Lifelock Campaign...

I shot these images for a national Lifelock campaign back in Phoenix back in March. Should be seeing at least one of these ads running in some parenting magazines soon. If any of you see it let me know.

Agency: Mindspace
Art Directors: Brent Shelter and Melissa Brenneman
Hair/makeup/styling: Laura Flagler

Why my job is hard..

While I am on the subject of my job....let me tell you about what is the most challenging aspect of my work. Direction. Generally I spend more time talking about what "direction" my clients want the shoot to go than actually shooting. Whether it is a photo editor of a magazine, an actor who needs updated headshots, or an art director that needs an image to function as part of an ad campaign. The toughest decisions are all the little decisions that determine whether in the end a photo works or not. Of course whether or not that final photo works is all in the eye of the beholder, but I digress.

So what determines the direction of the image, everything. The talent or subject, wardrobe, the hair/makeup, the lighting, the setting, the posing, the expression, the angle the image is taken from, and the list goes on. Literally hundreds of decisions are made before the shutter is clicked for the first time.

Some of the funniest things I have heard on a photo shoot have taken place as all of the people present on a shoot are trying to make decisions on all these little things. Always the biggest concern is if something is "too" (fill in the blank). Too sexy, too conservative, too LA, too girl next door, too happy, you name it and it is possible for it to be too much whatever it is.

I often find myself trying to read people's minds and body language to determine if what we are doing is the direction they wanted to go. In some instances I am surprised that we wade through the waters of all the decisions and manage to produce anything that anybody likes because we have spent so much time talking about it and weeding it down to meet everyone's needs that it ends up being shot with nice soft lighting with no shadows against a white background and the talent is wearing a blue shirt.

I always find it interesting that my industry has created a commerical look that is really far from reality yet we all accept it. For example you see all these ads at Petsmart with a perfectly groomed happy older man (also insert woman, couple, child) at a park with their beautifully groomed golden retriever (also insert lab, weirmariner) the light is glowing golden rays on both their happy faces. I spend a lot of time at the park (I have two kids under the age of three) and I have yet to see that scene in the real world. Generally people are in sweatpants with a couple plastic bags from Price Chopper hanging out of their back pocket trying to listen to their Ipod or talk on their cell phone while "Fluffy" is sniffing around like their is fresh meat covering the ground. But maybe that is just the part of town I live in.

Photography and the ad business in general have created this hyper happy worlds that we all see continuously as we are out and about in the world or even just watching television. If you start to pay attention to the images you see(or become a photographer that creates those images) you will see what I am talking about. Just don't ask me if your shirt makes you look fat, because we all know that it isn't the shirt :)

So what do you do for a living?

When I meet people for the first time one of the first questions I am asked is what I do for a living. When I tell people I am a photographer they always ask what I photograph.

When I tell them I am primarily a people photographer and that I shoot for commercial and editorial clients (along with a mix of some headshot work) I generally get a blank stare. Unless they happen to work in a field that deals with photography in some vein or another they walk away having no idea exactly what it is that I do as a photographer.

Much like I have no idea when somebody tells me they are a lawyer and I ask them if they specialize in a certain area and they say "corporate law" and I smile politely and change the subject. Not because I have anything against lawyers who specialize in corporate law I just don't have any knowledge of what they do exactly.

On the surface I should have a job that is interesting to talk about but I have found for whatever reason (beyond my own lack of communication skills) that for me the "so what do you do for a living" conversation is generally short and not so sweet.

If you are one of those people that I have had these conversation with please accept my apologies and know that I am working on my "so what do you do for a living" speech.

Fight #9 Results...

Michael "not so small" Smalley was too much for Todd Pickup defeating him quickly in round number one. Beyond his great nickname, Michael is one of the dominant fighters of the EFL. Congrats to "dansgal" you wrapped up your own victory with your correct pick. Six of nine picks is impressive. Drop me an e-mail and we can work out the details of the "11 x 14" print. Thanks to everyone else for playing along. I will keep this blog active with new images, links, and news so keep checking back in.

Fight #9 "Before

Make you pick in the comments....

Fight #8 Results...

Well Paul is still due for a win, Fred ran his record to a perfect 3-0 with the victory. He was one of those guys who you would never guess was a fighter by looking at him but he handled himself very well in the octagon. According to my math "dansgal" has vaulted into the lead with five correct picks. "Shelia" and "fiscalgorilla" are still in striking distance. Stay tuned...

Fight #8 "Before"

For those of you really paying attention you will notice this was actually fight number ten of the evening, had to skip over a couple because I didn't have pictures of both fighters....anyhow, pick 'em in the comments.

Fight #7 Results...

For the first time we had zero correct picks. Chance was the winner and I have to say he also had one of the best "After" images. Stay tuned for more soon...

Fight #7 "Before"

Sorry for the delay in posting I was on the road the past five days shooting.

Here is the next fight....make your pick in the comments!