Our good friends at nFusion out of Austin, TX brought us on once again this year to continue to build as well as update the image library for Zimmer Spine that we started in 2009. This year we spent two days shooting in Minneapolis at a local hospital as well as Zimmer's recently remodeled HQ.

We've had great success in the recent past, securing a local hospital for a few projects and suggested to nFusion that this facility be used as the main location for the first day of shooting and production with Zimmer Spine. Having access to a real operating room helped our talent to ease into the roles of portraying a surgical team working alongside a Zimmer Spine representative. With an optimal environment such as this, it made it much easier to achieve a realistic look as well as increase and take the overall production value to a higher level than they were used to.

Our second day of shooting was spent at the Zimmer Spine headquarters in Bloomington, MN where various doctor / patient / Zimmer Spine Specialist scenarios shaped up nicely throughout the day. From conference room seminars with reps and surgeons, to a hands on practical experience in an on-site operating room, we had amazing surroundings for every scenario with each shot layered in realism and contemporary architecture.

As always a big thank you goes out to producer Bobbi Peacock and all the crew and talent who helped pull together two fruitful days of shooting in a variety of locations.

Next up- we'll be departing for St. Louis shortly to spend a couple of days amid the environs of a dog show at the "Purina Farm;" shooting once again for Purina via Colle+McVoy. I am really looking forward to this project as there seems to be no shortage of visual options with camera in hand at a dog show. There will no doubt be a post coming from this in the future...

”A fast body-contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives laced to their feet.” - Paul Gallico

Another year of sharpening skates and taping up hockey sticks has come to a close at the 2010 Bauer Athlete Camp where travels took us once again on the road for Bauer via Olson Advertising. Encompassing two days of shooting in Atlantic City, our time was divided between the ice rink and an elaborate indoor setup at a local hotel.

Day one took place at a local NHL practice rink not far from the legendary boardwalk city. The ice arena became the playground for a series of individual skill tests and scrimmages between all the participating players and we had the privilege of better than front row seats to a great exhibition of what goes into being a pro and taking to the frozen stage in the NHL.

The second day involved a large sheet of plexi-glass and nine pro players in full gear, but that's all I'll disclose just yet. This will be the subject of a near future blog post w/ a sweet "stop-action" video that unveils a behind the scenes look at how the most interesting part of the shoot came together.

Although I'm not an avid follower of hockey, I always come away with a new found appreciation for the masters of blade and stick after spending a few days on their side of the frozen hallowed ground they know so well.

"A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in." - Robert Orben

A recent evening with my son Wesley, up north, at the lake. Our fourth year together on this trip to a cabin just outside of Ely, MN. Just Wes and I and some time away at a favorite place.

"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it." - Winston Churchill

With any project there is always a degree of production which invariably focuses on the "details." The recent kite project, which is taking shape nicely to be the next JC|P "Motion" feature, was no exception as we brought on talent, crew, equipment, and props-both large and small.

The largest item procured was a beautifully maintained 1971 MG B roadster brought to us by the owner Al Anderson through a contact at Quality Coaches. The classic British sports car provided an alternative option to American iron. With the top down, the car provided a micro environment to photograph our mother and daughter amid wheat fields, tall grasses, gentle rolling hills and an almost infinite sky. On the smaller end of the spectrum we combed the internet and worked with a local prop stylist to secure several varieties of kites- not knowing what would work best to tell the narrative we had loosely storyboarded.

In between seemingly non-stop travel over the past couple months, we've been in contact and conversation with our editor at Elemental Motion Media who is taking the reigns of editing, color, and audio for this project. We're also partnering once again with EightHourDay and look forward to the design elements they'll be bringing to the final piece.

The details are what tie it all together. We're getting close to the final cut; our next installment to the JC|P Motion section of the site. Check back soon as "Let's Go Fly" is nearing completion.

The third time is a charm as the old adage goes which applies to our recent collaboration with the Halo Group creating another round of hospital / physician based imagery for the Grenada based medical school, St. George's University.

Similar to the last shoot we used a very minimal amount of lighting, this time from LED 1x1 Litepanels via Cinequipt. Small, portable, and extremely efficient, the LED panels provided a quality of light right in line with the client's vision as well as our desired workflow. We've been using these and other continuous light sources as often as possible in recent projects allowing for video capture alongside our still scenes with minimal change in equipment versus that of traditional strobes.

As always a big thanks to Bobbi Peacock for producing the shoot along with our wardrobe stylist Deborah Fiscus as well as Ashlee Ellert who took care of all our hair and make-up needs.

We've spent a lot of time in hospitals and clinic based environments as of late. A sure sign of the current and future visual needs of clients...

"Yoga is invigoration in relaxation. Freedom in routine. Confidence through self control. Energy within and energy without." - Ymber Delecto

Our last full day of photography, shooting for LA HÄCH design, at General Mills Headquarters included a few pleasant surprises, one of which was a flex employee who turned out to be an avid practitioner of the ancient ways of Yoga. We met out on the manicured grounds just outside of the main buildings and were greeted by a nimble, able bodied yogi named Katie. After spending a small amount of time, we realized how adept our subject was at holding various poses and transitioning herself from one move to the next.

Analogous to the balance of body and mind, the General Mills "Work Flex" program has allowed employees like Katie to integrate their full time hours within their personal schedule needs. Thus far the flex program has been a success and has quickly become a viable option for those who need an alternative to the traditional 9 to 5 model.

We've been running at full steam- shooting, working files, shooting, working files... Coming up next week we will be working with the folks from nFusion on a project for Zimmer Spine.

Our latest JCP Motion feature "Work & Play," produced for McDonald's, was recently featured on Photo District News / PDN.

A nice write up that highlights and reveals the projects inception from start to finish. Thanks to PDN for this feature and once again a big thanks to all involved including Elemental Motion Media who brought the stills + video together in this final edit.

We're off and running in Atlantic City this week shooting at the 2010 "Athlete Camp." The project has us profiling 12 NHL players for Bauer Hockey via Olson.

"To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change." - Charles Horton Cooley

It's mid-summer and we're living it up, shooting in seemingly all regions of the U.S., meeting an eclectic group of subjects, shooting for a variety of clients. Enjoy a little slice of life from the first stop of this weeks project in Houston, Texas...

A vacation destination to rival that of Florida's hot spots, the city of Myrtle Beach has been welcoming visitors for over 100 years with its pristine Atlantic waters and soft sandy beaches. Last week we had the chance to spend a few days in North Myrtle Beach profiling Andrew and Julie Pytosh for the first of four United Health Care "Member Stories" under the badge of invoko. Our scope for the project included interviews by Dave Schroeder - Pilotvibe, art direction by Nathan Strandberg - EightHourDay, and still + video capture provided by myself - JCP.

I'm excited to look back on this first leg of the project documenting AARP supplement members knowing that the crew and I have raised the bar in terms of collecting content and implementing video into the overall endeavor where appropriate. As I've mentioned before, there's never been a more fascinating time to be in the business taking part in the merging of the still + video media realms. The new gear we've integrated as well as partners in shooting and post production are keeping things quite exciting as we move forward with new clients and expanded project requests.

The latter half of June and most of July have us running at full speed with travel to NYC, Houston, D.C., and Atlantic City. Check out the blog and keep pace with us as we share new people, places, and content.