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24
Aug
2010
Road trip mixed with Base Jumping
Last weekend I spontaneously drove across the Mojave desert with Bogart the foster dog to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Phoenix. Nothing too extraordinary. Growing up in the South where trees and grass dominate the landscape like love letters to Justin Bieber’s mailbox, it still fascinates me to drive through the desert. I usually drive at night to avoid the notorious LA traffic. But this time I drove there and back during daylight, with my camera and a 50mm lens.
Typical landscape of California. Bogart was a great co-driver. He pointed out all the squirrels.
Just so California could remind every driver on the I-10 that they care about the environment, they set up 3,100 turbines near Palm Springs. An amazing spectacle, and would be interested in knowing how many rear-ending-rubber-necking car accidents happen because of them.
Rows and rows and rows and rows of turbines.
They almost look like trees from very far away.
5:00 AM next morning I head out with my adrenaline junkie buddy Matt Frohlich from South Carolina (who goes to helicopter school in Phoenix) to base jump off of Superstition Mountain. Me? I was just along for the ride for a good hike and take some pictures 
We park and start the 2hr hike to the top of Superstitious (the jumping point framed in the background).
An Arizona sunrise is about as good as it gets.
For a brief moment I felt like I was delivering some ring to some volcano.
Once the sun rises the rock looks even more menacing.
Rule #1 when going anywhere in Arizona: Bring plenty of H2O.
Matt looking EXTREMELY nervous to be doing his 800-some-odd jump off a big rock.
Rule #2 when going base jumping: Bring a friend. Rule #1? Open your chute.
Finally reaching the top, Scott and Matt do a wind check to see if it’s safe to jump.
Yep, it’s safe. Tie your shoes tight and get ready. Rule #24 of Base Jumping: Strap a video camera to your helmet so you can impress the ladies on youtube.
One last survey before descending over 1000 feet in a little over 1 minute… hopefully not any less than that.
Matt’s recorded jump. Listen at around 00:10, the sound of the chute opening sounds like a shotgun. That’s me at 0:14 watching from the tip top lol. They got to the bottom of the mountain in 1 minute. It took me 45x that to get back down 
For Matt, base jumping is more safe than driving down a highway, so I wasn’t very worried about picking up any body parts. In fact later in the day we did an impromptu photoshoot near Camelback Mountain of another base jump. Look for the edited shot very soon. After the shoot, and jump, I had just enough time to snap off an incredible sunset over downtown Phoenix. One day I’ll sky dive… and dare I say, one day have enough confidence to jump off 1000′ tall rocks? That’s a damn good way to get over my fear of heights.
19
Aug
2010
Mooooooooooo cards
Introducing the cards that need little introduction. During their relatively short presence in the design industry, Moo Cards have gained massive popularity through the creative field. The idea is that instead of having 1 business card duplicated 500-1000 times like usual, Moo Cards can be up to 50 different designs within 1 order. 50!! The coating is a professional matte finish, and the card stock is thicker than the walls of the Russian US Embassy. Not to mention the price is right. Now the hard part is picking my favorite card… hmmmmmmm
25
Jun
2010
IPHONE 4 SERVED: EXTRA RARE
I wouldn’t call myself an expert on the latest gizmos and widgets out there, but I’ve used enough cell phones in my time to realize a good gadget when I see it. In the past I balked at the first text message I ever received, and laughed at people who paid more than $50 for cell phone plans. Now? I can’t leave home without my iPhone in fear of not checking my email every 5 minutes, not being able to navigate to the nearest Starbucks, or hearing a song I love but don’t know the name (Thanks Shazam!). And now after waiting 5hrs in line, next to people who talk WAY too much, on a beautiful sunny day in LA, I have a new shiny faster gizmo to replace my older gizmo. I don’t care how much more awesome your HTCevoPalmPreAndroidBlackberry Version 3.6.71 flavor-of-the-week is than my nose-in-the-air iPhone. It. Just. Works. And it’s delicious.
My old 3G is loved, used, and very well done… say hello to my new iPhone 4!
Enjoy my hand-me-down big sister!
/subtle i-have-an-iPhone4-on-release-day blog post 
22
Jun
2010
Featured: Advanced Photoshop magazine
I had to pinch myself till I bled. Is Adam Smith, Senior Staff Writer for Advanced Photoshop magazine emailing me for a feature in their magazine?!? I instantly google’d his name and email address to verify if this was real, and sure enough it was! Let me try to put this in perspective… This is THE magazine I genuinely gladly pay $15 to take home and read. Oversized pages, spot-uv covers, high quality paper stock.. so nice I’ve never thrown away a single issue. Dare I say the only magazine I buy? (American publishers can learn a thing or two from Imagine Publishing.)
I literally screamed when I saw my picture as the lead-in image for the feature. The feature is simply titled “Photoshop for Photographers”. Myself and 3 other photographers (Jaroslav Stehlik, Jim Lind, and James Quantz Jr)are interviewed for their insight on how Photoshop helps our workflow. Very humbling to be paired up with such great photographers. One line inparticular in the feature caught my eye when I was mentioned in the same sentence as Dave Hill and Jim Fiscus, truly 2 of my main sources of inspiration over my history behind the camera. Maybe now they’ll let me have brunch with them
Dual page lead-in image to the feature, I owe Adam Smith a drink!
Original image from my portfolio.
Pullquote by yours truly, plus the Fast & Furious 3-car rig shot.
Original image from my portfolio
PRO TIP! haha.
If you’ve never picked up a copy of Advanced Photoshop, do yourself a favor and at least flip through it. Chances are you’ll take it home. I have for years, and now I’m featured in the very pages I read!
