Cloud 9 (Josh and Jen Part II)

For this segment of the shoot we wanted something very out of touch with reality.  We wanted all of the highs of love and none of it's lows.  We wanted to capture the place in a relationship where your feet don't touch the ground.  The place where nothing else and no one else seems to exist outside of, or apart from, that other person.  The place where you truly live in your own reality, a world that plays by it's own set of rules, confined not by the limitations we'd otherwise be familiar with.  

It's a naive place, one that knows nothing of quarreling, only full of hope in what may come.  It is an important place that buys us time, allowing for a true love to form... a realistic love.  One that is not not bound and tied to mere emotions or feelings.  One that has the ability to fulfill and uphold all the promises it once made in that naive place in which it was formed.

Josh and Jen Part I

These guys were a lot of fun.  Upon meeting Josh and Jen your first impression might be that they are rather calm and reserved.  However, point a camera in their direction and you've just pulled a string... now watch them go!  Although, Josh is used to being on stage and in the spotlight so, I'm guessing, he feels more himself and more at home there.  He's an amazing musician and has a great band that goes by the name of Hendrick.  They've been on our playlist all afternoon.

Hummingbird

       
     In regards to our love of photographing performers, this is the shoot that started it all.  It was the spark that became the blaze, forever changing the direction of our business. In a sense, performers had now become our first love.  I always had a certain level of respect for performers but never an appreciation to the extent that I do now.  Karah was our first dancer to shoot and I realized that day how every dancer is different, all equipped with their own twists, styles, approaches, and interpretations of what dancing should be.  Her movements were not just beautiful to watch but also fun and kind of quirky.  It was her style and she owned it.  

     My eyes felt opened that day.  The feeling that I got while photographing her was similar to the feeling you get when you see a hummingbird. When you see one, you can't take your eyes off of it. You try your best to appreciate it and to observe as much detail as you can because you know that you only have a few seconds before it vanishes.  But that day I felt as if I'd been given some kind of an ability to make the humming bird stay around awhile longer. Something clicked inside of me and I felt as if  understood him. I felt I could speak his language.  I knew what would scare him off.  I knew how to keep up with him and I knew how to anticipate his movements. 

     It was a very significant shoot. I made a connection that day between performers and photographers that really helped to put me at ease.  I realized that it’s not always about a right way and a wrong way of doing things and that I didn't have to go around mimicking what seemed to be working for other photographers around me.  I realized that day that, just like everyone else, I had my own twist, my own style, my own approach, my own interpretation... my own kind of dance... and I want to own it the way that she did.

Service King

     Although I’m grateful for any commercial jobs that might come my way, it is sometimes hard to get too overly excited due to a surprising lack of creative freedom. Since everything is usually already planned out before you are even contacted, you simply show up and get the shots they ask you to get. However, when Service King approached me my interest was peaked. They pitched a very simple concept. They were giving a car away to a family in need. They said they wanted photographs of their mechanics working with the “skill of a surgeon, the touch of a sculptor, and the beauty of an artist” and they wanted photographs of the family who would be receiving the car. They laid a basic foundation for me but pretty much gave me free reign to achieve this however I thought necessary. They not only provided me with the creative freedom that I love but also meaning as well, seeing as how this was an actual family in need, receiving an actual car. It was great combination!

     When I showed up at Service King to photograph the mechanics they were all extremely nice and easy to work with… although this could have had something to do with the President of the company standing next to me but whatever, I’ll take it. I was impressed that all of the mechanics that were participating in restoring the car were volunteering their free time, working for nothing. They also kept giving me Dr. Pepper, which is the equivalent of giving me gold coins making that half of the shoot even more enjoyable.

