I don’t know about you good folks, but this summer’s been a wee bit crazy. By “crazy” I mean busy, and by “busy” I mean I have projects coming out of my ears. There’s been corporate-y stuff, assorted events, videos, commercials, and one big-time marketing campaign for a regional company that’s about to go national… there’s also been a bunch of dogs (like you’re surprised).
But all that in time.
To get you guys caught up, here’s a little ditty from earlier this month. A couple friends of mine tied the knot at Indian Springs Metro Park in White Lake, MI and I got to photograph it. It seems that each summer I end up shooting one wedding. So, who’s gettin’ hitched next year?
It’s been kind of hit-and-miss with the nice days in Michigan this spring. Now, I’m not really one to mind rain, but my camera seems to have a rather noticeable aversion to it. Last week summer came out of nowhere and hasn’t shown signs of leaving. That paired with a bit of free time, I journeyed into downtown Pontiac for a bit of photography.
If you aren’t local to Metro Detroit, I’ll understand if you don’t really know much about Pontiac. Let me explain it like so: If they were looking for somewhere to film “I Am Legend,” Pontiac wouldn’t even need CGI or set design. I suppose that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. “Desolate” is a good word for this situation.
I like to refer to Pontiac as Detroit v2.0. In addition to the lack of anything redeeming, the city seems to be headed toward 2 extremes of a spectrum. On one hand, artists and galleries are making their way downtown and creating a kind of depressing version of Ferndale-Corktown. Also, by my count, there are half a dozen locally well-known nightclubs. There’s also Erebus, a rather famous haunted house.
On the other hand the city is like a ghetto. Nearly all the schools have closed, which forced the assimilation of multiple schools under one roof and has resulted in more than a handful of gang brawls, including shootings and the like. Driving around, I feel like perhaps 1 in 7 buildings is abandoned or in need of demolishing. A good 80% of the businesses that are still open are all lumped into a 3-block stretch of a single street. I even drove past the homeless shelter yesterday and noticed there was a special parking area just for female staff members (it’s well-lit and right next to an entrance).
Even the cops left. Seriously – last year the Pontiac PD was decommissioned. The city is now paroled by State PD.
I’ve always liked Pontiac and I don’t want to say it’s hopeless, but when I see news articles about the “revitalization of Pontiac,” I usually just ignore them and move on. Detroit has a fighting chance – enough people care and are actively trying to improve the city. Pontiac isn’t really getting the same energy.
Well, scattered among the vast seas of parking lots, there are quite a few grand structures that deserve some photographic attention. So, I suppose I’ve found my new project. Here are a few of my favorite shots so far. They will be on my fine art site and available for purchase after I feel I’ve really sunk my teeth into the project.
It’s summer and I want to go hang out up north. As such, it makes sense to find some clients up there. So, I’ve begun marketing to country clubs (they’re rather abundant in vacation towns).
Anywho, I figured it might be a good idea to start small. So, I began with the one at the edge of my neighborhood – Pontiac Country Club, in Waterford, MI. As this doesn’t really require much more explanation, I’ll just jump right to the pictures.
When it rains, it pours. When it rains dogs… well, speaking in meteorological terms, that’s impossible, but the idea of it is straight awesome.
The last three posts were all about our fuzzy, drool-covered, blanket-hogging, best friends. So I see no need to stop while we’re on a roll. Here’s dog post numero 4.
Back in another life (it was something like 6ish years ago) I worked at a dog training company for about a year. Recently I got back into the whole Rescue League scene and organized a pet adoption fundraiser (That post down there has all the nitty gritty). Well, in the process of organizing the whole thing, I found myself in touch with that very same trainer.
You’ll never guess what happened.
OK, you probably will. I mean, why else would I be writing a post about this? So to answer the question that’s clearly been screaming from the dark recesses of your mind: YES! Yes I have taken even more pictures of dogs. Not only that, but I also re-branded his company. It looks pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.
Also – not sure how many of you fine folks have adopted or are about to adopt, but I would like to mention that Canine Resolution has my highest level of approval when it comes to learning how to make the best of your time with your best friend. Tell ’em Jon Kopacz sent ya.
A question I get a lot is “What have you been up to?” or sometimes “What projects have you been working on?” There are assorted variations of this question, but they pretty much all mean the same thing.
I usually respond with… OK – no. There is no usual response, because it’s so rare that I have more than one current project sharing similarities that we can just pretend it doesn’t happen. Next week I may be working with an architectural-agricultural hybrid company, a local animal shelter, a community-based restaurant, and a national organization conducting a student competition. I mention these examples because there was a week last summer where those were the open projects I was working on. (It was a busy week).
