In December, I was tapped to update photography of some emergency service teams and vehicles for New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Their shot list reminded me of a little boy’s wish list at Christmas: a four-wheeler, a helicopter, a bicycle and a few rescue trucks. For one photo, a cherry-picker provided a great vantage point to capture all of their “grown-up toys.” The lawn of the USS North Carolina battleship made for a great location, complete with downtown Wilmington as a backdrop. I scouted other locations that were New Hanover County-specific, and our two-day shoot concluded on the sands of Wrightsville Beach. The cooperative pilot of AirLink was even able to land right on my mark, not once but twice! My wish list for 2012?….More fun shoots just like this one!

Telly Award-winning Lighthouse Film Company was shooting on location in downtown Wilmington recently. The dance party scene was complete with live band Rio Bravo http://www.reverbnation.com/riobravo. My assignment was to capture some production stills and shots of the musicians. I really love being on set, especially big film shoots with all the gear and crew. Lots of energy! Knowing how (and when) to shoot production stills is pretty important. You definitely don’t want to get in the way, or interfere with their work, of course. Hope the guys at LFC like seeing themselves behind the camera as much as I like being behind mine.

I live in a small town, but we have a big church. It’s called Port City Community Church, or PC3 for short. Some people call it the “rock-and-roll church,” and we do have an awesome band. But that’s only one reason why approximately 6000 people come to one of the four services on Sundays. It’s for the message. Some folks may say, “the message is the boring part.” But not here. Surfer/pastor Mike Ashcraft brings the Word in a down-to-earth way with an open and honest heart. He’s real, and his messages are too. So I was very honored when the media department asked me to photograph him. Where would we go? Well, he’s a beach lover (like me), so that’s where we went. But I didn’t want to shoot just another beach portrait, so I decided to overexpose the images quite a bit. You could say the results are almost heavenly.

Lately I’ve been shooting for some very creative entrepreneurs. The latest inventor to call has developed a product called Müngi Bands (pronounced MOON-gee), the next generation of silicone bands for kids that use magnets to connect to each other. My client needed a branding video for his website and had seen my children’s portraits. We were going to shoot outside, but the schedule kept getting pushed back due to the late delivery of his product. Suddenly we found ourselves in the drab grey of December. So we secured a classic skating rink and invited a ton of elementary and middle-school students on the first day of their Christmas break. The kids were really into it and even surprised my client with the creative ways they wore their Müngi Bands. Kind of a rolling focus group, if you will. The video definitely added some flavor to his website, as well as a new trade show booth. He may have to order a few more cases of Müngis!

New Hanover Regional Medical Center needed a cover shot of triplets who were born 8 weeks premature in 2010 at their children’s hospital. The marketing department wanted to do a “follow up” on the trio for their newsletter. Now that the boys are 18 months old, they are quite mobile, to say the least. Getting this shot was truly a group effort! After working with little ones many many times in my carreer, I’m not as intimidated as I used to be. And with a bit of planning, you can get the shot faster than you can say 1,2,3. Special thanks to the McLambs for helping out!

Surgery has come a long way folks. Take the DaVinci Surgical System for example. This thing brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “Look Ma, no hands!” The device was designed to reduce the time patients have to stay in the hospital by requiring smaller incisions where the robotic “fingers” can go in and fix you. New Hanover Regional Medical Center here in Wilmington needed some updated images of their baby and the skilled surgeons trained to drive this incredible machine. Working closely with Jeff Morvil, Creative Director at Morvil Design we set up the main group shot right in an actual operating room. The hospital’s job was to round up these busy doctors and have them all show up at the same time. No easy feat mind you. We captured several individual portraits and some cool still life shots along with the group pic. Now I’m no doctor, but I would say the prognosis looks great for those who need a little tuneup with these guys around. Special thanks to my crew for helping me pull this one off. Love you guys!

After a long, hot summer, most baseball players look forward to October. After all, this is when MLB’s elite slug it out in the World Series. One Saturday afternoon here in Wilmington, a local school team decided to break out their bats for another reason. The New Hanover High School Cats had a fundraiser to support research for ALS. They recruited sponsors to donate for each inning they played, and a scrimmage was born. Although the Cats’ spring season may be a good bit down the road, their hearts were certainly in the game.

This summer I was contacted by a local organization called the Blue Ribbon Commission, which is made up of community leaders, local businesses and volunteers. Their mission is to stop youth violence in New Hanover County. Most people in our area have never heard of the Blue Ribbon Commission, which inspired an upcoming media blitz including a new website, billboards, radio and TV spots. I had the opportunity to present a concept for a 30-second TV spot and a short web video. After extensive research, writer J.R. Jones and I decided to focus on a core problem concerning the issue of youth violence—the absence of fathers. “The BRC Needs Mentors” became the overarching idea behind our assignment, and we played it out with two characters, Darren & DeSean. Our approach was to create a TV “teaser” spot (see earlier post) to build interest and drive traffic to the new website: www.brcyez.org. There, the viewer can see and hear the rest of Darren and DeSean’s story via our video, and (hopefully) become a volunteer. Click the full screen button in the lower right corner for better viewing!