     When I showed up to meet the family at their apartment I was amazed at how quick this targeted “family in need” was to go out of their way to serve me. The mother, who was from Nigeria where apparently hospitality is a much bigger deal
, was feeding me lunch and drink within two minutes of walking into her apartment. I remember feeling that there was a lot I could learn from them. I talked with her for a while and was surprised to find out how reluctant she was to receive a free car. She didn’t want the attention and didn’t like the idea of a handout. Actually, someone else who knew her had written the letter for her, submitting the entry. She wasn’t prideful in a negative sense but was a very proud woman, and the last thing she wanted was to feel like a charity case and to have people pity her and her situation because, even if it wasn’t much, everything she had up to that point she worked for. 

     With these photographs of the family, and after spending about an hour eating and talking with them, I decided that I wanted to work hard to keep her dignity intact. I wanted people to see what I saw that day, exactly as I saw it, and nothing more. I didn’t want to exaggerate the situation or try and pull on any heartstrings. I wanted her pride, her dignity, and her love for her family to show though. I wanted to hit it from an angle of “We can only do so much on our own and sometimes we just need a little help” rather than making her feel like in any way shape or form that she had fallen short as a mother, because she hasn’t.

Beaver's Bend

Here's a few images taken during the much anticipated Anderson family vacation in Beavers Bend Oklahoma.

It may look like like I'm eating a sandwich... but it's a harmonica during a jam-session with Chad, Kim, Dakota, and Ethan.

Dakota's new mandolin.  He can already play Beirut's "Postcards from Italy"

FLINT

    
     
     I do not care for gossip and I do not care to fill people in on juicy details of another person’s life simply to validate a point.  But sometimes it is impossible to understand just how far a person has come without understanding where he came from, so I made sure I got permission and clearance for this particular post.

     This is my brother-in-law Zak and his wife Caitlin.  It's been a long, hard-fought road for Zak to get from where he was to where he is now.  For years he has battled with a drug and alcohol addiction.  There were many a prayers and pleas for grace offered up on account of him by his friends and family and many worried and sleepless nights of wondering where he was and hoping he was okay.  And just when you thought he had hit rock bottom it was as if he pulled out a jackhammer, broke through the rock, and continued to dig, finding new depths.    

     But these shots were taken shortly after what seemed to be some kind of invisible, major turning point in his life.  I say invisible because I cannot put my finger on exactly when or where it happened. I just know that when I look at these portraits that there is a very noticeable, tangible, and marked difference between the Zak we all knew and the one represented by these photographs. If you knew him before, when you look at these you sense or even know that something has definitely changed… something looks different.  There is a look of strength and determination set like flint behind the eyes that simply wasn't there a few months prior to taking these.  You sense that he's found something worth holding on to and whatever that something is seems to be returning the favor, as if they've finally reached some sort of agreement or made a pact together.  He looks like he's finally found the peace, serenity, rest, stability, and safety he’s always greatly desired and needed to move forward. He's finally winning.  

 (My mother-in-law, Zak's mother, said she cried when she saw this photo, commenting that she'd never seen him look so happy.)

A Touch of Vanity

     Hi and welcome to my new blog.  Everyone has been telling me to start blogging for years now, but I've always felt a little reticent about doing it and, up to this point, have resisted.  There just seems to be a touch of vanity about the whole idea of it that has always unnerved me.  I feel as if I'll be going about, flailing my arms around and shouting "Hey, look at me!  I'm so INTERESTING!"  But here I am, standing at the threshold of this new and strange world (new to me anyways) of talking constantly about ourselves, of self-promotion, and sharing our every bizarre thought.  But I've decided to enter in and find out first hand what this is all about instead of through mere observation.  I AM, however, excited to have a place to finally put words alongside our images, telling a more complete story.   As for my wife and me, you will learn more about us as we go, whether that be directly through words or indirectly through our work.  I'm also excited to get to know some of you out there as well, so your comments and feedback are certainly welcome. Well, I'm not really sure where one proceeds from here, in this new vain venture, but maybe waking up everyday to this constantly blank canvas called a blog is what people like so much about it... so full speed ahead, I guess!