This year I have had the privilege to shoot a lot of work for Realtree. The final pieces from that work has been showing up in various magazines and other locations recently. Here are a few of those shots. The Xtra Green photo was done last spring, while all the others were shot this year before everything greened up. All of these pix were shot on our farm in KY. Man I love my job! Hope you like them.
Craig Morgan
Recently I once again I had the pleasure of shooting with Nashville country artist Craig Morgan at his home. Being that this was our second time working together, we got into a good grove immediately and managed to make some great new photos for him. The photos will be used by him for several different projects that he's involved in and should start popping up pretty quickly. Hope you like them! There's even a bonus shot of Craig and I...
The Keys
Here's a few shots from a recent trip to the Keys for a combination work/play trip with my buddy John Bond. We spent a couple days on Islamorada fishing and goofing off! Had a great time. Looking very forward to getting back there. Used to be, a long time back, I was there nearly every year. Now it's been a lot of years since my last visit. I'm hoping to return to the every year cycle.
Recently...
I had the chance to shoot a bunch of photography in a couple of states for both Realtree, and Ducks Unlimited over the last 2 months or so, using the new Realtree Max 5 camo. This stuff just melts into it's surroundings. Back before the new year, I had shot a bunch of work in and around cattails and flooded bottoms. The new work here involved mud, milo fields, and flooded cypress trees.
Last week I took advantage of an opportunity to head to southern Florida and spend some time golfing around Fort Lauderdale, and fishing in the Keys with my buddy John Bond and his wife Judy. Dang near like a vacation! Loved every second of it and I'm already trying to figure out how to get back there again. I also shot some work there that I'll post later. I spent a couple days getting back to reality here in KY and will be shooting another job Sunday.
Turkey season is right around the corner and I'm expecting a bunch of friends and clients to be passing through over the next 4 weeks. I'll be making a quick trip in a couple weeks to Nashville for a couple days to shoot with country artist and outdoorsman Craig Morgan once again, and can't wait to get there! Craig is such an awesome, easy going guy to work with.
Headhunters TV
Last week I had the opportunity to spend a few days shooting with a couple of the best guys in the hunting industry here at our farm in KY, Randy Birdsong and Nate Hosie of Headhunters TV. It was a pleasure to work with a couple of young guys that are so easy going and ambitious. Their energy and creativeness during the shoot was infectious. Most non shooting time involved a bit of live music, courtesy of Nate as well. All in all it was a very enjoyable time and I'm already looking forward to our next shoot!
Winter Everywhere I Go!
Other than the annual trip to Vegas for the SHOT show, it has been dang cold everywhere I go. Even the week in Nashville for the ATA show had temps hovering around the 0 mark. We spent a week in northern Mississippi shooting waterfowl images recently which has temps traditionally in the 50's and above. We spent the first 2 days there trying to break 4 inches of ice in the flooded and frozen fields with a Polaris Ranger, and the next several days being stuck in the mud in the same spots as the temps rose into the 40's... Other than a couple of wonderful days near 70 here in KY during a shoot last week, the weather has been less than ideal. Since those days last week the temps have once again fallen and we're looking at a high of about 35 today. The other day we got another 2 inches of snow. That snow is what the accompanying photos are from. The forecast for home for the next few days has another major storm moving through that's expected to dump another double digit load of snow on Northwest Indiana that could snow totals into the upper teens by the time it passes through. At least there's a bit of beauty that can be found in all of this.
A Few New Photos
Real quick, here are a few new photos that I've shot recently that I do not think have been public up until the ATA shoe in Nashville last week. They're part of my portfolio as well as part of the art being used by several companies. Wildlife Research is above, while obviously Ralph and Vickie, Realtree Xtra, and Realtree's new Max5 is below. Once we return from the SHOT show in Vegas taking place next week, I'll post some of the ways that my photos were used at the shows. It's always a surprise till you get there and see them!
Remember When...
It seems like it has been forever since I have made the time to write something here on my blog. This year, for some reason, work has been crazy good, meaning double busy. Seems like it should still be turkey season, but it also seems like it was eons ago. I've had the privilege to shoot with a bunch of celebrities in the hunting industry as well as a few from the music industry. I have also shot for most of my regular clients and several new ones too and I'm looking forward to seeing, and speaking with them all at the upcoming ATA show in Nashville and the SHOT show in Vegas, both of which are next month.
