CUTTING ROOM FLOOR @leeavenue - Tumblr Blog

New Image Wednesday + Retro Barbers

Happy Wednesday! Quite the day, eh? How have you been? You've been traveling? That's cool. What?! Seriously?! There was an actual snake on your actual plane?! Did everyone freak out? Wow! I bet! I couldn't imagine everyone would maintain composure! The flight attendants caught it with a soup ladle and a chicken dinner plate, eh? Then they changed the in flight movie? Well, I suppose they'd have to acknowledge what just happ...oh, they changed it to Balto? That's weird. I'm glad you're ok, though.

This is a wild Wednesday, eh? Lots of stuff going on out there in politics-ville. I'm still pretty drunk from watching the polls last night, so forgive this blog if I ramble. But, I think today is a lovely departure from the loss or win that you're mourning or celebrating. This blog is a quiet look at a wonderful barbershop in Arvada, CO.

Retro Barbers called me a bit ago looking for a complete re-brand for their barbershop that's been going strong for 58 years. It's quite the undertaking. In a world where our parent's stuff is cool again, I was a bit reticent to re-brand an already awesome brand. But, the whole thing is starting with new images for their website. These are those images.

Merne and I hung out at the shop for a little under 10 hours while barbers ran around cutting hair and hanging out with awesome people coming in the door all day. I even ran in to one of my oldest and greatest friends, Punk Rock Tom who showed up to get his hair done! We set up a couple backdrops in the back alley behind the shop and took folks out there to photograph their haircuts as they finished up. We got to hang out with one of the owners, Dave (the badass 70 year old with darker glasses in the photos) and learn all about his old partner and current barber-guru Ron (the first guy shown in the photos). The two swapped haircuts for each other and laughed all about how Ron founded the place when he was 20 years old. They've been trying to keep the shop in the family and pass it on to a younger generation. Case in point, Dave has hired three separate siblings over the years to shine shoes out front of the store from one family.

Per his own words, Dave is feeling old and ready to pass the torch on to the store's main barber, Tiffany. Tiffany is the one that contacted me to try to breath some new life into the shop with new photos and brand identity. She renamed the shop from "The Barbers" to "Retro Barbers," and we're trying to appeal to a younger generation. I went in and scoped the space out a few weeks prior to get a feel, and honestly I love it as is. They had a steady stream of folks of all age ranges coming in and hanging out. Folks waiting were familiar with every barber and they all laughed and hung out while waiting for a new 'do. It was lovely. One of the most important aspects of this awesome barbershop that I'm going to strive to maintain is the family atmosphere and familiarity. It really is your grandpa's barbershop. I hope you enjoy a few of the photos from our day hanging out at a really amazing barber shop.

See y'all tonight at Office Hours!!

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LINKS:

Merne Judson III: website

Retro Barbers: website

New Image Wednesday + Mandolin Orange

Happy Wednesday! How are ya? Oh? That’s kind of cool. So, wait...you've just been riding around on a moped with a nine-iron yelling at kids going on hay-bale rides for a week? Are you a monster?! Why are you doing that? Jesus. Just because you can't afford a vintage clown outfit. You're sick.

This week’s blog features one of my favorite bands around right now, Mandolin Orange. Today is all about the making of the artwork and brand identity behind their new release, “Blindfaller.”

First, let me start by saying the entire group of people I worked with on this project have quickly become some amazing friends and people I admire on the highest levels. Andrew and Emily (Mandolin Orange) are kind, funny (literally hilarious), easy-going, and profoundly talented. Their manager, Jimmy, is absolutely on par with the hilarity, while also being kind, he provided whole-hearted approach to every step of this wonderful album, and was extremely direct in communication. Side note: Thank you, Jimmy...I can’t tell you how much I appreciate a well thought-out, and simply communicated idea. Genuinely, I wish the world worked more like these three folks.

Outside of just business, Mandolin Orange is an INCREDIBLE band. I think in a past blog I mentioned that they’re the only band I’ve reached out to to do work for, and I couldn’t be happier that I did.

Ok. Enough niceties. On to what we did: Firstly, we were a bit stuck on a title for the record, but we knew we wanted something revolving around a forest and the National Park system. So, I did some researchin’ and discovered my favorite book to date, “The Holy Old Mackinaw.” People just don’t write like that anymore!! I literally love the book so much that if you visit my house, I’ll most likely make you read a passage aloud. I recorded one of my great friends from Chicago, Nathan Hosner (also known as the narrator from each character's ending in Mortal Kombat X) reading it. He’s an incredible actor that came out of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Acting in England. Check it out below. But, yeah...that book is the BEST. Essentially I was looking for logger terms from the 20’s/30’s. We found a ton. So, after throwing a bunch of words together and going back and forth between band, management, and myself, the band decided on “Blindfaller” and we were off and running.

I built their cover and inside images down in my little basement. I started with a piece of plywood and some styrofoam on it. Merne came over and dipped little tree branches in flock (that’s nerd-talk for tiny fibers that look like leaves) and I built up some terrain. We put all the trees on and made one tree this fantastic red. My original thought was to light the single tree so it looked like one element of powerful growth in this wild, craggy forest. However, as we progressed through the design, we realized we needed to make the forest vibe a bit darker. The band pitched a forest fire...so, we went with it. I threw some tiny Christmas lights behind the set and silhouetted the trees using a combination of a fog machine and dry ice to make a fake forest fire. It came out kinda neat, eh?

There’s a cool video about the process below. I hope you enjoy today’s images!

BLINDFALLER

MAKING OF

See you tonight at Office Hours!

