This was a big day.  No turning back now.  I took a deep breath and was finally able to relax once the construction crew began to break ground in our back yard.  We had to cut down a bunch of bushes and small trees, which we were a little sad about, but we will just have to plant new ones once the office is complete.

This process took a couple of extra days because our soil was too soft.  They had to dig deeper than usual, and fill the hole in with gravel before pouring the foundation.

Previous post in this series: Backyard Office: Shed Demo & Building
Next post in this series: Backyard Office: Plumbing

We used to have 2 storage sheds in our backyard.  But in order to start building the office, we needed to tear down the shed behind our house.  Tearing down that shed meant we were losing a lot of necessary storage space, so we then had to tear down the other shed, and build something more substantial to make up for the space we were losing.  Still following?

Here is a before and after picture of the first shed we ripped down.  As you can see, I am not going to miss that thing.  It was basically a spider cave.  We actually installed that huge window we bought on craigslist in there.  It seemed like it was a good idea at the time.  Nichelle wanted to grow seeds out of the weather, but we didn’t think about the fact that the window blocked UV rays which makes it difficult to grow anything.  I know, real smart.

That’s Ian from Gigantic Squid with the Hammer of Thor.  Turns out he’s not just a retouching wizard, but he can also destroy things with surgical precision.

After watching Ian for a while, I decided to speed up the process, and knock it down with my hands.  No big deal.

The new storage shed is still not finished yet, but here are a few images from the early stages on.  I was pretty nervous about taking on this project since I have never done any construction before.  After doing more than enough research, I began cutting 2×4′s and nailing them together.  I was surprised how easy it was, as long as you think everything through before you begin cutting and nailing.  Over preparing is ok when it comes to this kind of stuff.  Measure twice and cut once as they say.  I also had help from some good friends, and overall it has been a really fun project.

Previous post in this series: Backyard Office: Dreaming
Next post in this series: Backyard Office: Ground Breaking

Nichelle and I have dreamed of building an office in our backyard, off and on, ever since we bought our house almost 5 years ago.  We have talked about a million different ideas and locations in the yard.  A couple of years ago, we even bought a huge 300 pound picture-window on craigslist to put in the office, which we never ended up building.  Those who know me well, know I am a dreamer, and can often be impulsive.  Thankfully, however, I am not so impulsive when it comes to big decisions like this.

Over the past several months, we began discussing a backyard office once again, but this time, everything seemed to fall into place.  We have had 5 years to think, research, and let it all sink in.  Now, I can honestly say I am glad we didn’t act on some of our previous ideas.  Our needs and lifestyle has changed quite a bit over the past few years, and I think we now have a better idea of what we want and need moving forward.  As I look out the window at the huge hole in our backyard, I am pretty sure we are not going to back out this time.

We played with the idea of building a prefab office, and we also interviewed architects and contractors.  In the end, we went with a company called Backyard Box and we are so excited.  Backyard Box is a new company run by contractor Sloan Ritchie, specializing in prefab offices and homes.  The designs are by Jim Burton of Blip, and as soon as we saw pictures of his work, we knew we found what we had been looking for.  Jim and Sloan have worked with us over the last 2 months to create a custom office, which ended up being even better than I expected.  That says a lot coming from a perfectionist.  It will look a bit different from the image above, but this is the unit it was based on and the style is obviously the same.  We will not be able to do prefab for a number of reasons, so this will be a good old fashion construction project.  It still has not sunk in that it is actually happening.  Although, the masonry drill putting holes in our foundation at 8:00am helps reality set in a little.

Having a work space where you can be creative and away from distractions is really important.  Since this is something I am extremely excited about, I thought I would blog about the building process as it unfolds.

Many of you have asked me to blog about this process as you are interested in doing something similar.  I hope it is something you enjoy.  For those who are not so interested, I hope you will bear with me.  It won’t go on forever.  :)

So far, we have ripped a roof off of our patio.  Tore down two sheds, built a new shed, cut down a few bushes and trees, and finally the construction crew has begun digging.  It’s hard work, and very time consuming, but I have really enjoyed all of it.  I love working with my hands, and our backyard has provided no shortage of things to do.  No wonder I have felt so busy lately.

I recently did a shoot with Jane Pauley (NBC, AARP) and she commented at one point that the brain is happiest when it sees the hands working.  I don’t know if that is a scientific fact, or who to credit that statement to, but I think there is a lot of truth to that.  I find that I am happy when I am working in our yard, and I can see tangible results.  But, just to be clear, I’m not working on this office.  I’ll leave that to the professionals.

Next post in this series: Backyard Office: Shed Demo & Building.

If you are going to be in or around Seattle this Friday, July 29th, I hope you will make plans to come to the opening of my Liberia photography show at the EVO gallery.  Doors open at 8:30pm, and MiiR Bottles will be screening the documentary film ‘Beyond the Bottle‘ for the first time at 9:30pm.  The address is 122 NW 36th St, Seattle, WA 98107.

There is a suggested $5 donation at the door and all donations will go to our partner One Day’s Wages to provide clean water for those who need it most.

