Blue Cross Blue Shield Florida

They are breaking records this week in Miami ... For low temperatures! Shooting kids on the beach bathing suits when it's 41 degrees is not an easy task, especially when they have such thin blood. 10 minutes with a down coat on and 1 minute with it off is all she could handle. Got a beautiful expression in the end.

That's a warp

After 2500 miles driving and 3 flights we wrapped Sonoma and headed to Portland. Chasing weather and avoiding snow and rain for 10 days isn't easy in December but we got all 10 shots and more for the campaign.



Monday it's off to Miami, Fl for the week for Blue Cross Blue Shield, looking forward to swapping out the Sorels for flip flops.

Making our way west

Made it to Oregon on the Sonoma project. 3 shots today and 300 miles of driving. Started in Silver Falls State Park, hiked to Drift Creek Suspension Bridge and finished the day at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City, OR. Not bad for only 9 hours of daylight.

Ready for Launch

Our last shot in Utah for Sonoma, a hot Air Balloon over Arches National Park with the LA Sal Mountains in the distance.

Tomorrow off to Oregon.

Tales from the road

That's The Buntin Group Art Director Don Bailey flooding the Salt Flats, we are only have way through our journey but have travelled over 1200 miles, so when you have a chance to "go" you go.

Thanks to Ben Miller for the image.

I'll check in from Oregon on Sunday.

On The Road for Sonoma

I am trying out a new posting method using word presses iPhone app for blogging.

Since we'll be on the road for 10 days, I can update easier using my phone. We started yesterday at the Salt Flats outside Wendover, UT and are now driving to Grand Junction, CO. After a swing through Southern Utah we'll board a plane for Portland, OR and head to the coast.

PACCAR Parts, Seattle, WA

Andy Goodwin and "the team" pose in front of a Kenworth T700. A great crew, great talent and lots of preparation makes for fun and successful shoot. Thanks everybody.

Pictured (l to r) Michael Reiser, Creative Director, Thomas Vangel, Assistant, Kristie Gamer Stylist, Brad Schwab, Account Director, Jared Huffman, PACCAR Parts client, Bill Rugen, Assistant (w/broom), Andy Goodwin, Photographer, Kirk, Truck Prep, Israel Rodriguez, Talent, ME!, Aris Pierce, Art Director, Corrine Soltis, Account Executive, Chris Jameson, Digital Tech, Trevor And Doug, PACCAR employee talent and Andy Clark, Assistant, drinking DEF fluid, not recommended.

RAM Outdoorsman

Hot off the press! Shot less than a month ago, the Ram Trucks ads were produced, retouched, comp'd up and in the magazines in 25 days. Incredible! Please don't let this be a precedent, I truly prefer more than 2 days of prep on a job. Matthew Turley, shot and retouched the ads himself, an impressive job for his first national "car shoot".

Compass Buddy

The Old Way

With Compass Buddy

When I see a new tool I like, I love to spread the word. Compass Buddy is an ingenious idea from location scout Danny Thompson, who claims clients always ask (even though the information is right there in front of them) where's the sunset? His idea a compass with positions marked for sunrise and sunset in a large format easy to see in a scouting photo. Coming to scouting photos of mine very soon, I ordered mine earlier today.

ESPN The Body Issue

In a month of strange requests, this one tops the charts, an olympic gold medalist shot at 9000 feet, NAKED. Patrick Hoeleck arrived from Los Angeles in the morning and headed straight to Utah Olympic Park where he shot Steve Holcomb at the site of his qualifying run for The 2010 Olympics, although the last time Steve was here the track was covered in ice and he was wearing clothes! All kidding aside it's a beautiful issue of ESPN the Magazine, which highlights athletes incredible bodies. Check out the other athletes here.

Great Behind the scenes look at the photo sessions with each athlete here

.... And back again

From sea to shining sea ... and back again. Prepping for PACCAR parts project in November required a visit to their Renton, WA facility.

ESPN The Magazine, Court McGee

I wanted to tell this story right away, but out of respect for the magazines surprise factor, I had to wait for the issues release. Jim Surber called from ESPN the Magazine looking for a morgue to shoot a mixed martial arts fighter in. A shocking story deserves and equally shocking image. After many phone calls, it come to light that there are only 2 morgue's in the State of Utah, the State Examiner's office (answer NO) and the University of Utah's pathology lab morgue (also, no, not capitalized because at least they tried to accommodate us) Next option was a Mortuary, also hard to find one willing to help us. But Leavitt's Mortuary in Ogden, UT was more than happy to help, they have an 80 year old building in the middle of a cemetery. I run up there Friday afternoon for a Monday shoot, first reaction is the smell, second is the uncovered dead guy alone in a room, wasn't prepared for that. When asked if I could shoot the embalming room and tables, they first had to move a body that just arrived from the hospital autopsy. Upon picking up the bag it breaks open and a perfectly white floor and wall is now covered in blood. Both employees are unaffected by this, me affected. I think the Darren Braun image turned out really well and now you know the back story behind the room he's in.

