I just finished up the most complicated batch of product photography I’ve undertaken in quite some time, if ever. Dig in and freshen up with a behind-the-scenes look at some locally crafted aromas.

I just finished up the most complicated batch of product photography I’ve undertaken in quite some time, if ever. Dig in and freshen up with a behind-the-scenes look at some locally crafted aromas.
I’m currently teaching a lighting class and a recent assignment focused on texture and the ability to minimize or exaggerate it as the situation required. Since sandpaper is all about that texture, it served as the perfect model.
I hadn’t seen the ocean in nearly 20 years.
It’s interesting, that while I’ve spent my entire life with constant access to the Great Lakes, any time we go on a trip, I’m still drawn to water. We went to the Great Smoky Mountains and ended up hiking along rivers. We went to Chicago and always seemed to gravitate away from the city, to the shoreline. Any time we venture into Northern Michigan we go hiking – but we always hike toward the water.
Didja know October is “Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month?” Did you also know I love animals?
… yeah, you probably knew that.
I got an email the other week from a media company in Ann Arbor. It was a request for environmental portrait photography for a client of theirs – a Metro Detroit shipping/trucking company. The dates lined up, details worked out fine, and I was on board with the project.
Who’s the client? Con-way Inc. Oh – cool.
So the project brief and shot list came… Hang on a second. Something’s not right. This isn’t Con-way’s address. This is the address for Menlo Intl. I know that because my father has worked there for years.
I celebrated Independence Day in “Small-Town USA.” To be specific, I was in Port Austin, Michigan. Imagine a patriotic lovechild between a state fair and the establishing sequence for a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.
It was a lot like that.
There have been studies suggesting that people with symmetrical faces are generally perceived to be more attractive than those without. It’s also commonly accepted that most people have some form or another of asymmetry. Either an ear or an eye is lower on one side, or perhaps you’re prone to the “crooked smile” and have a few extra wrinkles on that side.
It’s fascinating how joy, seriousness, comprehension, and innocence can all exist in one person, in the same instant.
I photographed the graduation ceremony of the most recent graduating class of the Detroit Emergency Medical Service Academy. These cadets officially became EMTs for the city of Detroit. In the same moment, you could feel their joy at their accomplishment, while watching the seriousness in their faces – a respect for the ceremony and their newly-earned responsibilities. They had the fresh, innocent look of any new graduate in any industry while, in the back of their minds, they knew what they would see in the line of duty.
In case you didn’t know, I love animals. It’s gotten to the point that I’ll count out the approximate footsteps and speed of movement necessary to “accidentally” cross paths with a dog and owner walking vaguely toward me from a quarter mile away.
Yep – I’m “that guy.”