While in Liberia last month, I met a wonderful man named Prince Kondoh.  He goes by Pastor Kondoh, and he has dedicated his life to serving those who can not help themselves, and teaching the children in his community.  During the recent civil war in Liberia, he was basically a prisoner in his own home for 14 years.  Not able to go outside without risking his life.  Now that peace has returned to Liberia, he works harder than anyone I have ever met with the hope he might be able to make up for lost time.  No minute is wasted, and no challenge is too great.  He has started multiple schools in Buchanan, one of which is called Chariot Daycare and Elementary School.  We were asked to visit the school one morning before we headed out to one of the villages where the wells were being built.  Because of the economic situation, there are many children who’s families are not able to pay for school, and I was asked if I would take a few pictures of the students needing sponsorship.

I was thinking I would take a few snapshots and it would be a quick thing.  But then I realized I didn’t pack all of these lights half way around the world to take snapshots, even if this wasn’t in the plan.  So all of the gear was taken out of the truck and we set up the lights.  As I was finessing the lights into place, something caused me to slow down and look around.  I wasn’t thrilled with how the portrait was turning out, and then I had a realization.  The natural light was near perfect.  I struggled with this idea for a few minutes, trying to convince myself it wasn’t possible.  Natural light never does exactly what I am looking for, especially in the middle of the day.  The picture won’t turn out.  But finally after a few tests, I decided to shoot this one with just my Hasselblad and nothing else.  It was very freeing to say the least.  For some reason, I had it in my head that it wasn’t possible to shoot a picture in my style with only natural light.  Natural light never seems to have the pop to it I am looking for, or if it does, the light isn’t at the right angle etc.  Most of the time natural light isn’t what I am looking for, but this instance proved to be an exception.  It wasn’t until we were back at our house that night, and I loaded the images on my laptop, that I was hit in the face with the detail and clarity of this portrait and the others I shot that day.  It was a great lesson for me to be aware of what is going on and to be open to improvising or even deviating from a plan.

But enough about lighting for now.  If you can’t tell already, this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.  His name is Zachariah and he is a student at Chariot.  I could stare at this image for hours and continue to find new things I like about it.  Zachariah is one of the students in need of sponsorship, and I figured the very least I could do was provide a link to sponsor him or any of the other children who need support.  The cost is $15 a month and that covers clothing and food, as well as education.  If you decide you would like to sponsor Zachariah, please write me after you have done so, and I will send you a free print.

The Child Sponsorship Program is run by the Well Done Organization which is the organization building the wells in Liberia that my client MiiR Bottles partnered with.  I can personally vouch for the people working for WDO, as well as the organization itself.  Some really great things are happening in Liberia with the support of WDO.

Here are the links one more time.  I know not everyone is able to help in this way, but hopefully this might plant the seed in just one person who has the means and desire to help.
Info About The Child Sponsorship Program
Children Still In Need Of Sponsorship

It feels good to start posting images from this trip, and as promised there will be more in the days and weeks to come.  My developer just showed me round one of the revisions to my website tonight, and once it is finished I will have a new portfolio section with pictures from Liberia.

Just want to quickly share a photo contest for a really great cause I will be judging this coming summer.  The contest is part of a campaign to protect and bring about a positive change in the Puget Sound.

“Filmmaker Eric Becker has been working with People For Puget Sound to document some of the interesting stories, people, and places central to the movement for a cleaner, healthier Puget Sound. Slated for release in late April, the film is an exploration of issues facing the waters of our home, showing the practical ways we can all contribute to positive change.” – onepugetsound.org

Read the official contest rules, and submit your photos on Flickr.  The grand prize winner will receive a DSLR, and there are other prizes for runners up.

Nichelle and I just got back from dinner with the team from MiiR Bottles and Well Done Organization I recently traveled to Liberia with.  It was fun to be with everyone again and re-live some of the stories from our trip.  Especially for Nichelle to hear stories from other people’s perspectives.  In the few weeks since I have been back in the States, I have constantly been thinking and dreaming about all I learned in Africa.  There are some ideas and projects I am working on in response to my experience, and I will be sharing more about all of this over the course of the next several months, or maybe longer.  Before I get to any of that, though, I need to do yet another website update to accommodate the Liberia project, as well as another personal project I am working on.  A book is also in the works and is projected to be out around May.  Fingers crossed.

MiiR is doing a blog series about our trip, and I am the guest blogger for day 1 if you are interested in reading a little more about Liberia from my perspective.

More to come soon.  This is just the beginning.

