The Craziest Week Ever: private show, photo shoot, music video in Chicago, DNC

Last week was busy. The whole touring crew flew into town Sunday afternoon for band rehearsals so of course I had to go chat with Lavery and Maher, always great to see those guys. Monday morning brought the cover photo shoot for Denver Magazine followed by an afternoon running errands for gear rentals and photo downloads. Monday night was a pro-hang at the private DNC show. Tuesday at the crack of dawn I flew to Chicago to shoot a VH1 Making Of The Music Video for the band's new music video. After landing we had some time to kill before shooting from 6PM till 5AM. Managed to get some sleep, woke up at noon and checked out, killed time before heading to day 2 of the shoot on the south side of Chicago from 6PM till 7AM. After wrapping drove right to the airport Thursday morning, crashed hard, runway to runway, for 2.5 hours before arriving back in Denver. Exhausted I met FBI Agent Crenshaw downtown for tickets to the closing night of the DNC to see Obama on his way to becoming our nation's president. Met Josh in the highlands and we rode bikes down to the DNC.

This is what we saw when we go there.



It was like playing Where's Waldo or that old computer game where the worm eats the food pellets. There were times where you'd be standing in a line to nowhere only to end up in a circle. Sometimes lines merged sometimes they just dead ended and nobody knew where to go next. After 3 hours of standing in line we were in.



My friend Josh had the hook up on the tickets. We took photographs like nerds.





By this point I hadn't slept in 32 hours. I was so tired but so excited to be there, being part of one of the most important political events of my life. Since I was in middle school I've always been fired up about being involved. In Mr. Hill's 9th grade social studies class I once administered a questionnaire test to show my classmates that just because their parents were Republicans that that didn't mean they were as well. All but one person realized trough the multiple choice test that they would all be Democrats could they actually register to vote. In fact most of them would have been Socialists. The feeling of being in Invesco Field was unlike anything I've ever experience in my life. I was surrounded by thousands of people I didn't know all of whom had the same goal in mind of changing the future.





We found our seats in time to see Al Gore speak. Soon we were caught up in listening to Joe Biden talk and then it was time for Obama.







I'm more concerned now for the future of my country than I've ever been (although I still get a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about the past two elections). But once again, just like with Al Gore and John Kerry before him I am proud to support Barack Obama for President. Its time to let individuals be individuals and let each live according to his or her own rules and ways.

My New Favorite Photo of GW and the US Women's Volleyball Team

Dude, its like college, and overseas. There aren't any rules right, no consequences? Just go crazy, have a wild time, smack some girls in the behind.

At least worth a good laugh.

my new Hasselblad Xpan

I just got back my first two rolls shot on my Hasselblad Xpan. I had the rolls processed as low quality web scans but I'm still happy with the colors and textures.

The Predator: short film in progress

These four images are test photographs that I took and doctored up for a short film my friend Dave and I have coming up this week for a short he wrote called The Predator. There are a few other scenes that I don't have stills ready for but you get the idea. Should be a good looking little piece....

Pre Post and The Damage

Trailer for "Choke, California"

Looks like someone over at Warner Brothers edited together a trailer for my short film "Choke, California" about Jacks Mannequin. The trailer doesn't do the piece justice really but this is what they've cooked up...



You can also order the disc from his website today: http://jacksmannequin.com/TGP/

Holga Shots from the Jacks Mannequin Shoot

The Jack's Mannequin film, called "Choke, California" is finished and shipped. It will be coming out on a DVD with his album The Glass Passenger in early September. If would really make me happy if you all went out and purchased one, not only because of the film but because the album is awesome as well.

I just got some Holgas back that I managed to snap after we wrapped on day 2.

Brooklyn to Denver

I flew to Brooklyn on Friday to drive my friends car back to Denver, take some photographs, and clear my head. This was* the view from his apartment.

*he sold it four days after i was there.

I need you.

Sunnyside Drug & Market

I've been here for breakfast twice in the past two weeks. I'm going to try and go again tomorrow. Amelia makes the eggs and browns. A pile of breakfast is only a few dollars. These places are a dying breed.

Bruised Bananas

I realized today that I've been eating the bruised bananas on top of my refrigerator for the past few days and those brown spots haven't bothered me one bit. This wasn't always the case and for years I refused to eat even the smallest brown spot on a piece of fruit. I still stay clear of mealy apples and soft spots on peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and strawberries. But I feel like the bruised bananas situation is a step in the right direction. My friend Dave gives me a hard time for liking unripe fruit. And this is still true for most of the fruit in my life. I like unripened strawberries and the afore mentioned pitted fruits. I like the tartest, crunchiest ones in the supermarket. Because normal people like ripe fruit there is always a solid selection of unripe fruit. I once attributed this like of the unripe to having grown up in a small town with an even smaller grocery market where there weren't ripe options but I can also trace its roots to loving grapefruit and blackberries both notoriously sour fruit. But this whole bruised bananas is a big change.

Today marks my 105th day in the studio shooting this documentary about the band. There are four days left. Four days. This doesn't seem real. I can only equate this feeling with the feeling of an approaching last day of school. Will Wednesday July 2nd be the longest day of shooting?

I've shot around 180 hours of footage that will be cut down to the 30-45 min range for the documentary that will accompany the first 300,000 albums sold. This means that minimally 300,000 people will see my next film. This is hard to grasp. It is another feeling altogether to have worked this hard for something and have it inch closer and closer every day. I have so much to be thankful for; this film, the soon to be published book of photography, and then of course all the publicity, promotion, and marketing tools that I'll make the band for this record, website images, video blogs, press photographs.

James and I are editing the Jacks Mannequin short like you might run a long distance relationship. He's in the City of Angles and so we're about to get on a call together and talk through the first round of edits. I think this project will be released in early September with the new Jack's record titled "The Glass Passenger". Again, so crazy to think that this CD and DVD will be available everywhere, even my mother could go to Best Buy and pick one up.

You're all too beautiful. And I miss you all.

more photos from "Choke, California"

My new friend Frank Maddocks who is the head of the art department at Warner Brothers took these Holga images during our Jacks Mannequin shoot this past weekend. They are awesome images.

"Choke, California", a short film

Last weekend I was out in the Mojave Desert with my friend James Minchin shooting a short film for the band Jacks Mannequin. It was 115-120 degrees during the day out there. Justin made sure we drank a bottle of water an hour. The soles of my feet almost caught on fire. The sunscreen was pancaked on our faces and arms. We got 6 hours of sleep a night, one in an Econo Lodge in Barstow with a bed made of plywood that didn't even matter. We ate bad fast food and Denny's. Our bodies craved the shade. The 1964 Betty Blue Olds went 65 and had no air conditioning. My cameras almost melted.

But we had an amazing time. We shot some amazing images. Here are some video stills.

I love you.

The Coffee Table Book

It has taken ages to get this far, and I can't even really begin to share any more of the project (no time to edit for the blog...) but I did make just a low budget spread of the Polaroids that will be in the book. And when I say low budget I mean I did a low quality scan and then just stuck them on top of a color, no layout, no sizing, no arrangements.

The hard drive with the rest of the images goes to the publisher tomorrow. It has literally taken almost 5 months to get this out the door and I can't tell you how excited I am. Maybe now my mom will think I have a real job!