As if the practice of having an annual school portrait taken wasn’t odd enough, I find it even more ridiculous that the tradition continues in an age where any parent with a telephone has more pictures of their precious offspring than they know what to do with. Pictures at the park. Pictures with the Easter Bunny. Pictures for no other reason than that a picture was possible and seemed like a good idea at the time. The way I see it is, if you’re going to pay have a portrait done, it should be a portrait….and without a teal background.

Daylight savings tomorrow. Hard to believe it’s that time of year again. I came across this image – taken two summers ago now, and just like that – like a smooth downhill run, the summers, the years fly by. Just like the old folks said they would.

Like many photographers, designers and artists these days, I’ve spent a fair (trans.: insane) amount of time and energy trying to make heads or tails of how best to utilize social media – especially where promoting my craft is concerned. In fact, I’d sort of gotten into the habit of thinking of these tools only in terms of how they could be used for business and marketing, when recently I was struck by a most wonderful and unforeseen byproduct of my narrow-minded efforts.

A few weeks ago, you see, I began following award-winning adventure travel photographer, Nick Hall, on Twitter. Not long after, I received a message from Nick asking if it would be possible to purchase a print of one of the images featured on this very blog.

Now, it’s not every day that I’m approached by super-talented photographers asking to buy my work, so naturally, my first reaction was to re-read the message to make sure it was intended for me. But after confirming that it was indeed properly addressed, I found myself in the curious predicament of having to quote a price on one of my own prints for a fellow professional. (…and I thought bidding on commercial jobs tough!) Nick must have sensed my dread, because even as I crafted my reply, he let me off the hook with the exact same propostion I was about to make: a swap…of course!

As we firmed up the details with a few back-and-forth messages, it was as if a light came on for the first time. Why hadn’t this idea occurred to me before? I hadn’t even considered it. I asked Nick if he’d done this sort of thing with other photographers and he said he hadn’t. Nevertheless, we were both excited about our exchange and agreed that this would be a really fun way to build a photography collection. In addition, we thought it might be a good idea to try to spread the word and encourage others in the community to follow suit, provided they were open to it. Perhaps the best thing to come of this though – better than the flattering thrill of having one’s work appreciated, better even than becoming the proud owner of a Nick Hall original, was the experience of connecting with a fellow photographer on the basis of nothing other than mutual admiration.

In this age of tight budgets, in a hyper-competitive industry that’s busting with talent and being re-defined daily by technology and shifting markets, this experience has been a real breath of fresh air and welcome reminder of the joy that comes from the simple act of creating something and sharing it. So, thanks again Nick!

As for the rest of you – do yourself a favor and reach out to someone whose work you admire and spread the love…you’ll be glad you did.

Every year about this time, when the temperature inevitably drops well below freezing, I find myself suddenly passionate about still life. My imagination experiences a kind of rebirth and begins to thrive in direct proportion to the extent that the rest of my body begins to resist any sort of activity whatsoever. So, late at night, as I lay awake long past the hour when I should be sound asleep, (the result no doubt of too much food and coffee) these visions come to me. One after the other, I get ideas for shots – particularly the kind that require working in a heated studio, with plenty of music and coffee on hand. And that just about sums up what I’ve been up to these past weeks – coming up with ideas for still life and spending every spare moment I can scrounge to bring them to life. There are lots more on the way, but if you check the main site, you can see some of the newly added work under still life.

I know, I know…enough already with the leaves! It’s just the shapes
and lines and colors are so amazing and before we know it, it’ll seem
like forever since we’ve seen any leaves at all.

These are a few dried up Japanese maple leaves that I’d been passing
by for a few days in a row in my comings and goings until finally I couldn’t
take it anymore. They were practically begging to be shot.

Two of my still life images were recently selected for public exhibition
in conjunction with the Windows Project in Montclair, a joint effort of the
Montclair Arts Council (MAC), and the
Montclair Center Corp. Business Improvement District (BID).

The two large prints (2′ x 3′) will hopefully be hung during the week
of November 29th and will remain on display at 493 Bloomfield Avenue
until December 31st.

I just came across these portraits I made of my cousin on her wedding day.

I’ve always been a sucker for text, detail and texture.