Instyle - Katherine Heigl

Shot back in May at High Star Ranch in Kamas, UT, Katherine Heigl is featured in the current (October 2010) issue of Instyle Magazine. Captured by the tandem of Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton, the images show Katherine's "other side," family, a love of animals and living in Utah. If the magazines keep this up our little secret here in Utah won't last long.

Shooting in a Hurricane

The sign says "Surf Casting Capital of the World" and the agency asked for big surf and mother nature obliged. What we didn't ask for was sideways rain and 50 mph wind gusts but with an amazing crew, Matthew Turley was able to capture the images needed to create a beautiful ad for RAM Trucks and The Richards Group. Look for the ads for the New Outdoorsman Edition of the RAM 1500 in outdoor lifestyle magazines like Field and Stream in the coming months.

From Sea to shining Sea.

Last Saturday it was the West Coast in Northern California, scouting for Brian Garland, this Saturday, 3055 miles away to Montuak, NY, producing for Matthew Turley. Luckily I was able to fly and not have to drive that distance.

Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

Back in Irvine at the Wollett Aquatics Center for the Pan Pacific Championships, a quadrennial event for Swimmers which occurs in the year of from World Championships.

The Time Lapse shows 12 hours at the pool condensed into less than 2 minutes. A still frame every 20 seconds for a total of almost 2000 frames.

iPhone Camera Comparison

Besides being much faster, more attractive design, new features and a better feel in the hand, the biggest difference between the iPhone 3 and iPhone 4 is the camera. Here's a quick comparison between old and new, when I first thought of doing this experiment I had no idea the quality of the 3 was that bad, the difference is shocking as you can see.

The images were shot simultaneously from the same position in the same light. They are straight out of the iPhone, no color correction or retouching on either. First thing I notice is the color is way off on the image from the 3, a little "grainier" and unsharp. The field of view is a little wider on the 4, possibly from a wider lens, since the specs for the lens are not given on Apple's website, I have to assume this fact.

So what's the big deal, for starters the images from the new iPhone are actually useable, meaning I can update my blog without pulling out my laptop and camera. Peter Belanger took it to the next level, shooting the current cover of Macworld Magazine of the new iPhone, WITH the new iPhone.

USA Swimming National Championships

A connection I made in Vancouver at the Olympics, Jamie Olson, called me to Photo Supervise the Swimming Nationals is Irvine. The top US swimmers are vying for a spot on the Pan Pacific Championship team, held in 2 weeks at the same venue. I will also be working that event, where the US swimmers will compete against the top Swimmers from Canada, Japan and Australia for bragging rights.

Diners Club International

Last Summer we started a campaign for the revitalized Diners Club Credit Card, yes it's still around. Today we continued the campaign with 2 more images for the Brazilian market. Andy Anderson was tasked with shooting a runway from the perspective of an airplane taking off, which requires access to the active runway. With the help of Salt Lake City's Airport Operations we we're able to shoot for 4 hours on the west runway of Salt Lake International. Temperature on the ground 125 degrees!

Honda Motorcycles

The last edition of the Trilogy as the client called it in the pre-pro. Much to our disappointment to hear the campaign may come to an end. Again Ebo Fraterman traveled from The Netherlands to shoot another "Gawk Responsibly" ad for the Honda Shadow.

Something intrigued Ebo about the Baldwin Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles, maybe the 50's architecture of the homes, it turned out to be a great location and another succesful ad for Honda.

PDN / National Geographic Photo Contest

An image of mine has been chosen as a finalist for the 2010 contest. The image from a trip to Tequila, Mexico in 2008 is a favorite of mine and apparently others.

Grand prize is a trip to Mexico, funny enough!

Some Nice Press

It's nice when a project you have worked on get's good reviews from the creative community. The 2 ads Ebo Fraterman shot for Honda Motorcycles in May have been showcased on Creative Ad Awards. Some others receiving accolades were Y&R's Land Rover ads, BBDO Smart Cars ads and Grey's Mercedes Campaign so we know we're in good company.

Bridgestone TV

Early bird get's the worm! 3:30 call time and hour from my house, ouch! But to keep the snow from melting we had to get done by Noon. Thanks to UDOT for allowing us to put snow back on the road after they spent the month of May clearing the highway. The first time they have allowed such a permit. The footage will be tied together with Youtube footage of cars losing control. Watch for the commercial in snowy markets starting in November.

