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The year was 1992. The Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl, Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd president and Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” was the top-selling single. Meanwhile in Atlanta, I was making the transition from photographer’s assistant to shooter. And like many others who stay focused on their dream, I got a break. A men’s clothing company called the Italian Design Group was rolling out a new line of Vito Rufolo neckties and belts. They needed a product shot for an ad running in Gentlemen’s Quarterly magazine, better known as GQ. I had already been shooting for a while at this point, but I consider this achievement as the start of my career. I’m posting this milestone to make a point: experience counts. Recent improvements in digital photography have made it easy for anybody to own a high-quality camera. But as someone once told me, “Anyone can buy a chainsaw, but that doesn’t make you a lumberjack.” CDP has been making clients happy for over 21 years. That’s a lot of lumber.

 

There’s a very nice young woman who leads my daughter’s Sunday school class. She has big green eyes and some great cheek bones. I asked her if she had ever done any modeling, and she said “no.” So I suggested she let me take her picture, just for fun. Now I know how this can sound, and believe me there’s a fine line between classy and cheesy. I never want to come off as the latter. Well she agreed, so I called up a new makeup artist that I been wanting to work (click here) with to see if she would help me with this sample shoot. The next thing you know we are shooting on the downtown streets of Wilmington one cloudy afternoon. These are pictures from my friend’s very first shoot EVER. Maybe I should be an agent?

The calendar says November and everyone is in fall mode, but there are a few souls who love to stretch out summer as long as they can. Hank and Luke are prime examples. Their parents hire me each year to capture their boys as they grow into young men. This year they rented a house on the beach for a week, so we went for a late afternoon stroll. Below are some of my favorite images from our time together. You can almost smell the sunscreen.

 

My friends over at Mungi Bands called back with a new challenge. They were hearing that some people online could not figure out how the magnetic silicone bands connected. He thought a video would help demonstrate, but with such limited action to it, I suggested another solution. By using some simple layers in Photoshop you could show the motion of the two ends coming together. A clean white background and a single word of type kept the eye on the “action”. It was fun getting back to my roots of studio photography. It’s all about visual problem solving. In this case, to the benefit of one of my best clients and hopefully several new customers for them.

PPD is a pharmaceutical research corporation and one of Wilmington’s largest businesses. They’ve hired me in the past to photograph an internationally recognized Ironman triathlon (see 3 posts from November 2010 in the Archives section). This new assignment was to shoot one of their “heroes,” Emily Shaller, who benefitted from medical advancements assisted by PPD and who participated in this year’s Ironman. Emily was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant. Although most patients like her only live to be teenagers, Emily is now 30 and competes in sports regularly. Emily’s favorite leg of the race is cycling. So we spent a great day with her both on location and inside the gym at PPD headquarters. Her spirit and zest for life is truly inspiring.

Good friends the Vetters asked me to do a family/maternity session for them. While it’s not a call I get often, I was really honored they asked. And a little nervous given that the daddy is an accomplished designer and art director. To make it even more interesting, the family includes an adorable little guy named Charlie. Now Charlie is all boy. He’s very curious and asks questions about everything. We thought it might be cool to visit the local arboretum where mom could be comfortably barefoot and young Charlie could explore. The late-day light made for a perfect family session. Baby Evy is gonna be a very lucky little girl. Thanks for bringing me out!

Local entrepreneurs (and good friends) needed to update their product shots. Owners Christian and Kelly Nye produce delicious treats they aptly dubbed Nye’s Cream Sandwiches. Homemade ice cream nestled between two homemade cookies with delicious flavor combinations makes for an awesome dessert or snack. Kelly did a great job securing several props and Christian kept his babies cold. We used a stand in for the pre-light and then worked a few ingredients into the shot. A nice mix of hard light for the cookies and soft fill for the ice cream was the recipe for these still life pics. If your mouth is watering, you can order some from this link – www.taigan.com/shops/nyescream  And yes, I brought home a few for our freezer!

My friends at the Gospel Music Channel in Atlanta called with another still-photography assignment. This time they needed stills of a full-length feature film. Starring Lynn Whitfield and Michael Jai White, “Somebody’s Child” is about a terminally ill mother whose son befriends an ex-con, played by Byron Minns. The scenes I covered took place in a hospital. Swirl Films secured an abandoned facility for the shoot. This obviously made being on set even more fun (and, honestly, sometimes a little creepy). Here are a few of my favorite images from the production, directed by Gary Wheeler. Check out GMC’s website for more family-friendly shows.