Last July was the month that we busted our butts for 7 straight days worth of shooting for Food Channel’s up and coming star, Aida Mollencamp and her new book: Keys to the Kitchen. There were many challenges in producing this book from cover, to recipes and how to complete enough photography for all 400+ pages (that’s right). Well, we did it and the results are gorgeous. A special thanks to Christine Wolheim, prop extraordinaire (www.wolheimstyle.com) and our food stylist Lillian Kang (www.lilliankang.com) and of course the incredible and beautiful Aida Mollencamp (www.aidamollencamp.com) for putting in the hard hours. It was worth it!

Peter Johnson was a very interesting guy. Based in Los Angeles, his passion led him to create a very well known brand of hand made cigars called Tatuaje. Cigar Aficionado Magazine asked me if I was interested in shooting his portrait for an upcoming Q&A with Pete. I spent them morning with him shooting the shit and shooting this shot (my favorite).

LA Magazine commissioned me to photograph the now famous Umami Burger in Los Angeles for the May issue. Here are my favorites.

Travel + Leisure Magazine asked me if I would be interested in working on a larger story about the art of Tea. Of course I said yes! So I ended up photographing San Francisco’s premiere teahouse – Samovar. If you’ve never been, you must. The tea is excellent, atmosphere gorgeous and the food is down right scrumptious. Here a few of my favorites from the shoot.

TIME Magazine asked me to take on a quick portrait of Yammer CEO & co-founder, David Sacks (also co-founded PayPal) for this week’s Game Changer section. The original concept was to shoot him on white, which we did, but I thought since he was heading a start-up with all the “perks,” you know, three catered meals a day, a stocked fridge full of drinks, candy barrels throughout the office and everyone on laptops, I thought we should create a little scene that embodies all of these things. Here’s the article that ran along with a couple of my favorites.

Photography assistance by Michael Bloomenfeld – www.ohmboyphoto.com

No? Well John along with Steve Jobs founded Pixar Studios. Oh, and John also directed almost all of the Pixar movies. We spent some time at his new winery in Sonoma called LASSETER for Wine Spectator Magazine. What a gorgeous place! And the wine? Not sure, still keeping it in my collection for a special occasion.

Photo assistance by Stian Rasmussen – www.stianrasmussen.com

This past year,  I had the opportunity to photograph the fall grape harvest in Northern California. After shooting in the fields, I asked the workers if they would pose for an ongoing portrait project that I am working on. During the process, I learned of the trials and tribulations that these workers go through year in and year out to support their families here and abroad, which I tried to capture in each photograph. Their hands, faces and grape soaked clothes tell of each person’s struggle.  It was an honor to spend the day with them.

7×7 Magazine has just completed a huge new re-launch of the magazine with their new star editor, Chloe Harris. She asked me to be a part of this be shooting for this year’s spring fashion issue. Of course, I was excited and in the end the story turned out well. Styling was done by Riki Bryan of FREEMAN’S SPORTING CLUB. Take a look!

Photography assistance by Stian Rasmussen
Shot at Dogpatch Studios (http://www.dogpatchstudios.com)

In these past months I’ve been working on a new portrait project that I am hoping to announce here soon. Here’s a sneak peak and more about this soon….

Last December Venables Bell & Partners asked me to join them to create a campaign for Russell Investments. The idea was simple, show various craftsmen using the wrong tool for the job. The execution? Well, that turned out to be a bit trickier. Some of the original concepts worked well, like the Fabrege egg, but some were a bit tougher to fully realize. Like the concept of the jeweler cutting a diamond out of the rough with a chainsaw. Fortunately, our collaboration yielded a much stronger idea: Trimming the bonsai with the chainsaw. All in all, this project turned out great and the team was definitely the “right” people for the job. A big thanks to Nissa Quanstrom (book) for her propping genius.

Wardrobe by the one and only Jasmine Hamed of Wrap Productions (www.stylistjasmine.com)
Photo assistance by Stian Rasmussen (site) & Marc Olivier Le Blanc (site)
Shot at Left Space Studios (www.leftspace.com)