On the beach for UHC + AARP...

A vacation destination to rival that of Florida's hot spots, the city of Myrtle Beach has been welcoming visitors for over 100 years with its pristine Atlantic waters and soft sandy beaches. Last week we had the chance to spend a few days in North Myrtle Beach profiling Andrew and Julie Pytosh for the first of four United Health Care "Member Stories" under the badge of invoko. Our scope for the project included interviews by Dave Schroeder - Pilotvibe, art direction by Nathan Strandberg - EightHourDay, and still + video capture provided by myself - JCP.

I'm excited to look back on this first leg of the project documenting AARP supplement members knowing that the crew and I have raised the bar in terms of collecting content and implementing video into the overall endeavor where appropriate. As I've mentioned before, there's never been a more fascinating time to be in the business taking part in the merging of the still + video media realms. The new gear we've integrated as well as partners in shooting and post production are keeping things quite exciting as we move forward with new clients and expanded project requests.

The latter half of June and most of July have us running at full speed with travel to NYC, Houston, D.C., and Atlantic City. Check out the blog and keep pace with us as we share new people, places, and content.

On the beach for UHC + AARP...

Let's Go Fly... -> Part I

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly." - Lauren Bacall

As we quickly approach the longest day of the year, we decided to take advantage of the early light and spent the better part of a Saturday morning out in the countryside flying a kite. The project featured the use of new still + video equipment and allowed further exploration into the creative capture process.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts and the eventual final edit, Let's Go Fly...

Let's Go Fly... -> Part I

An early influence and memorable subject...

It's one of nature's ways that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us. ~Igor Stravinsky

Upon a rare dig into the archives of some of my earliest images I discovered a sheet of negatives from a shoot I remember and look back on with fond memory.

While I don't have any "got my first camera when I was eight," stories, I do remember a mid-90's visit to my Grandmother's house in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, MN. On any given spring, summer, or fall day you'd find Grandma in her backyard, sitting on her back porch swing, glass of lemonade with book or magazine within arms reach. Never in a hurry, always having plenty of time to genuinely listen to whatever topic surfaced; a quality she possessed that seems evermore valuable in today's time and space.

On this particular visit I arrived with a bit more zeal than was typical, my latest camera purchase at the hip- a new 85mm portrait lens ready to try out with a subject I knew would be more than willing and happy to oblige.

I am often asked about what steps or influences shaped my decision to tread upon this path and profession. My Grandmother on my mother's side, Garnet Rice, was the person most likely to have camera on hand, at the ready. She traveled near and far including multiple trips overseas. If I remember correctly she proudly stated she'd been to all fifty states, which for a woman of her means and her era, was quite a feat. There were always piles of 4x6 picture packs laying on her dining room table- she always ordered "double prints" so family members could take home their favorites.

Here's to being inspired by those before us; no doubt my work has a thread of my past woven into it. The road has gotten easier in many ways, yet more difficult and sometimes unnecessarily more complicated in others it often seems.

Grandma Garnet passed close to 10 years back - a vibrant and active woman of 93 years of age. A favorite person who still inspires, encourages, and smiles upon me. For this I am thankful and humbled...

An early influence and memorable subject...

Work & Play -> Final Cut

While capturing video footage is the talk of the industry, we've learned quickly that any footage is only as good as the edited, final viewable product. Without a solid editor, colorist, and a person equally skilled with audio, most footage would remain just a series of clips stored on a hard drive never to see the light of day.

Over the course of the past year and a half I've been working to hone my video capture skills and have had the opportunity to collaborate with variety of editors. The process is always an intriguing one as it always adds more shape and voice to the content than I anticipate. We all have a vision when we set out to create new work, and in the video realm the aforementioned partners are essential to really make these ideas come to life.

