Art Director + Photographer = Something of Beauty

We were back in the studio and having some fun working on a concept shoot with Shaun Crockett, of AdFarm. It was a pretty cool shoot that we have been working on for a very long time. We actually pre-lit the scene in late December and only just had a chance to return to it and give the shoot the time it really deserved. 

As you can see Baxter was in his usual spot - right behind the action and making sure we were safe. In the meantime we were working with some very tricky subjects - a very reflective stainless steel dish and some very shiny objects in them. It was great fun focusing some precise lighting and highlights to give us a beautiful final shot; which we’ll be showing you very soon.

Credits:
Art Director - Shaun Crockett
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Our work….in print. Always cool.

Tearsheets are pretty darn fabulous and we had some odd ones last year - ranging from priests, to hangover cures, professional football (soccer for you American folk) and the architects and union workers who build the stadiums and even a clock maker who restores historic clocks - the really big ones. I love the variety of the projects we get to cover, and while I do have my favorites it’s phenomenal fun to be working with so many wonderful subjects. 

Credits:
Room 39
Sporting KC
Populous
Architect Magazine
Historic Preservation Magazine
Columbia Magazine
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Here’s the rub…Part 3

This was the last part of our recent mailer campaign and while the salmon shot is a really simple image, it’s definitely one of my favorites. We tried a variety of different hanging techniques to support the salmon. We tried using the whole fish and variations on it, but ultimately we found Adam (my wonderful assistant) was a great prop to get over the scale of the fish and show off a fun way of supporting it. Trina did a fantastic job of peeling back the skin, one of the outtakes was so perfect where we trimmed the skin it just looked like we did it in post, so we finally worked with this solution, where we pinned the skin back and kept the rub strictly on the exposed portion of the fish.

Meanwhile we worked with Sarah to get the “Bake” image just right - here we tried a couple of different models and wound up finding the blonde skin and long hair of Haley Middleton was a perfect match. 

Definitely a fun shoot, a wonderful mailer and thank you to everyone for all the kind comments we’ve received.

PS. The rub does NOT work as a sunscreen.

Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Stylist - Sarah Thompson Lift
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Top Secret in Florida

Sometimes we do work that we can’t talk about - this is one of them. It was a lot of fun and sunny and there were palm trees. 

Credits:
Burns and McDonnell
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Why do I do it…

So I typically use the blog to show off the new images, so I wanted to try and post some stuff that’s a little less shoot based and a little more me based. I occasionally get asked “how did I end up here”, pretty much all the time - it’s the accent I think - and while it generally relates to me being in America and talking in a strange way, I think it could equally relate to my photography. So yeah, how did I end up here. I started off in a very different direction; I was going to be an architect, like my father, and wound up doing an exchange program to the University of Kansas - there’s a long story there - and then wound up designing retail interiors and exhibits all over the country - several long stories there. I loved it, it was a really cool job with some really exciting projects…and then I started photographing them.

That was that.

I just bought a camera from Best Buy, and twelve months later I was done, I chatted to some wonderful full-time professionals, who critiqued and advised and helped me adopt the best practices. I went to the library and read, I picked up the camera and practiced, I looked and looked, at my work and other people’s work and then just walked out.

So why?

I love the camera, I love the physical nature of capturing that fragment of time, that moment, I love the technique, the multiplicity of options to solve almost any visual option. I love the incredible range of styles. 

That’s why I do it.

So I take a lot of photos, a lot of photos, and sometimes I get asked what my favorite image was. Last year I finally had time to go home at Christmas and see my family for the first time in four years…yep, it sounds soppy but my favorite image was this outtake that really took things full-circle for me. There are some images I want to frame, some I want to frame and have in the house, but I don’t have many images that make me this happy.

Credits:

Mum and Dad

Here’s the rub….Part 2

Part two of our mailer campaign recently went out and again, thanks for the ongoing feedback. On this one we opted for a postcard mailer so we could show off the artwork a little larger. This time we opted to use the rub as a hair tonic with my good friend (and fellow photographer) Phil Peterson stepping in to model for us. Also, that’s Kate’s hands are doing the rubbing. On the food - Trina prepped a beautiful tied pork roast and this was one of those occasions where we got to eat the props - we finished shooting this one just before lunch and without any obscure adulteration to the food Trina finished it off and we just sat down to reflect on a great shoot. Thanks to Sarah Thompson Lift who styled the head rub shot and made sure Phil left with his eyesight in tact - safety first. 

Part three is coming up next. I hope you are enjoying the images.

Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Stylist - Sarah Thompson Lift
Assistant - Adam Caselman

I Make Beautiful Kids…

And it’s true…not of me of course, but of my wonderful friend Stephanie Malcy. It’s my luck to try and capture a bit of that beauty and I got a chance to do that this year when I went to visit Minneapolis and visit some of it’s wonderful agencies. Stephanie relocated with her husband Jay and her expanding family a few years ago and has always been a fantastic supporter of mine - particularly in designing my incredibly wonderful branding (both round one and two). So when I was on my trip I went by with a camera and forced her to let me take a couple of photos, ironically Merik (her eldest boy) has always been a staple in my portfolio (thanks Amanda Sosa Stone). This time it’s Ryah I’m in love with. 

So what’s better - colour or black and white?

Oh, and here’s Merik, being a little goofy.

All of the Lights…

It’s really good fun shooting architecture and sometimes we find that the simple things get really complicated to get a quick shot. This week we’re out in Atlanta, shooting for Houlihan’s at their Chequers location, focusing on the private dining rooms.