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LINKS

Mandolin Orange – Website | Blindfaller

Merne Judson III – Website

Nathan Hosner – Website

New Image Wednesday + Fall Colors

Hey there ho-there! How's it going? Oh yeah? Your friends keep eating all your leftovers out of your fridge. That used to bug me a lot when I was in college...I literally used to order pizza and hide it under my pillow so people wouldn't know I had it. Oh? You have a better solution? Dude. I don't think just writing "HORNETS" on your leftovers is going to deter them from eating it. Oh my god. Seriously? Yeah...I suppose the trick is to put a few boxes of hornets in your fridge first labeled "HORNETS." It's been working?! Well, sorry I outed your disastrous, hospital-ridden plan on my blog.

So, I was lucky enough to escape the city a couple weeks ago for the beginning of the color changes on the aspen trees. For those of you that aren't in Colorado, this is a pretty awesome thing. For a few weeks every year all the aspen trees in Colorado hit "fall mode" and start to change colors to these incredible yellows and oranges. It's like the mountains are set ablaze (in a good way...not like when they're actually set ablaze in the summer) and glow against the amazing blue sky. I know everywhere in the country has an awesome fall where leaves change colors, but the aspens are unlike anywhere else I've seen. It's unbelievable.

My girlfriend and I packed up the car with Ida (our puppy) and headed out to Grand Mesa to meet up with her folks for a couple days of camping and hiking to color watch. The fall is a magical time for photographers. However, because so many photographers set out to photograph the beautiful phenomenon, I wanted to try something different. I started thinking about Frank Machalowski's work with national landmarks... He would go out with a film camera and try to take all the same photos that the tourists were grabbing, except all in one big multi-exposure. I did the same thing with the trees. Kind of. His are way cooler...but, I've got a slew of film and I'm setting out to do more work in that style..stay tuned. I hope you enjoy these. They were all done in-camera with some color processing in Lightroom.

Tonight's Office Hours are going to be AMAZING!! Make sure to come out! I'll see ya there. Thanks for looking!

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LINKS

Frank Machalowski – Website

New Image Wednesday – Gregory Alan Isakov At Red Rocks

Happy Wednesday, friend! How's life? What's new? You changed the engine on your lawn mower? That's kind of cool, I didn't know you were so mechanically savvy. What'd you change about it? Whoa! Dude! You took a bone stock mower and converted it to a roadster that can go 70mph? Is that ARMA (American Racing Motor Association - it's a real thing) safe?! Of course, it's not...that explains the shard of mailbox post sticking out of your forehead. You're crazy, man.

Today's photos are some of the behind-the-scenes shots I snagged at Gregory Alan Isakov's (with the amazing Ghost Orchestra) performance at Red Rocks a couple weeks ago. It was such an amazing day to be there and shoot. The excitement was high, and everyone's attitude was overflowing with through-the-roof kindness. I played a lot with double exposures (both in-camera film and in-camera digital - yep that exists on the Canon 5Ds) to try to catch the vibrant movement that was aflutter pre-show. However, every time I'm around such awesome people, I turn into a bumbling idiot. I feel so enamoured to be around such epic talent that I don't think real words come out of my mouth. How dumb was I? Here's a story:

I was walking in to take said photos of soundcheck when I passed by three folks stuck outside the gates with security. It was painfully obvious that they were trying to get clearance into the venue and running into a hard time (which is a tendency with Red Rocks' security). I lumbered up and mumbled, "Hey. Scott McCormick. I think I'm on a list." The security dude checked the list and said, "yep." He lazily motioned for me to keep moving when I heard a profound guffaw from the three folks stuck outside the gate. I turned to look at them and they uttered, "seriously? THIS guy (motioning at my homeless-looking ass) can get in but not HER?!" I immediately turned around and said, "hey, I could call someone for y'all? A manager or something from up there? Is there someone I can snag that can escort you in? Maybe Mandy or Phil or something?" They looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "dude...we'll be fine." So, I shrugged it off and started walking up that cigarette-smokers-nightmare of a ramp to the top of Red Rocks. Some twenty minutes later, I saw that the three folks had made it in! They were giving hugs to everyone and saying hi...and more and more and more people were flocking for hugs and hi's...and more... Yeah. I offered to "call management or something" for THE Ani DiFranco. I had no clue what she looked like and had totally been a presumptuous idiot in offering to try to help. She was super sweet later on and came up and thanked me for trying to help. I of course, just tripped over my words when I shook her hand and just said some made up word that was a cross between a thought and a number, like "florp threeblom."

Oh well. Turns out I'm bad at talking. But...regardless of my blathering, everyone was still super friendly and incredible to be around. Natalie Tate gave an incredible performance later that evening with Gregory along with other guests - including the AWESOME Shook Twins. I put my camera away after soundcheck so I could actually just sit and enjoy the night's performance. It was nothing short of magical. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV AT RED ROCKS

See y'all at Office Hours tonight!! Some awesome guests coming up next week and the next...stay tuned.

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LINKS

Gregory Alan Isakov – website

Ani DiFranco – website

Shook Twins – website

Kid Reverie – website

Natalie Tate – website

New Image Wednesday + DIY Furniture Store (Modern In Denver Magazine)

Happy Wednesday! How was your week? You what? You got dared to eat an entire tub of Wind Fresh Laundry Detergent? Dude...that doesn't seem smart. You actually do look a touch distended - not to be rude. You were burping bubbles for three days? Well, that's not super surpris....WHOA!!! That wasn't just detergent was it? You also ate a lot of flour didn't you? Yeah...when you sneezed just now a bubble-shaped baked good just flew out your nose. Killer week, bro.

Ok...these intros are getting weirder. I like having my conversations with my imaginary friend every week, but this one is actually rooted in this morning's reality. My 9 month old (today! - nine months today!) puppy, Ida, totally got into a little tub of soap and flour that I was using as snow on a poster for Trout Steak Revival - blog coming in October. She totally woke me up this morning and it looked like she'd gone on a crazy bender with cocaine all over her nose. I think I grumbled out something to the effect of, "do you take a dog to the vet for a blow habit?" Either way, I double checked and the soap is safe and the flour is safe, so she'll be fine, but she's been eating EVERYTHING nowadays. I don't know why I'm blathering about this, but it's MY BLOG and I can do what I want! Here's a couple pictures of what she looks like now:

Ok! On to the main event! Design It Yourself (DIY) Furniture Store has been a long-standing client of mine, despite the new name. They used to be Rocky Mountain Table Company (see past blog at the bottom). The owner, Donnie, and I go back a long ways when it comes to work. I've done a bunch of super fun images for his company and I'm proud to say...I'm back for another one!

