Riding the ferris wheel

I think the ferris wheel was everyones favorite ride at Tweetsie. The guy said it was built in 1929, it dose look kinda old and rusty and the thing goes fast. You get a great view as you spin around at break neck speeds while on top of the mountain, a cemetery.

Random Tweetsie Railroad shots

Tweetsie Railroad is like stepping back in time. Some random shots from around the park. A great time was had by all on our vacation. The park is very family friendly and the staff was great.

Mountain shots

Had a great time hiking in the woods.

Highland Games

Kinda hard to run around and get good shots when you got kids with you. I think my girls were a little to young to enjoy the games maybe we'll be back in a year or two.

Mulch and bark - Dirty Jobs

Got to hang out where they make mulch and bark. A lot of fun to see and photograph the process, they do this on a very large scale, it's organized chaos. I've never shot somewhere so dirty and dusty, I'm still finding dirt and dust in places I never knew existed.

More Mulch

More Mulch

More Mulch

It really did look like some sort of alien landscape ....

Roadside attractions

How could one not stop to see the world's largest frying pan ? Rule #1 - If your shooting in a place you've never been before always leave early, you never know what you might see.

Buckleyboo is back

Buckleyboo is back, a great product for children. Some product shots and kids with products. When kids are involved it's always crazy.

Merging merge

Had about 10 copy kit shots, the black boxes are always tricky because of the reflection. I shoot the complete image and pull everything out except the box and place a black card below to get rid of the reflections. 2 images and hold down the magic shift key and a layer mask and it looks great.

headshots

Can you get 5 days of work done in 3 days ? You can try. Some headshot set-ups. The location set-up was kinda cool with the double hard back light, had to keep it simple in the studio, client has to match the set up out of country.

Got the floor painted

Yea, I got the floor painted ..... The studio looks really nice with a new coat of paint. Industrial Enamel / Alkyd Coating at $55.00 a gallon.

4th of July

Getting over my sickness, I haven't been that sick in along time ......... Had a blast over the 4th with the family.

I have a fever .......

I have a fever today, the sickness has run rampant through our house, both girls the wife and now me. I've got at least one more day of feeling like crap. My plan today was to work on the corner series ( what you see is what you get today ) and start prepping to paint the studio floor over the 4th. I'm waiting on the mail,UPS and phone calls, I think I double booked Mon. and Tue. I GOT to figure out what's going on. I'm out of town shooting next Wed. and trying to sneak to Grandfather Mountain and the Highland Games on Thur. with the kids for along weekend. I've got a birthday party to take the kids to tonight at 5:30, the wife is out of town at a funeral. What aday, what aweek, it's all good tomorrow is a new day and I've got my PMA ( Positive Mental Attitude ).

In Print Business Week

Some shots and out takes from the current issue of Business Week of Dr. Anderson shot in New Port News VA.

Orange County Speedway

I’d like to thank Kimberly from the Orange County Speedway for allowing me access to the track and thanks to all the great people I met.

Side Note- This was one of the strangest drives I’ve had in awhile. Orange County Speedway is only 1 hour 10 min. from my studio in downtown Raleigh. Up 40W to 147N and then through Durham. I know my neighborhood is sketchy, but cutting through Durham I was alittle scared. I rolled up my windows and locked my doors, this was a bad part of town. About 15 min. later I passed ENO State Park and was surrounded by vast rolling grassy hills with cows and horses. Maybe this drive was some sort of metaphor for my speedway project. Don’t mean to get all philosophical on you. Thanks Google Maps for this extra treat.

Orange County Speedway 2

Techinical Stuff Orange County Speedway

I’m still pushing myself out of my comfort zone with lighting. No more soft light ... Bare bulb and reflectors. My usual set-up worked for awhile AB’s and the Vagabond, 3/4 front light,3/4 back light and than it died. I think it was the heat, 93 degrees full sun and nothing but concrete and pavement. Did I mention my sunburn ? Now I know why everyone wears a baseball hat. I had a back up plan. My Tronix battery pack,Profoto 600 but only one head, no fancy backlighting. Some of my later shots remind me of Juergen Teller or Terry Richardson ( 2 of my favorites ).

Speedway Series begins

Why Speedway ?
To be honest I can’t think of anything more boring than watching a bunch of
cars go around in a circle. A few years back I did some photography for an annual report at a small race track in Hickory. There was something very interesting about the track, I almost felt drawn to it.
Afew weeks ago I was in Daytona and got alook at the Mac Daddy of all race tracks The Daytona International Speedway. I think
there’s a visual story to be told, I’m not sure what it is .... Maybe it’s the contrast of the weekend family racer that spends every penny on his passion and the ones who have high dollar corporate sponsors or maybe it’s just the race tracks. Who knows ....... I’ve got a couple tracks lined up to shoot.

In print Kind-of

I was out shooting the other day and saw this banner hanging up. I thought it looked familiar, so I looked through my archives and sure enough found the image on disk # 234. This was from a 5 day shoot in Vermont back in 2002, looks like they got some mileage out of the images.

Yes, I know it looks like a bad porn set

Yes, I know it looks like a bad porn set ......... Keep watching the BET Network and you might see what we shot.

What are the odds ?

Don't think you'll be getting your Black Angus Beef Thickburger at theses Hardee's. But if your looking for a good Chinese lunch stop on by.

