Gun Dog Magazine

Duck Hunting Photography

Zach Benson - Duck Decoy Carver

Seems like personal projects are a constant topic here, but it doesn’t matter because it’s something I’m very passionate about and want people to hear. For photographers, there is nothing more valuable than the personal project. Nothing. I love shooting for certain commercial clients, but put just as much if not more time into personal projects. What you see here is a piece I’m honored to post because it involves time spent with people I care about. I’ve known Zach Benson since elementary school where we were close friends. He’s an extremely skilled hunter and an even better artist. Nick Yetto is my cousin, but also happens to be a brilliant writer. The three of us grew up in the same town and went to the same schools. Then life, as it tends to do, sent us all in different directions. Fast forward to last year around this time, I was fortunate to spend 4 amazing days with Zach documenting his hunts, the creation of his beautiful decoys, ate lots of good food, had lots of laughs, and drank plenty of booze. Then I teamed up with Nick to write a piece that would tell Zach’s story along with my images. To be clear, my intention first and foremost, was to hang out with Zach while also having fun with the camera. Being in these situations I find it impossible not to document what’s happening. I also appreciate his lifestyle and enormous talent as an artist. A person that others with shared interests should know about. And I feel a responsibility as a photographer to help others learn about him.

Back to the personal project. It’s important as photographers that we don’t feel as though we need permission to do what we love. We don’t need to sit around waiting or begging for a dream client to hire us. That’s nonsense. Photographers should go out on their own and create exactly what it is they feel drawn to. Worry about everything else later. Just go out and have fun with the camera. Then, if it turns out the way it’s supposed to, the work will find a home. But you can’t worry about the home in the beginning. Just shoot for yourself and you’ll find that the images will turn out better. I’m really honored toothat the good times had with Zach and Nick wound up in Gun Dog Magazine because his story will be read by those that appreciate him the most. It also feels good to do these things with people I care about in our own way and on our own terms. Nobody hired me to do this or told me how to do it. This collaboration is something that continues between Nick and I. Something I’m also grateful for because it brings me closer to my cousin, who I’ve been apart from for so long. We currently have another piece (unrelated to duck hunting) due to come out at the beginning of 2021, and he also wrote the intro for my soon to be released Hoops book.

You can follow Zach on Instagram @benson_decoys

Click here to check out Nick Yetto’s novel Sommelier of Deformity

ROAD TRIP

After 5+ months of Stay at Home it seems like I’m more than making up for the downtime with plenty of miles on the road. Very thankful for it. After last months trip up to Wyoming, I just completed a ride out Colorado - a place very special to me where I hope to one day have a second home. If the route you see on the map looks weird, that’s because it is. As usual, I started in Southern California and went up to Mammoth for a couple of days camping with Emily and Mojo. Then drove back down to LA for a two day commercial shoot with GNC, and left directly from there for Colorado. Most of the time there was spend in the Steamboat area for some backpacking and fly fishing. More from all this to come.

Click here to see images from previous road trips.

CREMO

Haven’t shaved my face in years, but on occasion I’ll take a straight razor to the dome. A while back I picked up some CREMO shaving cream at CVS and thought it was really great stuff. Very impressed. Fast forward 6 months or a year or whatever the hell it was, and we wind up collaborating together on a shoot. Said this before and won’t ever stop, it’s imperative to collaborate with clients that you have a natural connection with. Otherwise, what’s the point? A paycheck? Not worth it. If you’re shooting something strictly for the money, it will show in the images. A while back I came to this realization, that paychecks aren’t worth much. There has to be more. A connection. A relationship. So much of my focus the past couple years has been connecting with clients that I’m a fan of. Companies whose products I would use anyway. Products that fit directly into my lifestyle. Can’t say that I’m a huge groomer, but I dig what CREMO is doing. Not just with their products either. They gutted a 1948 Spartan Trailer, made it into a mobile barbershop, and have been busy driving it all over the country delivering haircuts along the way!! Talk about a natural connection. Our shoot day was really fun. We took the trailer up and down Highway 1 in San Diego to get some images that would show the Southern California vibe (they are based in Laguna Beach). And I think we accomplished just that. CLICK HERE to see more of the images and read the write up they did about our shoot as well as my book “Barbershops of America - Then and Now”. And go get yourself some CREMO products. FYI: I’ll also vouch for their bath soaps.


