Awards

This past weekend the Professional Photographers of Iowa (PPI) convention was held in Des Moines. Last year was my first year attending and it was an amazing time with lots of great speakers. They were impressed with my work enough last year that this year I was honored to be asked to be a speaker and teach a class on my popular composite work that I do. I was very nervous for my class but it went very smooth and I actually had a great time doing it.

At the state convention there is also a print competition that is held every year. Over 400 prints were entered, and one of my favorite parts is seeing the culmination of everyone's very best work from the past year.  To give a brief explanation of the process, you can enter 4 prints into the competition to be judged by a panel of judges and awarded points on a scale from 0-100. In the competition there are two main categories of photographers, master and non-master.  Photographers achieve the designation of master by earning service, speaking, & exhibition merits - in other words they have had high scoring prints in numerous contests and have spoken and assisted at many events. Since last year was my first year, I am still in the non-master category. 

An awards banquet was held on the final night.  I was honored when they announced at the awards banquet that my prints had outscored all but one other photographer - master photographer Micheal Cerizo.  I was named Iowa's 2011 Top Photographer of the Year in my category and brought home a bunch of awards.   

 The following print was named Desolate Determination and scored an 88.  It was awarded a ribbon for judge's choice and 1st place in women outdoor.

In the illustrative category, I took 2nd to the very talented Dan McClanahan.  This is the image I entered - titled Return To Me.  It scored a 96! It is stitched together from a bunch of panoramic shots.  I created it as a 20x80 inch print and it is really amazing up close.

Quick story- The McClanahan's are very close friends, and earlier in the year when we were hanging out Dan & I had made a pact that we were both going to make the top 10 photographers in Iowa this year (despite the fact that last year was both of our 1st time even  entering the competition!).  Our pact ended up working out well for us with me earning top photographer and Dan taking a close second.

This is another image I entered titled Desolation.  It scored an 84 which is still a very very good score.

The final portrait in my print case.  I really liked this one because of the gritty emotion it portrayed.

The following print was entered for score only, just to see how good it was. (It doesn't count as part of your final score, but the judges don't know which prints are for score only so that they judge everything the same.)  This wedding image would have scored a 91 if I had entered it into the competition!

Finally, I swept the digital competition for the 2nd year in a row with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The images below each poster are some of the original elements I used to create the poster.

 

Sweet images from some winter sessions

A few images from last weeks sessions. I don't think it made it much over 15 degrees the entire week but that didn't stop anyone from coming and we got some pretty amazing portraits. There are lots more to show so keep your eye out.

Some Pretty Cool Sports Posters

Created some pretty cool posters for Wilton's winter sports teams. Here are two and I have another to take tomorrow. The idea for the wrestling poster was thought up only after they guys got to the studio. I asked them what there theme was and they said - "Work Hard, Never Surrender" I thought for a second and remembered I had taken some images of an old tank outside a gas station the year before and thought that would be the perfect background. I also used some helicopters I had used in a softball poster two years ago and some rocks that I had taken at a rock quarry for last year's softball poster. Did some transforming and a few effects on them and turned some ordinary images into a pretty cool poster.

For the basketball poster my original idea was to do something about becoming one with the game and have their arms turning the color and texture of basketballs and the basketballs growing vines and roots up around them. It wasn't quite working out as I planned, I couldn't quite get the texture right and it was taking quite a bit of time so I decided to go back to the drawing board. If I had more time I think I could have pulled it off but at this time of year, things are pretty crazy around the business. I had already taken the portraits of the guys so I needed to keep them in a similar position yet come up with a new idea. Did some brainstorming the next day and came up with "Taking it to the next level" I just elevated the floor and added sky behind them, next I needed some dirt below so I took a shovel outside and dug up a chunk of dirt. Add some photoshop magic and voila! Another pretty decent poster.

Mary Beth & Louis's Wedding

Mary Beth & Louis were looking for some unique and creative portraits for their wedding but they didn't want to have to rush around on the day of their wedding and worry about time constraints. Instead they decieded to come in a few weeks before their wedding and have all their creative portriats done then. By doing this we were able have a fun relaxing day going to a bunch of unique locations and getting amazing portraits. We shot in alleyways, against old buildings and vintage trucks, in parks, fire escapes, bridges, abandoned gas stations, and theaters. It was so much fun and they got to be models for a day shooting in the coolest locations we could find. Then when they had their wedding a few weeks later they already had an amazing video of their session to show off to all their guests. I can't wait to design their wedding album, they are going to have so many cool images to include in it! Below is their wedding video.

Models in New Orleans

Wow, what an experience! I can’t tell you how amazed and thankful that I am able to be part of it and teach along side some of the greatest photographers in the country. I couldn’t have dreamed up a more action packed, star studded unbelievable educational photography experience. From Pete Wright’s trash the dress session in the same warehouse as they filmed The Expendables to watching as Jen Hillenga, the goddess of posing, posed and light models in the back alleys of New Orleans. Listening as Mike Fulton, Cody Clinton & Jordan Chan displayed their off camera lighting prowess. Hearing Martin Grahame-Dunn spewing knowledge like a prophet. Seeing legends like Fuzzy Dunkel and rising superstar Dan McClanahan show off why they are so amazing as they photographed in the French Quarter. Watching JuliAnne Jonker the greatest Adobe guru in the history of gurus teach lessons on Photoshop and Lightroom. The craziest most fun night session I could ever dream of photographing in neon lit alleyways and texture filled rooms of the House of Blues along side the likes of Kevin Jairaj, James Hayes, Chuck Arlund, Steve Ragland, Dan Davis, and Pete Wright – amazing photographers that you basically would normally have to get in a line to even get an autograph from if you were at any other convention. Then coming back to photograph on the roof of the hotel 17 stories up overlooking New Orleans as George Kuchler painted models with light using glow sticks and flashes. Watching in awe the creations of fashion photographer extraordinaire Lou Freeman and her assistants as they turned models into scenes that can best be described as Alice in Wonderland meets Vogue covered in feathers. All this was happening and lots more! There were so many things going on from amazing mentors that I can’t list them all and my mind is reeling from the opportunities. Travis Gugelman, Clark Martin, Kurk Voclain Larry PetersEddieTapLorieNordstromPeterHolcombebrycoxdonchickkenkneringermikeridingerwenmcnally....ahhhhhhhhhh! wow!

If you missed New Orleans you probably missed one of the greatest educational events you could ever be a part of, and yet AD seems to somehow get more amazing every time. And from what I hear for what they have planned in Vegas it will yet again be the place to be.

A cool opportunity in Portland

Recently took a trip out to Oregon to teach some photography classes. We went out a few days early and did some adventuring - those pictures hopefully up soon. The classes went very well and I think everyone had a great time - we had access to an abandoned hotel and an old battle ship and a bunch of other amazing areas. Most nights we were up till 3 or 4 in the morning photographing models and having fun. We will soon be heading down to New Orleans to teach some more classes. I can't wait.

We recently purchased a building to move our studio to. It's going to need alot of work but we have some big plans for it! We've been dreaming alot lately about everything we would want it to have, now we just need to figure out how to go about making that happen. First things first - it needs a new roof (it's been leaking for the past 2 years). Then we have to competely gut everything and start from scratch. Recently took some family portraits of the Hoekstra's in part of the studio that wasn't as bad. I love the brick walls and the huge metal shutters. It is certainly going to be a cool background to use.