"Portrait Day" Benefit for MS Society

As many of you know, each year I ride my bike at the Bike MS Historic New Bern Ride to raise money for the National MS Society. It's coming up this weekend, Sept 10th, 11th, and 12th, and I'll be riding 200 miles for the cause. My wife Jo has also decided to ride in her first Bike MS event this year, and has committed to the 75 mile ride on Saturday and the 50 mile ride on Sunday!

Since our family and friends' donations have been going to 2 riders this year, I decided to try something new for fundraising. I held a mini-event and called it "Portrait Day." I asked folks for a small donation, and in return they would receive a short photo session and a few final images via e-mail. My friend Bryan Regan donated his studio space for the shoot on Sunday September 5th. We raised $250 for the MS Society. Added to the money Jo and I have already raised for Bike MS our combined total is now over $1000! A big thanks to all who came out, it was lots of fun and it's all for a great cause. Jo and I even got in on it and did pics in our team jerseys!

There's still time to donate online at my participant page or if you would rather mail a check, you can contact me for my mailing address. Next year I plan to do Portrait Day again, perhaps a bit earlier in the year and not on Labor Day weekend!

Hooah!

The men and women of the U.S. Military are used to hardship. They train for it. Long deployments to inhospitable climates in harm's way are the norm. Often overlooked are the hardships endured by their families and loved ones waiting back home. It's especially hard on the kids. That's where Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission comes in. I had the honor of photographing one of their Camp Desert Kids events at Fort Bragg this weekend. Here's a description of the program, borrowed from their website:

The Camp Desert Kids program works to help military children better understand the deployments that shape their lives through a fun and educational event. In addition to allowing children to share similar experiences as their deployed parent, it serves to help American children learn that Iraqi and Afghani children do the same things they do – just differently, and works to cultivate an appreciation of Middle Eastern heritage.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the volunteers from Families United, the volunteer soldiers, families, and kids. Here are a few images, the full gallery can be viewed HERE

RIP Jim Marshall

I will always remember the iconic images of Jimi and Janis, the shots of the Beatles and Jim Morrison, and many more. I'll also remember when I found out that all these incredible images were made by the same photographer. That was Jim Marshall. "THE rock & roll photographer," acording to Annie Leibovitz. If you get a chance, check out his book, "Jim Marshall: Proof." It shows contact sheets from some of his most famous shoots, complete with his grease pencil notes. It's as much a glimpse into the editing process as it is a look at outtakes from the famous sessions. His work will live forever.

And the winner is...

On Friday evening, February 26th I photographed the AAF-RDU 2010 Addy Awards Gala at Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh. I had a great time seeing folks I hadn't seen in awhile, meeting some new folks, and checking out all the great work that was on display. Congratulations to all the recipients! The full gallery of images is HERE

I'll fix it in post...

Digital capture can be a really nice thing. You can grab all sorts of images and then decide later which look to apply to each individual frame. You can change your mind. Make a variety of "finals." Some of us tend to do more post-processing than others. I think sometimes it can really complement the images and sometimes folks go to far and the treatment they apply to the images becomes distracting, or suggests to the viewer that the photographer has tried to make a weak image more interesting.

Recently I have been shooting some personal work with my Leica Rangefinder on film. Yes, they still make film. Remember when we had to decide what look we wanted the final image to have BEFORE we shot the images? Remember when we would choose from our favorite emulsions as an artist would choose his palette? Remember when we would capture a latent image on film, but couldn't view it instantly? How about that moment when you clicked the shutter and just KNEW you had that shot in the can, and the anticipation of processing the film and then looking to see if you were right?



cross-processed color film



high-speed black & white

These images were scanned and adjusted for density, color, contrast, and crop. I love the looks, and I've spent a lot of time in post-processing digital captures trying to achieve these exact same looks! Still, there's a certain satisfaction that comes from the deliberate intent that goes along with shooting film. Especially when it turns out right...

mmmm... doughnuts.

What would make thousands of people get up early on a Saturday morning and brave mid-30's temps to run 4 miles? Some might say it's the charity- the NC Children's Hospital, and they'd be right. Others will swear it's the doughnuts- 12 glazed rings of sugary goodness that you have to down at the halfway point. But really it's the challenge- can you run 2miles, eat a dozen glazed, then run 2 more miles all in under an hour? And can you keep the full dozen down, or will you be one of the many decorating the streets of Raleigh?

It was the 6th annual Krispy Kreme Challenge this morning in downtown Raleigh, and the rain let up, it didn't snow, and the challengers were out in force to raise money for the NC Children's Hospital. One of these years I am going to run, but once again this year I just went to take pictures. I met up with the runners at the halfway point at the Krispy Kreme at the corner of Peace and Person St. as they were attempting to put away their allotment of doughnuts. Sidestepping the large rain puddles and the various other small puddles left behind by folks who weren't quite up to the challenge, I watched as runners wolfed down doughnuts and the media swarmed them for pictures and interviews (myself included.) Then, slower than when they arrived, the runners began to head back out on course, leaving their empty boxes in large piles along the sidewalks for the volunteers to dispose of.

I have to do this at least once in my life. OK, maybe next year I'll leave the camera at home and take on the challenge...

Helicopters and Ambulances

One of the most extensive projects I have shot was with Stop Studios, a design firm in Durham. The client was Duke University Medical Center's Emergency Services, also known as Duke Lifeflight. The assignment was to produce a "library of images" from which they could pull for a huge variety of uses- brochures, a calendar, and even t-shirts! Take a look at a few printed pieces here.

My first step was to scout out the hospital to see where things were and determine how much access I could get to areas around the helipad, ambulance bays, and trauma rooms. Little did I know that my scout day would become a shoot day by default! The call came through that someone needed a Lifeflight airlift, so we hightailed it upstairs to the helipad and I quickly began taking pictures of the helicopter crew going through their pre-flight checklists. I had a few seconds to obtain permission from the pilot to stay up on the pad (at a safe distance, of course) and then they took off, banking out over the Durham skyline to go help someone in need. In the rush, everyone forgot that the Flight Nurse was also acting as our escort, so once the helicopter lifted off, we were left unattended on the roof! It wasn't long before a security guard looked out there and noticed me taking pictures of the helipad for detail "vignettes." After a brief explanation and a call on his radio to check my story I was allowed to stay out on the pad and wait for the helicopter's return. The sun was setting and it was "magic hour" as I was photographing the landing and offloading of the patient, then into the building and down to a trauma room. It happens fast! I was able to shoot the helicopter taking off again after dark, since they had to fly to RDU for refueling. All in all, my scout day was very successful.

I would spend quite a few days over the course of a couple months with the Flight Nurses, Pilots, and Ambulance Drivers at Duke. These folks are busy. They have serious jobs. They don't want to stop and pose for a photo shoot- people's lives are at stake. So I got to follow them around and see what they do day in and day out. Their days are spent keeping themselves busy with equipment maintenance and paperwork until the call comes over the radio that sends them into action. So that's what I did too- I had my laptop set up in their control center, deep in the bowels of the hospital. There I would look over images and show selects to my Art Director until the folks in the blue flight suits got their call. Then it was off to photograph the ambulances and helicopters and their emergency crews.

We also were able to shoot portraits of the crews, a few scenarios that were set-up during downtime, and one day I went up in the UNC chopper to photograph the two Duke Lifeflight helicopters flying over Durham. That was one of the coolest things I've ever done! I very much enjoyed working with the emergency personnel at Duke, and was quite impressed with their abilities and their professionalism. I have put a bunch of images on this post, this is just a small sample of the body of work we created.