The five cent Empire
Off to Minnesota to photograph a story for CFO magazine. The piece mainly concerns the fact that many states are now trying to squeeze money out of Native American Tribes to allow them to continue to run their gamming operations.
Jennifer Hudson
Photo shoot with Jennifer Hudson for people magazine. She won an Oscar a few months later for her role of Effie White in the movie Dreamgirls. I’m guessing that’s as close as I’ll ever get to Hollywood.
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, USA
Two weeks in Alaska just in time before the winter sets in up there. The autumn colors are beautiful this time of year but those mornings get p retty cold, no fun getting out of the sleeping bag. For a state with a limited road network it’s amazing how quickly you can drive three thousand miles. Spent time in Wrangell-St. Elias, Denali and Kenai Fjords National Parks with a side trip down the very bumpy Denali Highway. Tack on a few small plane flights and half a rainy day freezing in the Kenai River trying to get pictures of Sockeye Salmon. Why don’t those salmon like the camera? At least the espresso’s easy to get.
Bobby Plump, Indianapolis, Indiana
Spent a day with Bobby Plump at his neighborhood tavern in Indianapolis Indiana this month. If you don’t know who Bobby Plump is, as I didn’t, he’s the basketball player that makes the last second shot in the rather famous movie “Hoosiers”. They changed his name and a few other details for the movie but he really did make that last second shot and became famous in Indiana, even fifty years later he’s still known for that shot that won the state championship. H’s just about the nicest person you could imagine so we had a fun time hanging out with him, in fact I think more time was spent drinking on the patio then behind the lens. The piece runs later this year in Southwest Airlines in flight magazine “Spirit”.
Rendleman and Flamm peach farms
Down to southern Illinois for a few days of peaches, peaches and a few more peaches. Add to that peach cobbler, peach crisp, peach cider, peach jelly, peach salsa and a peach sundae to top it off. We visited two family run orchards, Rendleman and Flamm both of which are only a few miles apart near the small town of Cobden Illinois. It’s certainly worth the trip for a ripe off the tree peach in the middle of August.
MacArthur Fellows
Photographed an interesting project for Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine on the MacArthur Fellows sometimes nicknamed the “genius grant”. It’s an award given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation each year to typically 20 to 40 citizens or residents of the US, of any age and working in any field, who show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work. We photographed Ragtime composer Reginald Robinson and foundation director Daniel Socolow.
On assignment for another book
A few weeks out in Kansas and the Dakota’s for a book project on the Parklands of the Midwest. Managed to hike, canoe, horseback ride, fly fish, swim, rock climb and shoot the Sands Hills of Nebraska at twilight from a Cessna 150, a truly beautiful experience.
Capriole Farm, Greenville, Indiana
A few days spent down in Greenville Indiana on Capriole Farm. It’s a goat farm owned by Judy Schad where she makes her world famous goat cheese. 80 acres, 400 goats, 2 Great Pyranees guard dogs and lots and lots of cheese. Try the O’Banon, it’s fresh goat cheese wrapped in bourbon soaked chestnut leaves!
Kentucky horse racing season
Down to Lexington and Frankfort Kentucky for a long weekend to shoot a story for Midwest Living Magazine. The story was mainly about Keenland Race Track, Three Chimney’s Horse Farm and Woodford Reserve bourbon distillery. It’s a great way to spend a spring weekend. We also spent some time shooting in downtown Lexington.
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
Took some time off to explore a bit of Texas and New Mexico this month. Started the trip at White Sands NM, 275 square miles of white gypsum dunes that are truly amazing. A quick stop at Carlsbad Caverns and then south across the Texas border to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. For no good reason climbed to the highest point in Texas 8749 whopping feet, actually it proved to be a good amount of work. Ended the trip with a few days way down south at Big Bend National Park on the Texas Mexican border. It’s an amazingly beautiful place and I wished I’d had more time to spend before ending the trip.