Drinks will be provided by Redhook Brewery and House Wine, as well as beats by DJ Domestic.

It’s going to be a great party, and I hope to see many of you there.  Here is the official invite / registration page.  While registering is helpful for making preperations, it is worth noting, you do not have to register to attend.  So if you decide at the last minute to come, no problem.  See you soon!

Just wrapped up filming my first commercial, shot for MiiR, with my co-director Eric Becker of We Are Shouting.  It was a really fun shoot and the footage is looking great.  We are hoping to have everything wrapped up in the next week.  For now, here are some of the production stills by Scott Everett.  Thanks Scott!  Behind every great production is a wonderful crew, and the crew on this commercial was no exception.  From left to right in the crew shot (last image) is Caven Keith, DJ, Lauri, Becker, Rodrigo, Nina Carduner, Scott Everett, Keatley, and Sarah Finkelstein.  Not pictured is our hair and makeup artist Annabelle Petry.

I feel really good about this video, and I think it presents an honest look at my trip to Liberia with MiiR this past January.  Several of my images were recently selected in the 2011 PDN Faces contest, and I thought this would be a good excuse to put together a video that shows a little more of what the experience was like and how the images came together.  I cannot say enough about my editor for this video, Andy Maier.  He put so much thought and hard work into this, and his efforts made all the difference.  I feel blessed to be able to work with wonderfully creative people, such as Andy and everyone else I have been creating with this past year.

The man at the beginning of the video is Pastor Kondoh, and he will be coming to Seattle in just a couple of weeks for a project MiiR CEO Bryan Pape and I are working on.  I can’t wait to see him again.  This will be a trip of many firsts for him, including his first time out of Africa, and his first time on an airplane.  Without sounding like a tease, I do have a little bit of freedom to talk more about the project I referred to above.  You can hear about it in greater detail on the podcast interview I did with Faded & Blurred recently.  I start talking about it around minute 40.

The 2011 PDN Faces issue is out, and Plants Vs. Zombies is a winner in the Celebrity/Editorial Portraits category.  My Liberia series also won, under the Environmental Portraiture category.  Last year, my portrait of Annie Leibovitz was the feature image in PDN Faces.  It’s a thrill to have my work included in the contest again.  Last July through April of this year felt like I was going at 200 mph non stop, and it’s nice to be able to slow down a little bit in the summer and reflect back on the work I have done this past year.  It is even more satisfying to have that work recognized by the various contests I have won recently.  Now it’s time to get busy again.  Lots to do and look forward to.  The new Keatley office project, the 2011 Christmas photo, some new video projects, and hopefully more fun work as well.  I just finished a short video about my experience in Liberia this past January, and I will post it shortly (tonight).  I think you will like it.

Side note: Co-founder of PopCap Games, John Vechey (pictured above) trumped my award just a little when PopCap was acquired by Electronic Arts for $1.3 billion,  just days after the PDN award became public.  Congrats John.  Dolla dolla bills, y’all.  I like to think the awards for this picture is what pushed EA to pull the trigger.  Not that I am surprised, because just days after I photographed TechCrunch founder and CEO Michael Arrington in his home, TechCrunch was purchased by AOL for $30 million.  You seeing a pattern here?  I can’t legally promise companies will throw millions of dollars at you after I take your picture, but…  Hey, that could make a great promo.

The list of this years Faces winners is on the official contest website.  I haven’t had a chance to see the issue in person yet, but I am looking forward to sitting down with it.

Congratulations to Hope Solo, the U.S. Women’s goalkeeper and the entire U.S. Women’s team.  I didn’t get to watch the match today, but I hear it was pretty incredible.  They beat Brazil to move on to the Women’s World Cup Semifinals.  It came down to Hope making some great saves including one in a penalty shootout.  Here is a video recap with all of the action.

This image is from a shoot I did with Hope a few years back for Seattle Met.

It’s an embarrassment of riches!  I am especially proud of the work I created over this past year, and it is an honor to have that work recognized by the international photography competition ”Prix de la Photographie, Paris” (Px3).  This is my first time in the international game, and all 5 of the images above were selected as well as 2 honorable mentions.

From left to right:

Luke Burbank, host of Too Beautiful To Live for Seattle Met.  Art Director Benjamen Purvis.
Dennis Haysbert for Seattle Met.
Keli Carender, founder of the Tea Party political movement for Seattle Met.  Art Director Benjamen Purvis.
Plants Vs. Zombies / John Vechey, co-founder of Pop Cap Games for Inc.  Photo Editor Monique Perreault.
The Keatley Family 2010.  Personal work / self promotion.

Hooray!  My portrait of the Tea Party founder, Keli Carender was selected in the 2011 Communication Arts Photography Annual, and can be seen on page 126.  There is some incredible photography in the annual this year, and I am thrilled to have my photography included in the collection.  166 winning projects were selected from 5520 entries.  What an honor!

I thought it would be awesome to portray Keli as someone from the Revolutionary War Era, and I worked with art director Benjamen Purvis at Seattle Met to make it happen.  I also wrote about Keli and this shoot in a previous blog post if you want to find out more.