This one was a BLAST!!! We made this awesome photo for an advertisement he's running in 'Modern In Denver Magazine' mid-September (keep an eye out). It features one of my favorite people to work with ever, Madelyn Albright - see blog below. Merne helped me SO much on this shoot. There was a ton we had to do.

Essentially we had to construct a way to hold two big lights directly over this fourteen foot long table. I brought a couple backdrop stands, we took a giant piece of metal from Donnie's shop, drilled two holes in it, and then Merne and I duct taped the lights (attached to stands) to the piece of metal. Then we hoisted the sucker up.

I was also lucky enough to get a HUGE backdrop from this wicked interactive play that had just closed in Denver. They were just throwing out these huge pieces of black cloth. So, my buddy Justin (Incite Productions - blog below) grabbed 'em up and I swung by with my ol' trucky and viola! we had a backdrop large enough to support this massive table!!

Y'all can see the behind-the-scenes of this super fun shoot below! I called up Gregory Alan Isakov to ask if we could use his music for the video and he graciously said yes. But, in hind sight...his music is SO good and SO epic...it may be a bit overkill on my silly little video. Haha! Oh well! I feel so lucky to know all these amazing folks.

I hope you enjoy:

BEHIND THE SCENES

FOR THE NERDS

A FEW VERSIONS

See y'all tonight for Office Hours!

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LINKS

DIY Furniture Store – Website | Blog

Merne Judson III – Website

Incite Productions – Tumblr | Blog

Madelyn Albright – Blog

Gregory Alan Isakov – Website | Blog

New Image Wednesday + Paper Bird

Hey! How was your week? Oooh...that's a fancy new lawnmower! What does that even mean? "Eat that, Texas?" Dude, that makes no sense. Seriously, you're trying to just say that about anything? Oddly, I can kind of get on board with this. Yeah, today's blog is mostly from film cameras...eat that, Texas.

I've been stoked to release this blog for a while now! Today is all about the epically awesome Colorado band, Paper Bird.

I can't tell you how great this project was! Every person involved has become a really wonderful friend - even doing the project alone has opened a ton of doors to meet lots of other folks, some of which I'm working on collaborative efforts with for future releases... I feel so lucky to have gotten to know these wonderful people better throughout the process of making their album art.

As many of you know, I try extremely hard to not just provide artwork for albums, but also a much larger experience. This often includes branding or re-branding an entire group. Paper Bird has been around for a little while now and had a pretty distinctive look. However, they've had some lineup changes and a major overhaul on their sound. So, when I went to their ranch to discuss artwork ideas, it was a bit tricky. I think all of us had it in our mind to do something rad with a desert and some kind of organic undertone. It was actually kind of surreal meeting to be honest. First off, I had my puppy, Ida (who was less than three months old at the time). She'd thrown up a couple times on Merne in the truck ride to the ranch due to car sickness and when we arrived she promptly peed in the recording studio at their house. She then proceeded to run around and break everything. So, it was a bit of a rocky start... However, once we sat down to discuss ideas, the weirdest thing happened: every idea they pitched, I already had sketched it up. This happened to like five ideas. It was super wild. They were mentioning a desert and possibly a large obelisk embedded in the dirt. I literally pulled up a drawing of a bunch of people pulling an obelisk in a desert up on my iPad and said, "like this?" It just kept happening like that. I think we all kind of took it as serendipity.

We ventured into their recording studio having a couple ideas rattling around in our heads. Once we sat down and started listening to the new sound, one thing became glaringly evident: This isn't the same organic, free-spirited, awesome band that it once was. This was now a sophisticated, tougher, polished, badass group of musicians. So, deserts, obelisks, ropes, etc. were all thrown out the window almost immediately upon hearing their new sound. We all agreed that we needed something more sophisticated and 'city-ish.' My mind directly went to one of my favorite photographers ever, Helmut Newton. As per the weirdness that had been set at the beginning of the meeting, I happened to have a book of his in my back pack. The band flipped out - as most do when looking at Helmut Newton's work. It was settled.

The day of the shoot it was blizzarding out pretty ferociously. We started in a killer salon where the band was getting hair done up and choosing outfits. We had the pleasure of working with some of the best hair/makeup/wardrobe folks I've ever met. Even Sarah's (from Paper Bird) brother flew out for wardrobe from LA. Super cool. I wasn't quite privvy to outfits until we were actually shooting them, but it was a cool surprise to see what they had chosen. We never once thought of Fleetwood Mac during this entire process, but it's kind of cool to see elements of them pop in to the photos. We headed to my great friend, Seth's warehouse after that. You've seen his stuff before...he has a company called Boston Woodworking (link below to his site and the blog I did). He was SO gracious to allow us to shoot in his amazing place. I loved the combination of super clean outfits and pristine white backdrop/black backdrop combined with the piles of wood, large metal structures, and awesome woodworking equipment in the background. It was such a rad day. Overall, it was a 16 hour photoshoot all said and done. I'm pretty sure all of us were tired at the end.

Enough of my blathering. Here's a 30 second intro video that features a song that the band is releasing in a couple days! Make sure to keep your eyes and ears peeled. I'm PUMPED for all of you to hear the full record, it's absolutely incredible.

PAPER BIRD

See y'all tonight at Office Hours!! As always thanks for looking at my stuff. Eat that, Texas.

