See a video produced by Kelly Kerr for the OCCJ “This Machine” Campaign. You’ll see me doing my thing:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Naturally I brought some of my friends into the campaign, like singer/songwriter Ryan Lindsey, photos below. As you will see, I went through a pretty significant warm/polaroid aesthetic phase over the last few months…

Ryan was recording at the historic Church Studios in Tulsa with the engineers from Black Watch Studios in Norman, OK. During downtime, I took Ryan around and played with light..

Singer/songwriter and actress Jenny Labow (below) was a force in the local scene a few years ago, before she moved to LA to be closer to the industry. She still comes back to town regularly, and we were happy to have her join the campaign.

Although I like to have a plan for shoots most of the time, these were totally off-the-cuff, and a lot of fun to create.

Johnny Polygon was coming to town from his base in LA as well. I knew Johnny years ago when he lived in Tulsa. At the time he was in the band Omnichron, a really great band in it’s day. We shot his OCCJ spot in Cain’s Ballroom before his sold-out show and did some outtakes afterward.

Another artist in the hip-hop realm who as -ahem- also moved to LA to advance his career, is P.D.A. We’ve worked together quite a bit, and I regard him as a friend. He was able to do a spot for the campaign while he was in town for shows.

I thought it would be a good idea to stay in a similar vein as the SHOUT IT OUT album art for the shoot, i.e. hand painted primary colors. So I had this idea, and luckily it worked.

We tried a few setups. The shot Paper Mag decided to use was a humorous outtake (below) when Taylor held the camera upside down. They all laughed once they noticed, and I snapped.

Not only did we get messy with paint, we cleaned up, and got some nice shots of that as well

The guys liked the shots so much that they’ve decided to make posters out of a couple of these. So you’re getting a sneak preview.

My friends Erin Turner and Carolyn Deuschle were inspired to create an outdoor sculpture addressing the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. ‘The sculpture evokes an ancient symbol, Orusborus, in which a creature infinitely consumes itself.’ Read more about it here.

I again had the opportunity to photograph the furniture of my friend Eric Fransen of Ebb n Flow Woodworks. Eric’s a true artist.

The accompanying article was also about Oklahoma’s First Lady Kim Henry. So I went back for another shoot, this time at the Governor’s mansion. Brad and Kim were happy to show their affection in front of the camera. I could tell they were still truly in love, and probably looking forward to the future without the burdens of Oklahoma on their shoulders.

I always want to do something different, but as with most photographers, they stuck me in the usual spot, but I did talk the couple into a few outdoor shots on a very humid summer afternoon.

I try to cook up unique ideas for every shoot. This time I had the idea to play with a cheesy old effect made by a Multi-image filter, a goofy thing that was popular in the 1960s and 70s. When used as intended, it mirrors a centered image, usually a face around the frame, like a prism. I decided to misuse it for my purposes. Trying to get it to work for me was like Jazz – improvising in the moment, as any slight movement would completely change the composition. None of these images were created in photoshop, it’s all in-camera besides some levels and color adjustments, etc.

To add to the psychedelic effect, we incorporated quirky birds, nests, horns, feathers, flowers and colors. I think the shoot was a total success.

It’s a special place with one foot in the past, one in the present. Businesses that cater to cowboys still hang on in a small section of Oklahoma City known as Stockyards City. Custom hatteries, tack shops, boots and western wear stores, the famous Cattlemen’s Restaurant. The whole place smells of cow pies, leather, diesel fumes, and grilled steaks. It was a project I was excited to work on – my Grandpa was a part-time rancher and so is his son, my uncle Robert. I grew up around the culture, the sights and smells, the kind folks. Cow crap even smells nice to me. This project was a chance to connect with my Grandpa, now long gone, and remember those times, those ways.

It’s premature to show you these photos, as this a book project that is currently in the works. Many of these shots will likely not be used. But I tend to sit on shots far too long… so anyhow, enjoy the preview.

These are shots of UFC fighter Gerald Harris. Like many fighters, he’s a totally calm, nice guy in real life, but becomes a ferocious warrior when he enters the ring.

Below is Trey Houston

This is Levi Avera.

Samantha’s music is flavored with folk/Americana, though the new album is decidedly indie rock. I really enjoy of pulling out personality in my photos. Samantha can seem shy at times, but has a fun loving quirky personality.

Then we went for classic despair. I gathered some dead limbs from and built a vignette by clamping them to stands.

I prefer the contrast of the versions below.

Because a lot of her image was anchored in a bucolic setting up to now, I wanted to go more urban, lonely, brooding. Below, she’s at the Tulsa Greyhound station, far from a placid field or farmhouse.

Local music producer Damon Banks of Swahill Studios was my subject for this shoot for the cover story of the Urban Tulsa Weekly several weeks ago. It was a misty morning, but luckily it was warm enough, and we beat the rain.

The band Ithica needed a shot quickly to accompany an article in the Urban Tulsa. I plainly had no ideas, which is not how I like to operate these days. But things seem to always work out. There was an enormous pool of water that band member and photographer Travis Hall thought might be useful. I had a friend’s 300mm 2.8 lens in my car, so it got the tap. Finally inspiration struck – what if we caught a splash in the foreground. It took several attempts, but we finally got a frame to work. Done and done in about a half hour start to finish.

Eric and the Adams have become friends of mine. We came up with the idea to paint a wall so they could overlay their logo over it for posters, etc for South by Southwest promotion.

I shoot LOTS of live shows, but rarely make it a priority to show them off. This is RJD2 performing at Cain’s Ballroom back in February.

Below is Christian pop duo Dean Williams. Simple and classy.

Below is another one-and-done assignment shot – the Tulsa Rock Ensemble. These guys are players in the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra who do special collaborations with local bands. It’s a pretty cool thing they are doing. And since they don’t get the chance to cut loose often, I wanted them to feel like rock stars for a change. Walk into the shot, squirt some smoke machine, give me some attitude. Bang bang done.

I have a couple more special band projects I’ve been holding onto for timing reasons. Keep an eye out!

I have a lot of shots in this month’s edition of Oklahoma Magazine http://www.okmag.com/, including the cover and features on the Philbrook Museam of Art, and the characters associated with the new ONEOK Field.

Below is Tulsa Drillers owner Chuck Lamson. Of course it HAD to rain on the days I shot.

Above is Bob Jack of Manhattan Construction, below is sports historian Wayne McCombs.

Below are shots from the feature on Philbrook’s new face. Board president Bill Lobeck is below.

Above is baby Lark.

Above, Ben and Noelle Kilgore – who own Shoe Gypsy in Tulsa, OK for the Urban Tulsa. Below is sports chiropractor Michael Van Antwerp, a great guy and a healer who can apparently make kinesio tape levitate.

Above: Tina Fey performed at the Tulsa Convention Center. No further comment.

This is an old friend Chris, a marketing manager for the Cherokee Nation, who wanted to do some cool headshots.

Stay tuned, more posts are coming soon…