editorial & advertising photography from beautiful austin, texas.

Ad Men Alternates

Where would some of Austin’s most successful advertising executives be if no one had given them a shot in advertising?

That was the question that advertising agency McGarrah Jessee asked as a way to promote and support the efforts of the Austin-based educational organization, E4 Youth. E4 Youth works to educate, nurture, and provide mentoring opportunities to creative youth. It’s a great way for students to get exposed to various creative fields so that they can make informed decisions about their future.

The shoot featured Tim McClure and Jay Russell of GSD&M, Mike Woolf of Beef and Pie, Scott McAfee of Sanders\Wingo, and Sergio Alcocer of LatinWorks.

I was very excited to be a part of this project, as each scenario involved a crazy new career path for these agency executives. We did a total of 5 shoots off-and-on over 3 days. Everyone “buried themselves in the part” quite well!

The images were on display during the 2013 ADDYs award show in Austin.
Tim McClure of GSD&M

Jay Russell of GSDM

Mike Woolf of Beef and Pie

Scott McAfee of Sanders\Wingo

20130318-5-Sergio-Alcocer-LatinWorks

Can you still be creative in today’s world?


photo sketchI’ve been thinking about this the last few days. It’s a challenge, to say the least, and it’s not just limited to photography. Think of every creative service industry that’s been affected by a transition to digital: photography, music, art, advertising, etc. They’ve all been inundated with new talent that’s able to learn and produce at a rapid pace. If you can see the results of your work right away, you can progress through those 10,000 hours much quicker. The baseline for what is considered acceptable work changes as well. As an example, look at audio. When the digital revolution started, audio professionals slammed MP3 for it’s crappy compression and frequency response. And where are we now? The pros still slam MP3. And MP3 is the dominant audio format. Not “cd quality” files. Not HD audio. This kind of market ‘attitude’ adjustment has happened in every field affected by digital. And it’s not completely a bad thing. It’s great, for example, to be able to get a beautiful print out of today’s printers without worrying about CMYK or color separations or any of that stuff.  So how can you stand out in your field among all this change?
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Great Scott! The 2012 Christmas Card!

Some of you know that each year I do fun Christmas cards for clients over at AustinChristmasCards.com. While working on those client’s cards, I have to squeeze in a shoot for our family too. This year there was much deliberation over what to do. We usually have some sort of a running list of ideas that we keep from year to year. I have misplaced said list. In the end, we decided on doing a Back To The Future themed card. It’s a pretty good movie. Ok I’m kidding – it’s the GREATEST of ALL TIME. You will not find a bigger fan than me.

We knew instantly that Trevor had to be Biff. It just fits his personality. He probably could take Biff right now in a MMA cage fight. That meant Brandon had to be Marty, so we scored him a Coast Guard Youth Auxiliary life preserver. The car is an interesting story. Originally I tried to track down one of those fan cars that are all decked out to look like the film. When that didn’t work out, I went to my backup – an 8-inch long toy DeLorean.

There’s a power line running from the car to the tree. We’ll leave it up to you whether the car is powering the tree or vice versa. The mall is Barton Creek Mall here in Austin – always a pleasure to shoot at late at night while wearing a dark hoodie.

Here’s the front and back. Click the first image for a larger version:

Back To The Future Card #1
Back To The Future Card #2

Avengers – Assemble!

Here’s a Halloween image I created for some friends. If you’d like something like this for your holiday card, head on over to AustinChristmasCards.com.

It’s kind of weird that this is the second Captain-America-themed shoot I’ve done this year. The first one.

It’s Christmas Card Time

It’s almost October, if you can believe it. Fall is practically here. And around this time every year, I start my Christmas card work for families and businesses.

It started a few years back when we sent our infamous diner image as our Christmas card. Since then, I’ve enjoyed creating similar holiday cards for my clients. Each of them tells a story of the family: what they look like, their personality, and what they enjoy doing.  And I work in humor wherever I can.

This year, I have tweaked the package a little bit and made some changes. I’ve also put up a brand-new website at AustinChristmasCards.com. Check it out, watch the intro video, and get in touch if you’d like something a little unique for your holiday card this year!

My Nik has been Google-ized

Google purchased plug-in company Nik Software today. It looks like they are already rolling out changes in Color Efex Pro 4 (click for the larger version).

It’s Playoff Time

It’s playoff time in the NBA, and our family is heavy into the OKC Thunder. What’s not to love about them? Great players in a great community.

During the playoffs, everyone plays a little bit harder. There are a few more elbows, and a lot more passion and determination. Sometimes, players get hurt. If by chance any of the OKC starting lineup get injured, I’ve got two world class athletes ready to go. Send them in Scott Brooks, send them in.

And when they execute a perfect alley-oop in the 4th quarter to win the game, we’ll know that we’ve just seen what it takes to become a champion.

Thunder Up.