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LINKS

Paper Bird – Website

Merne Judson III – Website

Boston Woodworking – Website l Blog

New Image Wednesday + Laykes

Howdy friend! What’s new this week? Oh yeah? I don’t know if you should brag about seeing Kung Fu Panda a total of twenty six times, man...No. Nope. No, you don’t know Kung Fu now because of piecing together moves from that and The Matrix. Legit, you don’t know Kung F...WHOA!! Don’t kick at me!! Fine! Fine! You know Kung Fu!! Jeez!! ...butyoudontreallyknowkungfuyoujerk.

Today’s blog is all about one of my absolute FAVORITE new bands coming out of Denver. They haven’t quite finished their record, and they haven’t even gotten to play a show yet. But, they’re two of the most talented folks around and I’m PUMPED for the world to hear what they’re working on. This is a band called Laykes.

Led by Daniel and Seth (of Rossonian), the band is a crisp, fresh, new sound that gorgeously combines genuine R&B/Soul sounds with modern electronica. I’ve never heard anything like them. With sprinkles of folk melody and acoustic guitar; the synth, drum-machine, live drum, and electric guitars adopt a phenomenal and driving sense of heart while never overstepping the bound into cheesy. Almost, seemingly effortlessly, the duo delivers a profound sound that is nothing short of absolutely captivating.

I’ve known Seth for sometime now through working on a series of Rossonian projects (link below). But, this was the first I’d met the amazingly talented Daniel. The two are super fun to be around and never take anything too seriously. However, I’m thoroughly convinced they can do anything required musically with technical prowess and ease of grace. They’re hungry, driven, and I can honestly say: These guys are going to really do something. The photos we got were a combination of the organic quality that they showcase with their writing and the digital sounds they use to present it. I wanted something that delivered the same fun quality the guys carry while still maintaining the true depth they both have musically with their photos. We had a blast heading up to Nevadaville - a rad old ghost town near Central City. Each one of the wild 'spliced' photos was created in Photoshop following an in-studio shoot against a backdrop. Each of the six seen here is a different single the band will be slowly releasing for you to check out. I strongly recommend checking them out. The overall EP will be called "Globeville." I hope y’all enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed making them.

LAYKES

As always, thanks for checking out my stuff! I'll be talking in-depth about how I did the splice photos tonight at Office Hours if you want to learn. See ya tonight!

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LYNKS

Rossonian – Website

Nevadaville, CO – Awesome Ghost Town Site

New Image Wednesday + Strawberry Runners

Hey! Happy Wednesday! How was your week? What does that even mean? "You, me, or the bear trap?" Dude, I don't even get it...but, that sounds like a cool band name. I like your diamond studded piano necktie today.

Today is about Strawberry Runners. Not the stolons that are produced from many strawberry plants, but you can certainly learn more about that with a quick Google search. But, today is more about the Denver band, Strawberry Runners. In particular, we focus on the lead singer/writer of the group, Emi Night.

Emi and I ran out to the Cherry Creek State Park a couple weeks ago for a super fun shoot. I love that area so much. It's like anywhere you turn, you're sure to find something absolutely beautiful. We're so lucky in Denver to have it so close to us. Not only that, but it's extra-super-great because there's actually WATER there. Man...I grew up near Chicago and I miss me some big bodies of water, I'll tell ya.

It was so lovely to get to know Emi on the trip. She's such a kind soul with a mind that runs deep and a passion for music that's unyielding. Unfortunately, we're losing her to New York at the end of the month, but I feel lucky that Colorado has had her here for a bit. Her music has a powerful drive and hunger paired with a joyous delicacy. It reminds me of the wildly fun, yet drastic hills on the west coast of northern California/southern Oregon. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as we loved making them! Look for Strawberry Runners at UMS this weekend before Emi heads out to be with another extremely talented pool of creatives in the fine city of New York.

STRAWBERRY RUNNERS

See you tonight at Office Hours! As always, thank you for checking out muh blog.

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LINKS

Strawberry Runners (band) – Website

Strawberry Runners (the quick Google search) – Website

New Image Wednesday + Jonathon Boogie Long

Happy Wednesday! What's new? Whoa! What's that? It looks like a huge piece of plywood under a blanket. It's a what? Wow. You're making full check books of those massive checks that you get when you win Publisher's Clearing House? You're crazy. You'll never sell any of those...seriously? A backorder of 60,000? I have no idea what's going on in this world anymore.

P.S. – The winner for the poll a couple of weeks ago (see here) was: "Starting a group text and including a random number on it." Thanks to all who voted!

I haven't posted in a couple weeks – and not by accident. I want to keep these blogs more fun and truly geared towards photographs. But, as of late it's been hard to convince myself that anything is remotely light-hearted. With so much tension and so many unheard voices, I needed to stop myself from using this platform as another internet tirade to be skimmed over briefly and instantly forgotten. This blog isn't about politics or social injustices by any means, but these past few weeks have made it hard to sit quietly enough to hear any kind of sense at all.

JONATHON BOOGIE LONG

So, today's photos are reserved for an amazing blues musician from Baton Rouge, Jonathon Boogie Long. I went to see Boogie at a festival earlier the day of the shoot in the middle of a 149 degree open street. Thank god for bad beer. I hadn't ever met him or even spoken to him on the phone, so I wanted to get a feel for what his live show was like and what his general demeanor was. Not only did he NAIL his live show, but overall, the guy is incredibly confident and badass. He popped over to the house for a couple hours after his set with one of my great friends, Doug (who also happens to be Boogie's manager), and Merne and I hung out in the backyard chain smoking and talking about music, life and the whole. We got so caught up we didn't have any time to over-think or under-think the photos we had to take. I like that. When you can truly connect with someone quickly and effortlessly so much so that the job you're supposed to do becomes secondary and more like just a fun blip on a cool experience. I tried to grab the confidence Boogie exudes with these photos, and I hope you enjoy them.

See you tonight at Office Hours!

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LINKS

Merne Judson III – Website

Jonathon Boogie Long – Website

New Image Wednesday + New York

Hey! How was your week? Ooh oh yeah? Hey..that kind of sounds fun. If you’re going to ask me, we should include all the other readers. Ok. What’s the question and choices we get?