29
May
2010
Aiming at the Sun: Venice Beach, CA
For Luke Munnell’s birthday we randomly took a trip to Venice Beach, CA to see all the crazies. Even though the winds were gusting up to what felt like a Cat 4 hurricane sandblasting a layer of skin off our top layer, there were TONS of people walking the strip. Drum circles, men walking in nothing but silver briefs, crack heads, men dressed up as women, women dressed up as men, and marijuana doctors filled the strip… so naturally I tended to aim more UP at the sun, birds and unpopulated beach. If you enjoy people watching, this is ground zero for you!
Crazies as far as the eye can see. Check out the plume of sand and wind-swept trees.
People watching at it’s best.
Birthday boy Luke Munnell, Import Tuner tech editor.
Modified Magazine editor Peter Tarach tagging along.
Hundreds of seagulls fighting the wind. Took a little coercing to fly, so I ran into them
Being careful not to get pooped on.
Luke getting brave with the poop monsters.
Last shot before the sun went down. I would of joined in but damn I forgot my hoola hoop. Next time.
24
Jan
2010
Down to Earth – Olly Howe
Introducing Olly Howe. Easily one of the best designers I have ever come across. And not to stroke my ego too much, but that is a huge compliment. So you can imagine my thoughts when Olly emailed me asking to collaborate with one of my latest photoshoots. Very very very very humbling.
I have never given any of my high-resolution photoshop files to anybody… ever. But I didn’t hesitate a second when Olly wanted to do his magic work to one of my Great Recession composites. The end result blew my mind. The attention to detail is just absolutely STAGGERING. Just look for yourself.
And a rundown of some of my favorite work displayed on his website:
Reason #14 why I’m a huge fan of Olly is he’s been featured in Advanced Photoshop magazine AND Computer Arts. My top 2 magazines for design/photoshop… well worth the $15 price tags. I’m looking forward to working on future projects with Olly, and if you want a photoshoot taken in LA, and further edited by Olly… well you know our contact info 
24
Jan
2010
PlasticPrinters.com Praise
About 2 years ago I made personalized business cards for my job as Art Director of Import Tuner Magazine. The boring company-provided white cards with raised type just wouldn’t cut it in my world. I stumbled upon PlasticPrinters.com and I had to wipe the drool from my keyboard.
Transparent plastic business cards? My creative juices just hit afterburners! I chose the frosted/transparent material for a diffused look. After a couple of design tweaks, and very friendly customer service at PlasticPrinters.com I had a stack of practically indestructible and conversation-inducing business cards, sweet!
The cards have never failed to get a “whoa!?”, “nice!” or a “where did you get these?!?” comment. Someone has even asked if they double as a credit card… I wish! But in a way they definitely make me more money. Compared to the flimsy plain white company cards issued throughout the company, mine are the envy of the office.
What’s even sweeter is one of my co-workers just informed me that my card is displayed on the printer’s front page of their website! Well not front and center, but I feel a little fuzzy seeing my design on the front page of an outstanding business that receives literally 1,000s of submissions a year. Screenshots for proof
20
Dec
2009
Los Angeles Gets a Bath
Los Angeles gets on average 15 inches of rainfall a year, which is roughly 35 days out of the year. And on those rare 35 days, the rain is comparable to a bird bath at best. Taking full advantage of my new place smack dab in the middle of downtown LA, I grabbed my rain coat, tripod, camera, and headed down to the streets… Because today sir, we have rain!
At first I started on the streets. I figured the sooner the better. Probably not the best idea to stroll around downtown with a nice camera after midnight ya know? Who knows, I’m growing a thicker skin day by day to the “amenities” offered by LA.
After roaming around the streets, I headed up to the rooftop of my building to get some more shots. My camera got very intimate with a Ralph’s plastic grocery bag.
3
Dec
2009
Art Walk – Downtown LA
A walk down a not so beaten path. Or should I say an unfamiliar path for my camera. The land of f/1.4 has been unknown by my camera until this night! Linhbergh, his cousin Grady, Lauren and I drop down the elevator and step outside a block to stroll the now famous Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. So famous that the starving hipsters are tweeting about the “douchebags” crowding the streets. Don’t worry I won’t be tapping your PBR reserves, and besides life is too short to not drink Guinness and wear sperm count-reducing skinny jeans. Sorry for the mental image.
Anyways like I said I was walking with my friends, and Grady graciously lent me his 50mm f/1.4 lens (I was using the G.I.JOE plastic 50mm 1.8 up until then) and I felt like I was using a camera for the first time! The difference between f/1.8 and f/1.4 is more than I imagined.. which gave me lens envy that Linhbergh was 2′ away from me using the blackhole inducing 50mm f/1.2. Enough nerd talk, here are a few snaps I took throughout the night.
The image above wasn’t taken on the streets of the Art Walk, instead it was taken 5 stories up in my loft. Because not only is art displayed on the Art Walk, there are also price tags attached to most items on display. This piece by Patrick Haemmerlein stopped me in my steps. I LOVE the broken collage look, mass (made of thick wood), and the fact that it’s truly a one of a kind unique piece of art. I’m sure more of his work will end up on my walls soon.
The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk is held every 2nd Thursday of every month. If you decide to make it out there, drop me a message!
29
Aug
2009
LA on fire
Enjoy the sights from the rooftop of my new loft in downtown LA. Those aren’t clouds, that’s the San Fernando Valley getting smothered by ash. There’s a downside to having perfect non-rainy weather everyday in SoCal, and you’re looking at it. The terrain get’s so dry, a simple spark can set off a raging 1,000+ acre fire. Luckily the wind is playing in my favor and my lungs get to breath the natural pollutated air of LA instead of thick burnt ash.
Click for high-res shot
