We are in production overload. We are putting together 44 shots both location and studio for UnitedHealthcare. Having to cast over 40 different roles, prop, wardrobe, style, find locations and build sets for a shoot that starts next Monday and goes through the 5th of Oct….. We’re crazed! So.. if you don’t hear from us for a while, this is why. Look forward to sharing the finished product, but until then…

Just a quick note to say “Congrats” to my Brother and his New Wife, who got married this weekend! I only took a few snaps as I was just having too good of a time to be bothered with photos, but after I have a chance to take a quick look, I may post a shot or two. My family and I could not be more pleased to welcome our new sister-in-law to the family and we wish the more than all of the joy and happiness in the world! (Is my ear-to-ear grin showing in this post?) We love you guys! Congratulations!!!!!

For any of you pro’s out there that shoot with Canon Professional cameras, if you are not already aware of Canon Professional Services, it is a service you should look into. Strangely enough they have no U.S. website (I know.. how behind the times can a company be..?) But it is worth looking into even if it is only for the expedited turn-around on camera repairs and maintenance. They also “supposedly” offer free equipment rental either for evaluation purposes or to cover you while your equipment is at one of their service centers, although I have never utilized this service because the local rep has never returned my calls.. I know this is sounding like a lackluster endorsement but the repair turnaround is really my main selling point. I can offer anyone who requests it, their local Canon reps phone # in order to apply, or direct you to Canon’s main # 1-800-OK-Canon and request an application for Canon Professional Services or “CPS” You do have to prove your “Professional Status” with copies of tear sheets and promos. I just had two of my bodies and one lens go in for an overhaul and it looks as if the whole service was “no charge!”

So you’ve seen it..right?

The new Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III’s are due out the end of this year. I won’t get into all of the specs here but can send you to Canon, DP Review or Engadget to check out all of the details. The one plesant surprise is the cost … Rather than the rumored $15K the bodies should be thet same price as all of their predecessors, about $8K.

The spending just never ends!

We’re currently printing up the exhibition for the Pasadena Arts & Ideas Festival that we told you about in a previous post. All of the images are black & white and have a lot of dark tones in them. Usually we like to print on matte surface papers but the drawback to them is the frequency with which areas of dark detail block up into big patches of black, loosing all of the nice intricacies. So for this show we went in search of an archival exhibition paper and came across Crane Museo Silver Rag. It is very similar to a fiber based fine art gloss / luster photo paper. I have to say, that so far we have been quite pleased with the depth and quality if the imagery we are getting. Evidently quite a few museums work with this paper for their own exhibitions. We’ll let you know if we run up against any issues but, thus far we would highly recommend using this paper if you are looking for a high quality paper with a traditional “photo paper” look and feel.

Thanks again to the folks at InkJetArt.com!

Just a quick “Welcome Back” to my Rep David Gibbons. David, went to Nigeria (I was supposed to but got sick) to work on a documentary. We are glad that he is back safe and sound (if not a bit worse for wear from food poisoning) and hoping he thinks twice before doing another trip like that!

As we said in a previous post we went to Alamogordo, New Mexico, to shoot an ad campaign for next years White Sands International Film Festival. We shot for a week in some of the hottest temps the have had in a long time. Although we had a great time and were treated like royalty by all of our beautiful hosts… (that would be you Linda & Jim Gulley!) we were quite happy to get home to the cool temps of 95°+!

We shots a lot of great folks all around Southern New Mexico and a little architecture, a few interiors, a little food, and a couple nice scenics.

This shot was one of the local hotels on the main drag in Alamogordo. It’s our favorite kitsch locale. It was shot about a half hour after sunset, at an exposure of 1 sec. @ f9 at ISO 50 (you know.. I’d never have been able to tell you that, were it not for digital metadata!!)