I knew it was going to be good ride because my moustache was symmetrical with killer wig-wags that pointed straight out to the sides. To be honest I really didn’t know too much about Lightening in a Bottle as I set out from Portland. Gabe had told me it was defiantly one of the best festivals and the LIB crew was solid through and through. Obviously so, since they invited me down to LA to “do what you do” because a good friend vouched for me. So I went. Once I got on the grounds I found Gabes descriptions to be dead on. As the festival began I couldn’t help notice density of pro lenses climbing all over each other to get the same shot. Though I know they were getting amazing shots I decided to look in other directions. So my first choice was to focus my sights on time-lapse photography. Throughout the weekend I shot over 12,000 images of both stills and time-lapse. (You can see my still gallery here.) After it was all done and over I edited this time-lapse’s down to 4,250 images then paired it with Super Tall Pauls cover of Crazy. In short; I went to Lightning in a Bottle as a open book ready to be filled. I found LIB to be an amazing place filled with amazing people and I am honored to have been one of them.
Disclaimer: I’m not claiming to be amazing.

Now when a friend says, “Go do what you do……., and dont worry I vouched for you.” and you do a lot of different things, you start to worry about doing it wrong. Not that I was worried about doing anything wrong but when you are surrounded by legendary artistic talent your self imposed standards of success become harder to meet. So I made an effort to get some still images to compliment my time-lapses. The gallery below is chalk full of amazing artists and beautiful people. Hope you enjoy.

     When it comes to photography in my personal life I have specific rules of engagement. The 1st and most important is that I carry my cameras everywhere I go and I try like hell not to use them. I reserve my cameras for the moments in which the most authentic way for me to fully engage the moment is through a photographic experience. Having the ability to photograph any thing I want at any time allows me to be very discerning when it come to engaging a subject. This was one of those nights I couldn’t keep my cameras holstered –

Last spring I was discussing fly fishing with Adam MacNamara (owner of Castaway Guide Service) and I said,” You know what would be really cool? A  photo essay on the life of a fly.” He agreed and told me he would pitch it to his friend who is the editor at Flyfishing and Tying Journal. About a week later we all met up and I got the green light to go ahead with the essay. So one pre dawn morning in mid July Adam and set out  for the White River in eastern Oregon to put together this photo essay. The shoot was a lot of hard work and stressful at times (putting your camera and strobes in a fast-moving river will really put you on edge). But I had a good subject, great scenery, and perfect light so I knew I could realize my vision. When I submitted the final set of images and I got a very enthusiastic response from Rob Crandall the editor of the magazine. In fact they were so impressed with my work it landed me on the cover! They even gave me a great “shout out” in the from the editor column (look for it in the about section on my website). This marks my first nationally distributed magazine cover  and I am very proud. Hope you enjoy looking at the images as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Gabe Shaughnessy, my studio mate, and I (Studio 1) created this interpretive mural during Art Outside 2010 in Austin, Texas.
The interactive mural was hand painted by Gabe using black and white paint in a paint sprayer.
At night, digital projectors illuminated the mural, and Gabe continued painting with projected light.
Meanwhile I captured time-lapse photos of the event, depicting the M-T-Pockets Midway, The Fleeble Flobbler, aerialist troupe Ricochet, the folk stage in the forest, and the Moon and trees.
My photos became the animated content in the mural, carefully layered and collaged with the hand-painted and digitally illustrated elements.
The sound track to this documentation video is by Beats Antique, you can find more of their gypsy-carnival-crunk music at beatsantique.com

The following videos are the individual time laps animations that were incorporated in to the mural. All the scenes were shot specifically for the different “stages” of the canvas. With the help a cherry picker lift (thank you Dallas) I was able to get just about any angle of view needed to match the perspective of Gabes illustration.

This was a time laps I did of the sun set. Though It didn’t actually make to mural we used it to sample our colors and create our palet

Well we just had to incorporate this one in to the mural.

This was one of those great lucky finds. There was a grasshopper slowly walking across a blank white canvas. Though you cant see in from the video one of the features of the mural was the grass hopper running across it. It looked really good.

This is the best example of working to get just the right angle of view. You can see the three positions I shot to get it right. Again thanks to the cherry picker we were able to nail the shot.

For the Folk Shit up Stage we need a looking through the wood typ of feel for the shot. So after a lot of positioning I found the perfect angle. It blended seamlessly in to the mural.

Burning Man 2010, Metropolis, is the start of my second decade at Black Rock City. After going 10 years with out a break I took last year off. To be honest I wasn’t planning of going this year but I had an opportunity to work while I was there and who could say no to a gig at Burning Man. I was hired by Enviromedia to produce a series of images for their Enviro blog. My assignment was to look for images that communicate the environmental resourcefulness and unique qualities of Black Rock City and it’s citizens. It was a welcome challenge for me to engage my photographic experience of Burning Man beyond just what I find interesting or engaging. You can find a link to the Enviroblog post here. This second decade also marks a significant change in my photographic approach. I switched from shooting entirely on film to digital. It’s hard to say exactly how much it impacted photography but I believe it was significant. I found it freed me up in many ways. Not only in the capturing of the image but also in the processing and treatment of the final images. The following is a concise selection of digital images I was able to acquire this year. Enjoy.

These images are of the first annual PDX Bridge Festival! As the official photographer it is my mission to get the kick ass shots that this event deserves. I will be updating this gallery throughout the festival so keep checking back. Now I know I wont be able to cover it all so I created a PDX Bridge Festival group on flickr to showcase all the amazing sights. Check it out if you want to see or post more images. For any one who wants to come out and participate heres a link to the PDX Bridge Festival. Come one, come all, let’s celebrate the bridges that connect us (But remember our bridges have served us for 100 years and they’re a little fragile so it’s best not celebrate too much and we dare not dance in rhythm).

This April, the Austin based agency, EnviroMedia, hired me to create the second half of a stop motion tour that showcased their new Portland office. It was a fun assignment but had it’s own unique challenges. EnviroMedia is an ad agency that focuses on environmental and public health marketing so it was important the show the commitment they have to their values. It was left up to me to produce, compose, and visually connect all the environmentally friendly features of their office. The other big challenge was creating this in a style that allows for seamless continuity between the two installments. If you watch the completed tour it is clear that the two are cohesive and work as one. Follow this link to see the complete EnviroMedia Office Tour. And see the part I produced below.

Last weekend I taught my first photography workshop. I have been wanting to share my approach to photography for some time now and let me tell you it went great. I spent the weekend out in Heppner Oregon conducting classes, critiques, and applying the knowledge in the field. Though I was there mainly to teach I was able to get a few shots which I have included in this post. I look forward to teaching my next class.

These images were taken while on my last trip to New York City. Though I only had four days in the city I was able to capitalize on every moment. As a result of my efforts I was in position for every sunrise and was able to leave New York with twelve stunning compositions. I consider these images to be rough drafts and plan to continue processing them to a finished state. Once I have them dialed I will use them to approach various New York galleries about a show.