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!

Wanted to get a few shots from today posted before I crashed.  Today was one of those days where everything was just clicking.  I really had a blast working with Theresa & Arielle, both NOT first-timers.  Kat was back rockin makeup and Erin (the intern – I’ll have a post introducing her soon) and Allie helped keep things moving and easy going in the blazing heat and drenching humidity.  It’s always nice working with a rad crew!  Thank you everyone for helping make images like the ones here.

BIG day tomorrow!

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!

Had another chance to run down to StudioOz in Philadelphia on Monday for a long day of shooting and catching up.  DanO, owner/photographer of StudioOz and I both quit our day jobs (at the same place no less) to do photography full time within 2 weeks of each other back in the fall of 2005.  In those 5 years he’s has been an integral part of our lives and our business.  I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pay him back for what he’s done for us, but we’ll keep trying.

The first 6 images here are from Monday down at DanO’s – his studio is in a huge complex that makes my brain swim with ideas, often WAY more than I can cram into one or two shoots.  The second series of 6 are from yesterday.  My hat is off to all of these awesome ladies for putting up with long days and crazy uncomfortable shooting weather.  You all rocked out some great images.  Thanks for making life fun!

Rock On!

Man, 2010 is racing by!  June is here, the summer weather HAS BEEN here for quite a while already and the calendar for the remaining 7 months is filling up fast!  It’s all work, technically.  I have a pile of things to post in the coming weeks:  Shots from next week’s www.300AlmostNakedPeople.com project shoot; more band/musician promo images; there’s probably a wedding or 6 to blog about; and perhaps just a general image wrap up on most of 2009…I realize we’re almost 1/2 way through 2010…better late than never, right.

These images are from our Winter Blues Promo.  Had a blast with everyone involved!  Thank you to all these great ladies for keeping life lighthearted and fun!

Rock On!

…is this ASAP enough?

Joey & Jamie’s Vegas mind-melt gave me some time to work up a couple of posts I’ve been wanting to do.  Nooooo, not WHILE in Vegas…you can get a lot done on a 3 hour flight!  Here’s a few from Connie’s most recent modeling shoot.

How much does she ROCK for getting the hair dyed dark just to do this shoot the way I’d pictured it in my head?  Every shoot seems better than the last with her…and that’s a damn good thing!  :D  Once again, thank you Kat for rocking the makeup & general shoot assistance.

And here’s a few from the most recent band promo shoot I’ve had the opportunity to work on.  1 Hot Mess is 1 rad crew of people to have on the opposite end of the lens.  Connie and Kat rocked out the back end of this shoot as well.  When the 3 of us are firing on all cylinders, life is GOOD!  Thank you to everyone involved!

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!

Just taking a quick second to say thanks again to Carla & Billy for having us out last fall to cover their big day.  Connie and I had a blast with both of them, their families and their great wedding party.  A little different than the normal post, but quite a few of these are Connie’s shots.  She doesn’t shoot a lot, but when she can it’s always a treat to see what she does.

This is a wedding party that knows how to ROCK!  Sun up to sun down they made sure this was Carla and Billy’s BIG DAY!  THIS is the kind of wedding party you want!

Obviously this is from a a bit back.  My hat is off to everyone involved for their patience while I got these done the only way I know how.  Thank you! Congrats & ROCK ON!

Also, thank you again to everyone that has emailed, txt’d, facebooked and otherwised me about the photography classes.  Your responses and enthusiasm have been very inspiring!