From where I can really see.
Today is one of those days where upon completion my initial response is to pat myself on the back for juggling so many projects and responsibilities. Bills paid (some not), invoices processed, expense reports detailed and post production begun along with a litany of other marketing, accounting and organization concerns which constitute running a business, but I find myself missing the pictures.
After two weeks on the road shooting and spending time with family I returned to start right up with long time client Cook Children’s Medical Center on a full day job and off to Houston tomorrow for HealthLeaders Magazine and yet on down/office days like these I miss my subjects and the raw energy of shooting.
From the New York Studio to the rocky mountain altitude all the way to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Medical Center I find myself experiencing great gratitude for the people who support my career.
New York was a powerfully productive trip both in the shooting and the visits. I can’t wait to share the images we produced for the Mac Group, both the crew and the models were sublime and made for an amazing shooting experience. Once our shooting wrapped I made it to see my NY support crew at the Getty Images and Spike TV offices. With both the new faces and familiar faces I left feeling recharged by what they are creating and where we are pushing my presence. The year is half over and so much to achieve.
The return to the mountains in Colorado was such a needed escape. I took my 13 month old on her first altitude hike and with her on my back and the crisp air blowing our hair it was amazing how clear my mind was above tree line. Like the mist and rain crawling across the Rocky Mountain National Forest the doom and gloom over our industry is palpable on a daily basis as we advertise for new clients and diversify our outlets in search of creative and monetary solace. Yet underneath all the rain there is so much stunning beauty filled with trails just waiting for us to walk down. Thinking of the amazing stories and lives I am blessed to visit and the endless creative outlets at my fingertips supported by the most consummate professionals left me buzzing with ideas. Hiking down the mountain with my baby girl asleep on my back I found myself charging down the trail ready to erupt over the edge.
At the half way point of 2009, and stopping to take a breath I can’t say I have created the body of work I want to remember 2009 by. Charged and challenged I step forward into the rest of this year hungry and lustful for more adventures, for more evocative imagery. I will get to the bills eventually but for now I really want to keep pushing the development of the vision up that steep climbing trail.
My accidental ode to Barbarella.
This is not generally the style of photography I shoot and yet for a test/favor I thought it would be a fun experiment. During the shoot while changing backgrounds and lights, looking for a shot, this very 60’s reminiscent image developed. Barbarella Lives On! This was another project created with students from the University of North Texas program and as always I truly enjoyed the experience. In fact there is an Senior Show at the Lakewood Theater this Saturday where all the graduating UNT seniors will have their portfolio work on display for alum and networking opportunities. I am excited to see how Juan, Carol, Becca, and Curtis are doing moments before they march out into their professions. Every collaboration with these students was a pleasure and I’m looking forward to the event and working with them in the future.
Play aside, things are busy around the studio. I recently joined the collective Wonderful Machine and already experiencing great feedback and momentum from their staff. I am also stepping out and joining the collection of photographers at Atedge and looking forward to seeing where both outlets will take me. It is time for new adventures and change is on the horizon. Tonight I am off to shoot the final party for Michael Irvin’s ”4th and Long” reality show and Sunday I fly to New York for a Mac Group project (more on this opportunity when I am allowed to talk about it). With two more Cook Children’s Medical Center shoots on the horizon and several tests on the calender I am enthusiastic about the next few months.
If your in New York and can get together for a beer shoot an email at me and lets make it happen! Looking forward to crashing the Getty assignment offices for a visit and catching up with the Eddie Adams Workshop crew for at least a couple epic nights. To the graduating seniors, Congrats! To the New York posse, see you soon.
For concepts and assignments feel free to call – 469.438.2711 or email – jensen@jensenwaker.com - jensenwalker.com
Smoke Grenandes and Gasoline
I worked most of the weekend as spring winds whipped across Dallas under crystal blue skies and glorious rays of sunshine. Cyclist rode the tour of Dallas, there was a Deep Ellum arts festival, a marathon, and Nascar was in town while I shot TCU football for Nike and started a branding project for friend and news anchor Kim Fischer. As the winds of change rolled through it was admittedly hard to focus as we prepared for our first open house, I scouted locations, went looking for smoke grenades and knew there was so much in town I would not get to photograph.
