Florida Part 3: Brooksville

I spent a total of three night's at my grandmother's. It was really great. We've never spent one on one time, to be honest I can't remember the last time I saw her and my grand father by myself. It had been at least 5 years. My grandfather passed away a few months ago and Kate and I flew to Florida for the funeral. I had posted a few pictures from that trip. Since the funeral I wanted to get back to Florida to see my grandmother sometime this fall, it worked out really well that I could work it into the backend of a job.
While there we really just talked a lot, reminiscing about the past and my grandfather. Looking at the photos now I didn't shoot anything that related to him. Kind of weird, I guess in a typical art school mentality the assignment you would give yourself would have been to shoot evidence of his past existence: his chair, photos of him, etc., but thats not what I did. I photographed my Nana, as much as she would let me anyway.



I assumed that she would have taken over my grandfather's chair, but she still uses hers. I can remember this chair for as long as I can think back.

My Nana's chair
Brooksville, FL





The first day I was there I just did stuff around the house for her, change fire alarm batteries, replaced her doorbell, etc. On the second day we went to Pine Island, a small man made beach on The Gulf. The water is so shallow for such a far distance there, you would walk out for at least a mile and not go past your chest.

Pine Island, Florida






My grandmother, Nana
June Callahan
Pine Island, Florida








She's worn this necklace for years, its built up over time, started with one of the fish.

My grandmother's necklace
Pine Island, FL







Normally I'd never throw something in the foreground like this but I dig it. Happy accident, I was setting up the camera for a self timer shot of the two of us and this was the test snap.

June Callahan
Pine Island, FL



It was a great trip, I got to see my Aunt and Uncle as well. My whole time in Florida was really mellow and it was a good trip to clear my head a bit.




Supposedly you can get arrested for taking pictures like this now.

Tampa Airport
Tampa, Florida








Kate in elevator at LAX
Los Angeles, CA



This might be my last post for a week or so, I got some tests in the works and finally someone got back to me on a project idea I have. 4x5 camera is loaded and ready to go as well. I'm hoping to make a few pictures on Sunday with it.

Florida Part 2: Miami and the drive to Brooksville...

After the last day of shooting we drove up that afternoon to Miami. Ben and company were flying to Paris the next day. I had a nice evening in Miami, met up with my friend Marco, originally from Boston, and hung with Andrei (Ben's tech) as well as my new English friend Gwyn who was in town with the client we were shooting for in the Keys. It was Gwyn's first trip to the USA and he was going to NYC for a few days before heading back to the UK. It was fun telling him all the places to check out. Hope he had a blast.






South Beach
Miami, FL






Woke up the next morning and had breakfast with my uncle at The Front Porch Cafe. I definitely recommend it. After breakfast my uncle dropped me off at the car rental spot and I started my drive up to Brooksville. It took way to long, I started on the scenic route called the Tamiami Trail, I did the first 2 or so hours on there and then had to get on the freeway to make up some time. I've had to do a few drives in FL in the past few month, it has to be one of the worst states to drive in. I did find a few pictures going through The Everglades though and I'm sure if I stayed on the Tamiami I would have found some more but I needed to get to my grandmothers by dinner.


Morning, my bed and sheets
Raleigh Hotel, South Beach
Miami, FL








Tamiami Trail
Florida






Lens fog again from the ac/humidity transition.

The Everglades I
Tamiami Trail, Florida








The Everglades II
Tamiami Trail, Florida






Found two roadside memorials to add to my series while I was on the Tamiami Trail. This first one is a particular style that you see a lot of down there, must be a Florida thing.

Roadside Memorial I
Tamiami Trail, Florida






I really dig this one, the graffiti on the ground is so subtle.

Roadside Memorial II
Tamiami Trail, Florida




That is it from the drive, more to come in the next post from my actual stay in with my grandmother in Brooksville.

Definitely worth checking out...Mark Steinmetz

Really digging this guys work...check it out when you get a sec.

http://www.marksteinmetz.net/

Florida part 1: Islamorada

The first half of my time in Florida was in Islamorada at a resort called The Moorings. It was beautiful, I actually shot there once before with Don Flood a few years ago, this trip I was working with Ben Watts. It was a really nice few days, talent was cool, production team was rad, big shout out to JC of DB Media Productions. Chad, Tyler and Drew as well, all those production dudes were rad. Thanks to Raegan for flying me out.