Although I killed my first deer here at our place in Kentucky this fall, my hunting was really curtailed by work and I am quite happy to say as much, due to work. I'm looking forward to getting back home to Indiana later today to spend Christmas with my family and friends and take a short break. But I'm also ready to get to Nashville and Vegas and see what the new year will have in store. I'm also looking forward to seeing how my work from this year will be used at the shows.
I may have a bit of work for a couple different TV shows here in KY late next month and again in February, as well as a trip I hope to make with my friend John Bond to the Keys for a little fishing.
The shot above was done recently for Bowtech. The shot below was from a shoot this weekend for DR and Laura Harrison at my place in KY. A couple big flashes and some well placed rain. They said it was cold and miserable. Me, I was 20 feet away and dry so I couldn't say.
Time Well Spent
Fall is once again here, trumpeted I guess the last several years by the annual Beast Feast in my home town of Leroy, In. Beast Feast is the giant wild game eating social event of the year! It began about 5 years ago with about 40 people around a smoker and has grown to this year's record of well over 350 hungry folks! But being the 3rd Saturday of September each year, it's also a signal for the start of hunting season, and work season for that matter. Work has been getting shot nearly non-stop since the Beast Feast, (a little was shot before the party as well). Being here currently in Kentucky, this is I believe the 5th state I have shot in in the last few weeks. One shoot here went on outdoors till about 3am. Most however have been a bit more normal as far as shooting time goes. One morning with nothing specific on the books to be doing, we took advantage of an opportunity to shoot some generic stuff in the fog coming off the pond. The pics here, are from that morning. The model is a buddy of mine, Jason Michael. We are currently shooting Realtree and Game Plan Gear for the last week or so and will be moving on to another client in the next few days. I think I will have the pleasure of talking photography with the women from the West Liberty Camera Club here at our KY farm once again before I head out of here. Hope you like the photos!
Time Flies!
It seems as if it has been forever since I've taken the time to write here, and I guess it has been a while. It's been very busy recently, and it doesn't appear as though it will be slowing anytime soon. To the contrary, I believe it will be getting busier. Most recently I spent several days with "America's Favorite Hunting Couple", Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo, and their son RJ, at their home, (www.archerschoicemedia.com), photographing them for their show, their sponsors, and for publicity images. They are some of the most fun loving, down to earth people I think I have ever encountered! Working with them was an absolute pleasure! Their exuberance, good nature, and professionalism are infectious.
Lightfield Ammunition, (www.litfld.com), is another project I have been working on recently for a couple of new campaigns they will be starting this fall. I've included a couple images here.
Hawke Optics, (www.hawkeoptics.com), is another newer client I have been shooting with as of late and will continue to shoot for them throughout the fall and winter seasons.
Bowtech Archery, (www.bowtecharchery.com), is yet another long time client that I'm currently shooting fairly heavily for at the moment. Some of their images are here as well.
In the near future, or at least the next several weeks I will be shooting work for Realtree, Jon and Gina Brunson, Wildlife Research Center, Dogtra, and possibly a little work in Nashville. Next week we will be filming another episode for the Travelin' Hunter, Tony Smotherman, at our farm in Kentucky and return home just in time for Beast Feast here in Leroy, IN!
Wildgame
Been working on a little project for Wildgame Innovations over the last couple of weeks. Here are a few of the pics that worked out, and one that sort of failed, ...with a bit of humor. Sometimes a blizzard can really get out of hand. I think the snow shots were done here in NW Indiana when the temps were in the mid 90's. I really enjoy shooting this sort of stuff and developing ideas. Thanks to Matt Partin and Joe Hatch for their patience.
JJ Lawhorn Album Release
A few months back I had the opportunity to photograph a new and upcoming country music artist by the name of JJ Lawhorn down in Nashville. At the time he had just finished a duet and music video with Colt Ford, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esnSbBuf9f4), and this shoot was for his forthcoming album, OGOB, Original Good Ol' Boy. JJ was a pleasure to work with and we really nailed some pretty cool pix, if I have to say so myself. I am really proud of this shoot and have been anxious to be able to show it off. JJ's album went on sale today at Walmart stores as well as on iTunes at http://smarturl.it/JJiTunes. Give it a listen!