Grease Monkeys and personal projects

Another personal project "Grease Monkeys" is moving forward. Big thanks to the crew at Rod-o-Rama . I've come up with a list of personal projects I'm working on, or need to complete.
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Barbershop
Corner set
Grease Monkeys
Speedway - (shooting at a track tomorrow)
Worship

Just not enough hours in the day to shoot everything I want.

Ball of yarn

I threw up a ball of yarn on the corner set while it was white. I just painted it bright blue.

What have I done ????

So I had so left over flats from a shoot ........ What to do ? I built a little corner set in the studio. Not sure what I'm going to shoot in it. If you have any ideas let me know. I'm thinking a new series called "In the Corner ".

Out the window

Just breaking up the monotony of a road trip. Took me 3 1/2 hours to get to the shoot yesterday and 5 1/2 hour to get back to the studio. Just an FYI lots of construction on 95 South at the VA-NC state line.

Everything but the sand bags

Out the door at the crack of dawn for an editorial shoot. 3 1/2 hour drive each way, kinda glad I'm not flying with all this stuff ...

Top Secret

Random snap shots

Can you guess where I was ? Some clues in the photo's.

Sunday Morning 8:30 AM

You never know what you'll find driving around a strange town. Wish I had more time. The best part was after every hymn everyone honked their horns.

Out the window

Yes, I'm the geek on the plane by the window with a camera. I like the way the heat from the engines distorts the bottom of the image.

Frankie stops by the studio

Welcome to My Neighborhood
Frankie lives on my block on the opposite corner. I photographed him outdoors a few months ago for my Neighborhood project. I have a photo of Oscar hanging in my entrance and Frankie keeps asking to do something like it. I'm very selective about which neighbors I let in the studio. I still had my headshot set up the other day and the timing was right. Something about Frankie's eye's don't know if it's sadness or intensity.

Byrd in my neighborhood

Byrd doesn't live in my neighborhood so I can't include him in my Neighborhood Project. From time to time I work with local talent agencies. Byrd was nice enough to sit in on my crazy headshot set with an axe, he even sang the Monty Python Lumber Jack song. He reminds me of Forest Whitaker and Rock a true larger than life presence. I know he was in London and NYC working on stage and screen, now he's back in NC pursuing his dream and passion for acting.

Headshots

Had a call from an agency the other day, they needed some headshots for a new client. They didn't want a typical boring headshot. This is what we ended up with. Everyone left happy.

Product shot

Had a product shot the other day. Kind of an odd shape to the packaging, softbox with a grid and mirror. Lots of bounce back from the white sweep, ended up shooting it on black.

I'm a Wonderful Machine

http://www.wonderfulmachine.com/

Got to Go

Late night shoot, when you got to go you got to go. Shot at night to keep some atmosphere in the restaurant. Gelled the strobe all to tungsten. Glad I had the Arri kit to ad some light. Kept the background dark to reverse the type out.
Long list to thank on this one .................
Kathy (sorry I called every five minutes) for renting the restaurant 1705 Prime Rocky Top Hospitality
Angie (this ain't glamour shots) for make-up at Face Artistry
Pam (give me a break on the talent) Directions USA
Roland (rolling my set in) at Valentine Design Group
Hilary / Hildog (think I'll stick to weddings) for assisting
Everyone at Merge
Last but not least Food Lion the budget was so tight I had to buy some salad and rolls.

Home Made

Working on some home made lenses. Copal shutters, close-up filters and hot glue.

Welcome to my neighborhood Pepper

I drove up to the studio the other morning @ 7 AM and my neighbors were sitting on the porch drinking beer. I asked if I could do some photo's. I'd taken some great shots of Frankie before and everyone was into it. I set up in the vacant lot across the street. I was lucky if I got off 2 shots of each person, Pepper had so much fun she had to go change shirts.

Welcome to my neighborhood Pepper and Slim

Welcome to my neighborhood Wanda and Frankie

Welcome to my neighborhood Neighbor

Caught my neighbor out trimming his hedges. I'm disappointed with these shots. I was looking for something more posed. They just look like bad snapshots to me.

How much stuff can you get in a car ?

I think there was room for more ????

checking on a set

Some pre-production, checking on a set for a shoot next week.

In Print The Scientist Magazine

Shot that made it to print from a recent shoot at Duke.

shooting at an agency

You never know what your going to see shooting around an agency. I'll have to go back when the Wild Irish Rose bar is open.

Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow auction

Always sad to see an agency go under. RB&W had about 80 employees and filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They did some really nice work, I never had a chance to work with them. Thought I might pick up a cheap Mac with Final Cut, no such luck, I can get a better deal on CraigsList. I didn't need anything but bought some work station tables, I have no idea where I'm putting them but they were so cool and so cheap. You got what was on the tables when you bought them I got a tape dispenser, post it notes and this framed "Agency Purpose and Charter".

Going Green

Another insane turn around. Shot this over Memorial weekend and will probably go to print on Tue. A new Condominium development in Chapel Hill Greenbridge only problem is it's still under construction. We shot some images in the show room and some details of finishes.

location test

Some scale testing on location for an up coming shoot. Check back for the final shot.

strawberry picking and last day of school

I take a ton of photo's of my kids but never post them, to many creepy people out there ....... I'm always torn when hanging out with my kids if I should take my camera or not. If I have a camera I'm in photo mode and tend not to enjoy the moment. Stand over here,look this way Blah..blah...blah..... I think I've found a good balance. Some shots from picking strawberries and my youngest last day of school.