Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Details: Part Deux

With regards to the project mentioned on the previous post. The client's feedback on image selection was that some images provided would be suitable. But, more images were needed specific to to Leesburg, VA in order to complete this project. When I get these projects I want the entire project to consist of my images. Considering the size of this project, and that I knew any additional new images created would have future value, I decided on Friday to drive out to Leesburg and see what I could come up with just for fun.

I basically shot from 11am-2pm. It was a beautiful day but incredibly fridgely cold, like 12 degrees. A little tough for me to get the old creative juices flowing when my brain is frozen solid but I tried. Here's a few I like. If interested you can view a gallery of many more images here: Leesburg Gallery. It was worth the effort, many of these images will generate imcome in the future.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Don't forget the Details

Prepared some images over the weekend to include in a gallery for a new project. Another hotel guestroom/public space decor project. For part of this project the client is requesting architectural detail images of something that might be considered "Main Street USA".

I get a lot of requests for architectural detail images for these types of projects. Requests that include details of many cities, whether it's DC, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, or Dulles or Leesburg, VA. But as importantly, images that could be perceived as the architectural style of those cities. I did a project a little while ago providing all the images for a hotel in Portsmouth, NH. All the images selected by the agency were images I shot in an afternoon in Baltimore. But, they were detail shots from aboard the US Constitution of ropes and pulleys and nautical type thingys. In fact the images from that same group went on to furnish all guestrooms and public space for the Marriott Baltimore Harbor. You can see pages of some of those images starting here in this Maryland Gallery.

So don't forget to shoot the details. I love doing it and it is fun. Having groups of architectural detail images is like having money in the bank. Isn't it a wonderful world we live in that you can create images and instantly market them worldwide!

Here are a few of the images from one group I shared with my client for their presentation regarding this project.
I have something like a million of these:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Wherever You are Be There

Just licensed this top image of Georgetown for use in a commercial real estate brochure.

I structure my entire life around not being involved in rush hour traffic. So, it would take an incredible force of nature to have me drive to the corner of Wisconsin and M on a Friday at 5pm. But, as it happens, I was down there on a shoot and afterwards decided to take advantage of the beautiful evening and where I was.

It was a perfect evening and I was able to get lots of great images in a short period of time. You can see more spread out through my Misc DC gallery if interested. The second shot is from the opposite side up Wisconsin. That's how I have produced so many of the images in my Washington DC Stock collection, just being there. Wherever You Are Be There.

Got Passion?

Just read what I thought was a great post by Ed McCulloch over at The Business of Photography regarding passion.

Can you imagine how different the world would be if everyone pursued their passion in life?

Would your experiences from day to day change?

Would the cashier at your local grocery store give you attitude? What about your auto repairman, would he be running an honest company based on integrity and morals? And what about your accountant, are they doing it for the money or because they love working with numbers?

When you run across people who really love what they do it’s extremely evident. They have enthusiasm and they’re full of life, they offer valuable opinions and help steer you down the right path. There’s a whole lot to be learned from people who pursue their passion in life.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

More of Everything

I am constantly creating images. Either making new ones or working on existing material. I shoot so much for myself that I am literally overwhelmed with the amount of material I generate. I realize quanitity does not equal quality and don't fool myself into thinking everything I produce is so wonderfully fantastic. That's not the point for me. For me it's the drive to be creative and productive. My mind is always whirling, for me this is a good thing.

I just this morning was cleaning off my desktop of misc folders and came accross a folder of images I had forgotten about. A few weeks back I woke up to a beautiful foggy morning. Decided to take a walk and see what I could see. I ended up with a whole bunch of wonderful images. Many that I am really happy with and would have otherwise never seen had I not decided to go for a walk. I'll include one here, this is the first image I took, basically the view from my office window. The other image is the post card I sent out that day.
Another example of how I fall behind in getting images out. I just this week got around to preparing and uploading to my stock site a group of images I shot one weekend in late October. I made a mini gallery of this new group to share with a client regarding a potential new project. All of these shot over a long weekend at Deep Creek Lake before 9am.

The gallery includes some images from the previous post.
Click past those, 170 or so images in this gallery.

See gallery here:
New Deep Creek Lake Images

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Working a New Project

I'm providing images to a client for a big juicy hotel decor project. When typically providing images for a project the client will select images from my stock site and present to client. For this project the client needed something "different", "abstract", and "regional" of this rural area. These were my only instructions, beyond that the client (my client's client) didn't know what they wanted until they saw it. This is a good client for me, they have provided me with many good projects. The size of this project is such that I don't mind some extra effort. For an initial round of images I took some recent images I like, added some textures using various blending modes in Photoshop. Tried to take some "regional" images and do something "different" and maybe even get "abstract". I provided the client with 20 or so comps to see what direction this takes. We'll see where it goes but I like the results so far, whether anyone else does is a different matter. But, I'm glad fiddled around with these. It filled my head with some new ideas. I like the effect of adding the textures and shall continue to experiment. The only problem is that I tend to take a good idea then beat it to death. I must show restraint but restraint was never one of my strong suits. Here are a few of the comps I like.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Time of Day

Our family has a house at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. Whenever I am there I get up everyday before sunrise and head out aimlessly in different directions to take photos. It is so easy up there to make good images, there's another beautiful scene around every corner. But, it's all about Time of Day. To illustrate here are two images I recently shot of basically the same scene but literally 25 minutes apart. 10 minutes after the second image the ground fog was gone. I have lots of little favourite spots up there and this is one. These were taken just off Sand Flat Road right near the Shawnee Trading Post. You can see many more similar images in my Scenic Maryland Gallery .

Saturday, January 5, 2008

First Post

For about four years now I have been sending out e-mail "Postcards" once a week or so to just about everyone I know. This list consists of friends, family, clients, and others that I have met around the world. Basically my little postcards are small images of where I've been that week or from a project I am working on. Many are just my observations of the world around me as I Walk the Earth. I truly enjoy sharing my work with others and sharing my work further motivates me to constantly create.

This Blog is just an extension of my desire to share my work and to constantly remain creative and productive.

Just to get this going and fill some space I'll go back and pull a few past Postcards and post here. I have hundreds so it's hard to just choose a few but I'll pick a few I like: