Bags are packed. Ready to go.

You read that right. After six amazing years developing brands, editing videos, taking photos, and having fun doing it all with some of the best clients and friends a guy could ask for, the time has come to take this Firefly show two hours north to Alexandria, VA, a mere stone’s throw away from the District of Columbia.

Why? Well, basically, over the last two years, I’ve found I’m collaborating with more and more clientele based in or around the nation’s capitol, and with that, my network in the area has been growing immensely both professionally and personally alike. One day, not long ago, it dawned on me that I was spending more time having meetings and/or working on location in DC than I was in central Virginia. Often my drives home were merely to work at my computer on footage or photos I’d generated up there, only to head back again a week later (or less). Given the time it took to travel and the gas money spent, it seemed a move was the best way forward.

So that’s happening, but for existing clientele (and friends) in central VA, I’m sure that leaves a few lingering questions: mainly how will it effect our various relationships going forward? I’m hoping not much at all. Sure, personal meetings at Starbucks or Panera may take a hit in frequency, but the fact is I still have some of the best friends I’ve ever known and one of the best families I could ask for living in the Southside of Richmond. Put simply, I’ll be in the area a lot. Additionally, if we’re in discussions or I’m already under contract to do a photoshoot with you (like a wedding, for instance), you needn’t worry about additional costs for travel. Our agreements will be the same as they would’ve been had I never left.

And that’s really my goal overall when it comes to clients in central VA: it should feel eerily similar to what it would have been had I not left at all. I figure between only being physically two hours up the road and coming back often to visit various friends and family, this is something I should be able to pull off with but a little intentionality and proper scheduling. Let’s see how it goes.

Thanks to everyone who’s been a client or friend of Firefly for these past six years. It’s been an amazing adventure, and this transition is going to be a really exciting next step. Please continue to touch base about possible projects you have in mind. Photos may require a little extra gas, but design and brand development will be just as snappy as ever!

I’m looking forward to continuing the relationships we’ve had, and am excited to develop the ones to come. Thanks for being on this journey with me, guys.

One of my most exciting collaborations of last year was photo and video work with the Hovde Foundation. I first met their Executive Director, Jeffrey Boyd, through One Home Many Hopes where he saw the video work I’d done for them and thought my style would be a good fit for Hovde’s efforts as well.

Those efforts? The building of homes for orphaned, abused, and/or abandoned street children in Latin America and Africa. They’ve built five so far, partnering each time with incredibly inspirational people and organizations on the ground. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and shooting four of their homes (Kenya and Rwanda in 2010 and Ghana and Mexico in 2011). In fact that one blog I’ve done since April was about the trip to Ghana. A video for Sunwest Bank, showcasing the employees that helped with the construction of the home there, also materialized not long after.

Las Hermanas

Tomorrow, I board a flight to visit the fifth home in Peru, but before that, the first substantive fruits of the storytelling work I’m doing is coming to bear. The video above is hot off the press and features Eric Hovde himself, sharing the history, personal stories, and guiding philosophies that inspire and guide the the work his Foundation does. Give it a spin!

Below are some previously unshared photos I took in November when I visited the home in Mexico City. A collaboration with Programa Niños de la Calle (PNC), the home itself is nothing short of incredible and was the first Hovde House to be built. The kids there, all former street children, were entirely too much fun to hang out with and photograph (even despite the language barrier). Additionally I had a chance to visit one of the locations around the city that PNC rescues children from as well as the headquarters they bring the recently rescued children back to to clean, feed, and rehabilitate. As is always the case with these trips, it’s so amazing to meet real, courageous people working tirelessly to heal the brokenness that at times seems so pervasive. The staff at PNC are truly among the best of us, and between themselves and the incredible folks at the Hovde Foundation, they’re taking some of the most heartbreaking stories and turning them into some of the most inspirational. Healing indeed.

Let me know what you think of the video and the photos in the comments below! There’ll be more to share really soon of Peru and the stories I’ll encounter there.

Ghanian Fishing Boat

A couple weeks back, as I was literally in the middle of a morning of cleaning up debris leftover from a tree that fell on the studio during Hurricane Irene, I received a pretty wild email from Jeff Boyd at the Hovde Foundation. He was in Ghana and had a number of volunteers from Sunwest Bank flying in to help build a home for children there. Having enjoyed the work I did on a quick video showcasing the house the Foundation helped build in Kenya, Jeff asked if I was available for a week photos and video production work in Ghana starting that Friday. Pretty last second stuff, eh? Well, after checking my schedule, apologizing the clients who’s work I’d have to delay a bit, and lucking out when it came to getting a Ghanian visa in time, I was on my way.

Once on the ground, not only did I have the privilege of getting to know an entirely new country on the western side of Africa, and making a number of new friends in the amazing team from Sunwest, but I was also able to get to know more about the amazing work James Kofi Annan and his organization, Challenging Heights, was doing to end child-slavery in the country.

You see, in Ghana, despite its illegality, the impoverished conditions so many live in lead to parents selling their own children to fishermen for around $40. For the most part, parents do this with the fisherman promising to teach the child a trade and suggesting a better life and future for the child, so in addition to the financial benefit, many parents believe they’re doing what’s in their child’s best interest. Still some do it merely for the benefit and the alleviation of responsibility too. The reasons are varied, but well-intentioned or not, these children end up in a situation that leads to tremendous psychological and physical abuse and far too often death.

For instance, a fisherman pays around $250 for the net he uses to fish. When this net gets caught at the bottom of the lake, he dislodges it by sending a child he’s purchased down after it. With the cost he’s paid for the child being so small compared to the cost of the net, very often children drown while doing their master’s bidding, and for the fisherman, are much easier replaced than the net itself.

James, a form child slave himself, has been working for the better part of a decade rescuing children from slavery in the fishing industry and advocating for legal changes that have led to child slavery becoming illegal in Ghana. Enforcement is another issue entirely, and his team at Challenging Heights works tirelessly to inform Ghanians of not just the illegality of child-slavery but also it’s horrible consquences. Additionally, they regularly travel out onto the late to save children from the situations, bringing them into a loving rehabilitative environment that offers a caring home and education. The goal is not to keep children here forever however, and instead aims to reinsert these children into Ghanian society by finding and educating the child’s original parents or other means.

The home that the Hovde Foundation and the Sunwest volunteers helped build is a home that’s meant to house and rehabilitate up to 60 children at a time. With this, Challenging Heights will be capable of rescuing children at a rate only dreamed about before.

Below you’ll see some of the better shots I got during my week, including Ghanian society, the building of the Hovde House by Sunwest and hired Ghanian workers, and all sorts of other goodies. The goal of the trip however was to tell these stories with video, so you can expect to see final videos coming soon too. For now though, hope you like these!

Maikel & Jennifer

You might recall that in December, after three weeks of shooting video and photos in Africa, I got stuck in Belgium for four days due to some pretty crazy winter weather. Well, odd as it may sound, this unfortunate delay is where the story of my most recent wedding shoot began, and through a series of unplanned and fortuitous events, that delay inevitably led me to to Ellicott City, MD on a beautiful Sunday in March. Funny how things work out.

My flight had been delayed until the 25th. That morning, I was meant to take a taxi from the hotel Continental Airlines put me up at in Brussels. I’d already felt a bit put out by the prospect of flying home four days late on Christmas Day and missing time with family while in the air, but just to make matters worse, the taxi never showed for its scheduled 8:30am pickup. The hotel Concierge called the taxi company, fussing frustratedly on my behalf in French, but it was no use. With an hour and a half until boarding time, I had no taxi nor any idea how else to get to the airport on the snow-covered Brussels streets.

Continuing to be an enormous help, the Concierge recommended the train station three blocks from the hotel. I picked up my bags and walked hurriedly toward the station, only to arrive and find it seemingly empty and locked. I assumed the train was closed for Christmas and hurried back, worried and completely out of options for getting to my flight on time. Once back, the Concierge assured me the train was indeed running and that the entrance itself may have been closed, recommending an entrance on the other side of the station.

With John & Yoko

With an hour left until boarding time and carrying my three-weeks of luggage, camera and video equipment, I sprinted through the snowy streets back toward the station and my last hope of catching my flight on time. To my relief, the other entrance was open and a train was just about to leave the station when I jumped on board the crowded car.

It was blisteringly cold that day and yet somehow I’d managed to work up a substantial sweat. With a smile and a joke about how winded I seemed, a friendly gent – also left to stand just inside the train door – helped me get my bags stacked in such a way that the conductor could walk through the crowded car and check tickets. We struck up a conversation and found out we were both flying to DC that day via the same flight. His name was Maikel, a native Belgian roughly my age, and was on his way to surprise his American fiancé for Christmas.

Maikel and I stayed close through the airport, helping each other and keeping one another company through check in, security, and waiting at the gate. While waiting I shared with him some of the work I’d done in Africa and even managed to sell him on the idea of getting an iPad once he arrived in the States. It was a short time in the airport, but we developed a friendship and even became pals on Facebook before boarding and sitting at opposite ends of the plane.

It wasn’t long into the new year when I saw the photos of him surprising his fiancé show up in my Facebook feed. A month or so after that however, I got a funny message in my email titled “very very random question….(this is really not spam, I swear!)”. That’s is how I first met Maikel’s fiancé, Jennifer.

500 Miles

Apparently, he’d told her a bit about this random new friend at the airport, and well, she wanted me to attend the wedding. They’d set a date for a small ceremony in late March, and he’d be flying back over earlier in the month and have no friends or family of his own in attendance due to the distance, so she wanted to surprise him with the only friend he’d personally made that lived on this side of the pond (and the fact that i was a photographer didn’t hurt either).

The secret held until the big day, and Jennifer’s scheme went off without a hitch. In what could have easily been a, “really? you invited the weird dude from the airport?” reaction, Maikel seem surprised and genuinely happy to see me. The feeling was mutual.

Later, as i squinted though the viewfinder of my camera, watching my two new friends exchange off-the-cuff vows during a ceremony at The Obladi, a Beatles themed hotel, I reflected on all of the unintended twists and turns that led to me being there. The entire thing seemed almost fated – eerily similar to the relationship I sensed between the two of them. The adoration the two had for each other and the joy they took in their journey together was palpable; feelings made obvious in Maikel’s vows of love to his princess, and echo’d in the adoring, carefree intonation of Jen’s rendition of The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles on a ukulele, used beautifully as her own wedding vows. I may or may not have teared up a little.

A Real Good Day

Weddings are an odd event in general, so often romanticized into a place in our minds as the romantic pinnacle of our lives. That romanticizing the event itself leads many to develop large, sweeping, elaborate plans for their big day, only to find an uninvited guest – stress over so many perfectly planned details – showing up and crash the party. It’s not a horrible thing, and many beautiful ceremonies result from it, but the care-free spirit Jennifer and Maikel brought to their day put a totally different spin on it. From the hiring of a random dude Maikel met in the airport as the photographer, to Jennifer’s choice of a red-dress (because according to her, 1. white just doesn’t look good on her, and 2. she found the perfect red, fabric on “super-sale”), to many other odds and ins here and there, you could tell that it wasn’t about creating and micromanaging some idillic day. There was an air of freedom in throwing a little caution to the wind. There was joy in seeing what beauty came from the unexpected. For them, their wedding day was so obviously just another step in a long and increasingly beautiful journey for them both. Another step in a life sure to be filled with fun, surprises, creativity, love and beauty around every turn.

To say the least, I was honored to be swept up in and allowed a small part in their tale. I look forward with excitement to see where it takes them, and look forward to the friendship that’s been born of it. Congrats, guys.

Having been involved with the event twice before and even recently built their website, this past weekend saw me venture out to be a part of the latest Arts in the Alley, this time in Church Hill… though not as much as I’d have liked. Leading into the event I’d seen a number of late (4am) nights working on a variety of projects and even a (pretty darn amazing) wedding in Newport News, VA  on Saturday night. All told, whereas I’m usually an Arts in the Alley staple, I only got to be there for about a quarter of it this time out. Sad times.

So, with my good friend Jaime Patterson having been shooting still photography the entire time, I decided to use the hours I was able to attend to do something a bit different than i’d done before: namely, make a video. So it was with a dash of determination and a complete lack of steady-cam equipment that I set out and made what is posted above, and even though I debuted this on Facebook yesterday, I figured it was worth a blog post as well. Let me know what you think!

Tremayne

Not too terribly long ago, a couple photographer pals (Jaime Patterson and Karlin Lichtenberger) and I had the bright idea of catching up on a day and just spending it exercising our photographic, creative muscles. The Firefly Imageworks studio played host to the first meet-up in August of last year, and once the day was done, we all agreed it was something that should be a reoccurring thing. Thus Photo Phundays were born.

This past weekend saw the most recent Phunday. Newcommers to the meet-up included two other photographers, Cassie Sconzo and Angelica Schmitt, stylist Tremayne Hill, and makeup artist, Heather Toler… and my new dog Halpert (whom you’ll meet more formerly in a future post).

Many laughs, creative moments, and pizzas later, we all found ourselves checking the clock, amazed at what time it was, and noticing that we were coming away with some pretty amazing shots. For me, a huge part of the excitement was utilizing a giant soft-box I’d recently purchased for my AlienBees ABR800 Ring-flash unit. The box allowed it to become a giant soft-box or also a giant ring-flash. Additionally, I played around with an idea I had of only using Christmas lights as lighting. I really, really liked how it all came out, and the addition of people who know what they’re doing in the styling and make-up categories really help add to overall quality of the final shots.

Below is a small sampling of the images that I found on my own camera at the end of the night. Let me know what you think, and here’s hoping for even more Photo Phundays with more, amazing talent in attendance in the very near future!