So when I answer the first question and describe my current clients, I’m almost always greeted with the same follow up question, “Oh, wow. So you’re taking pictures for ALL those? What are the pictures of?”
Ah.
This seems to be the general consensus about my company and I figured it was time to elaborate a bit on what I do.
Let me begin by saying this is a completely understandable thought process and if you glance up to the those giant words at the top of this page, you’ll agree with me. I began my company as a photographer and for all my dabbling and involvement in other forms of media, if I find myself going a week at a time without using my camera I get all shaky and my hair starts falling out… OK it’s not THAT bad, but I do find myself daydreaming about the next project in which I’ll actually get to create an image.
So, honest and true, when I’m face to face with a person and they mention that they’ve heard I’m a photographer, I don’t mine. In fact I actually get a bit of pride out of hearing that.
But when it comes to clients (we’re talking businesses, here) I regularly find that they’re trying to put out new media and have over half-a-dozen contractors assigned to as many different things… and none of them are even talking to each other.
It makes sense for each person to have their own style and that’s what gives a healthy dose of diversity to any good marketing campaign. But for the finished collaboration to come together in a clean fashion there has to be… well, collaboration.
That’s where I come in.
I may be a photographer, but I’m also a videographer, graphic designer, consultant, and advertising professional – and my client list is rather, shall we say, varied.
More than that, I work with a tight-knit group of media professionals that specializes in everything from web design, branding, and marketing to layout, copy-writing, and packaging. So when a project on a massive scale comes along or when six assignments come in at once, that are just too much fun to turn down, I can still guarantee success and some top-notch quality.
In the end, when I explain what I’m working on for a certain client, people aren’t usually expecting my answer.
So, I made this to help me explain things a bit more clearly.
In the US, New York is a given. Philadelphia, and Boston are also getting pretty influential. Of course there are a whole bunch on the west coast, as well. But, when it comes to the Midwest, it’s not so much the city-proper that are havens for artists, but the smaller communities that make up portions of downtown. Detroit is a great example.
It’s actually gotten to the point that the art and creativity is spilling out of the few neighborhoods and showing up on city-maintained structures like early-century corporate buildings, public transportation vehicles, and a lot of the general infrastructure of the city.
The best part is that while downtown is letting its creativity fly free, a lot of the suburbs are following suit and encouraging artists to publicly display work and construct customized installation pieces.
In fact, the Detroit Institute of Arts has gotten very involved and has begun donating replicas of famous works for public display on local communities. Check it out –> http://www.dia.org/get-involved/community-outreach.aspx
Some of you may have heard of JR. He’s a French artist who won the TED Prize in 2011. Here’s his talk:
As you can see, his concept of a world-wide art project is pretty grandiose and wide-sweeping.
Well, it’s working –> http://www.insideoutproject.net/ and Metro Detroit is taking part. The city of Walled Lake is digging into the art world and will be playing host to the DIA’s project, JR’s Inside Out Project, and a whole slew of work from local artists this spring.
Be sure to check the city website for details and swing back here to see some of the shots!
Through a fortuitous chain of events, I was recently introduced to an acting group in the Canton, Michigan area by the name of the “Spotlight Still Got it Players.” They are the senior acting troupe associated with The Village Theater At Cherry Hill. Recently the Still Got It Players, picked up a stage play by a Mr Howard Kingkade called “One Foot In The Gravy.”
They, being performers, and I, being a photographer, naturally found ourselves in a mutually beneficial situation. A couple nights ago, I stopped by the theater to get some headshots and a few candids for their promo in the local news outlets. Of course none of this seems terribly interesting, but please try to remember that I am (somewhat) unused to the presence and mindset of actors, backstage.
I arrived before my contact – the only person from the group that I knew or had ever even spoken to. When I went in to study the building and find the best place for lights, I met a rather friendly gentleman who had no idea who I was, why I was there, or even that I was planning on taking pictures.
He also happened to be holding 3 incredibly over-padded bras, trying to decide which was the best fit… Also keep in mind that I had no real idea what the play was about or who the actors would be portraying.
So of course, as friendly custom dictates, he inquired as to my opinion on the bras and which he would look best in. That was my introduction to these people.
These folks are HILARIOUS.
We started off with the head shots and I don’t even want to elaborate anymore. They each sat down, INSTANTLY got into character, and I got awesome shots in less than a minute per person. Straight “pro” all around.
Back in October, I took a trip to Chicago. Afterward, I processed my 17 gazillion images from the adventure and wrote you fine folks a blog post about it. At the end, I mentioned that more images were to follow and that I would relate my experiences with my new favorite hotel chain.