Legit, you’re messed up. But, we’ll see what folks think.

New York City!! Woo Hoo! I love it! I always love going to New York. It’s so great. The people are awesome, the places are nothing short of incredible, the food is astonishing, and the public transportation is easy to understand (ahem..Denver)! My girlfriend and I booked a trip out to New York partially because I had a bit of work to do out there and partially because we just wanted to hang out in the awesomest city. We paired up with our amazing friends Caitlin and Mike (see the Minneapolis blog from a few weeks ago to learn more about them) and we ran amuck for a few days! How fun!! We got to do a bunch of tourist-y stuff I’ve never gotten to do out there, like: Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, ride on the Staten Island Ferry, go to Katz’s Deli, check out The Cathedral Church of Saint John The Divine, and a TON more!

My best friend from high school, Heath and his wife Lauren came down for the Staten Island ride as well! It was SO great to catch up with those guys. They’re two of the coolest, kindest people I’ve even known. Heath does a ton of killer work in film with old Super 8 cameras and has introduced me to a plethora of amazing artists in film and photography. Make sure to check out his work at the link at the bottom of this blog. He and Lauren live upstate and are running a farm and working with ducks. They bought some land and built a yurt on it to maintain a simple and profoundly rewarding lifestyle. However, his explanation of the first few months with no cell service or real house or power running to the yurt was potentially one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a long time. It’s just quiet, well-mannered, artistic Heath sitting in a silent yurt alone all day while his wife pulled massive hours at work leaving him to slowly drift into – what can only be described as – a Kerouacian insanity that caused him to arbitrarily chop wood and slowly slip from reality. Those two amazing people are having a baby now! So…no more yurt and onto a house with power for them.

Caitlin and Mike hosted us for the trip in their awesome one bedroom in Harlem. We’ve been so lucky to have them as friends for so many years. They’re both brilliant (the two just finished their masters degrees at Columbia – yay!), and they’re really HILARIOUS to hang out with. Totally full of energy and a curiosity that is absolutely infectious. The news is they may be heading back to Colorado sometime in August….finger’s crossed.

Enough of all of this blather! Let’s see some pictures, eh? That’s why we’re here!

New York

I hope you dug those as much as I loved taking them! I’m stoked to see the result of the poll from up top. See y’all tonight at Office Hours!

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LINKS

Heath Iverson – Vimeo

New Image Wednesday + Minneapolis – Blog w/ Caitlin and Mike

#New York City #New York #New Image Wednesday #Scott McCormick #McCormick Photos #McCormick Photos & Design #photography #Photography Blog #Photographer #Photo Blog #New York Blog #City Life #Denver Brand #Denver Music #Denvertographer #Denver Band Photography #Denver Artist #New York Living

New Image Wednesday + String Cheese Incident

Hey there ho there! How’s life? What’s new? Oh wow, really? You just met with THE Tony Little? About what?? Neat! What did you invent? Oooh...that sounds cool. What does the “Electronic Paper Time Capsule” do? Uh huh...ok...yeah. Dude, that’s a fax machine. That’s existed for a long time now and I feel like it’s a pretty dead technology. Oh no! I get it! It’s a fax machine!! Nope. Nope. Stop arguing. I can’t believe Tony Little went for this...

So, today is all about a promotional shoot I did with a pretty legendary band, String Cheese Incident. I mean, I remember hearing these guys in college. I felt so lucky to be able to work with them! I had a few loose plans for the band that I pitched, however, the day of the shoot it rained pretty ferociously, so we were thrust indoors to the incredible Hotel Boulderado. This band has been taking promotional photos for 23 years, so two things became glaringly evident: 1) make it quick 2) make it fun. And, ya know what? We did! With the help of Merne Judson III (link below), we were able to crank out some pretty cool photos in about an hour with four locations throughout the hotel. Had we had more time and a better day, I was exploring some old Kabuki Theater stage tricks and potentially looking at doing a shoot on a baseball field with all the guys in a 50’s summer vibe - ya know, white zinc nosecoat, sun reflectors under their chins, reclining lawn chairs… Oh well, next shoot!

Given the fact that we went super fast and were held up inside for the whole shoot, we had a blast and got some pretty fun images! I have to tell you...these guys were super fun to work with. You know all the energy and hilarious commentary you get when you’re either shooting or standing up in a wedding party? Like, where everyone is throwing each other under the bus and throwing out outlandish ideas and swearing a lot? Now, take out all the annoying parts of that particular situation and distill it down to only the truly funny or creative people talking, and viola! That’s what it felt like to shoot these guys. They’re super friendly, down-to-earth, hilarious, creative and professional. I love when you work with experienced folks who don’t have to put on a “fake” face for photos. They’ve been at it long enough that they can just be themselves.

On top of that, we were super lucky to be able to use the gorgeous Hotel Boulderado and I can’t thank the fine folks there enough for giving us, what seemed to be, pretty free reign. We’re so appreciative for them sharing that beautiful space with us.

If you’re a nerd (like me), after the images there’s a little diagram I made up and a brief description of the lighting that went into one of my favorite shots from the day. Ok, enough talking, here’s some photos:

A Day In The Life Of A Promotional Shoot

Nerd's Playground!

We had a few little obstacles with this shoot, namely a large slanted overhang from where the stairs went above us. This was particularly difficult for glare. I wanted to fill the whole space with light but make the guys pop a bit more than the background without a giant glare on the space above them. So, I went into the ol' archives of stuff I've read and remembered that Erwin Olaf prefers to always have a super diffused key light from the spot where the camera is. So, we set up our trusty strip box sideways under the camera on a small backlight stand. Then I took a couple small speedlights and feathered them off on either side with no diffusion. It was quick and dirty, but the shadows aren't overbearing and everyone popped just enough for me! If you dig these diagrams, I like making them and I can do more in the future. Let me know!