More Recent Kentucky Work
Right after my shoot in Nashville last week with Craig Morgan I had to beat tracks to the farm in Kentucky to welcome a young upcoming personality by the name of Gary Stanley for a one day shoot. Gary is a great guy and I'm sure you will be hearing and seeing plenty of him soon. Although he has a new website under construction, take a quick look at his current page at http://oneshotoutdoors.com, or on his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/gary.stanley.165?ref=ts&fref=ts. Gary is best known for being able to film his own hunts and make it look easy.
Craig Morgan Shoot
I travelled last week back to Nashville to spend the day shooting with country music artist Craig Morgan, http://www.craigmorgan.com/. Craig is also the host of All Access Outdoors, http://cmoutdoors.com/. Craig was an absolute pleasure to work with and I enjoyed every minute of this shoot. He had just returned from several days on the road touring when we shot and was headed back out later that same evening. I don't know how he does it! Most of the shots here were made with a single Elinchrom Ranger head and either a Rotalux or Octabank modifier. The creek shot was the same light source with just a standard 6" reflector. Hope you like them!
Rodeo!
I had a chance about two weeks ago to shoot some photos at a little rodeo here near home. It sounded like it would be a really good time and maybe bring back some memories from a rodeo tour I shot for a couple years. The thought of all the good, fresh, mexican cooking going on everywhere didn't hurt either! The fellow in the photo above is my father in law, Lonnie with his pet rooster that goes by the name John Wayne. This bird don't take no crap from nobody either and enjoys a bit of tequila now and again, or beer, or moonshine, or... Below are a few more shots. We didn't get to the event till late in the day as they were just about to finish up. Next time I will be there earlier.
New Realtree
I just got the PDF's of a couple of ads that Realtree built using one of my images. In the horizontal ad, the image on the right is mine while the other belongs to Brad Herndon. Brad had been the primary photographer for Realtree's effectiveness photography I guess form the start and up until this past year when he decide that he wanted to sort of retire from it. If you saw an ad in a magazine or poster or about anywhere that showed you how well you couldn't see a hunter in Realtree, then you have seen Brad's work. Brad has taught me an enormous amount in a very short time and brought me up to speed to fill in as best as possible for him, although I know I'm no Brad. It is good to see, and I take a lot of pride in the fact that a company with the prominence of Realtree is using me, and my work. I'm looking very forward to the first time I see either of these ads in print on a newsstand somewhere!
A Bit of Music!
Here are a few frames from a recent shoot here in Kentucky that I did with DR Harrison for his upcoming debut album, Deafening Dreams. We discussed several ideas and stuck fairly tight to the original concept, but did stray maybe just a bit. The shot above is something of a "Behind the Scenes" type shot. We used my barn to take advantage of its height, the ability to shoot with a long lens to compress, and to be be able to get out of the wind that might have made this shot impossible. It's pretty much a simple lighting set-up using 2 Elinchrom Rangers with only small reflectors for a the harsh side lights, a Speedlight in a beauty dish for the main/fill light, and a small background light. I really liked the retro-looking Wescott background. The chair was rented from a local antique shop in West Liberty, KY, called Red Rooster. The shot immediately below is what has been currently selected for the album cover. I cooled the tones on the tighter head shot to give it a slightly more "mechanical" look.
Turkeys!
A good friend of mine from down here in Kentucky, Brandon Phipps, dropped by yesterday evening with an awesome bird he had just taken. The light was perfect, the bird was impeccable, and the hunter couldn't have been any happier. We spent about an hour shooting a mess of different photos, but these were a few of my favorites. Hope you like them too.
Other Stuff
I had an urge this morning to shoot something, besides a turkey, which seem to be really rare around here lately. At the cost of busting my ass while wearing worn out Crocs and standing, but only momentarily, on a wet rock in the creek, I got a couple new frames. I'm somewhere between not wanting to stand and really, really not wanting to sit. Here are a few of the shots, but I refuse to post the one form the creek!
Turkey Hunting in KY
I've been in KY for the last couple of weeks, and for a while, I thought turkey season would not ever get here! Well it has, although the turkeys have not realized it yet. My good friend John, www.jandjprecisionfirearms.com, did manage to get one yesterday. As for me, well it's raining today so my excitement will have to take place at the laundromat... We did get a couple of cool pix, or at least a couple that I liked, and I've included them here. Hope you enjoy them.