Handsome Ransom

Here’s a “behind the scenes” shot of me shooting for Moves magazine a few months ago.  The issue is out right now on newsstands.  I found a copy at Borders.  Images to come soon!

Here is a shot of mine that ran in the November 2009 issue of Men’s Fitness. It’s actually part of a project that I shot for the inaugural issue of the upcoming SGM magazine, which will be coming out towards the beginning of next year, and is a story about Zereoue, a restaurant owned by former NFL running back, Amos Zereoue.

Today I found out that Irving Penn, one of the greatest photographers of this century, possibly of all time, passed away. Such a sad moment, and the end of an era of classic photographers.

I was fortunate to meet Mr. Penn once. I still remember sitting across the table from him almost 9 years ago, when I interviewed to be his intern. I remember the first question he asked me, “So, tell me about yourself.” I was stunned. Mr. Penn was speaking to me. 30-45 seconds must have past before I could muster a single word. It was as if I was frozen. My brain wanted to answer the question, but my mouth refused. I finally blurted out that I was from Utah. That’s it. As you can probably imagine, things just got worse from there.

At one point he looked through my “portfolio,” which consisted of a plastic folder with clear sleeves that I had purchased at my university bookstore for $1.50. It was filled with prints of projects I had worked on in school–a still life of a silver candlestick (thoroughly retouched), a series of conceptual illustrations of figures of speech using plastic toys. I can only imagine what he must have been thinking as he glanced through the body of work, which in retrospect, was quite possibly my worst work of all time. It’s almost laughable now that I even approached The Master and showed him anything I had done, yet, I was touched by his sincerity and kindness–and just how nice of a person he was. He asked me questions about a few of the pictures, and seemed genuinely interested in who I was. The entire interview couldn’t have lasted more than 6 or 7 minutes, but in my mind hours passed.

I left pretty sure that I wasn’t going to get the internship (which I didn’t), but somehow I felt blessed that I was given even 5 minutes alone with Mr. Irving Penn, if only to bask in his light. The experience solidified my decision to dedicate my life to photography, and I look back on it as a singular moment of my life.

I’m sure by now everyone has heard about the latest Conde Nast be-headings.  Gourmet was one of my favorites, not only because of the beautiful imagery, but because it made food and cooking cool.  It’s mind-boggling to me that such a thing of beauty could be contributing in any way to Conde Nast’s demise.

Is this one of those moments where we lose something wonderful, but gain something better from it?  What will rise from the ashes?  All of those creative people who just lost their jobs are going to do something…

This past weekend I went to Cincinnati to shoot an amazing collection of mermaids for a project I’m working on. My friend Megan has been collecting mermaids of all shapes and sizes since she was a little kid. The result is a bedroom completely covered with them, and boxes and boxes in storage…

I submitted a piece (and was accepted!) for the “Art From The Heart” Fundraiser, which is tomorrow night from 7pm-10pm at the Galleries at Calumet - 22 West 22nd Street, 2nd floor. It’s for a really great cause, which you can read about here. Here’s a link to the Facebook page with even more info and a sneak peak at the show.

I chose an image I shot at my grandmother’s house on the day of her funeral entitled “Birdhouses.” I’m not going to be offering the image through Red Leaf, so the lucky person that bids on it at the fundraiser will be truly lucky indeed!

Well, it’s official. Summer is over. Man, that was fast!

Had an enjoyable morning dropping my kids off for their first day. One to kindergarten, the other to pre-school. Who ever thought I’d live this long…

Speaking of school, I spent the summer shooting at the Catholic school down the street from me. It was built in 1928 and, for the most part, has remained just as cool as it was then. Check out some of the shots:

Some images I shot this morning on a rooftop garden above a school, around the corner from my building. I really wish I could put one of these on my roof…

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Recently I’ve become fascinated with the relationship we humans have with our “things.” I’ve started various photo projects to help me explore this, one of which deals with interesting collections. If you collect something, I’d love to talk to you. It doesn’t matter what it is you collect, it just needs to be somewhat interesting and extensive. It doesn’t matter where you live, I’ll come to you. Below are a couple of images that I’ve shot to start off the series, just to give you an idea of what I’m looking for:

Birdhouses, Pocatello, Idaho, 2009