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Firefly Gastropub & Catering Co.

Exited to be working on another collaboration with Great Sky Media shooting for Firefly Gastropub and Catering in Lenox, MA. Looking forward to sharing their new site when it’s done, and Joe is getting some great video clips. It’s a fantastic place to check out if you are in the area this summer.

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A video/photo project for Seal Harbor Rug Company

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byqfsiJiJao&t=135s

I’m excited to share a recent video shoot for Seal Harbor Rug Company in Manchester, VT.  You can view the video from their homepage as well.

Also, a few behind-the-scenes shots with Joe Aidonidis (Great Sky Media).

Melina and Liz produce and sell high-quality hand-dyed New Zealand rug wool yarn
for rug hooking projects from their beautiful shop in Manchester, VT.

While I have been photographing their rugs and yarn colors for years, they have wanted to create some instructional videos with the ultimate goal of creating on-line classes for people to watch from home using their new kits that I have shot for them.

I have been a fan of Joe’s work for a while and we had worked simultaneously for other clients shooting events. I often get asked by clients about video production and now Joe and I are actively collaborating on projects for clients to offer them both high-quality stills and professional video production of products and services as a package. It makes a lot of sense for the client to book both shoots at the same time and offers a consistent look for media campaigns. More of these projects to come!

 

Community Day Celebration

It was an absolute pleasure to capture this event on June 10th for Southwestern Vermont Medical Center as they celebrated 100 years of providing healthcare to Bennington and the surrounding communities. We had perfect weather from the morning UCS 5K and kids fun run, to the parade with two women who are 98 and 101 years old! Other highlights included opening ceremonies, Jump Rope Race challenge, and hats off to Joshua of CircOvation and all of the vendors who turned out to cook food and the hospital staff who baked some delish cake with a historical timeline printed on them for everyone to enjoy. We also captured a group photo of those in attendance who were born at the hospital (including my son Ryan). And to finish off the day with bubbles to those who we have lost to cancer and watching as the Julie Shea Band let their soul shine—it was a perfect way to end the celebration.

This truly is a community hospital in every sense. Please share this link with family and friends who were there. (For your convenience, you can order prints right from the gallery by clicking the “buy” button.) Enjoy!

https://goo.gl/h1z6o1

Born at SVMC.jpg

Do you take this USB—to have and to hold?

As a photographer with roots in the chemical-age of film and prints, it has been an adjustment to transition to the current cloud-culture of clients that now require photos be sent digitally so they can be viewed and shared on their phones (don’t get me started on company firewalls that block photo gallery sites).

Over the years I have seen the spectrum of file and photo delivery evolve almost on a yearly basis, while camera sensors continue to grow in shear pixels while at the same time as personal computers slowly phase out disc-drives.  We are all familiar with the trend of read/write CD’s from 700 mega-bit, to DVD’s that fit 4.7 GB; and the brief Blue Ray disc (with 25 GB per-side) plateau for storage on an magnetic disc (think Beta VHS player’s from the 80’s that also went the way of the dodo—I won’t get into optical discs, but they never really took off either, and died shortly after DVD’s became the standard) Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the life-changing 100MB Iomega Zip-drive discs that many graphic designers and print-production folks fondly remember.
Today, many new PC’s and laptops don’t even have built-in disc drives—so what is a digital photographer in 2018 to do?

Yes, many hosting sites, as well as commercial delivery sites, such as Dropbox.com and WeTransfer.com have offered free delivery for digital files for years, which is fine for nuts-and-bolts get-it-to-the-printer-asap kinda jobs.  I have personally relied heavily on Zenfolio.com to host literally hundreds of thousands of high-res photo files so that customers can download and order prints—and that has been fine for the last 10 years or so.

But for something as special as wedding photos, how do we as photographers deliver some of the most precious moments to people? I have a drawer-full of back-up copies of CD’s that I have imprinted inkjet labels with carefully selected photos that I have mailed to couples (not knowing at the time, but suspecting that discs are going the way of the digital dodo).

USB drives in 8GB and 16GB and beyond, have now become the physical storage standard archival choice for shear digital capacity—as nano-technology becomes a reality—for what we capture as modern photographers.

So how do you package and present a special day into one small, yet immensely large digitally important package? I recently ordered a USB via Miller’s Lab (a professional photographer’s resource) to print this couple’s favorite photo onto an acrylic block attached to their wedding photos USB. This does not replace custom-designed albums and prints, as well as a host of other print products—but for now (as of today anyway) this is a pretty cool and, well just pretty way of delivering a special day indeed.

BTW, congrats Nikki and Shawn!

p.s. as a father of two amazing boys and a wife that I can’t imagine living on this crazy planet without, I often make pains to print my most favorite digital images of my family (we call them fridge-pics). I would encourage strongly that everyone reading this to print (yes print!) your favorite family photos. Not saying that an atmospheric electromagnetic burst is going to happen tomorrow (Although, it seems likely with the current administration more and more each day), however lightning happens all the time, so back up your photos on paper!

 

 

Battenkill Wholesome Foods

I just finished up some fresh shots for the folks at Battenkill Wholesome Foods. They make some really tasty brittle bars, crunch, as well as cookies. The newest to the line of products is a very yummy cereal in either Coconut/Apricot or Apple/Raisin. I am always munching away when I do these shoots, and it was all I could do to not eat the apple sauce/brittle muffin recipe while it was on set. Here are a few shots using a mix of natural and strobe lighting. Look for these products in local Bennington area stores as well as their website—http://battenkillbrittle.com

Nikki and Sean 3-2-18

This morning’s snow made for a beautiful backdrop actually. Congrats Nikki and Sean!

Eric Rickstad

I have been wanting to share a few pics from a portrait session from last summer with my talented friend and author, Eric Rickstad. His chilling crime novels are on national best-selling lists and have been translated into other languages. His Canaan, Vermont protagonists are brought to life in vivid detail and his character development and plot twists had me hooked and wanting to read more.

After shooting a family portrait session for Eric and his wife Meredith a couple years ago, I offered to update his bio pic for his novels. He took me up on the offer, and earlier last summer we did a session while dodging scattered showers and chasing the late afternoon sunlight on the nearby streams, fields, and a covered bridge (what better backdrop for a Vermont novelist). Here are a few of my favorites from that day and hopefully one will get used for a print run in the future.

Eric has published four novels (Reap, The Silent Girls, Lie in Wait, The Names of Dead Girls, and his fifth book—What Remains of Her, will be coming out in July). You can check out his books in your local bookstore, and of course on Amazon here.

 

 

Motion Stills-Behind the Scenes

I often get photographed up on ladders during the shoots at the Bennington Rescue Squad. And this time Morgan Oldham used an animated .gif format app that was pretty cool. Also, one of the final shots from their recruitment campaign. I’ll be sharing a bunch more soon.

Menu Shoot at Gringo Jacks—Manchester, Vermont

I wanted to share a few mouth-watering shots from the Gringo Jack’s shoot. Jack and his crew pulled out all the stops, and I have to say if you have never tried Gringo Jack’s do yourself a favor and go!

Congrats Natasha and Rich!

A beautiful fall backdrop at the Prospect Ski Area in Woodford, Vermont yesterday for Natasha and Rich’s wedding. Congrats!