Arts in the Alley's new website!

Since 2008, I’ve been partnering with Offering, a Richmond, VA based non-profit band, to capture their amazing Arts in the Alley (AITA) initiative in photos. Through two iterations, AITA has literally taken me around the world and back, with the first being held right here in downtown Richmond and the second in a migrant worker neighborhood in Beijing, China. The events’ focus is to take a normal run-down alley, spend a day cleaning it up, and then a second day painting beautiful murals; all while throwing a vibrant arts festival with music and visual art. The idea is that this will not only serve as a fun, creative weekend for those in attendance, but also crime rates have been proven to decline when an urban area is revitalized, so there’s a lasting positive effect as well.

The newest AITA is coming up on March 12-13, and in preparation for the next event, Offering’s band leader, Jeanine Guidry, asked me to design a new website that could operate as a great place to showcase the work that’s been done before, but also serve as a digital staging ground for volunteers at new AITA events; all while trying to capture the vibrant spirit of the events themselves in the design.

Well, after a couple weeks of seeing more 4am nights than I care to admit, the new site is finally up and going! I’ve attached a few photos from past AitA’s here as well as made the image of the site clickable to give it a visit. Give them a look, and let me know what you think! And hey, if you have the weekend of March 12-13 open, you should come out and be a part of the next AITA itself. You won’t regret it.

Finger Pickin'

I’ve been working with Richmond, VA based band A Good Natured Riot since Firefly Imageworks started about five years ago. Throughout that time, we’ve collaborated on a number of shoots, a website, two album designs, and I even shot their drummer’s wedding!

Recently, the band welcomed two new members however, and with that comes the need for website updates and new promo photos, so I packed my camera up and hung out with the band as they practiced, recently. Despite said drummer not being there – off recouping from whatever this wintery plague that’s been going around is – I really like how the shots came out.

We’ll be working more in the near future I’m sure, but for now if you’re a fan of good bluegrass/folk/awesomeness, you should really come out and see them around the RVA area sometime, or pick up their album. They ain’t too shabby at all.

Rwandan Street Child

The first four days I headed back to Mudzini Kwetu (One Home Many Hopes) where I spent time in March and April earlier in the year, and the rest of the time I spent in Rwanda working primarily with New Hope Homes, but taking an afternoon to collaborate a little with Hope For Life Ministries as well. The adventure all wrapped up with a four day stint in Brussels, Belgium when my flight home was rescheduled due to a lack of aircraft deicing fluid. Fun.

All airline shenanigans aside, It was a really great trip and I had to opportunity to meet and interact with some truly incredible people. The focus when visiting each home was the development of video collaterals for fundraising back here in the states. That said, I took a few still shots of many of the faces I came in contact with and a couple of the gorgeous Rwandan countryside as well.

I’m planning on doing a separate entry profiling each home in the near future to showcase some completed video work as well as a few stories time spent at each, but in the meantime, I wanted to share some of these stills I managed to pick up along the way. Take a look below (or after the break) and let me know what you think!

On Cloud Nine

Barb Price had been a pal of mine for a few years, but even so, I was enormously flattered when when she came to me a while back to tell me not only her tale of meeting the perfect guy, Jason Weaver, but also that she had her eye on me for shooting the eventual wedding. Barb’s a ridiculously cool gal with a bit of an artistic bent, so to say the least this was enormously flattering. We set to work on setting up an engagement shoot and gearing up for the big day. That day, was this past Saturday – September 25, 2010 – and what an incredible day it was.

For starters, the weather was pretty much flawless. I say “pretty much” because the whole point of a September 25 wedding was to have a slightly cooler fall day to do things with, but at a toasty ninety-three degrees, things didn’t exactly work out that way. Still though… slight complaint, and everything else went off without a hitch for the outdoor ceremony at Winterham Plantation in Amelia, VA. From the flowers to the location, to the wedding favors, everything was meticulously planned and gorgeous, and even still, the whole day had an air of a laid back, stress-free day in the country – an attitude mirrored in every person I ran across. Great times.

Oh, and Barb’s niece/flowergirl Savannah was pretty awesome too. Had to be said.

All this exposition to say: the shots came out great and an amazing time was had. To punctuate the day, at mid-sundown, cloud steaks appeared overhead. This was mid-reception and Jason had run off to change out of the monkey suit, but Barb was still there all gowned up. I grabbed her snapped a pretty ridiculous shot of her with that sky overhead – a shot that required very little editing in the end.

Speaking of that shot, check it out along with plenty of other favorite shots from the big day below, along with one of my favorites from their engagement shoot. There’s also a Trash-the-Dress shoot yet to be done too, so… more to come I’m sure. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, hope you dig these.