Snow? In June?

It's almost Memorial Day, the ceremonial start of summer fun and inevitably every year it's the time when I get the call. "We need snow ... on the road ... in June." Aéro Film in Los Angeles working with the Richards Group in Dallas are producing a TV spot for Bridgestone tires and need snow on the road to show off the performance of their tires on slippery surfaces. When you live in a state where roads travel up over 10,000 feet, the answer is always "no problem"

Another great thing about Utah is the ease of permitting, one online permit and an insurance certificate and we are approved to start right away. Which is important when the snow melts a bunch everyday.

Hip iPhone App

We all know how bad photos turn out from the iPhone camera. So you might as well have a little fun with it. Chris Jameson introduced me to the Hipstamtic iPhone App on a job and I've been having fun with it ever since. For $1.99 you get your first camera, 3 lenses and 3 rolls of film, each giving you a unique feel or look to the final picture. You can then purchase additional "hipstapaks" for $0.99 containing an lens, roll of film and sometime a flash or filter kit. Another great feature is after you've taken a picture and the application process' it you can go back in and change the camera settings if you like the picture but not the effects. The only drawback I find is it's slow to process the images and if you don't wait until it's completely processed then it will be erased.

Website

* In no way am I paid or compensated for this post, I just love the app!

Steelcase

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off was the concept of the ad and when an unpredicted storm shows up on the shoot day, concept becomes reality.

Matthew Turley was assigned the first of three ads for Nurture by Steelcase, a line of furniture for the medical field, the other two will be produced in June. Some quick thinking on Matthew's part lead him to run out and grab the landscape background plate before the storm arrived. Leaving only the chicken to shoot on the day. With a small break in the weather the crew was able to capture all the elements needed. Thanks goodness for persistence, talent and photoshop.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association

I have admired the work of Chris Wimpey for years now, he was one of the first "big landscape" shooters and has had a long successful career, thankfully long enough that I had the opportunity to work with him.

Our task is too stock a photo Library for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association with images of the strip at night. We spent Monday and Tuesday scouting rooftops, restaurants and bars with vantage points of the strip. We'll return next week to shoot Five nights in the city of lights.

With tools in our arsenal like the ability to turn all the lights on the strip on an hour early, changing the time of the Bellagio Water Show and Mirage Volcano and of course some helicopter time, we are sure to get some amazing images of the ever growing Vegas skyline.

Vacation

For the Third year in a row, the Currie's escaped the last bit of snow on the ground in Park City for the sunny beaches of Northwest Florida, Seaside to be exact. Made famous by Jim Carey's movie "the Truman show" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120382/locations. The only mistake is staying a week, way too short.

Smartwool

When Smartwool from Steamboat Springs, CO looks for a place to shoot Skiing, Snowboarding, X-Country Skiing, Telemark Skiing and Trail Running all within 30 minutes of each other they leave Colorado for the Sunshine and Snow of Utah. After waiting for 2 days for a storm to pass, we we're left with nothing but blue skies and snow everywhere.

Todd Meier from Boise, ID working with Jon Gelder of Orca Creative used all real people, skiers, snowboarders, athletes from Utah and Colorado to create realistic lifestyle images for Smartwool's Fall 2010 line of base layers, socks and accessories.

Pictured above (l to r) Chris Jameson, Assistant, Carla and Sam Merrill, "real" skiers from Alpine, UT

Honda Motorcycle!

Comedy and Motorcycles are rarely seen in the same concept, but these clever ads from Dailey Ideas and Creative Director Marcus Wesson pull that off quite successfully. In a typical motorcycle or car advertisement we concentrate on the action of the vehicle and the background becomes a blurred graphic element, but in this situation we needed to tell the story and have the "gag" read, while showing the motorcycle in action. Ebo Fraterman was chosen for this careful task, as his understanding of compositing imagery enabled us to tell the story and show off the motorcycle.

Shot On location East of Palmdale, CA. Pictured from left to right, Rob Lawrence, Ebo's rep, Ray Dougela, digital tech, Ebo Frateman, on camera, Dominic Disaia, Assistant. In the distance (from l to r) Thomas Gertz, Camera Assistant, Marcus Wesson, Creative Director and Denise Pelton, Account Director.

New Blog!

I have debated for years whether I should take the time to blog about location scouting and production. Well all my fans have said how much they'd like to see one (thanks Mom!) After much success with my Olympic Behind the Scenes blog and the update to my website coming, I have finally signed on!