Here’s lookin at you Colorado.  I just wrapped up this shoot for Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado, and last week they released their new branding and ad campaign featuring Fred McGilicutty, captain of the snow patrol at Copper Mountain.  This billboard can currently be seen in Dallas and Kansas City.  Wish I could be there to take pictures of the actual things.  If you find yourself driving through Dallas or Kansas City, feel free to wave at Fred and tell him I said hi.  I hear it’s nice in KC this time of year.

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I feel especially thankful this year and I am very grateful for everyone who has taken the time to read my blog and take an interest in my work.  See you on the slopes.

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It turns out that you actually have to buy a Match 4 Lotto ticket for your chance to win $10,000, but you may not have known about that if you didn’t read about it on this blog.  Right?  So technically you can win $10,000 by reading the John Keatley Blog…

Ok, so enough about winning money.  The pictures above are from the new Washington State Lottery Match 4 ad campaign that I recently shot with Cole & Weber United.  I have always enjoyed Lottery ads because they often incorporate quirky humor, along with fresh creative concepts.  I got my first taste of working with the Washington Lotto a few years ago.  It was also the first ad shoot I had ever done.  Publicis was the ad agency working on the account at the time.  It was a smaller scale job, mostly running in newspapers, and point of sale, but ever since then I have wanted to do more with the Lottery.

That’s what made this so fun and rewarding for me.  It’s a client that I have been seeking out, and I was selected specifically for my brand of photography.  I was given the freedom to “do what I do”, and that always seems to bring about the best end product.  Same story with the Sounders FC ad campaign that I recently shot.  Go Sounders by the way!  Undefeated!

These pictures are of the members of the Match 4′s.  A singing group comprised of stereotypical Washington locals who are so excited about winning $10,000 that they just have to sing.  That’s not the official concept actually.  I just made that last part up.

There it is.  My very first billboard.  This is the inaugural season of the Seattle Sounders FC, the newest expansion team in MLS.  Seattle is getting fired up about our soccer team, and it’s fun to be a part that excitement.  The ad agency I worked with was Wexley School For Girls, which I always enjoy working with.

Now I know what some of you are thinking.  Did he paint those people in the background?  No.  That would have taken way too long.  We ended up using a cartoon modeling agency, and hired a few dozen cartoon models to stand in the background.  Ok, that’s a joke.  To give credit where credit is due,  Rachael Ludwig is the artist who created the background art.  I shot three scenes for this campaign.  Fan with a scarf, fan with a flag, and crazy Sounders fans banging on a drum.  The ads will be used for billboard, transit, print, and online.

The shoot was at Quest Field, home of the Seahawks and Sounders.  Since we were there, I figured I would maximize my time, and take care of some additional business.  I have been intending to try out for the Seahawks special teams, so they gave me a quick look.  Here are some pictures from my open tackle and field goal trials.  And a quick video from the photo shoot.

Lots of screaming in this video. Soccer fans are crazy!