With so many balls in the air right now including three jobs this week, taxes and the ever-present stress over what is going to happen with the wife’s Air Force package it was just nice to eventually get out on Sunday and play. While it was technically work, it was one of those days where I openly proclaimed how much I love my job, “pop smoke Gavin. Harl, gasoline now… more… good! Kim, Go!” This image will eventually be part of marketing materials and a web site for Kim as she prepares to move markets and take her face national. I want to say thank you to my assistants (who needs hair on their hands anyway?) and to Kim, I love the fact that she is willing to push the concept and create more than a standard head shot.
As we head into the week make sure at some point you create art for yourself.
To concept and shoot feel free to call – 469.438.2711 or email – jensen@jensenwaker.com
Emotional Paint
This set of images is a test for a test. The idea is to shoot a series of images where the emotional apex is punctuated by sprays, shields, splatters and arcs of paint. I wanted to make sure I could capture what was in my mind and while there is some fine tunning to be made to the process I am overall pleased with the effect.
I envision the shoot in a house prior to demolition to eliminate the mess factor and I have thoughts on dancing, arguing, kissing, and handshakes but would love to hear other ideas for emotional apexes and or locations. My call to you is this, post any and all ideas and I look forward to adding them to the shot list, thanks!
Who did the Makeup?
[Gallery not found]To answer the fist question I continue to receive on this series, the makeup was the artful crafting of none other than the beautiful Angela Angel who on short notice was kind enough to rock this test shoot. I also want to say thank you to the Campbell Agency models who donated their time to spit water, dawn busted eyes, and rage for the camera all day in an empty warehouse. I dig the series and could not have done it without all of your help and passion.
Surefire
[Gallery not found]4:30 a.m. – Two empty bottles of red wine stagnate on my desk (a step up from days past when 2 empty bottles of rum would have been more likely), 5 cans of Red Bull permeate the air with an acrid stench of sugar and caffeine, a model is passed out in a soft coma on my couch and the printer is just starting to churn out prints.
In the previous 3 days as the sun skulked over the horizon we brought from the shadows a terrorist wielding a 9mm in South Dallas, were kicked out of an empty parking garage with our rage full ex-girlfriend, convinced a cop we were not tagging the walls as our cholo shook a baseball bat wrapped in electrical tape, persuaded a model to dawn my wife’s stocking on his head and made a nice guy find his inner predator in the woods by the lake.
To be serious for a moment I must acknowledge these images as the execution of Juan Facio’s vision for an assignment in his advertising class at the University of North Texas. Through it all we had a blast and as far as Juan’s education goes I want his professor to know he demonstrated an adeptness at running interference with cops, homeless people, the Texas film commission, and security guards not to mention a skillfulness for maintaining his concept while accepting feedback and input. Looking forward to working with Juan once he gets out there and starts grinding.
6:30 a.m. The sun heralded its return with whispers against the sky, and it was time to wake the model, box the prints and kick these two out of my house. In true homage to the all-nighter, albeit a long time since I pulled one, I took one last drink shut down the computer and with that trite experience of pride you get on the back side of a completed project headed to bed. My wife stirred groaned and look at me with a mixture of confused repulsion and asked, “How did it look, what time is it?” I snuggled in, rolled over, snickered and told her “went great, its 6:30 time for you to get up.”
Smoke Without Fire
[Gallery not found]This is a collection of images created in conjunction with the Highland Park Fire Dept. during a life action training. I sat on these images for about two months but figured I needed to get them worked prior to vanishing into a hard drive to be serendipitously discovered by future generations. A hearty thank you to Highland Park I had a blast out there and look forward to working with your crew again.
Invasion: The Resistance
[Gallery not found]Another installment of the ongoing project I thought I would share.
Current TV picks up promo.