Last summer, Nichelle and I were at our friends wedding, and during the reception we sat with photographer William Rugen.  When I came back to our table from the buffet line, Bill was standing over his plate composing a picture of his food.  ”Must be some good food” was my first thought, but some of the people at the table were talking as if this was a regular occurrence.  Turns out for an entire year, Bill photographed every single piece of food he consumed.  I was blown away and amazed by the amount of dedication a project like this would take.  The series is called Consumed, and what makes it so dang cool is the online catalogue where every single picture of the food he ate can be seen.  You can sort the images by month, food type, or search for food.  The giant tag cloud revealing which food items were most popular is also really interesting.  It’s worth mentioning, the Consumed website will make you very hungry.  If someone told me to look at a website of pictures of food, I would probably not do it.  However, Bill’s personality and style shine through in all of the images, and I have spent more time clicking around than I care to admit.  I am also amazed a man can eat as many cookies as Bill does and stay in such good shape.  You will see what I mean.

Bill has been doing a ton of personal work during the past couple of years, and I really love his style and perspective.  In addition to Consumed, which is now wrapped up, he is working on Western Dioramas and Fair Judgement.  Looking at his new work has taught me a lot about shooting a story or idea and making it consistently great throughout.  I have been really inspired by his work, and I just feel more people need to see and appreciate all of the great work he is doing.  His photography is consistently beautiful, and it is so encouraging to see what can come about by making the time for personal work and sticking to it.  Definitely check out his website www.williamrugen.com and make sure you bookmark it.  It is worth repeat visits.  Hopefully we can all look forward to a Consumed book, too.

All images in this post were taken by and are Copyright William Rugen.

This formal announcement is brought to you by the John Keatley Blog.  Ok, let’s just call it like it is.  This blog has lost it’s soul.  Shoot, someone told me today they thought my blog was too formal, and you know, I have to agree.  I was surprised at first.  I thought, I’m not formal.  But if I am being honest, I have to recognize that my blog is.  When I started blogging a little over two years ago – Wow, can’t believe it has already been over two years – I had a clear vision and strategy for blogging and for the most part I have stuck to it.  From the start, my strategy has been to highlight my work and give clients a glimpse into what I do and how I do it.  I feel really good about following through on that, and it has been a fun process as well as a great marketing tool for my photography.

Over the past six months, I have been shooting more personal and commercial work than ever before.  Along with shooting for myself more, I have been trying to push myself in new directions by experimenting with new processes and forcing myself to think differently about the way I make pictures.  It has been an extremely satisfying experience, and the reason why I have been telling people lately that I have never enjoyed photography as much as I am now.  In that same spirit of experimentation, I have decided it’s time to free this blog from the chains of formal announcements about new work and always making sure everything looks polished like a press release from the Oval Office.  That’s not to say I am going to let myself get sloppy, or stop paying attention to details, but I am going to start treating this blog more like a journal and less like a press secretary.  Recently I have had so many thoughts and ideas I considered sharing, but felt they didn’t fit the format.  Which was true.  But it’s always good to look at your business and try to find ways to improve and adapt.  So that is what I am doing.  I haven’t been excited to blog, and I honestly haven’t had the time at all either.  I am not going to stop posting the type of stuff you have seen over the past two years, but I will be opening it up to anything and everything big and small.  I am definitely not going to commit to blogging every day for a year like my wife does at www.goodnewsforisla.com, but I hope my posts will be much more frequent than they have been.  Speaking of Nichelle’s blog, she has done an amazing job highlighting stories of people, and organizations working to make a positive impact in the lives of others as well as making our planet a better place.  It’s an awesome blog, and I am so proud of her!  There are more than 100 stories up as of now, and well over 200 more to look forward to.  Check out Good News For Isla, you won’t be disappointed.

So there you go.  Post number one of the John Keatley Blog 2.0.  I’m already feeling more excited about blogging again.  As always, thank you for taking the time to read and for your interest in my photography!  I’m excited about 2011 and all that is to come.

Ever played the video game Plants Vs. Zombies?  If so, then these zombies need no introduction.  The man in the middle is John Vechey, co-founder of PopCap Games, one of the most successful casual game companies in the world.  The first game they created is Bejeweled, which has sold more than 50 million copies.  Plants Vs. Zombies is a really addictive game where you grow plants to prevent zombies from reaching your house and eating your brains.  It is surprisingly kid friendly, and one of those games you just have to see to understand.  I won’t say too much about this image because I think it is enjoyed best without explination.

I will say this was my favorite outtake from a recent shoot I did for Inc at the PopCap headquarters.  Nothing like catching a couple of zombies on break at corporate.

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Economy got you down?  Looking for a new career?  Well, this man can help.  David Boushey is one of the top stuntmen in the industry and the founder of the International Stunt School in Seattle.  If you dream of a life in the movies and have no fear, David can teach you how to jump off buildings, set yourself on fire, punch someone in the face and all kinds of crazy stuff the well-known actors won’t do.  In fact, the International Stunt School is thriving these days thanks to the bad economy.  Lots of people are looking for a career change, and the film industry thrives when times are tough because everyone is looking for an escape.  Enrollment is up this year, and David is in talks to create a reality show about the stunt school.