I'll see you tonight for Office Hours! The theme is – How to manage costumer's expectations.

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LINKS

String Cheese Incident – Website

Hotel Boulderado – Website

Merne Judson III – Website

Erwin Olaf – Interview About Lighting

Tony Little – Website

New Image Wednesday + String Cheese Incident

Hey there ho there! How’s life? What’s new? Oh wow, really? You just met with THE Tony Little? About what?? Neat! What did you invent?Oooh...that sounds cool. What does the “Electronic Paper Time Capsule” do? Uh huh...ok...yeah. Dude, that’s a fax machine. That’s existed for a long time now and I feel like it’s a pretty dead technology. Oh no! I get it! It’s a fax machine!! Nope. Nope. Stop arguing. I can’t believe Tony Little went for this...

So, today is all about a promotional shoot I did with a pretty legendary band, String Cheese Incident. I mean, I remember hearing these guys in college. I felt so lucky to be able to work with them! I had a few loose plans for the band that I pitched, however, the day of the shoot it rained pretty ferociously, so we were thrust indoors to the incredible Hotel Boulderado. This band has been taking promotional photos for 23 years, so two things became glaringly evident: 1) make it quick 2) make it fun. And, ya know what? We did! With the help of Merne Judson III (link below), we were able to crank out some pretty cool photos in about an hour with four locations throughout the hotel. Had we had more time and a better day, I was exploring some old Kabuki Theater stage tricks and potentially looking at doing a shoot on a baseball field with all the guys in a 50’s summer vibe - ya know, white zinc nosecoat, sun reflectors under their chins, reclining lawn chairs… Oh well, next shoot!

Given the fact that we went super fast and were held up inside for the whole shoot, we had a blast and got some pretty fun images! I have to tell you...these guys were super fun to work with. You know all the energy and hilarious commentary you get when you’re either shooting or standing up in a wedding party? Like, where everyone is throwing each other under the bus and throwing out outlandish ideas and swearing a lot? Now, take out all the annoying parts of that particular situation and distill it down to only the truly funny or creative people talking, and viola! That’s what it felt like to shoot these guys. They’re super friendly, down-to-earth, hilarious, creative and professional. I love when you work with experienced folks who don’t have to put on a “fake” face for photos. They’ve been at it long enough that they can just be themselves.

On top of that, we were super lucky to be able to use the gorgeous Hotel Boulderado and I can’t thank the fine folks there enough for giving us, what seemed to be, pretty free reign. We’re so appreciative for them sharing that beautiful space with us.

If you’re a nerd (like me), after the images there’s a little diagram I made up and a brief description of the lighting that went into one of my favorite shots from the day. Ok, enough talking, here’s some photos:

A Day In The Life Of A Promotional Shoot

Nerd's Playground!

We had a few little obstacles with this shoot, namely a large slanted overhang from where the stairs went above us. This was particularly difficult for glare. I wanted to fill the whole space with light but make the guys pop a bit more than the background without a giant glare on the space above them. So, I went into the ol' archives of stuff I've read and remembered that Erwin Olaf prefers to always have a super diffused key light from the spot where the camera is. So, we set up our trusty strip box sideways under the camera on a small backlight stand. Then I took a couple small speedlights and feathered them off on either side with no diffusion. It was quick and dirty, but the shadows aren't overbearing and everyone popped just enough for me! If you dig these diagrams, I like making them and I can do more in the future. Let me know!

I'll see you tonight for Office Hours! The theme is – How to manage costumer's expectations.

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LINKS

String Cheese Incident – Website

Hotel Boulderado – Website

Merne Judson III – Website

Erwin Olaf – Interview About Lighting

Tony Little – Website

New Image Wednesday + String Cheese Incident

Hey there ho there! How’s life? What’s new? Oh wow, really? You just met with THE Tony Little? About what?? Neat! What did you invent?Oooh...that sounds cool. What does the “Electronic Paper Time Capsule” do? Uh huh...ok...yeah. Dude, that’s a fax machine. That’s existed for a long time now and I feel like it’s a pretty dead technology. Oh no! I get it! It’s a fax machine!! Nope. Nope. Stop arguing. I can’t believe Tony Little went for this...

So, today is all about a promotional shoot I did with a pretty legendary band, String Cheese Incident. I mean, I remember hearing these guys in college. I felt so lucky to be able to work with them! I had a few loose plans for the band that I pitched, however, the day of the shoot it rained pretty ferociously, so we were thrust indoors to the incredible Hotel Boulderado. This band has been taking promotional photos for 23 years, so two things became glaringly evident: 1) make it quick 2) make it fun. And, ya know what? We did! With the help of Merne Judson III (link below), we were able to crank out some pretty cool photos in about an hour with four locations throughout the hotel. Had we had more time and a better day, I was exploring some old Kabuki Theater stage tricks and potentially looking at doing a shoot on a baseball field with all the guys in a 50’s summer vibe - ya know, white zinc nosecoat, sun reflectors under their chins, reclining lawn chairs… Oh well, next shoot!

Given the fact that we went super fast and were held up inside for the whole shoot, we had a blast and got some pretty fun images! I have to tell you...these guys were super fun to work with. You know all the energy and hilarious commentary you get when you’re either shooting or standing up in a wedding party? Like, where everyone is throwing each other under the bus and throwing out outlandish ideas and swearing a lot? Now, take out all the annoying parts of that particular situation and distill it down to only the truly funny or creative people talking, and viola! That’s what it felt like to shoot these guys. They’re super friendly, down-to-earth, hilarious, creative and professional. I love when you work with experienced folks who don’t have to put on a “fake” face for photos. They’ve been at it long enough that they can just be themselves.

On top of that, we were super lucky to be able to use the gorgeous Hotel Boulderado and I can’t thank the fine folks there enough for giving us, what seemed to be, pretty free reign. We’re so appreciative for them sharing that beautiful space with us.

