Homesick...

Nothing in the world makes me miss Michigan more than March Madness. Especially this year, with the Final Four tournament in Detroit!

GO GREEN! GO WHITE! (As I type the score is MSU 30, Louisville 27 at the half)

George - AKA "The Rodent", AKA the "Desert Mammal"

This adorable little devil kept me up for THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW. Well, in his defense, it wasn't just his scratching and scuttling about that kept me up. It was mostly my cats tearing my bedroom to shreds trying to catch him...

But I digress... I present to you: George. The very large rodent, AKA the 'Desert Mammal' (as Elliott, my savior and rodent capturer, put it).

How do you know you're a photography nerd? When the most logical thing to catch a rodent in is your FILM DEVELOPING TANK. Another sign might be when you CAN'T WAIT to process some B&W film using only coffee and powdered Vitamin C (check out www.photojojo.com for details.)

Doug Merriam

The instructor here in the studio last week was Doug Merriam - and we had a blast! It was a beginning lighting class, which tend to be my favorites because the students are always so humble and eager to learn, and they still get SO excited when they get a good image. It's so refreshing!

Doug was nice enough to set for a portrait - and he gave me plenty to work with!


This image was my favorite and probably going to get printed for my book.... but we couldn't resist the opportunity to play around a bit:

Aron Kalaii

I love this man. He's ridiculously tall, cut as if out of marble, sweet, funny, and he smells like incense. Also, he makes me feel beautiful, which is quite an accomplishment. I'm lucky to know him.

Max Vadukul

A shot I did of Max Vadukul, who was out here last week to teach a class with Jodi Peckman called "The Collaborative Portrait." Just another in my series of photographs of photographers... :o)

Mawgie... oh Mawgie...

No photograph ever could really do this woman justice. She is a whirlwind, a force of nature... one of my most favorite people ever and honestly the most beautiful woman on the planet...

Been trying for two years now to get a good picture of her... I don't know if this fits the bill but I'm ok with it. I mean, I've set the expectations so high...


The setup may look familiar - I set it up for my shot of Joe McNally but Mawgie was free for a few minutes so I plopped her in there. I have so few opportunities to shoot during a crazy workshops week, so I tend to shoot the hell out of each setup...

I'd be interested to see which image everyone is more attracted to. I love them both, for different reasons, but I'll be printing for my book soon and I'll need to pick one. COMMENTS PLEASE!

More to come...

Doug Berry

Doug Berry was a participant last week in Heisler's class, Choice and Vision. This is the 2nd time I've worked with Doug - he was out here last season for a workshop with Paul Elledge and Leasha Overturf. He is a great editorial, commercial, and stock shooter from Telluride, CO, and also becoming a good friend of mine...

Ashley Davis

Ashley Davis was a participant in my class last week with Greg Heisler, called Choice and Vision. She's a very talented wedding photographer from Boulder, CO and also a really sweet chick. As soon as I saw her ratty, super comfortable 'mitties' I knew that I had to get a shot of her wearing them.

Heisler's First Assignment

Bright and early Monday morning, Greg Heisler had every participant in his class grab their cameras and run outside for what I can only call a firing-squad portrait session. Basically everyone shot a portrait of everyone else, and in each shot you had to be making a different expression.

Fun - and educational! I mean, you tend to get in a rut as far as your subject's expressions go. I know I have... This exercise provided a loud and clear reminder that the human face can do a lot more...


Shot in open shade against white foam core by four of my participants (not sure who...)