Clouds
Islamorada, FL









Two mop heads
Islamorada, FL






The humidity was insane there, you had to let the cameras sit for about 20 minutes after being in the AC to let them clear of the condensation. I kind of like the effect it had on this image, it has a feeling of waking up in the morn during my stay there.

Sunrise
Islamorada, FL








Sun worshiping bird
Islamorada, FL







Atlantic Ocean
Islamorada, FL






hammock at The Moorings
Islamorada, FL







palm trees at The Moorings
Islamorada, FL







A sun shower at The Moorings
Islamorada, FL






That's the edit from that part of the trip. Next post will be Miami and my drive up to Brooksville, FL where my grandmother lives.

Four from two weeks or so ago...

Back of Kate's neck
Downtown Los Angeles, CA







Worked a few days on a personal project of Michel Comte's so of course Alex was there there. We spent two days at Milk studios and then a day at the infamous Jimmy Goldstein House. Famous for many reason but most would know it from the film The Big Lebowski.



Alex
Bel Air, CA









Alex
Bel Air, CA







Always a lot of smoke on the Comte sets...

Goldstein Property
Bel Air, CA

East Coast Trip...

Kate and I had a little excursion to the East Coast for a last minute video gig in NYC and then a wedding in Massachusetts. It was great to get back to MA. We had both been back to NYC since moving to LA but it had been a full year since we had been back to the hometown area. It was an insane trip, we pretty much had everyday scheduled out before we left.



LAX to JFK





While in NYC we worked with my friend Andrew Yee on a video piece to accompany a story he was shooting for the Finacial Times of London. We're really stoked with how the video work is going. We're hoping to have a site up in the next month or so with three completed projects.


Kate
Drive In Studios, NYC






We were in NYC for about 36 hrs. Got to see my mom and some people met us at a bar in BK. It was a super quick/spontaneous visit to NY but we crammed it in.


When we got to MA it was rainy, I forget how much I like to take pictures in the rain, the quality of light and wet pavement...

Kate in front of the house she grew up in.
Salisbury, MA







Our main mission while up in MA was our good friend Alia's wedding. I shot stills and Kate shot a bit of video. It was a beautiful wedding. A big congrats to Alia & Andy.

Alia's parent's dog
Rowley, MA


Alia & Andy
Rowley, MA





Kate and I both grew up pretty much on the NH boarder. You can walk to NH from Kate's parent's house.

Chopper
Seabrook, NH






During our time up in New England Kate's parents were RV'ing in ME. We drove up and visited them, it is beautiful up there.

Kate wading out into the lake
Sebago Lake, ME






The day after we visited Kate's parent up in ME we drove down to see my dad and step mom. We went canoeing in a little lake down the road from their house.

My Dad
Fremont, NH


Water
Fremont, NH





I've done several variations of this picture in the past. This one is close to what I've been trying to achieve.

My Dad in his backyard
Fremont, NH





I'm really digging this portrait of Kate, something about screen that adds some magic to a picture.

Kate
Fremont, NH






A few random snaps from the trip...

Skull
Rowley, MA






Shopping cart at sunset
Seabrook, NH








We visited a bunch of other people up there as well. Not all the pictures made the cut for this post. It was a stressful week but was also super nice to visit everyone we got to see. I shipped my 4x5 camera to LA while there, so I'm hoping to get that up and running in the next week or so. We also shot a little personal project of a huge influence in my life, Ed Emberley. Images and video of that to come as well. If your child likes to draw I think his books are a must for them.
Next post is a few snaps from my week or two in LA before I traveled to Florida for an assisting gig and to visit my grandma. I just got back yesterday from that trip so I am hoping to catch up on all these posts in the next few days.

From mid August...

Here are a few snaps from before Kate and I left for the east coast. Next post will have a bunch from the trip.





Downtown Los Angeles








Where dogs go to pee
Downtown Los Angeles








Kate
Downtown Los Angeles








Downtown Los Angeles








La Jolla, CA

Inc. Magazine

Last month I shot a portrait for Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 issue. I don't usually shoot hot/blown out white but I do what the assignment requires. I also used a new light setup which came out pretty well.


John Most of MOST Brand Development and Advertising

This was the magazine's original pick but they went with a different frame.

Special thanks to Kate Osba at Inc.!




Also I have some snaps from the last two weeks that I will be posting in the next few days. Kate and I had a fun but busy trip to the east coast for some family stuff as well as some work.