Guitar Legend George Lynch and 30 ESP Guitars!

The other week I was given the opportunity to shoot Rock Guitar Legend George Lynch. He was the original guitarist for the rock band Dokken and has since gone on to form the band Lynch Mob as well as start a line of custom, handmade guitars called "Mr. Scary"

For the shoot we wanted a rustic and gritty location. We found a great warehouse space that was exactly what we were looking for at The Charlotte Rescue Mission. Once we arrived at the location wee spent about 2.5 hours clearing out the space and setting up, as well as testing the lighting. The goal was to be completely set up and ready to shoot as soon as George arrived. He was coming to the shoot after driving up from their show in Atlanta the night before and right after sound check for that night's show, so he had very little time and was probably tired on top of all of it. We couldn't be adjusting the lighting once he got on set, we had to be ready to go.

So, when George finally arrived, he walked in greeting everyone. You could tell he was running behind schedule and was tight on time. Once we all said hello and he took some pictures with his iPhone of all the guitars (he seemed amazed at the collection), I stood him in the space we had prepared for him. He suggested some shots of him bending down by the guitars and we did those as well as him standing. He was a complete professional and nailed the shots extremely quick. The actual shooting time took less than 2 minutes. He then took a few pictures with some of the people on set, signed one of my guitars that I had brought and then headed back out the door to get ready for the show that night.
I was very impressed by how he acted and how nice he was to everyone, especially considering he was in a hurry and had a show to play that night and most likely was tired from 4 or 5 straight days of shows.

Here are a few of the shots from this shoot:

Campaign for Rack Room Shoes

A couple of months ago I had the fun experience of shooting for Rack Room shoes and Art Director Shara Knee. We shot for three days and got a lot of great images. Shara was great to work with. She knew what she wanted and we discussed options and angles to get the best images possible. I hope to work with her again soon.
TO achieve this look, we used one large Paul Buff parabolic umbrella  just off to the right as our main light and then we used two smaller umbrellas on the background, one on each side, pointed at the wall. We also had multiple V-flats to help reflect and block some of the light. We wanted to keep a very soft shadow on the floor and give a little depth and contour to the model and shoes. I think we achieved all of our goals.

Here is one of the images from that shoot:

Meineke Car Care National Advertising shoot

Here are just a few of the images I recently shot for Meineke Car Care's most recent National Advertising Campaign. It was a 3 day shoot where we were on location in a different setting each day. Day one was a neighborhood and home interior, day two was a park/camping ground and day 3 was at the Meineke Car Care store. It was a great shoot and I had the opportunity to shoot with both available light and artificial light, all with the objective of making each shot look as natural and unlit as possible.
Here are a few of the final images that have been released to me so far:

There should be more to come. I'll put those up as I get them.

What inspires you?

A couple of days before I left for my recent shoot for Va. Bride magazine in Richmond, VA. I started looking for things to inspire me, something to get me excited about the shoot and provide a catalyst for creating some great images. This time it was work by Mario Testino that did the trick. While looking at Mario Testino's work, some other photographers' work and even some art work, I started to think about what inspires me to create new images or even to get out there and shoot. Sometimes it's great work from another photographer, as was the case with this past shoot. It can give me an idea, spark that creativity that I need to be able to go out and create my own images.
Sometimes it's a location that gets the creative juices flowing. I see an incredible location and my mind will start to churn out all these different ideas about models, clothes, poses, angles, lighting etc.. It's a great feeling when something like that happens and then you get to go and shoot those images you were seeing in your head.
There have even been times when just a sentence from someone around me sparked an idea for a shoot.
I never know exactly where inspiration will come from or in what form, but I have realized that it can come from anywhere.

Where does your inspiration come from, what inspires you?
Even if you're not a photographer, artist, creative director, art director, photo editor, makeup artist or stylist. (was that list a little too long? I think I could have stopped sooner) Even if you have a 9-5 behind a desk, hopefully there's something out there that inspires you to go out and do something you love. If not, start looking around you. I'm sure something will take hold of you, and inspire you.