I have been very absent from the blog this summer! I have quite a few things that would be fun to post here. I’m going to start with the cover I shot for Old Dominion University’s Magazine called Monarch. It’s an appropriate time to post this photo with the hurricane that just went through Norfolk and flooded many parts of the east coast. The cover story is largely about how rising water levels will impact the region.

The school used to have two separate magazines, but recently combined them into one. This issue is actually the inaugural issue. The creative director gave me these rain boots and total creative freedom. We took the photo on a stormy day, and slowed down the shutter speed to capture the movement of the water. My assistant and the model were really good sports about the rain and slipperiness of the surfaces.

If you have read past posts, you know that back in early March I was hired by NBC to shoot stills for the Ed Schultz show. I took photos in between takes of a commercial Spike Lee was directing in Norfolk, Virginia. Below is the final ad running in Newsweek, The New Yorker and a few other magazines this summer.

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.

A stock photo I shot last September was recently used in an e-mail blast to Comcast customers. Funny enough, the father in the photo is a Comcast customer so he received the e-mail and forwarded it to me. Kind of nice that they chose my photo as an example of a photo a family would want to back up. I don’t always get to see how my stock photos are used, so this was a nice treat. Coincidentally, I did commissioned work for their competitor, Cox Communications, just a few months ago.

So, I just got an e-mail from Cox Communications pitching their phone service. It was a fun surprise because I photographed everything on it except for the cutout of the guy with the mic. He was shot in a studio somewhere else. If you live in Hampton Roads, you’ve probably seen similar billboards and mailers featuring these photos. This was a fun shoot that took us all over the area from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach.

Here is how the soccer photo was used in this testimonial ad for Sentara in local papers. I really miss the color. Color version here. Notice the designer moved the ball to fit the constraints of the ad. The kid would look really funny if there was no ball. The bottom photo in the ad is not mine.