This latest video piece is an augmentation of the still project shot for McDonald's over 4 days in Houston this past February. The crew and I worked to capture video clips in a variety of places, between shots, once our still needs were met. John Fontana also gathered ambient sound amid each of the stores we visited. To add to the look and feel we used a prototype glide track manufactured by Humble Monkey Productions which added a nice element of movement to each scene captured.

After wrapping the project in Houston, I got in touch with Adam Duguay of Elemental Motion Media Inc. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We had been talking for a while and through conversations I became really interested in his approach to merging stills + video in an edit and just as important his ability to color grade video to match still imagery. A few weeks after shipping him a drive of select stills, raw video and audio we received the first edit which left us here at JCP in high spirits of what had been achieved. With a solid edit taking shape and continued dialogue between Adam and I, we were able to further refine and match up the stills and video content quite nicely.

Enough about our process. Take a look and I hope you enjoy- it's been a long time in the works. In addition to the blog it'll be featured at the JC|P Motion section of the site.

Our clients at McDonald's couldn't be happier with the final joint still / video rendition. With iPad in hand I was psyched to share this and other JC|P video projects at the recent AtEdge Face-to-Face event in Chicago last week, as well as several agencies in the following days. The estimate requests that are coming in are a sign that people are really excited about the merging mediums and are looking for ways to integrate both options on projects, large and small.

Thanks to all involved on this and other projects. Lots in store on the horizon and I look forward to continued collaboration...

Work & Play -> Final Cut

Compellent -> Fluid Data

Inundated by data these days, it's hard to imagine where any of us would be without a way to process and store all the 1's and 0's that have become a part of everyday life.

The Minneapolis based Compellent: a company devoted to finding effective storage solutions for companies all over the world, recently held their yearly conference, C-Drive, which put us on location to capture formal portraits of various patrons attending the event. We had a small space to set up our lighting and backdrop which encouraged a more personalized experience with subjects and crew alike. Over the course of two days, we met people from all over the world and heard a few good stories about their hometown or their favorite outing while here in Minneapolis.

With art direction being a bit more moody and dramatic, the portraits are a departure from my typical daylight based approach and style. I am pleased with where they ended up and could see this project as a catalyst for future photo endeavors.

Compellent -> Fluid Data

American Photography 26

This past January we entered a few images in the American Photography 26 contest- shots from a shoot for Purina via Colle+McVoy. A recent e-mail notification came through announcing the above image had been selected for award.

Out of 8000+ submitted entries only 132 photographers were chosen to showcase their work on the American Photography 26 site. Congratulations to all my peers who made the selection for 2010.

Off to Chicago next week for another project for the N.M.D.P. followed by the AtEdge "Face to Face Chicago" portfolio showing event where I'll be meeting with creatives from both Euro RSCG and Abelson Taylor.

American Photography 26

An evening at the Rodeo...

"I admire bull riders for their passion and the uniqueness each one of them has." - Chris Le Doux

A call came through recently from Preston Kelly looking to commission an image of a bull rider being thrown from a bull for an ad for a national health insurance company. If this were Texas I'm sure it wouldn't have been too hard to locate, but here in the Midwest, it wasn't quite as easy. After reaching out to many folks in the local Minnesota bull riding and rodeo community, as well as producer Bobbi Peacock and some local scouts, we managed to secure a location and an event to capture the desired rider image as well as some additional still + video content for personal / portfolio use.

About an hour southwest of Minneapolis in Henderson, MN sits High Island Arena where the annual Friday and Saturday evening rodeo event was scheduled. Having secured full access to roam amid the event we found an unused horse stall which couldn't have worked better to set up a small portrait area. Once the Kino Flo Diva Lights from Cinequipt were in position for still + video portraits we set out to capture some behind the scenes shots, as well as scout the ideal position to capture a rider being thrown off a bull.

The rodeo was no doubt a true slice of Americana, steeped in rich tradition and history. It was certainly a visual place to spend a few hours and we had a great time working with all the people that keep this sport alive and well.

An evening at the Rodeo...