Brad Hawpe, a smoke machine, and too much wind!

Last month, I had the opportunity to photograph Brad Hawpe for the cover of the June 2009 issue of Rockies Magazine, which also doubles as the game program at Coors Field for the month.
The last time I photographed Brad, it was a last minute thing and we did a pretty ho-hum cover that wasn't all that exciting. So, this time, I wanted to dress it up and we did just that by renting a smoke machine and playing with that.
We shot this in front of Gate D at Coors Field which doubles as a wind tunnel which made things a little more difficult than we hoped. But thanks to some expert smoke fanning moves by my coworker Ryan Mckee, we pulled off a great shot.

Enjoy!

TSB2

Cutie Hadley

A Couple weeks ago I visited my friends Dave and Christy and shot some pics of their adorable daughter Hadley while I was there.  Looking at her today, you'd never know that this little one spent a couple weeks or so at Children's Hospital a little over a year ago when she was diagnosed with Botulism.  You can read more about Christy and Dave's emotional roller coaster through it all here on Christy's wonderful blog.

After having Shaw, I can't imagine having to go through something like that.

Enjoy the pics.

TSB2

I told you to tune in to 102.3 KCUV three weeks ago. Have you done it yet?

Since I got back from the X Games, I've been filling my time with taking care of nagging loose ends here at work and just getting back on track after being out of town for two weeks in January.  I've also paid a couple more visits over to my favorite radio station, 102.3 KCUV, to shoot a couple of portraits of visiting musicians who've played in the KCUV Music Loft.

In honor of Fat Tuesday, they brought in Doug Kershaw, a 72 year old firecracker whose played with the likes of Johnny Cash, Willy Nelson and Charlie Daniels to name a few. He was quite an act to see and he even did it with 6 stitches in his pinky that he cut when he picked up an empty wine glass that broke in his hand at his cajun restaurant up in Greeley the other day.

Another musician I had a chance to photograph is a guy named Chuck Prophet who just came out with a new album called Soap & Water.  He played a song called "Freckle Song" that is from the new album and I really dug it.  He has some bluesy tendencies in his music with some different lyrics that take you through everyday experiences that confront everyone.  He just has a unique way of observing simple things and turning them into songs and I'm looking forward to exploring his music a little more.

Enjoy the pics!

-TSB2

The 72 year young firecracker.  He actually played his gig in the Music Loft with a protective golf glove that he cut every finger off of except the pinky to protect the little guy with stitches. Look at the fiddle!  I think he told me he's had that thing since 1965!

Chuck Prophet on the roof of the KCUV Studio.  Doesn't he just look like he writes different songs?

Listen to KCUV...It's the Best Radio Station in Denver!

Over the past few months, I've been extremely fortunate to shoot some portraits of musicians who come into FM102.3 KCUV to play in the 'Music Loft'.  This is something I especially enjoy doing since it is a nice respite from all the services we provide for our main clients such as the Rockies and the NCAA.  Not that I don't enjoy handling the various tasks related to those clients/contracts, but we all need a little change every now and then to keep us fresh, don't we?

The portraits at KCUV provide that freshness every now and then because the musicians who come in to play in the Music Loft are always characters and don't give a damn about anything except the guitar in their hand...Or they're just totally pumped because the week before, they found a pair of boots in their friend's basement that they've been missing for two years.

Lost Highway Recording Artist Ryan Bingham is a perfect example of this 'it's all good' attitude that just about every musician picks up at Rock Star University.  He's a young fella with a hard nosed scratchy voice that is warm and inviting in his songs.  His lyrics reflect a childhood growing up in the middle-of-nowhere West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, a life in junior rodeos and drinkin' whiskey on the road. If you like Western guitarists with a little edge to them, you should check him out. His album Mescalito is very solid front to back and I can't stop listening to it.

Enjoy!

-TSB2

This explains his unique voice...and yes, those are the boots he was missing for two years...

College Kids Like to Sleep...A LOT.

Well, I'm back in Nashville again, this time to shoot the annual NCAA Convention.  This is the 4th year that I have covered this event and I must say, while it might be the least exciting photography I do every year, I've come to enjoy the event because I get to see all of my favorite people from the NCAA.  Additionally, this year marks the launch of a new quarterly NCAA magazine called 'Champion', and this morning I had the opportunity to photograph the cover for the second issue which will come out in April.

One of the things that the NCAA really tries to get across in their PR is that the athletes are STUDENT-Athletes.   Shan Foster, a basketball player at Vanderbilt University is no exception to this theory.  Besides being a total stud on the court, Shan (pronounced Shane) happens to be a very accomplished piano player.  Thus, for this shoot, the folks at the NCAA wanted to show these two elements of his life.

