michigan – Page 3

The Golden Gang

September 3, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

A friend of mine has a golden retriever. His name is Mondego (after the character in Alexander Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo). He also happens to be the smallest fully-grown male golden I’ve ever met, tipping the scales at something like 40 pounds.

But that’s beside the point.

This dog is a member of an extended family that also loves goldens. Parents and siblings included, there are 6 golden retrievers… and I got to photograph them.

Oh, and there’s a cockatoo as well.

Here are a few of my favorites.

– Jon

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A Tale of Two Businesses (Mine and Yours)

August 22, 2013August 22, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

A QUICK NOTE: THIS POST IS A BIT LENGTHY, SO I’VE CUT IT DOWN TO THE NITTY-GRITTY IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ THE WHOLE THING, THE STORY CONTINUES AFTER THE PICTURE. IT’S A FUN-FILLED BACK-STORY OF HOW I FOUND MYSELF WORKING MULTIMEDIA FOR INDEPENDENTLY OWNED BUSINESSES.

NOW ONTO THE POST!

I’ve decided to make an official upgrade in my business. Up until now, I have primarily offered photo services, with additional media upon request. JonKPhoto is now actively marketing a full selection of media services, from photo and video, to advertising and social media.

Basically, if you think your company could stand to have a classier look, market more effectively, and acquire more customers, give me a ring and we’ll chat.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on a brochure for the multimedia services. It’s a bit of a read, but there’s a pretty solid rundown of the primary forms of media that companies need and why they’re important.

– Jon

… and now a little bit of back story.

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A Project of Furry Proportions

August 13, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

Hooray! I’ve been waiting quite a while to share this one with you guys, but I had to iron out the finer details first.

Way back in the spring, I began doing video work for The Michigan Animal Rescue League. The promo spot caught the attention of one of their sponsors, The Urban Dog, an all-natural dog food and supply store out of Rochester Michigan.

After a fairly lengthy amount of planning and conceptualizing, we settled on an advertising project that would include a promo video, a series of ad posters, and a collection of interviews about the store.

Then the fun started.

Probably a good 80% of the dog owners I know graciously allowed me access to their furry family members. After a couple months of video, photography, editing, audio selecting, and post processing – the project is locked, loaded, and ready for you, the loving audience.

Also, be sure to swing by TheUrbanDogStore.com to see what they’re all about. I learned a lot on this project I wish I had known years ago about maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle for your dog.

And I’d also like to mention how massively thankful I am to everyone who helped my out and let me borrow your dogs for the afternoon.

Check it!

Jon

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A Midsummer Night’s Celebration

July 25, 2013 jonkphoto1 Comment

Well hi there!

It’s been a minute…

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?

– Jon

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One Giant Movie Set

June 3, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

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.

– Jon

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A Fair(way) to Find New Clients

May 22, 2013May 22, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

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.

Would you golf here?

– Jon

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Head Of The Pack

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013 jonkphoto1 Comment

I would apologize for three dog posts in a row… if it weren’t awesome. But, as it is, dogs are pretty much the best thing in the entire world.

Everyone agrees? Great. Let’s move on.

So back at the beginning of the month I mentioned that I was doing some work for Pedigree’s Dog Adoption Project. While that was an awesome experience, it was only the tip of the iceberg. I got the Pedigree job as a referral from The Michigan Animal Rescue League.

Back, about 2 and a half years ago, I did a bit of volunteer photographic work for the Rescue League. You can check out some of the images in my fine art gallery (click that image on the right to link to it). It culminated in a couple small photo shows at local galleries and a bit of work for the Rescue League to use on their site and such.

This time, while I was already digging in, I figured I might as well give it my all…. so here’s what’s going down:

The Rescue League needed a commercial. This place has been helping you find your best friend for over half a century. People should know how awesome they are. So that happened. Check it –

While I was working on the commercial, one of the volunteers came up with the idea to strap a camera to a spoon and give peanut butter to all the dogs. The whole concept made me feel like a child ’cause I wasn’t smart enough to come up with such an awesome idea… but that’s beside the point. For your viewing pleasure, here’s a boat-load of dogs eating peanut butter:

All the media is fine and dandy, but I felt this time around it would be better to keep pushing and put together an event. So here’s the deal.

My longest-running client owns a bowling center and restaurant in Commerce, MI – Wonderland Lanes and The Mad Hatter Pub. He happens to also love dogs.

He’s graciously agreed to host a pet adoption fundraiser on May 5th. There will be food, music, glow bowling, art sales, and – of course – lots of dogs and cats ready to love you forever. Here are the details:

You should totally come. Even if you don’t bowl, the food is great, it’s a great cause, and how else would you rather spend a Sunday than playing with puppies and kittens?

See you there!

