I'll have several things to tell you about over the next week in regards to my upcoming LifeFinder Tour. The first thing I get to announce is the companies that I'll be partnering with. Now mind you, I hate the word "sponsors". I always think of really cheesy products and terrible advertisements. But these are companies that I sought out specifically cause I love and believe in their products. Epson, Profoto, G-Tech... you can't get more high-end than these brands in their respective fields and it's a massive honor for me to be partnering with them. Then there's Visual Supply Company. These guys are creating ridiculous products and they're also very good friends of mine. It's way too cool that we get to work together on this tour.
So why am I telling you this? Cause they're all going to be giving away some cool stuff in every city.
You're already getting 7 hours of teaching from me. You're getting a free dinner. You get to bring a friend in need. You get my 4-hour LifeFinder DVD. And now you're potentially getting some rad products from some rad companies. All for a measly $219. I mean, cmon. This is getting ridiculous haha.
Here's some more info on the tour in case you want to attend!
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So why am I telling you this? Cause they're all going to be giving away some cool stuff in every city.
You're already getting 7 hours of teaching from me. You're getting a free dinner. You get to bring a friend in need. You get my 4-hour LifeFinder DVD. And now you're potentially getting some rad products from some rad companies. All for a measly $219. I mean, cmon. This is getting ridiculous haha.
Here's some more info on the tour in case you want to attend!
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We are ramping up the 2012 LifeFinder Tour for MAY and I'm excited to say we have some major changes happening that will allow for more of you to come, participate, and inspire one another. Open Post
I have a secret, ongoing personal project that's been going on for a long time.
It's called "documenting the lives of my kids". :)
Recently I got a hold of the new FujiFilm X-Pro 1. I absolutely love it. I'll do a more thorough review soon but below are some images of my kids that I shot with it at a birthday party. Edited with VSCO Film of course. Open Post
It's called "documenting the lives of my kids". :)
Recently I got a hold of the new FujiFilm X-Pro 1. I absolutely love it. I'll do a more thorough review soon but below are some images of my kids that I shot with it at a birthday party. Edited with VSCO Film of course. Open Post
The LifeFinder Tour is getting started again! I honestly had a blast on the last tour and enjoyed meeting many of you across 8 major U.S. cities. It was also my favorite presentation I've done to date because I love talking about the bigger picture of photography which is vision, ideas, and what makes unique artists unique. So we're going to do the same thing but in new places!
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Have you ever said this to yourself?
"What if I could have back all that money I've spent on eating at restaurants over the years?"
Replace "eating at restaurants" with whatever you want… clothes, movies, cars, you get it.
So what about time?
I always find myself saying "What if I could have back all that time I've spent sending emails?"
I've said this before on Twitter and I mean it.
I am a full-time emailer that sometimes takes photos.
Email is what I do all day. Literally. It's my ball and chain. I can never get around to doing what I want to do because of emails.
And don't hear me saying that I am sooooo popular. Cause I'm not. I don't get THAT many emails. I know a lot of people who send and receive a lot more emails than I do.
But it's enough to drive me crazy. Sometimes I feel like at the end of my life I'm going to say "Well…. I sure sent a lot of emails."
Maybe this is why I like Twitter so much. I swear 140 character limit was the greatest thing ever invented. It forces us to be short and sweet, doesn't it?
I'd be really scared to know how many hours I've spent over the last 10 years typing emails. And what do I have to show for it? What if all that time had been spent creating instead? (Yes, I know some of you will get technical in the comments and explain how my career would be nothing without all those emails and communication but you get the gist of what I'm saying. What if MOST of that time had been creating instead of talking about creating?)
It's interesting to wonder how productive the masters of art history would have been in the world of email and tweets. Would Picasso have produced 40,000 paintings? I doubt it.
I'll never be known for my email work and neither will you.
So here I am. To some extent, I'm done with emails. I realize I can't quit email all together. There's some work stuff that can't be ignored (and a lot of work stuff that actually can and should be ignored). Family. Close friends. And a few other things of course. But I've always been that guy that feels obligated to respond to nearly everything. That time has come to an end. So if you email me and I don't respond, PLEASE don't be offended. You are still awesome. I just want to spend more time away from my computer and more time with my wife and kids and pencils and paint and anything else that allows me to create.
I hope you'll consider joining me in the fight against The Great Time Vacuum.
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"What if I could have back all that money I've spent on eating at restaurants over the years?"
Replace "eating at restaurants" with whatever you want… clothes, movies, cars, you get it.
So what about time?
I always find myself saying "What if I could have back all that time I've spent sending emails?"
I've said this before on Twitter and I mean it.
I am a full-time emailer that sometimes takes photos.
Email is what I do all day. Literally. It's my ball and chain. I can never get around to doing what I want to do because of emails.
And don't hear me saying that I am sooooo popular. Cause I'm not. I don't get THAT many emails. I know a lot of people who send and receive a lot more emails than I do.
