Today was planned months ago.  The image ideas and how to execute them had been thought about over and over.  It was going to be tons of fun and hopefully produce some really awesome images…images of some really motivated and exceptionally fit individuals hittin the Appalachian Trail…

…looks like we’re going to have a few more months to plan that out.  Doh!  Someone in the PA government decided it was time to close Winter’s Trail (one of the on-ramps to the A.T. in NEPA).  Yeah, we were confused… but mark one down for scouting!  This past Tuesday morning Mike D, Mary and I got a super early jump and headed up to the A.T. to be in position for sunrise.  The plan was to be ready when first light hit, assess what we’d have time to do and come up with some shot ideas based on the possible…with a touch of the nearly impossible.

So that WAS the plan.  When we drove up around 5:30 and found Winter’s Trail closed.  Lots of fences and chains and a whole bunch of ‘go away’.  With some quick goat thinking we moved on to two other locations that Mike and Mary knew of.  Unfortunately nothing was really working for what I was hoping to shoot…and least not like the A.T. would have.

Feeling slightly less that satisfied with my early morning adventure, I headed back to the ‘Wick to figure out what to do.

Relief was found near the bottom of  beer (I know, how many times has that happened, right!)  The fine folks at Bandit’s Roadhouse came to the rescue and let us use a warehouse they own to get the shoot done.  Having just shot there on Monday, ideas were fresh and ready to go…albeit COMPLETELY different ones from what we wanted to do on the A.T.

Yesterday, less than 24 hours before the shoot, it hit me that I might try something a little different this time.  Rather than get right into the workout shots, I thought we’d work into them.  The warehouse has some awesome old offices, relics of workdays paste.  It was begging for a shoot.  I dropped Julie, Seth & Andrea the news and asked them to whip together a look for the office.  They rocked it…with very little notice they all put together some great looks.

Kat came in on makeup for everyone and the rest of our team for this shoot (Connie, Erin & Steph) played key roles in making sure it all worked.  Thank you Julie and Matt from Brandit’s Roadhouse for helping on location needs.  And major props as always to the rest of the team today…thank you all for kicking ass!

Basically I was trying for a linear progression in the images…a story board sequence of sorts.  From the dulldrums of the office to the energy and excitement of LIFE being lived.  As this was my first attempt at it, there are some obvious deviations from the time line that could have been done better.  But all-in-all I’m pretty satisfied with that part of the shoot, and I’m really stoked about the images.  We’ll take what we learned from this and give it another shot on another shoot some time soon.

Rock On!

Saturday’s overnight rain didn’t seem to slow anyone down this weekend.  It was refreshing and a nice break from the recent crispy heat.  Things dried up and the party picked up right where it left off.  When the sun went down I dropped most of the gear and had some fun with ‘left-hand extended’ off-camera flash (OCF).  If your shooting gear supports it I’d recommend playing around with it when you can.  It takes some getting used to, but it’s a lot fun and can really change up shooting situations that aren’t ideal.

Another amazing BriggsFest! Thank you to Richard and all the Briggs for rockin a better time every year!

…and to my boy Dan Hess…always bringing the party hard…security be damned! Yahtzee Mutha-F!!k!r!

That was a damn wet night.  But the rain held off until plenty after the music stopped, and the deluge quit just before the place started buzzing again this morning.  Yesterday was a perfect ‘BriggsFest Day’: Plenty of sun, fun, people, music and food.  Here’s a few from yesterday and this morning as a recap…

Lots more shooting to do today! Rock On!

We spent the last 5 days in Colorado visiting some friends that moved from Berwick. Caught a Rockies game, hit up a museum and had a blast catching up with them. We’ve now moved on to Sedona, Arizona…the force behind this trip. This is the first family reunion my mom’s side of the family has ever put together. Apparently my grandmother thinks Sedona, AZ is 1/2 way between the East and West coasts! lol Just kidding…she’s a rockstar and my favorite person in the world to torture and tease. She takes it like a champ and dishes it back like a pro.

Anywho, this is just a quick update while we’re on the road. When I can, I’m making progress on the editing (those waiting, I thank you massively!).

…Firstly…

I need to officially thank everyone that showed up at the www.300AlmostNakedPeople.com shoot on the 13th. Besides the nerves and stress that I was ‘enjoying’ we had a great time and got some cool images. Hoping to have those done up soon.  Big props to Ben T. and M.J. at the Press Enterprise from stopping down to cover the event…and then for the amazingly awesome FRONT PAGE article in this past Sunday’s P.E. Thank you both for helping to get the word out!

