Hotel Arista Website

The beautiful Hotel Arista is using many of my images on it's website; including the top banners, thumbnail inserts, and other locations.

Here is a sample of some of the images as they appear on the Arista site:
(as always, click to see them larger)

You can visit the whole website here: http://www.hotelarista.com/

Agricultural Advertising

Last year was absolutely great for me; both personally and professionally.  I know I've posted quite a bit from the Space Shuttle project that I worked on, but there was another assignment that kept me busy, and I didn't mention it much on here. Throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall I traveled to a number of different states to photograph farms and agricultural subjects.

One of my clients is an agricultural marketing firm, and I worked with them to capture images that they can use in different advertising and promotional campaigns.

 It was a really interesting assignment, and I got a chance to meet some of the families that have been working these farms for generations. I took photos of soybeans in Indiana, Cotton in Arkansas, corn in Iowa, and so much more. I trekked through countless fields, and rode on a number of different farm vehicles. And, as a bonus, I got to work with a good friend of mine throughout the whole thing.

I estimate that I took over 15,000 images for this project. So of course it is difficult to whittle it down to just the few I'm showing you now. But I think they'll give you a taste of what the entire experience was like

We were even buzzed by a crop duster one time. He didn't spray us... he was just saying 'hello'. 

The Today Show- Viral Video

At first I was hesitant to post this video on-line because I didn't want to embarrass Marty. He's in the video dressed as Santa. And as you'll see, he gets an unfortunate look at the business end of a speeding bed on wheels. As fate would have it, it just happened to be one of the beds that I had a camera mounted to. But Marty said he was OK with it, so I put it up  on YouTube.

The video took place back in September. As of this past Saturday it only had 300 views, and I'm pretty sure I knew everybody that clicked on it.  But I'm finally mentioning it now because the Today Show and MSNBC have picked it up. They contacted me to ask if I took the footage and exactly what was going on in the video. I answered their 3 or 4 questions and just hoped they got most of the facts right.

Sorry if you have to sit through an ad-


Here's the original video on YouTube-

SWAT Team Helicopter

I had a wonderful trip to Florida recently. It included the usual sun, seafood, and helicopter ride with the NASA SWAT team.

OK, so maybe that last one wasn't so typical. But fortunately it did happen. The Shuttle program may be over, but the Last Shuttle Project is continuing to move forward. We captured some footage of various NASA security teams, including the drug & bomb dogs, the Security Control Room, the Marine Patrol airboats, and the SWAT team.

First Rhonda and I had to complete a little medical check-up to make sure that we were healthy enough to fly. Then the guys took us up so we could see what one of their security sweeps looks like. This guy was sitting behind me...

Rhonda was by by the right door while I was on the left. It was a bit unnerving as they made some of their hard banking turns (I won't even begin to tell you about the wimpy little seatbelt that was holding us in... I don't like to think about it). Rhonda is smiling here despite the fact that I'm looking straight down at her as we bank to the right.

We got some great views of the launch pads. In the foreground is pad 39A, site of the last Space Shuttle launches. The now dismantled pad 39B is visible in the background. 

And we took a few trips around the huge Vehicle Assembly Building. I photographed two shuttle launches from on top of it, and it was strange to see it from this point of view.

We'd like to thank all the security team members for being so great to us while we were there. They went out of out way to make sure we were getting the footage we needed. The helicopter ride was just the icing on the cake. By the end of the ride I think we were both hooked and wanted to do it again. It was a bouncy, choppy flight, but we took video from up there as well. Perhaps I'll have time to put together a quick video montage soon. Stay tuned!

Sony Magazine

All of us working on the Last Shuttle Project are grateful to Sony for donating a number of cameras that we used for the last few shuttle launches. We placed many of them around the launch pad and in different areas with good views of the liftoff.

The cover of Sony Camera's magazine "Inside Edge" has an image of the final Atlantis liftoff taken by one of those cameras. We'd like to thank El-Deane Naude from Sony for helping make all this happen. These wonderful images will continue to pop up in different places. I'll keep you informed as they do.

Canvas Prints

Naperville Bank & Trust has a large community conference room on it's second floor. They needed some artwork for the walls and purchased a number of my Naperville images. I didn't handle the printing part of the job, so I had completely forgotten that this deal even took place! Yeah, my brain works that way sometimes. 

Luckily my brain was knocked into gear again when I started hearing about how wonderful the photos looked hanging on the walls. I had one of those "Oh yeah..." moments. Well, the other day I finally took the opportunity to visit the bank and see the conference room. I have to say, the canvas wrapping was done really well, and the prints look great in that space.

There are five large pieces altogether. I'm glad it turned out so well, but it makes me wonder what else I've forgotten.

Skyrise 2011

This is the third year that I've been the official photographer for SkyRise Chicago. It's the annual run (or more typically 'the walk') to the top of the tallest building in North America- The Willis Tower in Chicago.  It's billed as "the world's highest indoor, urban stair climb" and it benefits the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

It may sound like one of those physical challenges that is above your activity level. But believe me, it's not. It may be difficult, but you can do it at your own pace and there are many places to take a break along the way. And when you see some of the inspirational people involved, you'll be really glad you decided to do it.

There are many RIC patients that show up to participate or even hand out the medals.

Some of the people that do the climb could barely walk a few years ago. There are soldiers back from serving overseas. There were a few local celebrities like Bulls guard Ronnie Brewer. And there are a number of firemen that walk up all 103 floors while wearing all of their tactical gear.

Congratulations to everyone involved! You did a great job and I hope to see you all again next year.

Julianne Hough

It seems that Julianne Hough is everywhere in the news lately. And it reminded me that I took a bunch of photos of her in concert, but I only ever shared one of them. So here you go, folks!  Sorry for the delay-

Naperville Patch

I've been doing an occasional photoblog on a local news website- Naperville Patch. Here's the latest one with some great looking Fall photos from around town.

Jeffrey's Patch Photoblog

Sometime's it'll be a carbon copy of the blog entry's I do here, but sometimes not :)  I'll try to keep it to a more local focus over there.

Let's Go Surfin'

As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite things to do is sit on the Cocoa Beach Pier, have a few margaritas, and photograph the surfers.  My most recent trip was almost a complete rain-out. But there was a little time before the storms hit when I enjoyed some good Florida sunshine.

 

It would have been nice to get an extra day or two of good weather, but I'm happy with what I did get. And I think I'll have to schedule another emergency trip down there soon.