Mar
02
I’m releasing a mobile version of Space Trek today. This copy is optimized for your iPhones, etc. Enjoy!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO
Feb
18
I attended the Thursday night showings at the Upfront Theatre yesterday. Man, I think it could have been the best show I’ve personally seen performed there. I was taking pics the whole time and laughing the whole time. I had to catch myself a few times, laughing so hard when I was taking pics that it was chancing blurring the photos. Ryan Stiles was in attendance, and perform for the crowd last night with the rest of the players.
Above, a little sneak peek from the late show. Morgan and his belly, a man not scared to put it out there. As you can see, even one of the guest comedians couldn’t help but take it all in. Lots more to come from the number of shoots to come during the week in Bellingham. Just wanted to give you a taste. Stay tuned…
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Feb
11
5:30pm, primetime for commuters to robotically make their way home on the major roadways. A drastic, yet true statement. We’ve all been there, left with no choice but to hop in with the vast stream of cars as they all try to make their way home at the worst possible traveling hour. It really sucks to be in, however, it’s another kind of amazing to be at a vantage point to watch it happen. Another things happens at 5:30 this time of year, and that is the sunset. This gave me an opportunity to do some long exposures, capturing all of the craziness traversing the Narrows Bridge.
At the last overpass before the bridge, I made some pictures. Got there a little early so I could get some faint mountains in the background and maybe some sunset shots. The sunsets haven’t been kind to me lately, all kinda just getting mucky and losing color. Thanks PNW! Here’s my basic setup, shot most of these with a 100-400mm zoom, and a couple with a wide angle.
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Dec
14
Still in Maui, loving every minute of it. The wedding event, as well as the trash the dress shoot, are over (pictures on this coming later this week). We scheduled a couple extra days to vacation in paradise after all the wedding busyness before we head back to the mainland. Anywho… had a fun story to share with you all today.
Pictured above is myself (left) and my good friend, Andy (right). Yes, that is a wave coming right at us, and yes, it was quite a few feet taller than we were. Maui had just been slammed with a monsoon. Heavy rains and winds reformed the beach overnight, creating to what Andy and I were to soon find out the hard way – very high, hard hitting waves that only left a few inches of water for you to land in when the wave punished you. This was… about wave 4 or 5, and the biggest and last one we decided to try and take-on that day.
Water, it’s a pretty powerful force. Clearly something Andy and I didn’t have a full respect for until we were completely owned and nearly drowned. We were in about the worst point for this thing too. As it hit, we were both instantly at it’s mercy. It sent me directly to the floor, hitting so hard it knocked out any air that was presently in my lungs (which was most needed at this moment in time), and put me in a tumble of which I couldn’t tell you how many times I rolled as I was still in the middle of the aquatic carnage. Andy didn’t fair much better, as his body board was wedged under his arm and the sea floor, the water attempting to dislocate his shoulder.
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Dec
10
Indeed, love is in the air. Daymeon and Leeann are gettin’ hitched tomorrow, and you can see the excitement in their faces. I visited the wedding location yesterday for some quick scouting. The picture above is the private beach that is literally 15 feet from the lawn where the are to be married. An awesome beach house, spectacular lawn bordered by exotic plants and palm trees, and the relaxing sound of the small waves crashing against the beach rocks is the scene for the event. I honestly couldn’t think of a better place anywhere in the world, it’s really something out of a movie, it didn’t really click that I was lucky enough to be standing there. Neither Daymeon or Leeann had been out there to see the place, they’ve only seen photos of the location. When I met up with them yesterday for a BBQ, they were anxious to hear what I had to say about that place. I said “it’s awesome, and that’s about all I can say, cause I’m scared I’ll be underselling it by not describing it nearly as well as I should.”
Tomorrow IS thee day! Gonna be a long one, filled with many, many photos and good times. An early start, I think about 9am to the close of the reception that night.
Nov
13
No, I’m not talking about the good kind of prints, like photograph prints. I’m talking about animal prints, more specifically, cat prints. Long, frustrating story short, I’m getting my shower redone in my bathroom. We are talking complete teardown of walls, tile, underlying cement, and replacing it with all new stuff in the reverse order. So the project is coming to an end (finally), the new walls are up and the cement floor was applied. The contractor doing the work forgot to close the bathroom door after he was done working for the day, and my curious/pain-in-the-ass/relentless cat, Coal, decided to investigate the newly poured cement. Sure enough, I walk into the bathroom and see about a dozen cat prints pressed deeply into the fresh mix. Of course I’m thinking “Ok, so if I was a cat, I’d be curious, and I might take a step in to look around.” Why would he continue to step after sinks a paw into cement? How about 12 or so more times? I really wonder about this cat sometimes. As mad as I was, I had to appreciate the humor in the situation and snapped a couple pics with a P ‘n S real quick. Maybe he felt like leaving his mark, much like a kid will write his name in a wet sidewalk. Coal can’t write so I guess a series of paw prints is the next best thing.
