Just a quick slideshow I put together. I shot some photos in a part of Accra, Ghana called "Circle." I threw in some street audio to give it some extra flavor. I was in Africa helping our Compassion team shoot stories of children in our sponsorship program. We spent an afternoon in this street market.
http://vimeo.com/61998405
Nearly a week after Hurricane Isaac slammed the southern coast of Louisiana, entire neighborhoods in Plaquemines Parish were still under four to six feet of water. I tagged along with Gus Givemas Sr., a resident of Braithwaite, as he tried to access his home with no luck. His home was still flooded with nearly four feet of water. I listened as he told his story and what he thought the people of Braithwaite really needed. The video ends with a quick update on the work that Operation Blessing is doing in Plaquemines Parish.
I met Gloria while shooting disaster photos in Braithwaite, Louisiana after Hurricane Isaac flooded an eighteen mile stretch highway. Nearly every house along the eighteen mile stretch had been destroyed. Gloria had contacted Operation Blessing with a simple, heartfelt request. I suited up in protective clothing, strapped on a N-95 respirator, and headed into Gloria's home with a few staff members. The story below is the result. Gloria's story has a new ending, so expect a part two of this story soon.
A tornado hit Hampton, VA on the evening of June 1st. Since it was so close to home, I headed up on Saturday morning to survey the damage and take some photos. We ended up responding for a few days, helping homeowners cover roofs and clean up debris. I snapped these the first morning--crews had just started cleaning up vegetation in the street. Big, beautiful trees had been uprooted. Luckily I only spotted a few homes that been split in two by giant trees.
"I have said democracy and freedom do not work too well if you are hungry, if you are starving." -Pete Domenici
I tagged along with a group of students as they went on a seven day mission trip to Los Angeles, CA. The students spent each day at a different ministry/non-profit helping distribute food to the hungry. They mainly focused on distributing food, but also sorted donated goods, cooked meals, played with kids, and loved on people. The group of students were from Rockford, Illinois, part of a gap year discipleship program called Focus One.
As a high school student back in 2003 I took...
I'll be honest up front: I'm not a head shot photographer by trade.
I've been learning more about what makes a good head shot ever since I started shooting them a few years ago. Every time I shoot a head shot session I learn new tricks to getting a fantastic image. I spent a few weeks casting for America's Got Talent back in 2007, and I watched Casting Directors toss away so many head shots for the silliest reasons. I'm not a Casting Director, but I've worked with actors in the past, and I've seen my fair share of head shots, good and bad. That being said, art is about breaking the rules sometimes....
On April 4th tornadoes touched down in several places around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Within hours I was on a plane headed to Dallas. As part of a rapid response team, I was sent to make damage assessments to determine if a full deployment would be necessary. Driving around parts of South Dallas, namely Lancaster, we saw heavy damage inflicted on brick structures: something we look for. Below are some of the photos from my first few days in Lancaster.
It was an absolutely crazy idea, but it could be done.
My father-in-law had done it before, and he was the one that convinced my dad and I to do it with him and a friend. A four man team, crossing the Grand Canyon, North Rim to South Rim in one day. It would be like walking a marathon, but through the Grand Canyon. I trained for a few months before, running stairs and preparing my knees. Physically I knew I would be fine, but I was trying to figure out the photo aspect of it. You can't cross the Grand Canyon and not take photos (especially when you're a professional photographer).
I decided...
Sláinte!
My wife and I have been fascinated by Ireland for years. Luckily her ancestors are from Ireland, which makes me an honorary Irishman... I think. We were married this last August and decided to go to Ireland for our honeymoon. The trip wasn't intended to be a photo adventure, but we couldn't help but treat it like one. Driving on the wrong side of the road, exploring quaint towns and rolling green hills, we snapped some 2000 photos in only seven days.
I could go on describing some of the sights, but the pictures do it way more justice than words ever could. There's a gaelic saying...
A long, long time ago a fourteen year old version of myself found my dad's old Canon AE-1.
It sat in a box, taped up, with old cords and other junk. It was gathering dust, which made no sense to teenage me because, well, it looked so damn cool. I was surprised to find the camera in good working condition, whirling to life and flashing green and red numbers through the viewfinder. I had no clue how to use it, but I sure tried. Through clever Ebay bidding in college I collected old FD lenses for it (the mount Canon used back in the 80s). Now they sit on a shelf next to my bed, collecting dust...