FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-- WE'RE SO BACK

BROOKLYN, NY—

Bet you thought I was one of those guys who announced they were starting a newsletter, came out the gates hot for two editions, put it down and never wrote one again. I might’ve thought that too, for a second. But then I remembered my why - being annoying on the internet. and that means we’re back. No idea what cadence these will continue to come at, but hey, I think I said that in the beginning anyways. But here’s a mid year catchup.

Now last time we talked, we were just launching Footstep Creative. That launch was a huge undertaking, with many months on the backend building out a brand. I want to thank everyone for their support in that endeavor, because it ended up making Q1 / Q2 much busier than any of us had intended. We had the joy of producing all of the content behind PUMA Running’s Project 3, a program designed to get athletes from around the world racing in their new product; the PUMA Fast-R3.

Now this shoot was a bit chaotic, as they tend to be. I led most of the production for this one, which means doing a lot of the organizing ahead of the time. It was the biggest project we have done by far, and learned a lot throughout. But hey we’re much better for it, and the work turned out great. Stone cooked up the meanest Behind the Design we’ve ever seen, Max and Kevin profiled four of the project’s athletes so hard it shook the earth. I took some photos. All was good.

Just before Boston Marathon, I went to my first proper cycling event; the Sea Otter Classic. Not sure what I was expecting, but it way more fun than anything I thought it was going to be. gravel races, mountain biking, some stuff you’d think only happens at the X Games - it was epic. I also had a dream assignment. The team at LIFETIME just wanted me to wander around and take photos of anything that was interesting to me, no shot list, no creative direction. It was one of the best weekends of picture making I have had in a long time. I capped it off with a solo visit to the Monterey Aquarium. Walked around boxing out 4 year olds to take photographs of jellyfish all day. It was awesome.

NBA season also came and went. I wish I got to a few more playoff games, but my schedule just didn’t align to it. i was trying to photograph NBA games for a few years now, so it felt really good to check this one off the list, and I would say I’m mostly satisfied with the body of work I made. Right now I’ve been putting time into figuring out the best way to showcase it.

Next up on the goals list — photograph a Yankees game 😃

After Boston Marathon weekend concluded I found myself pretty burnt out so I’ve been laying low since which has been nice. I’ve been on the bike a lot. Work wise, just doing the usual admin work following up on late payments and updating my website, all that admin jazz.

I think this is where the newsletter turns from me just talking about my life and turns into me distilling at least a little value into yours- and that is taking time to rot is ever increasingly important for me. It’s like back when I was running. After a hard workout, even though I look fine externally, my muscles are cooked and need some downtime to recover before another hard workout, and that’s the approach I’ve started taking to my photo jobs. Even though it doesn’t look that strenuous from the outside, after a big one, I need some days to rot on a couch and reset my brain muscles before thinking about the next one.

A few years ago back when I was a wee little boy I would do everything in my power to fill every second of every day trying to hustle the shit out of taking pictures. Don’t get me wrong, laying that foundation definitely set me up in a good spot, but I was definitely not taking enough downtime to reset and recharge. But now, 18 months later and wiser (I have a beard now), it’s the down time that actually makes the work in the busier times that much stronger. I can take a step back and properly analyze the stuff that was made and have enough time to figure out how to improve it, rather than just packing my schedule with no time to reflect. It’s been an interesting shift— feeling like not doing everything in your power to stay busy can actually be more effective than not leaving a gap in the schedule. But one I’m embracing.

This guy I follow on LinkedIn, Max, has been dropping some gems and this one really resonated with me. I love LinkedIn way more than the next guy, but even I get sick of the LI virtue signaling warriors. But Max, I would recommend a follow to.

Another thing I have realized in this downtime period has been I want to get into assisting again. There are so many levels to the photo game and I to shadow some killer and watch them work all day. One of the most valuable experiences you can have as a photographer imo. So many little nuggets to take from that. So I’m gonna try to do that more the rest of the year. And hopefully I learn a thing or two. We’ll see.

Anyways- till next time. I’m pressing publish right now and not waiting to schedule this and just finished up coffee no breakfast so hopefully this all makes sense.