Tara and Leah Mangan blew everyone’s mind with the cake of cake’s!  Thank you both mucho! There’s so many more people that NEED to be called out…once I have the images ready, they’ll all get the props they deserve. I’m definitely looking forward to doing it all over again soon. I’ll be posting more info on that as it becomes available.

Other things:

The Berwick Mural Project is rockin big time already. Alley Art is making major progress and the YMCA retaining wall will be in full swing once we return to PA. The blog is a touch outdated, but I’ll be making that right in the near future. We’ll be posting ‘artist profiles’ soon so everyone can get to know the great people MAKING this a reality. As always, we’re looking for volunteers all the time. Whether you can paint or not, there’s plenty of ways to get involved. Touch base with Connie through the BMP blog if you’re ready to be part of something HUGE!

Things To Do In Berwick

Check out this cool new Facebook group started by Berwick doer Steve Hampton. How smart is this…whether you’re looking for, or know of something to do in Berwick, share it here. Props to Steve for making this convenient and totally useful community board.

…and lastly…

I’ve got the goods on ANOTHER community art project that will need LOTS of people…about 100 I’d say. That’s all I want to dish on that right now as we have a few things to finalize, but if your interested you can talk to the man himself that came up with the idea. Berwick native, Zach Bremmer. Bro doesn’t even live here anymore and is rockin the creativity for the hometown. When I have more info set in stone, I’ll post it for sure…until then, dig it out of Zach if you can.

That’s it…time to go prospect for gold…Uncle Steve scored some yesterday and I need a tan, so why not!

Hey…just a quick post asking for help from anyone with a few minutes on their hands. This Thursday evening starting at 6:30pm a couple of us are getting together down at A Perfect Blend during their Open Mic Nite to shoot a little footage for the 300AlmostNakedPeople.com project teaser video.  We need people willing to stand still for a few seconds.  We’re shooting body parts for a montage clip that we’ll be posting on YouTube and on the project sight.  If anyone is interested in being part of this, show up!  Shoulders, legs, hips, feet…etc.  That sort of thing. (Just to cover my butt, you gotta be 18 to play along…thanks for understanding)

Connie (who can be reached at 570-578-9412) will also have some info about the Berwick Mural Project, and an opportunity for you to paint something THURSDAY NIGHT @ A Perfect Blend in support of the project.  Painting starts in Euclid Alley on Saturday, April 24th.  Hope to see you at Open Mic Nite on Thursday for more info.

That’s about it…if you’re interested, we’ll see you there…if not, thanks for reading anyway!  :D

Rock On!

Man I had some fun today.  For four years I’ve wanted to pull what I thought would be one hell of a funny April Fool’s Day prank: making it look like A Perfect Blend, my mother-in-law’s coffee shop here in Berwick, PA, was closed and out of business.  For four years all I’ve ever done was wish I was doing it.  This year I finally made the decision to just get it done.  Last night Connie & I stopped in and covered the entire front window area of the shop with newspapers and hung an ‘Out of Business’ sign on the front door.  We also tethered a video cam pointed outside to a T.V. on the inside.  The idea here was to be able to see the expressions of the locals walking up for their morning fix, as well as a way for me to see outside so I’d be able to run down anyone that ACTUALLY thought we were closed.

It worked better than I could have ever imagined.  All day long we were able to enjoy the hilarious expressions on people as the thought of the shop actually be gone from their daily routines crossed their lost faces.  Slightly evil, perhaps, but everyone enjoyed the laugh and seemed to have a lot of fun.  The newspaper and T.V. station showing up was an unexpected bonus as well.

I’ll file this in my war chest of examples I use when people tell me they have nothing to do, or that there’s nothing to do in this town.  Make your fun.  Be bold, do something…but never stop having fun!  Thank you Mary Lou for letting me do this.  I really appreciate the chance to mess with so many people!  :D

Rock On!

Anyone like painting – REALLY HUGE things?  Connie has been interested in getting some murals in Berwick for quite a while now.  She’s working with a small committee of local people to get it done.  They have the support of the borough and building/location owners as well.  What they need is help.  If anyone reading this feels like getting creative in a BIG way, drop Connie a line at 570-578-9412 and let her know.  It all starts on the 24th of April!  THIS IS HAPPENING this spring/summer…might make for a nice creative outlet project!  :D

The Nationwide Insurance building wall

Prime location for some public art (decent photography on the 2nd floor as well, I’ve heard )

Berwick Theater wall

Another cool spot with a lot of viewing opportunity

BIDA wall on LaSalle  St.