American Photographs

American Photography - Nevada - Utah - Idaho

Finally getting caught up from last months road trip. These images are from the portion I did solo before Emily and Mojo met me in San Francisco after a commercial shoot. This section was fun, as all road trips are, but fu*#!ng hot. The first day driving up the western border of Nevada my trucks thermometer read 117 degrees. That’s just not the kind of weather humans are supposed to live in. And quite frankly, it takes all the damn fun out of being there. You know it’s bad when the heat smacks you in the face the second you turn the air condition off. Like the AC is just doing it’s best to hold the heat at bay, but it’s a losing battle. Aside from all that, I really enjoyed seeing new parts of Nevada. It’s a very interesting state, that most take for granted as one enormous desert that holds Las Vegas in it somewhere. Would like to spend more time there once the temperature drops, otherwise it’s just not feasible to shoot outdoors for more than a few minutes. Maybe that’s just me? Suppose other people can handle it better than I can??!! Getting up into Idaho it was more like 100-108, which felt like a vacation from 117. Then on into Wyoming where the weather was just right up in the Tetons. Met some friends there are did some fly fishing/backpacking. More on that later.

Click here to see more from my AMERICA series.


Kobe Bryant

Today Kobe Bryant would have turned 42. What an incredible loss he was, not just to the basketball community, but the world at large. An icon that raised the bar for everything he did. Kobe was one of those people that expect to live forever. People like him don’t die??!! I feel very fortunate to have shot with him twice in my life, during a time that I was shooting a lot of professional athletes. This one was back in 2013. It’s impossible to every put your finger on your “favorite” shoot, but this one certainly will never be forgotten.

Click here to see more of athlete images.

American Backcourts

This most recent road trip was very productive. More so in America and fly fishing departments, but nonetheless, I was still able to sniff out a hoop or two that I’m happy with. If there is anything difficult about this project, it’s that the bar continues to rise. Making it harder and harder to find unique scenarios that I’ve not seen before. This shot below has a “feel” to it. Without seeing any of the surroundings, you’re able to get an idea of where it was made. Nevada, as it were. A state I’m becoming quite fond of. Although, this time of year it’s hell on earth. I’ve been quietly putting in a lot of time on the Hoops Project. If COVID has produced anything positive, it’s the free time to look more closely at what’s important. And for me, personal projects are right at the top of the list. This one has been going on for 8+ years now. So a book is well overdue….

Click here to purchase a fine art print from this series.

American Motels

American Motels - Road Trip Photography

Apparently my fascination with small town motels continues? Not sure what that is. Perhaps it’s because I’ve stayed in so many during all my time on the road, but they fit nicely into my America series either way.

Click here to see more from the America series.

Street Photography - San Francisco

San Francisco Photo Gallery

After college my mother lived in San Francisco for a few years and she still talks about her time there with a lot of fondness. Maybe that’s where my original fascination for the city came from? Don’t know. Although it’s really not a hard sell. Consider myself lucky to have spent some time there with my mother as well as numerous other trips over the years. And with each subsequent visit, my opinion strengthens that it’s one of the great cities of the world. Not just in the USA, but the world. These images certainly aren’t meant to sum up San Francisco as a city. Was more just stating my feelings. A few weeks ago I was up there for a commercial shoot, which was really great, but I always try to make time for personal shooting as well. It’s a fun and relaxing way to learn more about the place you’re in.

Click here to see more of my street photography.

Road Trip

Another one in the books, and what a trip it was. This was the time that I planned to be heading east for our annual family trip to Cape Cod, but that was canceled due to COVID. That was a real bummer. Still though, I wasn’t going to let it stop me from being on the road. As you can see from the route, this trip was quite different from the rest. Then again, every trip is quite different from the last. Was very happy to see parts of the country not previously seen, most notably in Nevada. Overall this trip was filled with fly fishing, backpacking, camping, commercial shooting, personal shooting, old friends, new friends, good times, and as always lots of food.

After leaving Southern California, I headed out toward Nevada and went up the western border of almost the whole state. It was 117 degrees out there, so not a lot of productive shooting got done. Loved what I saw though. And northern Nevada is almost an entirely different state altogether. Very mountainous. From there I clipped a portion of Oregon, then into Idaho where I met up with a couple old friends and met up with a photographer that I greatly admire. Next it was on to Wyoming for some fly fishing and back packing with friends in the Wind River Range. More on that later. When that was done I made my way back to San Fransisco for a 3 day commercial shoot, which was also a hell of a lot of fun. Then Emily and Mojo met me there and we started a week+ long drive up the coast. Completing the 101 was never an intention, but it worked out that way. And I have to say, it was really special. That route has a great reputation for a reason. Almost sounds dumb saying it out loud, but the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington are world class places. We ended the meat of the trip up on the Olympic Peninsula, which could be a whole trip in itself. The amount of shellfish we harvested alone was worth the drive. Every day we were eating fresh oysters, clams, mussels, and crabs. Once we started heading south, my truck decided to act up, causing a detour and semi brief stay at the RAM dealership. Not a huge deal though. After that happened, it seemed like the universe was telling me it was time to head home. So, with some fresh clams in the YETI, I did just that.

