titled:  A Wild Ride

Titled:  Take Me Away  (This was created in a ghost town outside of Las Vegas)

Titled:  Wash Away My Fears  (this was created for an engagement couple)

Titled:  My North Star.  Created in the desert outside of Tucson at 3:00AM.  It was a 30 second exposure to bring out the detail in the stars. I had assistants shine flashlights on the cliffs behind her in a technique called "painting with light". This helped bring out the details in the cliffs. Andrea was lit with a 580 flash to freeze her in place.)

8.23.2012

Nikki & Ben's Hotel Vetro Wedding

The day couldn't have been nicer and to tell the truth my job was pretty easy that day.  It's pretty hard to take a bad portrait of Nikki and Ben.  Plus their wedding venue - Hotel Vetro in Iowa City makes for a great location for beautiful portraits.  Nikki wore a stunning Vera Wang wedding dress and selected beautiful yet simple creams and greys as her wedding colors.  I can't wait to design their wedding album with all the simple striking beauty of their day!





Cake by Tip Top Cakes!  Sooo good






These dogs and their owner happened to be walking by as we were taking portraits and we decided to be a little spontaneous









one of my favorites! Nikki was stunning in her Vera Wang Wedding Dress

8.13.2012

Dena & Travis's Sneak Peak

A few beautiful images from Dena & Travis's wedding. It was a beautiful day and everyone was incredibly nice. It's so much fun to work with people who are excited and happy. They chose not to see each other before the wedding which can sometimes be very difficult but they built in lots of extra time between the wedding and reception to ensure that we had time to create some artistic portraits. Their wedding was at the Catholic Church and their reception was at the always awesome Hotel Vetro in Downtown Iowa City. The cool pink up-lighting was provided by Unique Events.


found this little window and vase in Dena's mother's house while she was getting ready - the perfect spot for an artistic shoe shot!


Dena's Bridesmaids had some of the coolest bridesmaids dresses ever! They each separately found the perfect dress for themselves and Dena got to approve them.


I always love the atmosphere uplighting gives to a room. 
uplighting and dance floor spotlight provided by http://www.ueweddings.com/