I’m excited for this one.  LaSalle’s already got a lot of character…this could really go a bunch of cool ways!

Euclid Alley (The Start of Alley Art)

This is the spot that started it all for Connie.  She’s wanted to do ‘Alley Art’ since back in the day.  Alley Art exploded into the Mural Project as more and more people wanted to help.  If you spend any amount of time downtown, you’ll probably hit up Euclid Alley.  Another really exciting wall waiting for some paint.

YMCA Retaining wall

Looooooooooooong and narrow…visually interesting possibilities here!

If you’re from the area and can visualize each of these spots, think about all of them done up in murals.  What a cool, creative and interesting picture of Berwick that is.  Come be part of something fun!

Wow! Some days just stand out against the rest, and yesterday was one of them.  I spent the morning talking about the utility of Social Media to a room full of non-profit organizations from our area.  The last time I was that nervous was probably shooting my first wedding.  :O  I was really looking forward to the class since we were covering a topic I truly enjoy, but when it came time to get some sort of plan together for what to talk about in my teenie little 3 hour window, I really had a hard time with it.  Part of it had to do with the material; as much time as I spend learning about Social Media and how to use it for our business, I spend an equal amount of time understanding that I have a lot to learn.  But I guess that’s probably also WHY I enjoy it so much as well.  And part of the struggle had to do with myself…the pressure I put on myself to do something just a little different than might be expected. This trait plays itself out in a lot of what I do and I think it comes from just trying to live each day as big and as loud as I possibly can.  I want to remember every day because of the things that make it different from all the other days of my life.  It’s a challenging, educational and fun way to live!

Beyond the nerves and the sweating however, it was exactly the kind of day I really look forward to.  It was something new…something different!  As the class zoomed past in a blur my nerves of course turned to excitement.  The questions and the feedback from those attending really put me in my groove and it all just started to flow out.   It really was awesome.  Thank you Joy at the Berwick Area United Way for asking me to do this.  You pushed me to try something new and I really appreciate the opportunity to do so…

Needless to say, this week has been a heavy one.  Aside from the class and other projects, there’s still ‘the work’ that needs to get done.  My backlog of editing is pretty ‘amazing’, if I can use that word describe it…?  But I AM getting there.  Thank you everyone that might be waiting on images for your patience to let me do this as best as I can for you.  Seriously, it means a lot to me…

In the next few days I’ll be kicking up a post about some photography classes the studio will be offering in the not too distant future.  The classes will either be the 1 on 1 variety where you have my complete attention and excitement about photography.  And while I have a pretty good plan for ‘things’ to cover, the 1 on 1 classes will be very geared toward answering the questions you have.  I see these classes as pretty customizable to your needs.  The other flavor of lesson will be in small groups (perhaps 3-5 people) where each session is focused on something specific.  One day spent on ISO control and how to use it in your photography…another day spent on lighting theory and ideas…etc.  It’ll make more sense in the blog focused on that topic…hopefully I’ll get it out this weekend.

We’re headed down to Philly today to visit some family and give the girls a little big city culture.  We’re all pretty pumped for the experience!  Before we head out I wanted to get some new images posted.  Some of these are from the end of last season, and a couple are from the beginning of this week.  This is the kind of post that on the surface may seem less thought out or focused that most…To me however, it’s an example of what I like to shoot and the variety of experiences that make being a photographer truly awesome.  Thanks for looking.

Rock On and enjoy your weekend!

I was digging around some old drives and ran across a few shots of Jazzy’s dance class from about 15 months ago.  Jazzy doesn’t dance anymore, but these will be cute to me forever.

Snap shots that have definitely grown on me since last viewed…

Have a great weekend…!  :D

Getting ready to order the next set of ads to hang down at Fuel Fitness here in Berwick.  Seriously AWESOME people to work with – Marc, Kevin and the rest of the team rock!  Julie, Andrea and I have 2 more shoots planned in the coming months to round out a series of ‘active lifestyle’ images I’ve wanted to shoot for some time.  In March or April we’re going to move the looks outside and get a little gritty with it.  Some time in June (there’s not much time left in that month with some of the other things we have planned for then) we’ll be heading up to the Appalachian Trail for some backpacking/trail hiking radness…can’t wait!

Rock On!