Milto Cleaners wants to set you up

I shot this campaign recently for Milto Cleaners, created by Jeff Morris of The Flatland creative agency.  Had to strike just the right note: weird but not creepy.  Success!

Thanks to the Milto delivery guys.  Great sports and pretty good models.

Here’s the guy we think drives cabs in NYC

Shot this photo of John Capasso while doing a shoot in NYC recently. He was the cab driver for our production, we were doing a shot of a woman in a cab, and he was the driver. Having not seen a caucasian cabbie in New York in more than 30 years, I asked him how long he’d been driving, and I find out he’s not a cabbie — he’s a movie cabbie. In other words, an actor who specifically plays a cab driver in some well-known movies and TV shows.

Which figures. He’s the cab driver we all have in our heads, but that’s not because he’s the actual typical cabbie, it’s because… he’s who we see in our make-believe world on the screen.

It’s been a seedy summer, people

The Flatland had me shoot a couple of campaigns for FS Seed and Unity Seed companies in June and July, which had me busy for a while.  Here are a few from the FS Seed campaign, for their catalogues and print advertising, depicting their clients and expert sales staff.  I’ll post the Unity shoot a bit later when the images clear. Creative Director: Brian Gray

Christie Machine Shop: A Love Story

The Christie Machine Works Welding Co. in Indianapolis has been around for more than 100 years, and when you walk in, you can feel it.

Owned and operated by the Humphrey siblings, my interest in it was first aroused when I need a welding repair to a vintage Danish lounge chair.  Rick Humphreys expertly took care of it right away, and while I was waiting, I looked around the shop.  The mix of old and newer machines, and the colors, lighting and patina just begged for documentation.  I know that older industrial environments like this shop are disappearing.  Already in the area where this shop is located, many older metal shops had succumbed to real estate development.

The Humphreys let me spend a day shooting as they worked.  The interior was dark but available light seemed the way to capture it, so the challenge was stopping movement and working with the light to illuminate faces and equipment.  In post, I corrected the mixed lighting, which included daylight and yellow fluorescent, and retouched just enough to adjust the exposure ranges within the images.

These images will be placed in the image archive of the Indiana Historical Society, so in another hundred years, everyone will be able to see what an old-school metal shop looked like in 2016.

 

 

Here’s a few from my ongoing portrait series of gay couples married in Indiana

In late 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Indiana’s law banning same-sex marriage.  I’m shooting a series of portraits of gay couples married in Indiana to go into the historical record at the Indiana Historical Society.  Here are the first five:

Dawn and Charlotte

Kevin and Neil

Stan and Skip

Calle and Sarah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ad campaign for The Excalibur Resort’s awesome buffet. All you can eat. Don’t forget to gamble.

Ad agency Virgen created a fun campaign for The Excalibur’s buffet restaurant in Vegas and asked me to shoot a series of images that played on the “all you can eat” theme. Had a great time, and sampled a good bit of the offerings, as well.

Note: turns out they will NOT let you take an entire steamship roast off the buffet line and take it back to your room, don’t make the mistake that “some people” did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portrait project for seed catalogue yields great faces

This project for the new Unity Seeds catalogue called for some dramatic portraits of faces. The Flatland‘s design cropped them even tighter than these.  Streetcast 15 subjects at a county fair for authenticity, which I would have to say, we achieved.  In addition to the catalogue, these will run in direct mail and on the web.  Thanks to creatives @briankgray and @BenSealWrites