But it's enough to drive me crazy. Sometimes I feel like at the end of my life I'm going to say "Well…. I sure sent a lot of emails."
Maybe this is why I like Twitter so much. I swear 140 character limit was the greatest thing ever invented. It forces us to be short and sweet, doesn't it?
I'd be really scared to know how many hours I've spent over the last 10 years typing emails. And what do I have to show for it? What if all that time had been spent creating instead? (Yes, I know some of you will get technical in the comments and explain how my career would be nothing without all those emails and communication but you get the gist of what I'm saying. What if MOST of that time had been creating instead of talking about creating?)
It's interesting to wonder how productive the masters of art history would have been in the world of email and tweets. Would Picasso have produced 40,000 paintings? I doubt it.
I'll never be known for my email work and neither will you.
So here I am. To some extent, I'm done with emails. I realize I can't quit email all together. There's some work stuff that can't be ignored (and a lot of work stuff that actually can and should be ignored). Family. Close friends. And a few other things of course. But I've always been that guy that feels obligated to respond to nearly everything. That time has come to an end. So if you email me and I don't respond, PLEASE don't be offended. You are still awesome. I just want to spend more time away from my computer and more time with my wife and kids and pencils and paint and anything else that allows me to create.
I hope you'll consider joining me in the fight against The Great Time Vacuum.
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Finally! I have a new print portfolio. I've been wanting/needing to do this for a while now. My other portfolios have plastic sleeves and I think people are moving away from that. They just get really dirty and they're too shiny, thus taking away from the images themselves...
This portfolio represents the work that "I" like. A lot of my glossier celebrity/TV work is not in this portfolio. There's no Kardashians, Seacrest, Sting, etc... I wanted to finally create a book that I could really be proud of.
A few other things to note...
• I apologize for the low audio quality. I did this quickly just to give you a glance at the book.
• I printed everything myself on the Epson 4900.
• Scott Mullenberg from Mullenberg Designs built the portfolio...
• For paper, I used this paper from Pina Zangaro...
• Jeremy Kennedy drew my logo by hand.
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This portfolio represents the work that "I" like. A lot of my glossier celebrity/TV work is not in this portfolio. There's no Kardashians, Seacrest, Sting, etc... I wanted to finally create a book that I could really be proud of.
A few other things to note...
• I apologize for the low audio quality. I did this quickly just to give you a glance at the book.
• I printed everything myself on the Epson 4900.
• Scott Mullenberg from Mullenberg Designs built the portfolio...
• For paper, I used this paper from Pina Zangaro...
• Jeremy Kennedy drew my logo by hand.
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Recently some friends of mine released a product called VSCO Film, that was SUPPOSED to emulate the actual look of different film types. I was a major skeptic. I've tried and used every filter and preset known to man. I consider myself to be a photoshop purist. I hate all things actions/filters/presets, etc. But because I liked these guys so much, I decided to look into it more.
Then I was blown away... Open Post
Then I was blown away... Open Post
For the past couple of weeks, I've been traveling around doing workshops in LA, Seattle, Dallas, NY and Chicago. The events have been great and it's been so fun to get to meet so many of you face to face. At the end of each class, I open up the room for a huge Q and A session. So far it's gone really well but the other night someone asked a question that took me by surprise. Open Post
CNN recently launched a series of portraits I shot in Rwanda over the summer for their brand new Photo Blog (which is really amazing and cool that they're finally doing this). Because the blog is so new though, many users weren't sure how to find the captions and stories for each of my photos. So I thought I would feature the series again here and let you take a closer look.
I also wrote a post on forgiveness for their "Belief Blog" that you can see here.
Click "Open Post" below to see the full series. Open Post
I also wrote a post on forgiveness for their "Belief Blog" that you can see here.
Click "Open Post" below to see the full series. Open Post
Huge thanks to Catherine Hall and Leo Laporte for having me on TwitPhoto yesterday! It was fun chatting with them about everything photography and creativity. Check it out below... Open Post
I've worked with the Catalyst Conference on and off over the last few years as a photographer. I'm a huge fan of the event. This year, I pitched the idea of me creating an art video LIVE at the event to premiere the next day. Thankfully they agreed. In my entire life of creating, this might be my favorite creative experience yet. It was truly a powerful moment seeing the video used in a worship format in front of 13,000 people. Be sure to watch the live footage below as well and hang in there. You'll see my video around the 1:25 mark. It's fun to see it in both formats...
The theme of the conference was "Be Present" (which I loved). So my idea was to simply take pictures of people at the conference and create an abstract group of people holding this message. Meanwhile the lyric of the song was saying "You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things out of us." Simple but powerful.
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The theme of the conference was "Be Present" (which I loved). So my idea was to simply take pictures of people at the conference and create an abstract group of people holding this message. Meanwhile the lyric of the song was saying "You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things out of us." Simple but powerful.