We showed up at 8:45am to meet our contact Rudy at the Blair School of Music at 9:00.  Since Rudy wasn't there yet, Arnel (the art director from Sport Graphics) called to ask him if we could start setting up in the amphitheater since we found an open door.  Now, if you've never dealt with Theater-Folk here's a little tip.  Never, and I mean NEV-ER, go into a theater to set up for a shoot before the manager is there. When Arnel asked him if it was cool to set up before he got there, Rudy blew not just A gasket, he blew SEVEN THOUSAND gaskets.  Upon Rudy's arrival, we calmed him down by telling him that we just meant if it was okay to unload our stuff from our car into a hallway near the back of the building.  He promptly relaxed and was a pleasure to deal with the rest of the morning.

So, we proceeded to set up for the shoot and 10am (start time) rolls around...No sign of Shan.

10:20...Still no sign of Shan.

10:30...Vanderbilt's Sports Information Director and Assistant Sports Information Director are working the phones trying to find Shan.

10:45...Still no Shan.

10:50...Shan is woken up in his dorm room by a teammate.  I wish I could have seen his face when he realized he was almost an hour late.

11:15:...Shan shows up and proceeds to apologize a billion times over.

Anyway, he got there and we shot for about an hour and forty minutes.  We got a ton of stuff and Arnel was very happy with the images.  I've included a few that I just quickly grabbed so you can see what we did.  The last two probably won't see the light of day since there isn't a piano in them, but I shot them anyway since I saw this beautiful hallway in the building the day before when we scouted the location.

Hope you like them and please feel free to add comments at the end of the post.

See ya next time!

-TSB2

Oh my god, it's Usher's twin!

Even though this doesn't show his friendly personality, I really like this pic...

One of the last pics we shot.  Right up my alley...architecture, geometry...

I really dig his look here...

Habla Barbosa?

Wednesday, I escaped the cold again and headed to Phoenix with my colleague Jamie Schwaberow to assist on a commercial shoot for Qwest with Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns.

After getting all our bags and the rental car, we checked into the Hyatt, then headed over to US Airways Center for a walk through with everyone involved with the shoot...the art directors (Dave and Becca from 361 Sports Marketing), the video guys from True Story Films and a rep from the Suns who took us through the locker room and the practice court where we'd be shooting.

Now, I haven't been in TONS of pro locker rooms, but I've seen my fair share and MAN,  The Suns have it made!  Nice wood trim, a gigantic flatscreen TV front and center, big lockers, all the free Gatorade, protein shakes, and FANTA you would ever want, etc...  It was awesome!

By the way, the worst locker room I've ever been in?  The Buffalo Bill's visitor locker room...worse than the Raiders'.  They're pretty close though.

Anyway, we finished the walk through in about an hour, then headed to the top of the hotel with Dave and Becca for dinner at the Compass Restaurant.  I was pretty pumped for this since it was my first experience eating at a rooftop restaurant that rotates!  I felt like a little kid in a candy store... Until I sat down.

Not knowing any better, I sat on the side of the table that wasn't facing the direction we were going.  For those of you are who are still rotating-restaurant virgins, I highly recommend sitting at the table facing the direction that the restaurant is moving.  While I think I have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to the motion-sitting combination, it definitely took a good twenty or thirty minutes to overcome the threat level orange feelings of nausea that haunted me erratically.  After dinner, I had a couple beers with Jamie and Dave, then called it a night so we could get some sleep before the big shoot on Thursday.

For a project such as this, we usually over-prepare by bringing way too much equipment, then end up using about half of it.  Not this time though!  We used just about every piece of lighting that we brought with us.  The shoot went smoothly, but did end up taking the entire 4 hours that we had with Leandro.  He did show up 45 minutes late which definitely didn't help, but he was very nice and professional the entire time.  We alternated with the video guys while shooting in our various setups which helped us move things along throughout the day.  Some of the stuff we shot required extras (in this case, kids) because part of Qwest's campaign is to show how they are reaching out to the community through youth programs they sponsor.

We finished the shoot right around 5, then went to the airport to get back home for Christmas!!!  I'll post next on Monday when Kristin and I head to her brother's house for Christmas Eve.  In the meantime, I need to go find Kristin a present....Rrrriiiiiiiiight......

Enjoy the pics,

TSB2

Me at the Phoenix airport with all the bags...making the call to The Wife.

The walkthrough...

Jamie (left), Art Director David (middle) and Leandro looking at some hot photos of me...

David and video guru Cari looking at his shot... 

Sitting in for Cari for some last minute lighting adjustments...

The hot photos of me...

Leandro acting like he is yappin' on the phone...

Jamie shooting the scene in the practice court with the kids and Leandro