If you’re a nerd (like me), after the images there’s a little diagram I made up and a brief description of the lighting that went into one of my favorite shots from the day. Ok, enough talking, here’s some photos:

A Day In The Life Of A Promotional Shoot

Nerd's Playground!

We had a few little obstacles with this shoot, namely a large slanted overhang from where the stairs went above us. This was particularly difficult for glare. I wanted to fill the whole space with light but make the guys pop a bit more than the background without a giant glare on the space above them. So, I went into the ol' archives of stuff I've read and remembered that Erwin Olaf prefers to always have a super diffused key light from the where the camera is. So, we set up our trusty strip box sideways under the camera on a small backlight stand. Then I took a couple small speedlights and feathered them off on either side with no diffusion. It was quick and dirty, but the shadows aren't overbearing and everyone popped just enough for me! If you dig these diagrams, I like making them and I can do more in the future. Let me know!

I'll see you tonight for Office Hours! The theme is – How to manage costumer's expectations.

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LINKS

String Cheese Incident – Website

Hotel Boulderado – Website

Merne Judson III – Website

Erwin Olaf – Interview About Lighting

Tony Little – Website

New Image Wednesday + Gregory Alan Isakov & The Colorado Symphony

I've got a lot to blather about this week, so I'm skipping my traditional ridiculous intro with my invisible friend. We'll hear all about his depths of stupidity again next week...

So, y'all know what I do by now. I work with bands and do a lot of album art for awesome folks. But, I'm particularly stoked about this week's images! I got to work with a good friend and INCREDIBLE artist, Gregory Alan Isakov on his new record with the Colorado Symphony. Have you heard it yet? Seriously, go hear it. I've had it for a few months now and it still gives me goosebumps every time I listen. Absolutely incredible.

I'm breaking protocol on my ol' blog here today. Usually, I tell you a funny story or something that happened or show you how I made stuff. This round, I'm just going to show y'all a few different versions of everything we came up with along the way with a quick explanation and/or name drop here or there. Here we go!

The Cover: You may notice this image from a blog a while ago featuring Fountain Tarot (link below). We went through a ton of versions to re-imagine this image, including using a different hand and different mountains, and ditching the fire...but, you know? We were all pretty stuck on the original version, so we turned it blue and slapped a shot of the Milky Way from Vedauwoo, WY over the top of it.

The Back Cover: I dug the flame being an integral part in the storytelling of the album. In my own mind, the flame represented the Symphony and - much more ambiguously - music as a whole. I feel like playing with a Symphony feels so unattainable as a musical artist, as does the concept of writing a song that audiences like as much as you do. It always has felt like a distant, fleeting idea. Gregory has certainly gained the audience, but I know he's just like any other musician; constantly questioning, and editing, and leaving ideas behind.

The Inside Panel: There's a wonderful photographer out of California that I feel extremely lucky to have collaborated with on this project. Blue Caleel (link below) is an amazing talent and spectacular person. She was sweet enough to provide some shots of Gregory she had gotten in some tall grass. I used two of her images; one of his back to the camera (with a hint of the grass on the top and the distant mountain in back) and one of him wading through the tall grass nestled - almost invisibly - in the side of the mountain. The overall mountain images were from the Blue Lakes on the way to the peak of Mt. Sneffels here in beautiful Colorado. The stars, again, were from Vedauwoo. The flame was (yeah...this is real) from fires I was making in my basement against a black backdrop - using flash paper and a remote trigger I hit with my big toe. I really love the subtlety of these images. There's something really driving about how dark and brooding they are. Make sure to check out Blue's work if you can, she really is astonishingly talented!

Some Other Stuff: First off, I was SO lucky to be working with Gregory and his incredible troupe. Mandy and Sarah were who I primarily dealt with, and the three of us had a genuine blast creating this artwork. Everyone was easy going, fun to work with, and open and honest about hopes and expectations. It was such a lovely experience.

The insert features my great friend, Liz Swanson playing the cello. I feel like her natural grace was captured beautifully in these images. I often think hands are more expressive than eyes in that they carry such a strong pull to story. Her elegance of wrist and delicate balance of the bow was such a beautiful, and genuinely perfect representation for this record that I found myself arguing for some of the images to be the cover for quite some time.

The other side of the insert is almost completely handwritten by yours truly. I've been doing a lot of handwriting lately - make sure to check out Mandolin Orange's upcoming blog in a few months. It's super fun to try to come up with a different sonic personalities through a written sentiment. However, when you're dealing with handwriting an entire massive credit list that includes a full symphony, it can get pretty tiring. I had to take a few breaks. I think, overall, the handwriting alone took me about 14 hours. Whew. But, I like the sporadic, unruly, and oddly familiar quality the handwriting took on. I used a thin point calligraphy pen dipped in India ink for all of it. I love meandering quality you can get with dip ink, it can feel really unpredictable and bounding.

Ok, y'all. Enough outta me! I hope you enjoyed the images as much as I enjoyed the process of making them! See you tonight for Office Hours!

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UPCOMING BLOGS

Keep your eyes peeled for these awesome upcoming blog posts:

New York

Paper Bird – Making Of

Mandolin Orange – Making Of

String Cheese Incident – A Day Of In The Life Of A Promotional Shot

Strange Americans – Making Of

Faceman – Making Of

And a WHOLE LOT more!!

LINKS

Gregory Alan Isakov – Website

Fountain Tarot – Website

Blue Caleel – Website

Mandolin Orange – Website

New Image Wednesday + Minneapolis

Hey! What's new, friend? Oh cool! You got a motorcycle? What kind? A Norton Commando Hi-Rider? Isn't that, like the ugliest and dumbest motorcycle ever? Seriously? No...I don't think putting a stuffed horse head over the handlebars to pretend it's a steed makes it cooler. Dude...you jousted with your motorcycle?! You're nuts...aah...that explains the eye patch.