Stay tuned for images.

Street Photography - San Diego

Just heard that Gov. Newsom is shutting down the majority of indoor operations for California again, so the strange times continue! Can’t say it’s a surprise. Walking around here feels just like a normal summer with tourists anywhere and everywhere. Just when things felt like they were getting better. I have (as of now) quite a few commercial shoots on the horizon, but who knows how far this will push them back? One thing that hasn’t changed is my street photography. If nothing else, the shutdowns have given me the opportunity to explore neighboring towns with the camera to continue this series. All of the images below were made in Cardiff by the Sea.

Click here to see more from this series.

San Diego Photography

San Carlos, California - Photography

A friend of mine recently bought a house in San Carlos. I went down there a couple weeks ago to help him with some grunt work and planned on a little extra time to do some shooting around the neighborhood - one I had never previously been to. Sure am glad to have found it though. The neighborhoods have a lot of character and color palette that was fun to play with.

Click here to see more of my street photography

Road Trip Photography

California Highway 395

Goes without saying that road trips are one of my favorite things to do on the planet. It’s not often though, that I’m in the passenger seat and able to make images during the ride. Such was the case a few weeks ago on a trip to Bishop/Mammoth for some fly fishing (also a favorite).

There’s a stupid but true thing that people love to say in the mountains - “if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes”. Wish they had to dish out a dollar every time they said it. We encountered some typical mountain weather during out couple days there. Really hot during the day, then cold and stormy as hell at night. Not ideal when camping, but great for images. Love the tones in a lot of these shots.

Click here to see some of my ADVENTURE images.

American Motels

Americana Photographs

The last couple months have been weird. Everybody knows. Weird probably isn’t the right word, but I’d like to stay away from the negative. And now that things (knock on wood) feel like they are loosening up a little bit, it’s caused me to look back on what has occupied my time during quarantine. Aside from the dishes, I’ve spent on lots of energy going through my absurdly large Lightroom catalogue that contains images from 2012 on. Specifically focusing on personal work that hasn’t been developed, I’m starting to see themes in the work that was never noticed before. This is very encouraging because I know it’s from all the time that’s also been spent on Zoom workshops about editing your work, creating photo books, how images work together, etc. etc. Didn’t realize it until now, but an education took place in the last 90 days that I’m extremely grateful for. All my time on the road over the past 8+ years has produced a handful of different bodies of work that I never knew how edit. Certainly not saying it’s figured out or will be, but things are adding up. It sounds simple, but one key that that was learned is that a common theme is necessary. “America” which has been a main focus for me, is not a theme. Just because I drive around this country taking pictures of it doesn’t mean all the images work together. Quite the opposite. It’s also quite a gem of power to learn and accept that you’ll frequently have to discard your favorite images from an edit because they simply don’t work for the bigger picture. Can’t stress that enough. Setting the ego aside can be a hard thing, especially for photographers who are so emotionally connected to their work. Has to be done though. And if the image is really that good, it will find it’s way into another body of work somewhere down the line. One theme I noticed popping up again and again over the past couple months is hotels. Apparently I enjoy hotels, and have photographed quite a few over the past 8 years. So expect to see more of them in the future.

Click here to see more from my “America” gallery.



Street Photography

Interesting to see this project start to take shape. Not sure what year it was when I started it, but finally, things are starting to add up. Going through the body of images, pairings are starting to jump out that would sit nicely together in a book. That’s exciting.

Click here to see more from this project.


THE NATURE BOY

The Nature Boy - Ric Flair

WWE - Wrestling Photography

WWE has been a client of mine for a number of years now and the shoots are always entertaining. It’s been quite a while since I actually watched wrestling, but the antics these two guys put on back in the day were always some of my favorite. Loved Stone Cold because he was a beer drinking lone wolf. And Ric Flair was, and still is, the ultimate entertainer. His charisma and energy was practically unmatched, and the crossover he has achieved in recent years is quite remarkable. There doesn’t seem to be a demographic of people that doesn’t appreciate his suits, jewelry, over the top robes. and his trademark WOOOOOOOOO. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the “Ric Flair Drip” music video. Being on set with these two was a lot of fun. Ric gave a great interview. Very honest and candid. Filled with everything from laughing to crying. Hit the WWE network to check it out. Even if you’re not a wrestling fan, it’s still interesting to hear them talk about their careers.



