Time Out At Temple U. In The Heart of Philly. . .

Following up on the previous post, our second stop for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) took us to the heart of Philadelphia with Temple University's Head Football coach Al Golden. We met at the teams office near campus then took to the weight rooms and field with the coach and players. A video crew interviewed Coach Golden about his involvement in organizing and participating in NMDP drives for new donors. Following in the footsteps of Villanova's head coach Andy Talley, Coach Golden has been instrumental in promoting donor awareness among his athletes and the African American population at Temple.

This week has us off to Memphis for another shoot for Target via Minneapolis based Little & Co.

Time Out At Temple U. In The Heart of Philly. . .

Sunday Morning in Atlanta

"What do you think when you hear the word “church?” Whatever comes to mind, we can guarantee that Atlanta Metropolitan Cathedral (AMC) will revolutionize your definition." - Bishop Flynn Johnson-Pastor

Flying out of Minneapolis on a recent Saturday afternoon bound for Atlanta, GA I was gearing up for a shoot for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Our first leg began Sunday morning, a sermon at the Atlanta Metropolitan Cathedral featuring Bishop Flynn Johnson and a full house of the reverent. It was an experience beyond expectation, another amazing one to add to the people / places my camera has provided access to. As I traveled the aisles, weaving in and out of pews, within arms reach of the vocal talent up on stage, the cathedral was electric with energy; the congregation on their feet, arms out, intensity from beginning to end.

As the Bishop Flynn Johnson said in the quote above, my definition of "church" has been revolutionized. Flynn has been instrumental in recruiting many in the congregation to donate bone marrow. The African American population has traditionally been under represented in the NMDP's registry.

Stay tuned for an additional post from this project for NMDP which after Atlanta took us on to both Philly & Richmond.

Sunday Morning in Atlanta

"Without A Trace"

The month of October marks the 20th anniversary of the abduction of 11 year old Jacob Wetterling. In remembrance, Minnesota Monthly interviewed the Wetterlings along with several others who were involved in the initial investigation to solve the mysterious disappearance.

Revisiting the evening of October 22, 1989, Patty and Jerry showed me the exact location where their son Jacob had been abducted. The scene was a country road near the wetterling's home in St. Joseph, about 1 1/2 hours outside the Minneapolis area, and seems mostly unchanged from 20 years ago. Although there have been several promising leads, Jacob has not been found nor his abductor identified.

As a direct result of this incident, the Wetterlings created the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center; a non-profit organization. Through Patty's lobbying efforts, many states now have child offender registries and a national offender database was created after the passing of the Jacob Wetterling Act by Congress in 1994

In spite of the Wetterling's plight, they have continued their efforts over two decades to find Jacob, and simultaneously have helped other children from undergoing the same fate. I am thankful to Brian Johnson at Minnesota Monthly for bringing me on for this piece, as well as the Wetterlings for their gracious time revisiting the story and site of this tragedy.

"Without A Trace"

An afternoon with the symphony

I wasn’t expecting my first opportunity to catch a performance by the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra would come about with camera in hand. Kat Dalager, of Campbell Mithun, called with a project for Fiserv “provider of technology solutions to the financial world.” The shot was to fit in line with existing campaign imagery highlighting the orange square within Fiserv’s logo as the “hero” in the scene. In this instance it was the music stand within the orchestra setting.

Art directed by Wendy Hanson, and produced by Humble Monkey Productions, all the elements came together quite nicely. The members of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra were more than generous with their time, despite it being quite warm and their being dressed in full performance attire. They even gave us a few abbreviated performances.

The last part of the shoot had the orchestra members moving out into the seats acting as symphony patrons. We shot multiple frames of them grouped together in all areas which, when layered together, provided the look and feel of a full house of spectators. Retoucher Brad Palm put the finishing touches on the ad and as you can see the before and after shots tell the story of how the final pieces came together.

An afternoon with the symphony

Brother Ali -> Director's Cut

This past June I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days behind the scenes capturing still + video content with hip-hop artist Brother Ali, producer Ant, and friends. These studio sessions became part of Brother Ali's latest album "US," which is releasing worldwide today. Rhymesayers created a trailer for the album a little over a month ago on YouTube and it is fast approaching 100,000 views.

To coincide with today's album release I am happy to present an updated "Director's Cut," version which includes additional JCP footage to include a still collage at the end as well as design elements from Nathan Strandberg of EightHourDay. Thanks to Ben Cohen, Nathan Strandberg, Jules Ameel, and John Fontana for your contributions to this piece as well. Spread the word and check out the album today...

Brother Ali -> Director's Cut

Twin Cities Polo Club

The summer months have kept us running with some really nice projects allowing us to collaborate with a variety of new clients. We’ve been trying to carve out time for some testing / personal shooting for my book. A while back we heard that Minneapolis has a polo club and immediately knew this would likely offer a rich array of potential options. My colleague John got in contact with the Twin Cities Polo Club and arranged for us to take in a practice on a recent Thursday evening. The polo grounds are located about an hour outside of Minneapolis on a vast acreage of farmland that couldn’t have been more picturesque to shoot at. After checking in with Gaston, the club manager from Argentina, we were free to roam, behind the scenes of the world of polo. For the short amount of time we spent and our limited knowledge of polo, I am quite pleased with the imagery. To see more images from the Polo Club take a look at the latest two galleries of work at the “Archive” section of my website.

Twin Cities Polo Club

The Hills Were Black...

Recent travel through the Black Hills area of South Dakota included a night on Horsethief Lake, less than a mile from Mount Rushmore. The name "Black Hills" translates from the Lakota Paha Sapa, and has been described as an "island of trees in a sea of grass." Illustrating this was the view out my front door just before mid-night where everything was perfect with the exception of the occasional passing vehicle. Upon taking this shot, I realized they actually added a little something to the scene, and henceforth my evening...

The Hills Were Black...