Happy Wednesday! Today is all about a trip I took last weekend to the fabulous Minneapolis. My girlfriend and I headed out for a wedding and met up with a ton of friends to meander that amazing city for a few days. Boy, I like Minneapolis. Back in my touring days I was lucky enough to play the Cedar Cultural Center (link below) with Peter Rowan (yeah...I name dropped). Despite it being the dead of winter, it left a wonderful impression. Mainly because we were pumped to play with Peter Rowan, but also because that city is awesome!! My great friend, Seth Evans (Rossonian) grew up out there and sent me a list of awesome things to do while we were there. We almost made it through the whole list!

The wedding was gorgeous at this über fancy barn in Rochester, MN in an area called "Pill Hill." It's the area where the Mayo Clinic originated and all the doctors lived there and built giant beautiful houses. Saying it was a "fancy" wedding wouldn't do it justice. The day before that we met up with some of our best friends, Caitlin and Mike - who had flown in from New York. We headed out to Lake Minnetonka to drink at the legendary wharf-based eatery, Maynards. It was so fun to watch all the boats and just chill with a giant beer - I had forgotten how cheap booze in the Midwest was...way to go Minnesota. We were so lucky to spend the remainder of the weekend with Caitlin and Mike. In fact, in two weeks, we're heading to New York to hang out with them again on their turf - pictures will follow! We also got to see a luthier buddy of mine from my Wisconsin days, Nick Kehoe. We went bike riding around Lake Calhoun, we drank at Acadia (and had KILLER hot dogs nearby there), we got to walk on the Stone Arch Bridge, but the final epic thing of the weekend? Catching one of my favorite bands at an old VFW, Bud Bronson & The Goodtimers!!! We were unbelievably pumped to find out that they were touring through. They're so badass. What an amazing group of dudes. Their music is a perfect representation of every single thing I felt in High School with a profound sense of awareness and full-on talent when it comes to writing. Even them playing in a VFW made it feel like High School. They're one of my favorites ever.

Here's some pictures from our day wandering around the Stone Arch Bridge. The double exposures are all done in-camera with only one being altered to black and white in Lightroom!

MINNEAPOLIS

I hope you dug! I'm a bit under the weather today, so no Office Hours tonight...see you next week! I may have a HUGE one for next week's blog...finger's crossed.

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LINKS

Cedar Cultural Center – Website

Peter Rowan – Website

Rossonian – Website

Bud Bronson & The Goodtimers – Facebook

Nick Kehoe – Instagram

New Image Wednesday + The Armadillo & The Artichoke

Well, hey hey! Jeez...I feel terrible that it's been so ding-dong long. Life? Well, life is crazy. But...you know what? Life is crazy for all of us around the beginning of summer. I'm skipping my typical random intro with my imaginary friend (I've named him "Joby,") because I've been working on zero sleep and way too much booze.

Poets Row are true friends. Deeply caring people. Every member of the band carries themselves with grace and a depth of understanding to what really matters in the world. I don't think I've met many people as honest, open to learning, wise, or self-aware. I feel lucky to work with them. Obviously as people, but also - and foremost - as quality musicians. They write impactful songs that give birth to earworms that harken to the very rarest of melody-makers.

Because of how much respect, honor, and love I have for everyone in this band, I wanted to do something...well...weird. Haha. So, I hired my amazing friend Katie Webster to create a cross between a Pangolin and...well...a slew of other desert creatures, and an Artichoke/avacado hybrid with a bit of growth. She NAILED it.

See...here's the thing. When we sat down for our initial meeting...the meeting after...and a few more to follow, I kept screwing up the name "The Armadillo" and "The Artichoke." I kept calling it the "Aardvark" and the "Avocado." So...after sifting through a thousand ideas, we figured, "screw it." "Why fight it?" Let's just do a weird combo of everything that embodies all those ideas.

...So here we are. WONDERFULLY produced and hooky-as-hell music, with the weirdest shit I could come up with with the help of friends to help build it (Thank you Sarah Thomas for painting the amazing backdrops! My God, lady...).

Here's some promotional photos for both projects and the wild album covers!

"THE ARMADILLO" & "THE ARTICHOKE"

Also, here's a fun quick look at us shooting the promotional shots for these fine folks. Make sure to check out their CD release party on June 17th & 18th at Syntax Physic Opera. "The Artichoke" on the 17th, "The Armadillo" on the 18th. SO fun!!

A QUICK LOOK...

See you tonight for Office Hours!!!

Thanks again for checking out my stuff!

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LINKS

Poet's Row – Bandcamp

Merne Judson III – Website

Incite Productions – Tumblr

New Image Wednesday + Folk Ragoût

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Hey hey! What's new with ya?! Oh yeah? Wow. Really? You're just doing good this week? Nothing else? No flame spitting at the zoo? No harassing the elderly? Just good? Dude...you're boring... WHOA!!! Don't spit those flames at me!!

This week I'm showing you some shots I did at sunrise last week at Cheesman Park. Now, I know a TON of people shoot at Cheesman Park all the time...but, ya know? We didn't see ANYONE out there with a camera at dawn. So whatevah. We win. These shots feature a wonderful husband/wife duet called Folk Ragoût. Leslie Anne Harrison and Frederic Pouille are incredible musicians that focus primarily on Irish music, but throw in some French, Hungarian, etc. They're profoundly talented...

It was absolutely lovely to watch the sun come up in the Parthenon in Cheesman while listening to gorgeous Irish music being played by these two. It was a moment I wish I could've lived in a bit longer. After our Cheesman session, we grabbed some coffee and headed back to my wee place for a more emotive shoot involving one light on a boom stand with a strip box and grid. Normally when I shoot with that strip box, I usually have a fog machine going to boost up some of the darks, but in this instance, it was so well diffused that we didn't need it! I hope you enjoy these!

Folk Ragoût

As always, thanks so much for checking my stuff out!! Next week is all about Star Wars...

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LINKS

Leslie Anne Harrison – Website

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