A photo I shot last summer is finally going to press as the cover of a poetry book titled When My Brother Was an Aztec. I shot this photo for our friend Natalie Diaz. This is her first published collection of poems, and I am very excited for her. The poems are very personal, many of them centering around her family. The man in the photo is actually her brother. He was awesome! Natalie and I started with some loose ideas of photographing her brother in a headdress and incorporating other symbolic objects. The real challenge for me was to use light, location, and gesture in a way that captures the surreal nature of some of her poems.  I was lucky enough to get a preview of the book for our photo shoot, and some of the themes of the book that I could experiment with visually were family, alcohol, loneliness, Christianity and identity. It was important to Natalie that we try and hint at her mixed Native-American/Spanish identity. Natalie told me, “My dad is Spanish and my mom is Native, so I’m pretty much the epitome of conquest/colonization.” We shot this in the Mojave desert. It’s my understanding that the Mojave tribe does not use head dresses like this one, but for the photo we took some artistic license. I believe this headdress is Aztec, which fits the title of the book. Below are some other outtakes from the shoot. I think they chose the right photo for the cover. It includes family photos, the figure of Christ and the headdress. It was one of the last locations that we photographed. You should pick up the book and see if I did the poems justice!

Here is another photo I took while waiting for the TV crew to set up its shots on the Ed Show commercial. We were at Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk on a real work day. The place was so loud! Metal banging around and people welding. I approached this gentleman, and through some basic hand gestures he agreed to pose for a portrait. We tried talking but it was so loud. I wish I had gotten his name. It was so interesting to be around people working with their hands in the outdoors. So much of my photography revolves around people in offices.

I have not posted in a while. Got busy and distracted. Anyway, today I was going through my archive, and I found this photo I had forgotten about. For anyone wondering what is going on here, I slowed my shutter speed to 2.5 seconds so I could ensure that I captured the flash when this little girl took a photo of me. The direct light into the camera caused some odd colors, so I converted it to B&W which I like better. I like how her face is a big burst of light and her arms seem to be flapping. It’s like a mysterious fairy is trying to catch me. I wish I knew what her photo of me looked like.

Wonderful Machine featured one of my photos again. Every once in a while, the editors hide a fun “specialty” among their list of photographer skills. Here is the newest. For all you Tidewater locals, you’ll be pleased to know this was shot on the roof of the Virginia Beach Hilton Sky Bar during a Halloween Party.

Here is the cover of the Physicians for Peace Fall 2010 Giving Catalog and News Mailing. It arrived in mailboxes last week as a 5.5″x8.5″ postcard that folds open to  a really nice 8.5″x25.5″ poster full of information. The designer, Ellen Libby made really nice use of this photo I took in Haiti. Three more are used inside at a smaller size. If you are looking to donate money to a good organization this holiday season, consider Physicians for Peace. Some details about the photo. This was taken outside the clinic where patients get fitted for prostestics and also receive Physical Therapy. This child lost his right arm in the earthquake. Unfortunately, upper body prosthesis are harder to do than lower body. While I was there, he did not receive one. Despite this, he seemed to be a happy kid who wanted to play with this green bouncy ball. I wish I could have talked to him, but I speak no Creole and the interpreters were busy with patients.

Back in August I photographed Amanda Gift for Financial Planning Magazine. She is a Managing Principal and Vice President at a local firm called Signature. This is a magazine that goes to Financial Advisers via subscription, so it is only now that I learned they used my photo on the September 2010 cover. Below is an image of the cover and the inside spread. I photographed her in exactly the same spot with natural light only. I simply moved her around, adjusted the shades and changed the exposure. Click to see larger.

This is one of my favorite photos from the Haiti trip about a month ago. This guy watched me take landscapes of the Artibonite River Valley for about 20 minutes until finally I asked him if he would pose for a photo. There was almost no light left, but I had my tripod and was able to make a long exposure that captured him on this rocky hillside where the goats feed. If you look closely, you can see he is wearing a t-shirt from a Sun Sentinel party. It’s just amazing the leftovers that end up on a goat-herder in the Haitian mountains. This photo is also featured today in a Wonderful Machine blog post.

This is from a recent shoot in Virginia Beach. We shot around sunset and got some beautiful light. Emory, pictured here was a great sport taking quite a beating in the waves. Each time a wave came in I had to hold the camera above my head and jump up. Crazy! The camera did get a little wet despite my efforts. There are better photos we did on land but I’m posting this one because I risked my camera for it. Next time, I will have a case for the camera. All images are model released and available for licensing.

It’s almost July 4th weekend, and in the South that means hot weather and cookouts. No better way to cool off than with a juicy watermelon.

Memorial Day provided for some fun photo opportunities. On our way to a show we drove through Yorktown and stumbled upon some Civil War reenactors. This man was very friendly so I asked him to pose for me. Then the next day, we spent some time with our favorite beach family. We’ve known them a long time. Alison, at right was the flower girl in our wedding six years ago. Now she is as tall as my wife!