On set, David asked me, “What’s my motivation for this shot?”

I told him, “Once a week for just half an hour you have a regularly scheduled time for yourself.  You always go to the same cafe, and you get the same drink and read the paper in your regular seat.  You don’t talk to anyone, and you certainly don’t like people talking to you.  While you are reading, you hear someone yelling.  You try to ignore them, but they get louder and more frantic.  It seems like they are yelling at you.  You try to ignore them for as long as possible while your frustration and anger grows.  Finally, you turn in the direction of the person screaming and snap off, “What the hell do you want!?”

I have started experimenting with video on some of my shoots for editorial clients recently, and this is a short I put together on how to throw a “picture punch”.  So far I have really enjoyed working with video, and I hope to do more in the coming months.  If you are reading this in a blog reader you may need to go to the John Keatley Blog to see the video.  This was not my first lesson on how to throw a punch from one of my photo subjects, although my first lesson was about punching for real.

I have another short video in the video section of my website of David telling a story about almost getting chopped to bits while filming a movie at sea.

Here are some links to the camera equipment I used for this shot.

Camera:
Hasselblad H3DII-31 w/ 80mm lens
Lights:
Elinchrom Ranger Battery Pack and Head x2
Profoto Acute 2 2400 kit
Light Modifiers:
Profoto White Softlight “Beauty Dish” Reflector
Wescott 45” Umbrellas
Elinchrom 7” grid reflector
20 degree grid

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Keli Carender goes by Liberty Belle on her blog “Redistributing Knowledge“, and she is credited with starting the Tea Party Movement.  She burst onto the political scene last summer while attending a town hall meeting hosted by Democratic Washington Congressman Norm Dicks.  She made a speech and waved a $20 bill in the air daring Norm to take it from her and use it as a down payment for health care reform.  I wasn’t familiar with the Tea Party Movement when I got this assignment, but I thought it would be awesome to shoot Keli in a way that would look like an old painting from the Revolutionary War era.  Thankfully my art director, Benjamen Purvis at Seattle Met loved the idea, and I was also able to get Keli to go for it too.  The hardest part was tracking down a period dress from the right era.  I should also mention Keli is actually a member of a comedy improv group called The Beta Society.  That obviously was a big help when asking her to dress up in costume since she is used to this sort of thing.  I don’t expect it would be very easy to get Nanci Pelosi or John McCain to wear a costume for a shoot.  Although that would be amazing!

*UPDATE* – This image was published in the 2011 Communication Arts Photography Annual competition.

Equipment Used:
Hasselblad H3DII-31 w/ 80mm lens
Profoto Giant 150 Silver Reflector
Wescott 45” Umbrella

It’s almost time for my two favorite professional sports.  Lawn darts, and baseball.  Just kidding!  Soccer and baseball.  Although we may be watching lawn darts if MLS and the union don’t come to an agreement soon.  Aside from that, it is pretty exciting to be a soccer fan in the Pacific Northwest right now with how the Sounders have taken the country by storm.  The first game of the 2010 season will be played here against Philadelphia, the newest expansion team to MLS.  And don’t even get me started about next year when the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers will join MLS.  Those rivalries will be amazing!

This is a picture I recently took of Kasey Keller.  Kasey is the goalkeeper and captain of the Seattle Sounders FC.  From my time with him, he seems like a laid back fun loving guy who doesn’t take life too seriously.  While we were talking on set, he said “I get to play a game and catch a ball for a living.”  It was fun to see that side of him, but going into the shoot, I wanted to capture some of his competitive spirit.  One of the Sounders games I was at last season I spent some time on the grass right behind the goal.  Qwest Field is known for being a loud stadium and the fans can carry on with the best of them.  But as loud as it was in the stadium, I could hear Kasey screaming instructions to his teammates over the crowd.  With that in mind, I asked Kasey if he would yell at me for a few pictures.  I half expected to be rejected, but he said sure and started yelling.  I won’t repeat what he yelled, but it was pretty funny.

Go Sounders!

(Here) is a post with video and pictures from the Sounders billboard I shot last season.

I photographed Nicholas Kaiser of Saturna Capital for SmartMoney and this is the picture that ran in the January issue.  It also happens to be my favorite picture from the shoot.  How often does that happen!?  Nick is the fund manager for Amana Funds (AMANX).   The management of Amana is based on Islamic principals which means no pork, no alcohol and no financials, eliminating companies like Costco due to sales of wine and beer.  While these principals are limiting, Nick has managed to bring in a five-year average annual return of 8.3%.  Not bad in this economy.

The assets of Amana are $920 million and the expenses are $132 per $10,000.  That’s insane!  How can I keep my expenses that low?  Seriously.  I’m asking…

Anyway.  No big story about the shoot, but I just really like this picture.

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