Picture it. Arizona, 2021, I'm on a creative call with two people looking to book a photographer for a pretty major gig for a national sports organization. The super one. They're needing to shoot in locations all around Arizona and ask me if I have a location scout I work with. Ummmm. What? I had never been asked that and hadn't even thought about it honestly. I responded with a naively excited "Nope! It's just me!". Oh man....to look back on that now I just cringe. I was ill

I've subscribed to multiple directories over the last year and here is my overview of each one.

A project that was meant to be one day with 5 drag artists turned into a twice monthly shoot that lasted most of 2022.

In my quest for learning more details about the world of producers I knew I undoubtedly needed to contact Bryan Sheffield . I became familiar with Bryan and his work via Wonderful Machine . Bryan shared with me details about how he got into producing, his work with Wonderful Machine, and his advice from years of experience in advertising photography and producing. Q: What drew you to producing and how did you get started in it? A: Production came to me as a natural progressio

What does the role of a producer look like? How should photographers approach producers? What makes a great producer? I wanted some detailed clarification on these and more, so I sought out a professional. I connected with Christy Schmid , Chicago based producer, and was able to get some really great info from her perspective. Christy has worked on very creative shoots all across the board with massive brands and clearly high level visuals. She also has a whole slew of resou

I categorize myself as a product, conceptual, and lifestyle photographer. My specialization is the surreal retouching style, not the topic genre. So, I wanted to create a miniseries that showed how my style translates from still life products to model work. An aspect of this project that I wasn't anticipating was the cinemagraphs. I'm always trying to find new ways to dip my toes into motion and incorporate movement into my portfolio. I had thought the post processing would

I've been following Weston Fuller's work for years now. I believe the very first image I saw of his was from his Atlas Project . I'm a sucker for a good CGI or complex composite image. Once I saw that his work often centered around purpose and specifically the health of the earth/ocean, I knew I was a big fan. "Catch & Recycle: Spear Fishing" by Weston Fuller I was lucky enough to be an assistant on set recently for Weston and can say with confidence he brings no ego to his

I've worked with Hanni's awesome products for a little over a year now. This brand is growing at such an insane rate and is led by some very driven and experienced people. The result of that is the new addition of Hanni in Sephora stores nationwide as well as on Sephora online. For this exciting launch Hanni needed an image for their in store packaging that was Sephora approved. I was thrilled to provide them with it! Hanni also needed some new assets to use on social medi

If you've ever wondered why most commercial photography estimates are so insanely expensive you're not alone. I used to wonder that as well. Until I realized how not insane those prices actually are. If you're a photographer just starting to learn about charging for usage rights or if you're a business who needs commercial photography and don't understand why the pricing is 10, 20, or even 50x more expensive than your typical family portrait session, I'm going to break it dow

It's a vague and confusing world out there for a photographer with no connections who is trying to figure out the commercial world. I know from personal experience. You can only do so many Google searches before your lack of knowledge of terms and vernacular starts to limit your search results. So, as of January 2022 here are some of the most valuable learning resources I've discovered for photographers getting their feet wet in the commercial world. 1. Image Crafters Image C

...while I was getting paid $60k a year, I was really being valued at about $10k a year. Undercutting prices creates a race to the bottom.

I've loved the look of bold and minimalist product photography for some time now, but in the past I haven't had clients who were interested in that style. Lately though I got lucky with 3 clients in a row who were wanting simple, clean, and minimal product photography. Fleurish lashes, Hanni razors, and Flo sinus relief. These brave brands gave me the opportunity to be courageous enough to be minimal, to embrace "less is more". Each brand used minimalism in a different way. F

I start to think about how that's such a mundane product, but someone was paid to concept and create that super fun piece of art for it.

I've had a few requests to explain how I create my neon glow effect. So let's dive right in! Whether you're painting in a shape that wasn't there at all, or you're just applying a colored glow that wasn't there in camera, the main thing to remember is that light shines on highlights and disappears in shadows. So I'm not going to be painting my color in the shadows, only where that light is naturally falling in the photo. You can go about painting in highlights in lots of di

I moved to Tucson, Arizona this past January for a little adventure. I've always loved the southwest and the scenery here. So, I decided now was the best time for me to start trying some landscape photography. It started out a little rough. I wasn't getting a good sense of proportions, I wasn't using foreground elements. Basically I was seeing these amazing views and was surprised that it wasn't just a point and shoot and capture it sort of deal. It slowly started getting

We've all heard that phrase right? Jack of all trades, master of none. The point being if you spread your time across multiple disciplines you won't be able to dedicate all of your time to perfecting one skill. I get it, it makes sense, but I also don't think this has to be a negative thing, nor does it have to be an all or nothing concept. My favorite thing, my passion, is conceptual composite photography. Taking a quick look at my website you'll clearly see I'm addicted to

Quarantine had me getting antsy. I wasn't creating much and was drowning myself in job applications. So, instead I decided to revisit an old photo that I created in 2014 and see how much I could improve the concept 6 years later. In the original photo I loved the concept, loved the imagination, but there were plenty of technical aspects that could be improved upon. I wanted to have a lot more detail, a more complex landscape scene, better blending and transitioning of the hol

Gearing up for transitioning my portfolio into a more commercial direction, I wanted to create some product photography while still maintaining my surreal retouching elements. So I bought a watch with a really pretty deep blue face not knowing how I was going to photograph it or "sell" it. After thinking about the elements of this product that I'd want to exaggerate or call attention to I decided to create a series or campaign advertising multiple color options of the watch f

Time for another round of sharing the photographers I look up to and follow. It's SO important to surround yourself with the highest level work you can find. Not only does it push you to reach higher in your own work, but you also stay up to date on trends within the top players of the industry. So lets dive in to round #4! Andy Anderson Untitled by Andy Anderson Andy Anderson is one of my favorite lifestyle photographers. He shoots in some very unique locations, but even

PORTFOLIO REVIEWS. If you, like me, had never heard of a professional portfolio review don't worry. You're not alone. It seems like an obvious thing to those exposed to this industry, but for those of us who know no one in the industry, are not familiar with the practices, and are learning everything from Google searches, these common portfolio reviews are a secret world we have to dig for. I thought mistakenly that portfolio reviews were only for students and were held by th