My earliest memory of the Olympics was watching the summer games in 1988. I remember being mesmerized by the South Korean flag, which I drew in the margins of every school notebook I had. My father was a massive sports fan— specifically anything involving Ohio State— so I’d heard all about @butchreynoldsofficial , who was not only representing OSU in Seoul, but went on to take home a silver and a gold…
Read MoreNew Flower Portraits and a Fine Art Print Sale
Historically, whenever I create something that I’m really excited about, I immediately get overwhelmed (this latest shoot is case in point). I’ve thought about reasons why it may affect me in this way, and here are just a few…
Read MoreImages From the Glow Photography Workshop
Here are a few selects from my “Glow” workshop this past weekend. One of my favorite things about teaching is that I often end up discovering new things, such as this concentric circle halo effect that I stumbled upon…
Read MoreLess Is More: Slowing Down with Sondos
Lately I’ve been intentionally slowing down the pace in which I engage life. Though I’ve never been good at being still or meditating, I have found lately that stillness is what I’ve been craving the most. My favorite pastime these days is to sit in what others might call silence and listen to the sounds of the world around me. Crickets chirping; the wind moving through the trees; jets passing overhead; neighbors listening to a ball game on their porch radio. If I can manage to stop thinking about each individual sound, I can start to hear them all as one, and accept my place within it.
Read MoreThe Negative Side of Social Media : Commissioned by Unsplash
As some of my longtime followers know, I’ve had a complicated relationship with social media. In 2019 I was experiencing so much anxiety that I permanently deleted all of my accounts (60,000 followers over 3 platforms) with no plans to return. I spent the next year off the grid. Though I’d already been in therapy for years I also began going to a support group for adult survivors of childhood abuse (ASCA). I started climbing and began regularly cycling again. The combination of processing trauma, moving my body, and removing myself from situations and relationships that exacerbated my anxieties, I began to heal…
Read MoreCyberpunk Photo Shoot for Unsplash+
I was recently commissioned by Unsplash to create a series of cyberpunk-inspired images. Though the cyberpunk aesthetic is especially trendy as of late, it has held a spot near to my heart ever since I was a teen in the nineties…
Read MoreMy Colorful Portrait Shoot for Tech Industry's Sidebar
Back in January I had the privilege of working with Sidebar to create a library of images for their new website launch. I’m so grateful for such a wonderful opportunity and true collaboration with the team at Sidebar as well as the designers and creatives at Mackey Saturday that developed the campaign. Big thanks to @elizabethcareysmith for art directing, @kyleameeks for assisting, @xixstudios for hosting, and all the subjects for bringing power and joy to the shoot.
Read MoreElastic Plastic: Exploring a New Material with Alayna
Here's some recent work with @a.bean.sprout. It's been a couple years since our last collaboration and was a great time of conversation and art-making. I especially had fun exploring shooting through a piece of plastic that my friend @davidtsigler salvaged from an old Mac monitor. The red in that first image is actually a warped reflection of the red shirt I happened to be wearing at the shoot. My mind is still pouring over the possibilities that this material affords me.
Read MoreIn Rainbows: Portrait Session with Jason Walker
Here’s some recent work with @thisaintjason. This was a session focused on color and movement (like many of my sessions lol)…
Read MoreImages From My Latest Creative Portrait Workshop
Last week I taught a two-day photography workshop called The Creative Portrait. I taught my students a range of innovative camera and lighting techniques that allow them to capture subjects in creative ways. Here are a few of my favorite images from the weekend.
Read MoreAll the Things with Annika
This was my first shoot with Annika Peterson and we did all the things. I started off with some light lighting, using a black fiber optic brush and orange gel from Light Painting Brushes. After that I explored making long exposures while rotating a linear prism FX filter and multi-strobing my flash. Finally, I took some shots with my fungus-filled lens, using shutter drag and an LED with changing colors.
Read MoreWater Drops, Light Painting, and Lens Fungus (Oh My)
When Lily arrived at my studio I decided to start off with some colorful water drop portraits before getting into the light painting…
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Coors Light: Hold My Coors Campaign
I recently teamed up with the creatives at Five Hundred Degrees studio to shoot the Hold My Coors campaign for Coors Light. We spent a day on location and a day in studio capturing this clever line of beer accessories. I legit want one of those hoodies now.
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