Street Photography - San Diego

San Diego Photography - Cars

Cars are a very obvious thing to photograph. It’s a subject photographers at large have turned their cameras on for as long as cars have been rolling down the street. I have no interest in cars, really. I appreciate them for what they are, but that’s it. I love my truck, only because it allows me to do what I do in a very comfortable way. As far as a vehicle as a status symbol or anything of that matter, I could care less. Still though, over the past X amount of years, cars are something I’ve been inadvertently photographing. And that realization is only somewhat recent. The cars themselves aren’t necessarily the focus though. What’s interesting is their relationship to the surroundings and how they either fit in or stand out. As with all my street photography, there are things like color, line, and texture at play. It’s fun to see cars in “nature” in a place like Southern California because the array of makes/models found here is so vast, as are the environments.

Click HERE to see more of my street photography.

Photographing Color

Color Photography

Photographing the streets in Southern California has been an interest for a number of years, but now during quarantine, it’s taken a step forward. Normally it’s what I do when I can/ in-between commercial shooting as a form of relaxation. Neither is better than the other. They are both enjoyable, but serve different purposes. These days, there aren’t a lot of alternatives so I’ve seen a lot of the streets. And after taking a couple cruises through this body of work, it seems as though I’ve been unknowingly drawn to green vehicles. That made me think a bit, and I realized that green vehicles like you see below are very reminiscent of a certain time period. This color just isn’t one you see anymore. Automobile manufacturers seem to have wiped it from their palette’s. Wonder if it will come back around again in coming years?

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF MY STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Barbershops of America - Then and Now

It’s safe to say that any plans you previously made in the last 6-ish months have all gone to shit. Such is the case with my new book “Barbershops of America - Then and Now”. The two other versions of this were self published in the past, but I’m proud to say you are looking at my first “published” book, with Schiffer Publishing out of Pennsylvania. I had some grand plans for a release party, but obviously none of that will be happening. Such is the world we now live in. At first this was really upsetting, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided there was no point in fighting the facts and the best course of action was to embrace the times we are in. Maybe it’s not ideal, but so what? You can only plan so much. My man Mike Tyson said it best - “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. Well, the whole world is getting punched in the face right now. So we must adapt. Now I choose to think that the book will be a boost of positivity and happiness to anyone who decided to pick up a copy. The timing doesn’t really matter.

Over the past couple months I’ve been watching a lot of webinars about photo books. And it never fails that the host presents a question to everyone watching - “why do you want to make a photo book?” For some that might be easy to answer and others probably haven’t given it enough serious thought. While I could go on for days about this topic, two things eventually stuck in my mind as answers to that question: 1) I believe in the power of photo books to bring people joy and knowledge 2) I despise what the iPhone and social media have done to photography and feel a need/responsibility to constantly create something that people can own and hold in their hand forever.

Barbershops of America is a series I’m emotionally connected to after working on it for 8+ years and traveling 200,000+ through all 50 states of the USA. For a project like this I don’t see any other place for it to live than a book. One of the main goals is to preserve the history and culture of barbering in our country, and what better place than a book? Otherwise the images just sit on a hard drive or website never to be seen.

Click HERE to purchase a copy of the book.

If you live outside the USA then your cheapest option for delivery is Amazon.

Street Photography

2012-ish in Amsterdam was the first time I recall embracing the simple joys of street photography. After years of lugging around a lot of lighting equipment, it was very refreshing to just have a camera bag on my back. That was also the first time that I remember having a focus on one subject. The first time I grasped the notion of a “series” of images. Maybe it was too much time spent in the cafe’s, but either way, the singular focus wasn’t intentional. After miles and miles of walking around Amsterdam, it just struck me that I had photographed a lot of bicycles. And all of a sudden, Emily would be saying “look at that one over there” or “that’s a good one”. The theme had caught on. She recognized what I was doing too. Probably because she always had to wait while I made 35 different images of one bike from 35 different angles. Regardless, it stuck and was most likely the beginning of the way I think about long term personal projects like Barbershops of America and The Hoops Project. Both of which are focused on one subject and have been going on now for 8+ years. They are a great balance to the commercial work, which I love, but it very involved with planning, time, and gear. Over the past couple years, my kit for personal trips has been cut down even further. In fact, on this last trip to Europe, all that came along was one camera body and one lens. The feeling of not having options is quite freeing. There is no need to think about switching lenses every 5 minuets to accommodate the situation. You just have to make do with what you have. ultimately, it makes you a better photographer. And it cuts down on weight. Nothing better than traveling light. Here is another batch of images from Europe in December/January. They were all made with very little thought as to why or a care of where they would end up.

Click HERE to see more street photography.