Open Post
Here's my latest art video that I created exclusively for People of the Second Chance.
I love what they're about and I would love to hear your thoughts on this video below.
What are your thoughts on grace?
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I love what they're about and I would love to hear your thoughts on this video below.
What are your thoughts on grace?
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I've been a fan of a band called Sleeping At Last for a while now. They're music just really resonates with me. I got to meet Ryan, the lead singer recently and we've since become good friends. Just last week he asked me to do a shoot with him and I quickly said of course! Below is some of my favorites from the shoot. I decided to keep it extremely, extremely simple. No crew, no hair/makeup, no big production. It was basically just me and Ryan. My friend Jason Flynn helped hold a light for a little while before he had to leave and our friend Jen Pinkston came by to make sure his clothes weren't looking funky. (She's a great stylist btw). But both of them were only there for a bit. I love simple shoots like this. They're easier, quicker and just usually more fun. Thanks Ryan for this shoot. I wish they could all be this fun! Open Post
This is a photo I will never forget.
My wife and I had really been struggling that morning, as most parents do, when they take their first child to the first day of Kindergarten. It sounds silly to non-parents but that first day is huge. It's the beginning of a new era for your child. You've spent the last 4 years trying to perfectly raise your child in your home and now you're officially releasing them into a new daily routine that doesn't involve you. I now understand why so many parents cry at this event. And let's be honest, I joined in on the tear-fest. But the hardest part for us was separating our son from his sister. Our kids are literally best friends. They protect each other. They play together. They teach each other. There is no doubt that they are inseparable. So we knew in this moment that it was also a new era for our daughter, who would now be by herself every day, without her brother and best friend.
So we said our goodbyes and we watched as our son walked away to class with all his new classmates. It was just like the movies. I swear the whole thing happened in slow-motion. Then all of a sudden, he turned around and came back for one more hug from his sister. Thank God I had my camera with me for this moment. I scrambled super quick to grab a shot and this was the only frame I got of the hug before he was off and running to catch up with his classmates.
A video clip of this moment wouldn't have been nearly as powerful. It's moments like this where I truly value photography and knowing how to get a good image in the blink of an eye. I will treasure this photo for the rest of my life.
(Oh, and P.S., I have no idea why my daughter was wearing a princess tiara that morning but it makes this photo that much sweeter. And you might also notice that my son is proudly wearing his new Batman backpack. :) Open Post
My wife and I had really been struggling that morning, as most parents do, when they take their first child to the first day of Kindergarten. It sounds silly to non-parents but that first day is huge. It's the beginning of a new era for your child. You've spent the last 4 years trying to perfectly raise your child in your home and now you're officially releasing them into a new daily routine that doesn't involve you. I now understand why so many parents cry at this event. And let's be honest, I joined in on the tear-fest. But the hardest part for us was separating our son from his sister. Our kids are literally best friends. They protect each other. They play together. They teach each other. There is no doubt that they are inseparable. So we knew in this moment that it was also a new era for our daughter, who would now be by herself every day, without her brother and best friend.
So we said our goodbyes and we watched as our son walked away to class with all his new classmates. It was just like the movies. I swear the whole thing happened in slow-motion. Then all of a sudden, he turned around and came back for one more hug from his sister. Thank God I had my camera with me for this moment. I scrambled super quick to grab a shot and this was the only frame I got of the hug before he was off and running to catch up with his classmates.
A video clip of this moment wouldn't have been nearly as powerful. It's moments like this where I truly value photography and knowing how to get a good image in the blink of an eye. I will treasure this photo for the rest of my life.
(Oh, and P.S., I have no idea why my daughter was wearing a princess tiara that morning but it makes this photo that much sweeter. And you might also notice that my son is proudly wearing his new Batman backpack. :) Open Post
I recently was asked to work with a band called Gungor. I was vaguely aware of them but didn't know much about them. Their manager Calvin sent me the record and honestly, I was stunned. The record was the most beautiful collection of music I'd heard in a long time. To give you an idea of how much I loved it, I'm pretty sure I listened to it every day, on repeat, for 2-3 weeks. Anyway, I'll quit gushing about the music for now cause it's your lucky day and the album actually releases TODAY. That's right. You can go listen for yourself right now.
Needless to say, it was an absolute honor to photograph the band for this album. I'm pretty sure I would have paid THEM their day rate to be a part of this project. I hope you enjoy the random display of some of my favorites below. Oh, and for all you Photoshop nerds, I did the post-production and textural work on these images as well...
Also, you should watch the EPK for the new record. Really cool to hear about this project from the band directly... Open Post
Needless to say, it was an absolute honor to photograph the band for this album. I'm pretty sure I would have paid THEM their day rate to be a part of this project. I hope you enjoy the random display of some of my favorites below. Oh, and for all you Photoshop nerds, I did the post-production and textural work on these images as well...
Also, you should watch the EPK for the new record. Really cool to hear about this project from the band directly... Open Post
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