The last 10-11 months

Hey guys and gals, I thought I'd give you a little update on where I'm at and the last year (almost) since we were all in the same spot.

I'll try and keep it brief! After the Show, I moved 6 flights up in the Park Shelton and spent the summer in Detroit. I slept on a used mattress on the floor, lived with a few illustration students, bumped heads at times, but for the most part was challenged to keep up the creativity. I had a few freelance gigs come my way but didn't see money for 3 months after the shoot, which is standard, but try telling my stomach that when it's eaten tuna for a week straight. I brought my bank account down to 31 dollars mid-summer and became one with the PB+J. It sucked. Despite sleeping on somebody's old mattress, losing one of my best friends to pneumonia that stemmed from a diving injury, and seeing my bank account dwindle, I had the support of friends and work slowly came in.



One of the highlights of my summer was going down to Cincinnati to photograph for RIDES Magazine. It's a national publication you can find at any CVS and I landed the title page! I also got to shoot from atop a scissor lift in a thunder storm, crazy but fun.


I joined Behance this summer and within days I began seeing my work posted all over the web, I suggest you join, it's a great networking site and your work circulates fast! (sometimes faster than you're prepared for so make sure you have what you want up before going full on!)


I also had an amazing opportunity to be the special guest on the 1 o'clock Takeover, a show on Oakland University's radio station. It was a pretty humbling opportunity and I was pretty nervous. It's weird going on radio, you're talking but nobody is in the room, strange! While I was there I took a shot of Kirby, the host, she is a former CCS student who is now over at Specs Howard doing radio and following her passion.

This last image is the first international work I ever did. ZOO Magazine from Germany (not the British nudie mag) found my work online and contacted me to photograph retired Boston Celtic Legend/ NBA MVP, Dave Cowens. He was living in Birmingham at the time and Assistant Coaching the Pistons. It was awesome to meet him, but also to do work for a magazine on the other side of the globe. The magazine was a special issue for Onitsuka (Asics Shoes) 60th Anniversary and was bound in a traditional Japanese binding and was a work of art. It was about an inch and a half thick. In the process I learned how/how not to wire transfer money and how to speak with a German accent.

And lastly, I was hired at Gibbs Technologies in late November to begin the task of photographing/making short films on the development of 3 prototype vehicles. I've learned a lot, met people from all over the world, and seen a different work environment than I ever imagined myself in. I'm still doing freelance work, more now than ever and I'm trying to stay positive. You're all super talented and the only thing that separates you and the next person is passion. Just find it, whatever it is, and chase it. The rest will fall in line if you let it. Hope this wasn't too self serving but I'm optimistic. Hope you're all working hard and staying at it.

PD