Promptly after writing the post, I completely forgot.
My bad.
So, here we are. 4 months have passed and you still wake up in the middle of the night wondering whatever became of that followup post… OK That’s probably a bit hopeful on my part. But still – true to my word, I shall visually enthrall you with more optically-dazzling imagery.
FIRST – the hotel. For those of you that spoke with either myself or my lady friend, you know that Ashly and I had been planning this trip for something like 5 months. However, when I say “this trip” I mean a trip. Somewhere. Anywhere.
In the end, we actually planned out 5 different trips… in about 3 weeks. We considered Maine, Kentucky, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a perimeter-tour of the lower peninsula, and Chicago. Chicago won out simply because of the mind-boggling selection of educational day-trip destinations.
We like our learnin’.
That little back story may not seem relevant, but oh how wrong you are. See, 5 days before we left for Chicago, we hadn’t even begun considering going there. We were still in the planning stages of a Michigan road trip. I don’t really remember how we ended up switching to Chicago, but it happened and we found ourselves with slightly over 72 hours of time to organize an itinerary, buy tickets to stuff we wanted to see, and find a hotel whose room fee didn’t require a bank loan, gold bars, an arm and/or a leg, or a first-born child.
In the end we ended up staying damn-near 45 minutes outside of the city. Were it not for the downtown parking situation (which were completely unaware of) it wouldn’t have been an issue. In fact, all things considered, it was one of the better snap decisions we’ve made.
We found ourselves at an Extended Stay out past Downer’s Grove. At first glance it looks like a normal over-niter for business travelers. We found out that (as the name suggests) it’s designed for people to stay for over a week or 2. But enough rambling, here’s what makes it so awesome.
Long-term stay means people need more elaborate forms of equipment to use. Example: A FULL KITCHEN. Now, this might not seem like much to you, but I cook. A LOT. It was awesome.
No explanation needed: It was one of the cleanest hotels I’ve ever stayed in. Period.
Lastly and most importantly: In order to keep the charges down on a room rental that may go past 3 weeks, the hotel got rid of one of the staple functions of most chains. There is absolutely no maid service. While at first you may think that seems cheap, remember that I am a visual artist in a digital age. I take a LOT of really EXPENSIVE gear with me everywhere I go. I don’t need to drag my lights and laptop with me every step of the way. The fact that no one (trustworthy or otherwise) would NOT be coming into to move things around took my nervousness level from my standard 362% to effectively zero.
And also ’cause the per night price gets cheaper the longer you’re there, our week’s stay cost us something like $50 a night.
In case you haven’t heard of the “Idle No More” movement, it’s essentially a continent-wide collective of all indigenous peoples, who are now using their numbers and modern media channels for a wide array of purposes. These may include forming political pressure to have sacred locations renamed, re-appropriated, and/or recognized as such. There is also an internal movement designed to teach their own members ways and reasons to respect their heritage and culture.
There is also, of course, the long standing cause: to finally get legislatures’ attention regarding their complete and utter disregard for nature. Well, as we all know, short of a smack in the face (that might not even work) the only way to get noticed when it comes to creating new policy is by getting EVERYONE to say something about it. This is where Idle No More comes in.
For quite a while now, the movement has staged “protests” in cities across the continent, drawing attention to the people and the problems.
Today (Sunday, January 20th, 2013) they held an event in Detroit, discussing their cause, giving a blessing to the Detroit river, and presenting in front of Cobo Hall.
You may have been on the internet recently. Heck, you may be on the internet RIGHT NOW. So in all likelihood, an internet aficionado like yourself may have noticed 1 or a few hundred thousand trends rocketing their way around cyberspace.
Ignoring “Grumpy Cat” (whose name is Tartar Sauce), Gangam Style, and Reality TV, you’ve likely noticed there is a – close to overdone – trend rocking Youtube. I am, of course, reffering to Electronic/Dubstep-soundtracked montages of things like action sports, skate boarding, or people hurting themselves.
Well, try as you might, you’ll never leave ME out of the loop!
Unfortunately I am not mind-bogglingly athletic. I am neither surprisingly, moderately, or remotely athletic. This isn’t to say I weigh in at a svelte 750, but more that if I attempted an inverted kick-flip followed by a dark-house nose-grind, I’d likely find myself in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the half-pipe, soaking in the snickering humiliation of 2 dozen overly-developed tweenagers.
But back to the point…
I don’t have an affluence of athletic ability. I DO, however, have a golden retriever.
His name is Murphy and he is possibly the coolest person you’ll ever meet.
“Art-Cities” are rather prevalent these days.
JonKPhoto 