Exciting news! The 2007 Emmy awarded content provider Current TV has picked up the promotion piece that Tom Parish and I worked on together at the beginning of the Invasion America project. If your behind the work or have been watching the growth of the project go to their site and vote, who knows “your greenlight helps get these on TV”. CURRENT TV
Invasion: D-Day
The Invasion Begins. As surgical strikes hammer our cities, the sounds of assault rifles crackle through the billowing smoke. Platoons sweep into neighborhoods searching for ex-military and weapon caches. The country falls into darkness as the electricity and infrastructure collapses in less than 48 hours. What now?
I am excited to announce the series continues and is the subject of an upcoming podcast with Dieste Harmel and Partners. However, as my brother prepares to redeploy with the U.S. Armed Forces, these images have more importantly helped me redefine my personal judgments and preconceptions of our conflicts and the people so deeply entrenched in them.
Invasion: America’s Martyrs
This is the latest shot in the Invasion: America series and is an exploration into the factors it would take to create a culture where the suicide bombers or, as many call it, the martyr is American. The mention of suicide bombers manifests in me such a rage and hatred, where in my mind races down that road where condemnation and righteous indignation is so perfect. “Those fucking people! What sort of barbarism would drive people to resort to such base disgusting theaters of gore? Cavemen, they can’t be much more than that to value life so cheaply.” So on and so on my mind will go as I read another article on a car bomb or man strapped in C4 explosives walking into a public space.
I find myself wondering if this weapon could ever find it’s way into the American arsenal. Iran was the home of the suicide bomber and yet that is not the name they go by. In Iran and many other cultures where this weapon is deployed they are an integral part of cultural lore, political rally points, religious calls to prayer, and ultimately martyrs. Their posters line busy streets as if they were election candidates. Children know the names of all the famous ones and the community honors the families for their sacrifice and donation to the cause. The largest cemetery in the world is in Iran, dedicated solely to the graves of martyrs and those who laid down their lives in the blood of others. Thinking beyond the guerilla weapon a person fearless of death becomes, the historical trend, and the Cultural Revolution, could it become American?
This shot is based on the continuing fiction of America invaded by an occupying Islamic military force. A high school or college aged young man strapped in explosives kneeling at a shrine in preparation of his final sacrifice to the cause. Could it happen? How hard would it be for this reality to find manifestation in our culture? 9/11 was unthinkable and Katrina and its horrors were unfathomable. Is the unacceptable capable of being part of our psyche? If so, does this make it incumbent upon us to remove the judgments we place on those currently engaged in the utilization of this weapon, terrorism, or faith? What would it take to drive us to this level of desperation, dedication? How do we understand it, challenge it, or change it rather than watch it spread and evolve from a grenade-toting 12 year old Iranian charging an Iraqi tank (arguably the first suicide bomber), into embassy and car bombs as political exclamation?
P.S. Which do you prefer the Right or Left
Bikram in Blue
The images for Bikram Yoga Dallas are live and on their site. Previously the site only had drawings of the poses but we finally got around to shooting the whole series. Our model was Joseph Encinia, who is currently in Hawaii completing his teacher training for Bikram. Encinia has an amazing practice and worked so hard for the shoot. So to all you Yogies and Yoginies enjoy.
[Gallery not found]
Invasion: America
“Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn’t. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country.” Mark Twain
This shot is part of an ongoing project exploring the possibilities and realities of an America occupied by Islamic forces. It is a project inspired by images being created in Iraq which create a curiosity in me to explore what would happen to our current social fabric if roles were reversed. What questions would it ask us to revisit? What policies would it support or challenge? Ultimately creating a conversation based outside of our visual expectations and tempting us to examine our national and personal choices through new filters.
This shoot could not have been done without some amazing people. My producers Susanne Lancaster, Jean Walker and models: Dan Walker, Deborah Walker, Evan Parker, V.J. Patel, Megan Smith, Emily Armour, Max Elo, and Jason Treu
The first round of this project was set in a kitchen with the idea that our homes and families would fall victim to searches and laid bare under suspicious hands. This was an exploratory start to test the viability of the project. Once started I decided to create an 8-10 image series. As part of the beginning I was lucky enough to get the help of a good friend Tom Parish to help to assemble a video to explain where I hoped the project would take us. The following is his work and again I have to say thank for all of his amazing work, time and dedication.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbUP95oIBVM]