One of the details we love to capture are these simple “down-the-line” shots featuring the table setting and capturing the room ambience…for this one we ended up with nine lights and got a really nice shot.

Credits:
Chequers
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Here’s the rub…

So it’s been a while since we last did a physical mailer, so we knew we had to come up with something that would stand out, amuse people and show off some really nice images. We were coming into Spring and Valentines Day was just around the corner, so we figured we’d make it a gift, with a twist. Kate, our resident genius, came up with the double entendre of a meat rub - so we could show some portraiture and some food imagery with a twist - in this case we went for “Give your meat a little rub…THIS MEAT” as the copy and went with a good old fashioned Kansas City strip for the meat. Thanks as always to Trina Kahl and Sarah Thompson for their fabulous styling skills as well as Chris Galloway our perfect “find” from Kate’s morning workout at the gym. We heard some great feedback on the mailer and apparently there was a lot of use of the included BBQ rub. This is part one of a three part series - so get ready to see some more wonderful imagery soon.

Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Stylist - Sarah Thompson Lift
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Some fun with syrup.

Recently I got approached by the wonderful Layne Haley to take some photos with her. Layne’s one of those collaborative artists who like to create work for fun - I like that. So she wanted to photograph some waffles and make some yummy in-studio photos. So that’s what we did. The big question now is what are we going to work together on next?

Credits:
Layne Haley
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Fruit & Light.

One of the big advantages of having a bloody huge studio is that I get to play around sometimes. I’m really enjoying working with some reflections and translucency recently - so here’s a couple of quick shots from a very relaxing afternoon. Enjoy.

Credits:
Assistant - Adam Caselman

SAN FRANCISCO: BEAUTIFUL SCENERY AND BEAUTIFUL OFFICES.

We’ve been working with BRR Architecture for several years now and it’s been wonderful watching them grow and some of my favorite shoots for them have been the satellite offices. Most recently, we got to visit San Francisco and photograph their incredible new downtown offices. I loved the interior with its beautiful open feel, and those old-school plan chests in the conference room are gorgeous.

Credits:
BRR Architecture
Assistant - Adam Caselman

LOVE SHOOTING KANSAS CITY’S MOST BEAUTIFUL HOMES.

So when it comes to summer I can think of few places I’d rather be than here. Another great chance to work with the wonderful Andrea Darr from KCH&G and photograph an absolutely stunning home.

Credits:
Kansas City Home and Gardens

WE LOVE RESTAURANT SHOOTS. IT MAKES LUNCH TASTIER.

We’ve had a great history of working with Houlihan’s and while I love photographing their food I also really enjoy photographing their interior architecture. Recently they opened a new J Gilbert’s concept restaurant in St Louis and it is simply breathtaking. As always we loved working with Dean and were delighted with the results - lots of careful lighting and staging, but it’s a beautiful restaurant.

PS The food is pretty delicious too.

Credits:

Photographer: Alistair Tutton

Assistant: Adam Caselman

Client: Houlihan's 

Location: J. Gilberts

Beautiful Interior Design.

If you’re going to be the owner of a leading interior design studio then you really should have a wonderful home - and this one is no exception. Full of gorgeous details and stunning vignettes one of my favorites was the skulls and antlers over the bed.







Credits:
Kansas City Homes & Gardens

House Envy.

If you’re going to have a couple of different homes - then why not have a condo like this - it’s an absolutely stunning Plaza home right here in Kansas City.





Credits:
Kansas City Homes & Gardens

Extreme Home Makeover - Joplin Style.

Sometimes you get to photograph a subject that truly moves you - and in this case it was seeing Joplin and getting to witness part of the rebuilding effort. Ply Gem is a long-term client of mine who I have helped build a library of case studies featuring their windows, siding, fencing and a myriad of other products.

For the Joplin Extreme Home Makeover they donated all the windows and siding for all seven houses and the result was a stunning set of case studies for them, but more importantly seven wonderful homes for some very deserving families. Joplin has had a really rough run of it, but they are definitely heading in the right direction.

PS Best place to donate is the Red Cross and select Joplin as the destination for your donation - they’re doing some wonderful work there, but there is an incredible amount of rebuilding left to go.








Credits:
Ply Gem
Blacktop Creative
Art Director: Dave Swearingen
Assistant: Adam Caselman

Fun with Booze. I love my job.

We got these cool glasses from Boulevard brewery and came up with the idea of trying some really stark product shots with strong reflections. Then we added some cocktails and wrapped up with some coffee. It’s just another play-day at the studio…with booze.








Credits:
Food Stylist - Trina Kahl
Assistant - Adam Caselman

Why Just Use a Regular Chair, When You Can Have A Piece of Art?

3 Axis is one of our wonderful Rosedale neighbours and our paths have crossed before - most recently at Arrowhead where they built the insanely cool 12’ tall football helmet for the sports science exhibit - it’s cool. So when they came up with an idea for a line of plywood stools we leapt at the chance to photograph them. These are wonderful and they literally are made out of half a sheet of plywood each.





Credits:
3-Axis
Assistant - Adam Caselman

We think all our work is art. This one actually is.

George Rousis is a great friend and an incredibly talented artist - he works in hand forged steel and other metals. Recently he needed some new images for an upcoming show. Here’s one of the pieces from that shoot - apparently it mimics the graceful curve of the female form, I just think it’s really sexy, and in the detail you can see the tool marks from how George formed the metal by hand.




Credits:
Organic Iron Concepts
Assistant - Adam Caselman