Inspiring Photographers - part one

Yesterday I was itching to discover new work to admire and be inspired by.

So on Twitter and Facebook I asked photographers to tell me who inspires them. I'm still sifting through some fantastic work and links. Thanks everybody for chipping in.

A few people asked me to share which photographers inspire me.

So I'll speak to inspiration...and not necessarily influences on my work. Here's a list in no particular order...perhaps I'll post more later:

James Nachtwey - purpose like no other. I'm glad I have not witnessed what he has documented

Hiroshi Watanabe - (photo above) My good friend, Hiroshi...he's the Japanese Cartier-Bresson...only better. There is a hard to describe formality to his street photography. I was honored to attend his wedding in Hawaii a few years ago.

Katie Barnes - young, emerging, highly talented, she documents everything...she'll be a household name in 10 years...no pressure, Katie!

Mark Seliger - One of the best careers forged from music, celebrities and editorial work.

Annie Leibovitz - I greatly admire the deliberateness of her portraiture, although I'm not always fond of her work...I've learned a great deal by looking at her career.

Anton Corbijn - U2's longtime photographer and friend of the band. He also works in film and that's where I find myself migrating. Although his latest film "Linear" for U2 was the most awful thing I've ever watched...literally...but I still love you, Anton.

I'll add more artists later...feel free to send me your favorite photographers!

environmental portraits on the fly

One thing I love about shooting for Rapid Growth Media is the challenge of walking into any given situation and having to create an interesting portrait.

All the shoots are location based...I never know what the people or the places will look like before I arrive...there's no art director except for myself.

This is Daniel Morrison of Collective Idea...a bright company located in Holland, MI. He was photographed in the City Flats Hotel.

Other times I'm not so lucky with such a cool interior :)

I'm BACK...(sort of)

Well...hello there little blog...my how I've been neglecting you.

Been over a month since my last post...that means I'm buried in work and having a blast.

Been working on several film projects simultaneously...both big and small...as well as the full plethora of commercial photography that I love so much.

These are busy times...giddy up.

Above is artist Rick Beerhorst in his studio; he's an amazing painter...a more amazing person.

The destruction of Iroquois Middle School

A very beautiful school from the 1920's is being torn down across the street from my house. The old Ottawa Hills High School (and later Iroquois Middle School) was an architecturally significant school. It was built at great cost and to last much longer than the 80 or so years than it was in use. 

More importantly, it was designed in a similar vernacular to the unique brick homes of the that era that comprise the Ottawa Hills Neighborhood. Together, this school structure and the surrounding homes were a perfect design compliment to the other...they worked in unison.

Unfortunately, the design of the new school that is slated to replace it is an example of the low budget, low material cost, suburban school design. Visually the new school would fit much better into a newer community like Rockford, Caledonia, Byron Center; places that have seen explosive school growth with brand new homes, brand new roads and brand new strip malls...in other words...any place other than the historic neighborhood of Ottawa Hills.

It's very sad to see such a beautiful building being torn to bits each day. It is sadder still to live across the street from a prime example of how our culture doesn't value our past or the historic structures that provide an identity to our Present and give Future generations an idea of who we were in the Past and where we came from.

I believe in architecture and the power of GOOD design (good design is not inherently expensive). Not enough was done to save a small portion of the standing building.

Jim Rides His Bike - short film clip

Jim Rides His Bike from Brian Kelly Films on Vimeo.

I'm working with Square One (a great communications firm here in GR) to create an short film for Disability Network. This is a short clip from yesterday's shoot.

Aquinas Shoot - Metro Health Hospital

I did a shoot this week for Aquinas College...one of my longest standing clients...10 years running!

This is John Ebers, a graduate of AQ's Sustainability program. He landed a great job with the new Metro Hospital facility. His job is to reduce waste and energy consumption.

John's pictured on a portion of Metro's green roof...a spectacular place.

Faith turns 4!

I'm a little behind...

Faith had a birthday on May 4. We had a wonderful party.

She's already packed a lot of life into her 4 short years.

She inspires her dad to no end...

Harley Ride in California

Best bike trip ever...I had a blast.

California - nephew Will

I'm in California for most of this week. I'm shooting and riding a Harley on a bike trip with a couple of friends. My brother and sister in law live here in San Francisco...so I had the added bonus of hanging out with my nephew Will.

a masquerade ball

The Verve Pipe - New Promo Shots

The Verve Pipe is leaving soon on a mini-world tour with concert dates in Spain, Italy and Hawaii...there may be other locations but those were the places that I remember cursing at in jealousy!

I shot TIGHT portraits of everyone plus a new full group shot. Such a great bunch of guys.

Above are the two principal songwriters for the band; Donny Brown and Brian Vander Ark.

I'm starting to construct a special "Music and Fashion" section for my full web site. You can see a preview of it here.

ArtPrize - People Design's take

Here's an insightful take on Grand Rapids newly announced ArtPrize by the "People" that created the logo/identity for the world's largest art prize.

http://www.peopledesign.com/thoughts-on-the-artprize/#respond

Adrienne and Kyle - part 3

A couple more from last Saturday's big wedding...there's just so many I like!

Art Prize - World's Largest Art Prize announced for GR

This will have a huge impact...very innovative...brilliant and great for Grand Rapids.

I'm looking forward to documenting the entire initiative for ArtPrize:

more Adrienne and Kyle

I'm having a very hard time editing this shoot. I suppose that's a good thing!