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Nov
02
We all know who that man is, flying through the air, dunking a basketball. If you were to poll a bunch of people and ask them who the best basketball player of all-time is, I don’t think any of us could argue that the masses would most likely utter “Michael Jordan” more times than any other name. No, he’s not a photographer, but a prime example of someone who has failed over and over, yet he is the image of success. When you think of Mike, you think of thee best basketball player ever. Please watch the following video before continuing with the post.
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Oct
29
Breaking from the Herd
It seems simple, right? I mean, you, as a photographer, just have to take pictures. How hard is that, how hard is it to just go take pictures? The hard part isn’t clicking the button, it’s not understanding apertures or shutter speeds, it’s not even finding the time to go click that button, or enduring the bite of the cold wind as you work outside in the not-so-pleasant months of the year. For me, I think the hard part is the state of mind. It’s being in “the groove,” getting the creative juices free flowing, properly executing your unique perspective on the chunk of the world you are capturing in present time. It’s creating photographs that are new, different, and refreshing to look at. We live in such a contradictory world. We live in a place where we are taught, either directly through our friends, family, and peers, or indirectly through magazines, news, and other media outlets how we should live our lives and think. It’s the message that you are brainwashed with since day 1 of your life, “you will do this, look like this, act like this, spend money like this if you want to be happy and successful” (in a nutshell). We are taught to live by these rules, walls, and boundaries all over the place, to emulate that which is around us in both a personal and professional sense (coincidentally, we call these people who follow the rest of the flock “normal”). Yet, at the same time individualistic, out-of-the-box thinking is what people stop to appreciate, it’s this thinking process that separates them from the rest. We tend to call it “breaking the mold” when something comes along and slaps us in the face, opening our own minds through other people’s visions and creations. It’s a really cool thing. Simply put, it’s inspiring. In a way, inspiration for me is basically an escape from the mundane, it reminds me how important it is for myself to continue to create original works. Inspiration is my fuel as a photographer, it keeps my head in the right place, and keeps my work fluid and the ideas rolling in. For me, it’s a kick in the ass to ensure I continue to think “outside of the box.” It’s a large motivator to keep me shooting, shooting personal work when I’m not shooting clients.
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Oct
19
Meet Pearl, my brand new 2011 Honda CR-Z. She arrived about a week ago, straight off of the truck, seats still covered in plastic when I sat inside. I had to order her straight from the Honda factory, as there was only ONE of these cars in the entire state that was the model and color that I was after, and it got snatched up the same day I went to get it. Worked out for the better, cause there is just something cool about being the first one to sit in the car after it is delivered. Being that we live in Washington and we are heading into the rainiest part of the year, I figured it best to do a photo shoot with the car right away while it’s nice and shiny and the weather was still decent.
Now… as cool as this car is, Honda just failed to deliver a good marketing package with it, at least visually. To make your decision about the car via Honda’s website and not in person would be a tragedy. It’s such a beautiful car, with striking lines and curves… they just don’t translate well in Honda’s photo set. I’m not saying I took better overall photos of the car, but at least mine look “real.” The photos on their site are SO over-processed, almost have an HDR feel to them that completely disconnect the raw visuals from the car. If you go to the site you’ll see exactly what I mean, they look like artists renditions of the car. I could see if a car wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, so marketing teams would do their best to give an ok car an awesome look in the marketing. But I’d say Honda did the exact opposite here, the photos simply fail the car in most ways.
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Oct
18
Been integrating more video work in with my clients. I’m experiencing that once business clients know that I can shoot/cut video along side the photos, they ask for it. And why not? At a flip of a switch, I can go from photos to video, both top quality products out of the same device, pretty neat. I say that loosely, although you can make the transition to capturing photos or video with a flip of a switch, there is a bit more to it than that. Obviously photos and video capturing have a lot in common, but as much as they have in common they also have just as much that separates the two arts. First, you have a completely different selection process for what to capture in each medium. Some things are best captured with photos, some with video. Understanding and getting a feel for working to each medium’s strengths will greatly improve efficiency and the overall product given to the client. With photos, you have the luxury and power of flash/strobes to blast light, greater controlling your environment. With video, you are stuck with continuous light, which also has it’s strengths as well.
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Aug
31
Just for fun post… had to post some pics up of this graffiti wall in Tacoma. Some of the local talent dedicated an entire wall to Alice in Wonderland. This thing is huge, and very well done. It’s about 20 feet high, and I don’t know how wide. The photo below is a compilation of 4 photos stitched together. Click on it to see a larger version.
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Aug
17
So throughout my life, I’ve occasionally owned venus flytraps. I’m not what you’d call a “plant guy” by any means, in fact, the only plants I’ve ever purchased for myself are flytraps. I’m sure most of you all know that these are not your normal, give water, give sunlight kinda plant. Of course the flytrap requires both water and light, but these things eat bugs! Come on, that’s just cool. Ok… maybe I’m just too much of a boy still, but it’s fun as heck to watch. These things use the traps to catch bugs, seal up, and literally liquify said bug for food. Evolution… you are scary scary thing. Oh, and if you are reading this and going “why did this Matt guy tag this post as a gear post,” just wait for it.
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