Kora, Meg, Carrice, Emily and I spent a quick hour shooting Carrice’s senior work for Finlandia University. The single picture does not do justice to the web of suspended glass objects, mirrors, and windows. It was pretty tough not to back into a feature, but the collecton of shots turned out decent. Brockit does a lot of work for starving artists, like Carrice, and it is great. Always nice to see fresh, edgy art from Finlandia’s students. Nice work here, Carrice, and we thank you for the Bells.

My family and I had the fortune of joining my siblings and parents on an almost two-week trip to the Netherlands - the birth and childplace of my dad, Abraham Poot. Fun, fun. This was a surreal trip that would be hard to explain, let alone repeat. I pushed myself to keep a daily blog where you can look through the images and rambling text that outlines everything from our arrival to our departure. At first lamented the absence of the gear I’m comfortable using, which I left at home for reasons of simplicity, weight, discression, etc… Oh yeah, and Robyn made me; so there is that. I grabbed a new, ultra-compact Panasonic FX500 which I ended up loving, despite its inevitable compromises by being a tiny point & shoot. On the other hand, it prevented me from looking like a dork and allowed me to be subtle and flexible. Fun, fun. So, yes; check the blog here if you want.

The three images below are all shot with the camera on the ground; something I can’t do easily with the D3. Oh yeah, and I got a nasty sting of nettle leaves while lying in the grass in front of the windmill; damn those plants…

Ah, another great shoot of Dr. Carlson and her family for Portage Health. Nice job as always, Rima; you win the award for the most photogenic doctor. I think this is the first on-site shoot that Brockit’s intern Emily gave a hand on as well. So nice to have company and support - makes the job go quickly and effectively!

I actually got to participate in a wedding from the bridal party point of view instead of from behind the camera. My good buddy Wayne got married in the lovely West Virginia to the even lovelier Teresa. I had the honor of being in the party, supporting Wayne and hooking up with my Detroit buddies. Woo hooo! Nice job Wayne. Glad we cleaned up the Cadillac and always nice to see you. Still can’t believe you are married! I also got to connect with my new photography friend Rebecca Kiger who was kind enough to feature me on her blog. Rebecca, thanks for letting me play, and I look forward to working with you. Wayne, even though you’re married, I’m hoping you still have a guest room for me…

Check it: This year’s festival is around the corner - directly. Jessie rocked the buzz poster out and look for the final one in a couple weeks. Don’t forget to check the local-music mailing list for the local music scene. Artist booths and live, local music all afternoon; what could be more fun? See the Community Arts Center for more information about the event, and a press release.

Noon - 1PM New Zeeland Jazz Apples
1PM - 2PM Squeaky Clean Cretins
2PM - 3PM On-the-Spot Blues Band
3PM - 4PM Keweenaw Brewgrass
4PM - 5PM Blackflies
5PM - 6PM Hannah Bethel

A/V partner Todd led me around the winding hallways and labs that makes up the maze of Calumet Electronics. As part of an image refresh and new content, we spent a couple days working almost each and every aspect of the complex including clean rooms, baths, labs, indoors and out. Lots of colors, lines, and scenes to play with, and we ended up with a good amount of glossy content. Thanks to everyone up there for helping out!

Driving back to Houghton from Kalamazoo (that’s 550 miles with a four-year-old) and gently buzzed on coffee, Robyn and I thought a fun project would be to shoot people’s most essential, tangible, physical item and focus on it, literally and figuratively; leaving themselves as a secondary prop - which is how I feel without a couple of my own coveted, material possessions… So; see the draft poster below, created by Ashley, one of Brockit’s interns. If you are 18, emotionally dependent on a some object, and want a little compensation for modeling in the studio, send an email to mail@brockit.com with contact information and a description - not of you though - we are looking for all types.

Karyn from Segno / Marketing Dept. and I spent a couple hours shooting in the 30,000 sq. ft. kiddie casino that is the MineShaft & RockHouse bowling alley / restaurant /etc. High ISO, and remote strobes made quick work of the dark interior, and the shot below features the ‘glow bar’ which was shot handheld with the typical, fake-martini that I use for shoots like this. Crazy place… You might remember that we shot their menu before they launched back in the winter. This time I did not have the flu though… Nice place, guys.

As part of a video commercial for a good client, we grabbed a couple models and shot based on some sample shots and a rough storyboard. Basically test shots, but after a flurry of controversial emails, looks like these might be the final ones for the project. A lot of pressure to re-create shots based on stock samples, but we pulled it off decently with no less than 6 people in the studio. Nice job models; one of them a first-time figure model.

We shot Donna Michalek for an American Society of Mechanical Engineers publication. Always a trick to shoot on white; blow out the background without the subject. A paper roll and a wireless strobe worked the trick though! Even used on-camera strobe (gasp…) to bounce off the ceiling. Nice job, Donna!