Apr 23
Apr 10

Stunning Images from Tornado Alley [Consider Helping Out]

In the last few months, tornados have ripped through much of midwest. The wreckage is crazy, many people have lost everything--some even their lives--and aide workers are doing their best to piece it all back together. There a few photos of the storms themselves--which are huge and scary--but mostly, there are tons of photos of the aftermath...destroyed houses, overturned cars, ruined farms...which kind of fall into the... read more ›
Feb 11

As Cold As Ice: Suffering & Beauty in Frozen Europe

In Seattle, we're enjoying some pretty balmy weather (for February). But I'm headed to Europe this week and I'm well aware that hundreds of thousands of people are suffering through a bone-chilling freeze--with temperatures dropping waaaay below normal. Amid mountains of snow and icicles as long as my arm, people are panicking and trying to help each other. And some people are photographing. I've shot in temps so... read more ›
Mar 28

Diary of a Shoot, Day 9 – That’s a Wrap!

Up at 4am. Walk out onto my deck in the cold dark air and look up. Stars. It's on. We're gonna get this. 5am call time rallies the cast and crew. We're wheels up at 6am. Convoy of 6 SUVs heading to meet the snowcat for a lift to the top of Telluride Resort with all our gear.... read more ›
Mar 27

Diary of a Shoot, Day 8 – Shut Down Again, Extend the Shoot

When I say shut down. I mean. Shut. Down. Another day of zero pictures, zero footage. We have a few crucial shots to get in the can before we can leave. I'm talking 'must have'...so we're not messing around anymore. It's do or die, but today it just wasn't happening. The beauty of shooting in a studio is that... read more ›
Mar 26

Diary of a Shoot, Day 7 — Rollercoaster Ride

From cloud 9 to the basement. Yesterday's epic adventure whipped a 180 again today... If yesterday was chocolate cake, today was chopped liver. Reason being, we were completely shut out. Blanked. Skunked. As in zero photos, zero video footy. Didn't even get the camera outta the bag. Mother nature can giveth, but she can also... read more ›
Mar 24

Diary of a Shoot, Day 5 — Epic Turn for the Better

Hallelujah, what a turn of fate. Awoke this morning at 6:30am to a sky chock-full of gently falling flakes and 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and trees. What earlier this week looked like a burned out ski town in late May, now looks like mid February again. Mother nature has hit the full... read more ›
Mar 23

Diary of a Shoot, Day 4 — Weather Is An Issue

It's now day 4 of this project. But it's the first shooting day. And shooting day 1 of any campaign, film, or project is always full of excitement, anticipation, butterflies. Doesn’t matter if you’ve done it 1000 times or only 10. Our shoot day 1 had another rather friendly call time of 8am. Breakfast... read more ›
Mar 21

Diary of a Shoot, Day 2 — Mother Nature is Boss.

In case you're dropping in on this post out of context, you should read yesterday's post and things will all make sense. In short, I'm doing daily 'diary' entries while working on a campaign for REI in lovely Telluride, Colorado in hopes of shedding some light on what photographers and directors types like me actually do on a... read more ›
Feb 09

Location Scouting for Photo & Video: Part 2 – Predicting The Weather

[Scott here...and welcome to the second post in a series of three discussing the steps we take in selecting and scouting locations for our most important photo and video shoots.  In the first post in this series we discussed the process of narrowing in on your locations with computers...."virtual scouting".  Now we'll tackle something a bit less concrete...that great mystery in the sky...no I'm not talking about God, I'm talking about the WEATHER.] The weather... read more ›