Family Trip to Pagosa Springs and Abiquiu Lake

I had a chance to shoot more personal stuff recently, so I took it. It get's harder and harder to pull out the camera around the family, and I find myself sneaking iphone shots more and more, but on this trip I brought my new 10-stop ND, flashes, tripod and the D700 and D90. I planned to do a big star trail stack, but the clouds and my own impatience killed that idea. On May 1st it snowed in Pagosa, and the next day the sun blared as we made our way back through Abiquiu, stopping for a 'hike' at Echo Canoyon. I love living in New Mexico. 

Japanese Kitchen

This week's Alibi assignment took me to the venerable Japanese Kitchen, an Albuquerque landmark for well over 20 years. Images include chef Masa, owner Keiko, Tempura, the Baja Roll and the Roasted Green Chile Roll.

Popular Plates

I am in the midst of a series of shoots for the magazine Popular Plates. They are putting out an issue about spicy foods and brought in the Fiery Food Show founder Dave DeWitt to generate the content. I've been working with Emily DeWitt-Cisneros to provide images for over 60 recipes. We've been shooting in close quarters as she cooks and plates, so I've used strobes and natural light in various combinations. I have hundreds of images but the ones below caught my eye for some reason. Hopefully you'll see a copy around before summer turns to fall!

Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert

This was a great assignment from Sony Entertainment. Our goal was to capture the monks in their breath-taking environment and generate images for an upcoming album cover and associated collateral. Sony had the creative team flown in from NYC to meet me and a video crew was on-hand for sound/motion coverage.

The weather was classic New Mexico: alternating snow, wind and blaring sunshine. I used every piece of gear I brought, including sandbags, every lens in my bag, ND filters, speedlights, and modifiers of every size & shape. At the end of the day though, it was about letting the images make themselves as I followed the monks through their day of prayer, meals, contemplation, meetings, and relaxation. While I wasn't there to photograph the landscape, I couldn't help but indulge myself at dawn and throughout the evening. Thanks to Sony for the opportunity, and to the monks themselves for putting up with me all day long.

Nob Hill Bar & Grill

They're revving up for spring, so I went in yesterday for an hour to get a couple of thier new menu items for an upcoming ad campaign. This restaurant is such a great part of Nob Hill. Items shown here include a delicious burger that is now made with all-natural New Mexico-raised beef, the Country Style Pork Ribs that come braised in a plum bbq sauce with wasabi mash and Bok Choy, an all-new grilled Shrimp Cocktail, and the unique Buzz Cocktail garnished with a toothache flower. Executive chef Phil Roybal has the kitchen firing on all cylinders right now, and owner/mixologist Matt is one of the most creative drink designers in the city. Food shot with natural light and reflectors. Cocktail had two speedlights with snoots to make it more interesting.

Digital Arts in highschool!

EFG Creative and I spent a day in late February at this amazing school. DATA stands for Digital Arts & Technology Academy, and the highschool offers focused training to aspiring filmmakers, photographers, animators, etc... Two students bounced SB600 and SB800 off the white ceiling for me all day, which was nice. Very refreshing to have assistants. The assignment was to capture the students in the environment and get some slightly more formal staff shots of teachers and the principal for upcoming marketing and web collateral. The light was flourecent, so flash was essential though I left the gels in the bag. More and more I find that I like the color balance of ungelled flashes. Or maybe I'm just lazy. 

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More photos at Veggie Obsession

It's been fun to work with Amy White on her blog. Her recipes are delicious and she's a good sport about taking the time to get the right photos. In fact, she's a bit of an aspiring photographer herself, and is even trying out my D50 right now... Her recipes are also featured at on Edible Santa Fe Magazine's site and Mrs. White will have a feature in the print version this spring, which I photographed (of course).