The Importance of Personal Work

It's been over a year now that I have been full time freelance. When I first started my photographic education nearly 6 years ago, I thought that being a freelance photographer would be the life! I was correct in thinking that, but little did I know, it would be quite a struggle as well. Last year, after a pretty busy summer of assignments my phone stopped ringing for nearly 5 months. Luckily, one day it started ringing again and hasn't stopped. Throughout the slow periods I was so worried about getting work I stopped taking pictures for me. Lately, I've been getting back to what I love to do. In between assignments I have started a myriad of different projects, some that will last for years, others, maybe only a couple of months.

Two months ago I started teaching at Luminous Works and The Photographic Center Northwest. It has been an eye opening experience. Throughout these classes, one of the main questions I am asked is whether I do personal work or if I shoot everything through assignments. Well as nice as the latter would be, most of the work that I am most proud of has come through a personal dedication of time, money, and motivation to focus on projects I feel are important or would just be fun to photograph. I am currently diving into a story in the Pacific Northwest that focuses on the remnants of the logging industry. I have decided to shoot it all on film, which I haven't done in ages, so bear with me as I post images and explore a new medium and visual style throughout this project.

Recent Tearsheets

This last month or two has been a whirlwind of assignments with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, AARP Bulletin, Seattle Business, and the Seattle Weekly to name a few. The assignments have pushed me to think about things outside of the box and explore the city that I now call home. Here are a couple of tearsheets from the past months.

Smokejumpers for The New York Times

I recently got a last minute assignment from The New York Times to photograph a veteran smokejumper in Winthrop, Washington, who was retiring after 896 jumps for the US Forest Service. It was great fun to watch these men prepare for a practice jump that afternoon. Although I wasn't allowed up in the plane, the visual variety of the paraloft held infinite possibilities.

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The Alcohol Experiment for The New York Times

I got a call the other day to photograph a local Starbucks in Seattle that recently started offering beer and wine along with their regular coffee items. When I got there and met the PR guy, there was no one drinking wine or beer, so I had to resort to other ideas to illustrate the story until someone came in and ordered an alcoholic beverage. In the meantime, it was nice to be creative with a coffee cup and a glass of wine.
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Sustain Project Part III

I began working with local farmers on Vashon Island, Washington several months ago when I had spare time. At first I was just curious as to some of the inner-workings of small farms. So far I have been focusing more on the farm aspect of things, photographing both a chicken and a pig slaughter, a local cheesemaker, and a local butcher. The project is evolving into something more intimate, possibly exploring the farm to table concept, and touching on the relationship and dependency that humans have with animals and the food we eat.

Stuart Wilber for The New York Times

I recently photographed Stuart Wilber for the New York Times. It was a quick portrait shoot so I wanted to get a variety of shots. Since most of my work these days is using natural light I decided to utilize a strobe and a grid for several of the shots. Here is what I came up with.
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Grunge for The New York Times

The assignment was to explore the remnants of Seattle grunge. It was an interesting exploration in parts of Seattle I have never explored, including an underground club in Eastlake, the Nirvana exhibit at the EMP Museum, Kurt Cobain's former residence, and The Sound Garden.

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