Downtown Grand Rapids offers so many sweet locations to shoot in.

wedding shoot

I don't often have the opportunity to shoot weddings, so I really enjoy photographing the ones I can.

This is Adrienne and Kyle...a super cool couple.

They were up for anything...and I had a blast with them.

I'll post more photos from this wedding later. Their entire day was spontaneous and beautiful.

a little less suck

I don't know Zack or his work as a photographer...but he gets it...watch the whole video...funny and insightful.

I go through periods like this too...I'm in one right now!

Highland Group's Jen Crowley

On Friday I photographed my friend Jen Crowley of Highland Group, an advertising agency in Grand Rapids with a client list that most agencies would die for; but the firm remains low-key, nimble and relaxed. They recently purchased and renovated a great building in the historic neighborhood of Cherry Hill.

These two photos came later in the session. I often have a portrait subject chat with someone off camera and grab some simple candid shots. These moments are sometimes the most relaxed and interesting of the shoot.

Rock and Roll - Cleveland

I had a whirlwind trip to Columbus and Cleveland this past weekend. I was shooting for another new web magazine that is coming out soon for Issue Media Group. I'm quite proud to be the Director of Photography for their publications and am able to work with a ton of talented photographers in each of our publications.

I'd never been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland...these are the cars used on U2's Zoo TV tour.

GR Boxing - MLK Gym

I'm loving this boxing gym run by GR Box...great kids all working so hard...very inspiring place.

I'm also making a short film at GR Box...more on that later.

So much for posting more often...I'll try to get up to speed again.

am I a portrait photographer?

Confession time. I used to be terrified of taking portraits...I'm not exaggerating...I was completely horrified.

This is why I turned to architectural photography early on in my career. Buildings didn't move...or think they were fat...or had a nose the size of Lyle Lovett.

But good clients have a way of extending your boundaries...and over the years the buildings turned into people...and now I shoot way more portraits than I do buildings...

...and I love it.

This photo is of Jason Sosa...he's 28...he just moved to Grand Rapids...keep an eye on him. He writes software applications for large touch screen technology that will blow your mind.

You can read about him in Rapid Growth on Thursday.

Recent shoot #2

The Radio City Rockettes at Wealthy Street Bakery

Okay...it was shot last fall, but I came across this and it made me eager for spring in Grand Rapids...and a cinnamon roll.

A Recent Shoot #1

I'm striving to post favorites from photo shoots a little more frequently. 

This is the first in a series of posts called "A Recent Shoot."

These images are of People Design owners Kevin Budelmann and Yang Kim. They were great to shoot. Their firm does some really creative stuff. They were up for anything I asked. We only shot for about 15 minutes or so. I felt like I had exactly what I wanted when I left...which isn't always the case!

This was shot for a feature in Rapid Growth Media. You can find the article here.

social networking craze

I started this blog about 16 months ago and have been pleased to see that the number of people checking it out has far exceeded anything I might have imagined.

In April of last year, I started to embrace facebook and twitter as experimentation...to reach out to professional as well as personal contacts. Follow me here.

The result is that I've found both facebook and twitter to be very valuable in sustaining friendly dialogue with friends and new people that I might have only infrequent or very random encounters. Facebook has reconnected me with personal relationships I haven't had in 15 years (or more)...and that's amazing by itself.

As for business relationships, I am very lucky to already have a very loyal client base, but I feel that the addition of social network dialogue (sharing mutual bits of our personal and work lives) has strengthened these relationships to beyond just being a photographer/client experience.  I have many new unexpected friendships.

I must say I'm not engaged in social media for the purpose of driving the bottom line, but social media is a useful tool in solidifying and strengthening all of my relationships. If in some cases my friends happen to help decide where marketing dollars are allocated and which photographers are awarded work, then it may indeed help my business (indirectly). 

I still have to be the best photographer for the job to be hired...but sometimes an ongoing conversation makes you a natural fit to reach out to when a client needs something new done.

recent favorites

A recent favorite from Rapid Growth...the owner of Capelli Salon in Eastown.

A very nice video was published today by Rapid Growth Media about The Projection Initiative. The video shows some of the potential buildings in Grand Rapids where art could be projected and I explain the concept. There's an HD version at the YouTube link if you click "watch in HD."

You also get to watch me drink coffee...no extra charge for that.

The Projection Initiative

This is one of my latest endeavors...I'll post more information shortly.

new camera testing

The Canon 5D Mark 2 has a sweet HD video capture mode. I was lucky enough to borrow a body today. I couldn't resist putting on my tilt/shift lens and see what happened.

Thanks to AJ Paschka at GRAM for letting me grab footage in the museum...apologies to Ryan Adams for the unlicensed use of his song.

Eno and Byrne

This looks good...

skating at Rosa Parks Circle

Saturday was awesome...chilly and very sunny. I took my daughter Maddie and her buddy Clare to Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids to do some ice skating. We ended up staying 3 hours!

What I love about Grand Rapids is that there are many pleasant and simple things to do in heart of the city. You can't skate outdoors in the midst of beautiful architecture in the burbs!

The Great Marvin Sapp

Pastor Marvin Sapp has taken gospel music by storm the last few years by winning a Grammy and several other major industry awards. 

The man has a gift. 

He makes Grand Rapids proud.