– Jon

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A Legacy For The Ages.

April 18, 2013April 18, 2013 jonkphoto2 Comments

This Tuesday my golden retriever, Murphy Riley Kopacz, passed away. He is 11 & 3/4 years old.

It’s sad. The events of the last 3 weeks cycle through my head on a loop and it hurts. But that’s where it stops. Everything else is happy and, frankly, hilarious. I just have to think about who he is and not about what happened.

He pooped on a shrew at the park in February. That kind of thing doesn’t happen. He hunkered down just as the little guy popped out of its hole to see what was going on… imagine what went through that shrew’s mind. Hilarious.

We ran out of dog food one morning when he was about 5. So we gave him a can of SPAM. You ever see a dog try to eat a cube of SPAM? It’s terrific. Every time they try to take a bite it slides across the floor.

I was about 22 when I was hanging out with him on the beach. A couple of rather attractive young ladies walked past and exclaimed how “OMG absolutely adoooooorable he was and if they could PLEEEEEASE pet him.” Knowing precisely how to use my dog’s charm for my own gain I of course said that they could…. then he brought them half of a rotting dead catfish. That one was probably funnier to him than it was to me.

Here are a few of the things he was by my side for:

The end of high school
2 cataclysmic exes
The best relationship anyone could ever have (her name is Ashley and he ran to HER when he was in trouble).
– Fun fact: Ashley was terrified of dogs until she met my 100 pound, teeth filled, carnivorous beast. Now she loves dogs. Yeah – Murphy did that.
2 degrees
The entirety of the development of my career.
weight loss
weight gain
He was also the inspiration for me to undertake the longest-running project of my career.

He’s my hero.

If you knew him, you already knew how awesome he was. For those who didn’t, here’s a look at Murphy

– Jon

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Im-paws-ibly Awesome People

March 31, 2013March 31, 2013 jonkphoto1 Comment

While a small handful knew some details, the campaign went live this weekend, so I can officially unleash (as it were) the project.

A few weeks ago, I was hired by Pedigree, these guys –> https://www.pedigree.com/

For a bit, now, they have held a national competition where a number of rescue shelters receive free dog food for a year. The event is divided up regionally and during this round, Metro-Detroit was one of the picks.

As for my part, I was tasked with documenting the goings-on at the rescue shelters in Flint, Pontiac, and Dearborn.

Those you who know me know I am an animal lover and have a very hard time dealing with, knowing about, or being exposed to the many ways people mistreat animals. That said, I understand the feeling a lot of people have when they visit a shelter. It seems depressing and hard for the animals – and it is. It is especially hard when a dog or a cat is used to having a home and is suddenly thrust into what probably seems to be a jail.

I could keep explaining the negative side, but you’re on Facebook, you see the news, and you watch the commercials. So, I won’t drive my point home any further. What I WILL do is tell you about the other side of the story. I want you to know about the people that make these shelters work – the staff and volunteers.

The definition of volunteer tells you a bit about a person right from the start. They aren’t being paid, they aren’t receiving time off work. These folks are giving up their time to help with a situation a lot of people don’t want to even hear about. More than that, they LOVE these animals. When a dog has been at a shelter for five years, you might look at it and think it has nothing left and it will never be happy again. Then that one person – THAT DOG’S volunteer – walks in and it’s like he’s a brand new dog. Tail wagging, ears up. It’s his favorite person in the world and they’re there just to see him.

The “staff.” I don’t like that word. It implies that this is simply a job. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s their job, but it’s also their life. At each of the shelters I photographed, I found out the staff members regularly foster dogs at their homes, teaching positive behavior and building emotional bonds, knowing that they will have to give up the friendship so that the dogs can have happy lives. Trust me when I say this is a LOT more than a job for these people.

While this project is all well and good, I’m using it as a platform for something much bigger. Confirmation on a few planned events should come down the line early this week – so stay tuned for the updates. Plus, a few videos are on their way soon.

In the meantime, check out some of the shots from the three shelters.

To vote for the region to win free dog food, swing by the Facebook page, here.

This campaign may change the lives of a number of dogs, but there are tens of thousands out there that could desperately use your help. Shelters are constantly in need of things like food, cleaning supplies, newspaper, and bedding. Those last two are things you probably have sitting in the corner of your basement waiting to get thrown away.

Please look up your local shelter and drop off a thing or two. It may only take a second of your time or a bit of spare change, but it can make all the difference in the world to a pet that need s home.

If you would like to see the full gallery of images from the different shelters, click here. All the pictures are for sale and half of all proceeds are donated to the shelter where the picture was taken.

Thanks guys

– Jon

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Still as sporadic, slightly more understandable.

March 28, 2013March 28, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

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.

– Jon

Tag: michigan