Wow, this is so exciting! Introducing our new digital download from DEDPXL and Zack Arias. Ta Da! I spent 3 days with the DEDPXL crew last Fall filming this video. We put together some great shoots ranging from simple portraits to some conceptual work with a set build. This video series takes you through my personal life, career, failures and triumphs and also takes you on-set, behind-the-scenes to see some of my methods, gear and techniques as well as a full day of shooting. It could not have turned out any better in my opinion.

This short trailer gives you a good idea of what to expect. Thanks for taking a look. We have been overwhelmed by the positive response. Head on over to DEDPXL to download the full video now and enjoy!

Huge thank you to Zack Arias and Bernard Brand for all of their hard work on this. I am really proud, and happy to be a part of it.

Here is a little something we cooked up just for fun. I find that is often the best reason to create. Just for fun. Directing has gradually become a huge part of my creative process in addition to photography. When I was in high school, I bought my first video camera. I took it everywhere with me. Video was actually a passion of mine well before photography. Somehow, along the way as my photography career took off, video was something I lost sight of. Thankfully directing has come back to me in the last couple of years. In the past, I would go through my journal of ideas and think, “How do I want to make this a photograph?” Now, as I am thinking about a possible project, I am able to ask myself, “What is best for this idea? A photograph, a video?” Or maybe something else completely. Whatever it is, as long as I am creating, I am happy. Below is a still I also shot on set. I just couldn’t help myself.

A very big shout out and thank you to our amazing crew for making this video come to life. I can’t thank you enough!

Taylor Reed, Sara Coates, Isla Keatley, Andrew Franks, Kort Havens, Spencer Norris, Jonathan Houser, Jon Anderson, Nate Taylor, Alexis Steinman, Jennifer Popochock, Dennise Larson, Mikie Magnusson and Zoe Rain.

Behind the scenes images by Zoe Rain. Thanks Zoe!

Home stretch! It is almost time, and this MTV News post is a nice little teaser that something amazing is about to drop. Stay tuned. This is what making a music video 24/7 looks like.

I hinted at a fun assignment I was working on last month on Twitter, and now I am excited to to be able to share the images with you. I had a lot of catching up to do when I first got the assignment to photograph Murray Stenson from Art Director Jane Sherman at Seattle Weekly, but it didn’t take long for me to find out that Murray is widely regarded as the best bartender in the country. Don’t believe me?Just ask Esquire, Playboy and Tales of the Cocktail. It felt like when you get a new car, and all of a sudden you realize that just about everyone else on the road has the same car as you. As soon as I got this assignment, it seemed like everyone I knew was going out to get a drink from Murray. Apparently I was the last person to know. I was quite excited to not only photograph Murray, but to also have a drink from him.

I did the shoot at Canon, which is a new bar in Seattle where Murray works, along with an all-star group of bartenders led by Jamie Boudreau who is also the owner. There is a bit of a wait to get in, but I can tell you the wait is well worth it. I filmed a short video of Murray mixing and explaining how to make an Absinthe Julep, which you can see below. And yes, I did get to drink it after we were done filming. Someone had to, and I didn’t want it to go to waste. We did have to do 2 takes, but thankfully my assistant handled the second one since we were dealing with 124 proof. For what it’s worth, I made sure the video was the last thing we did so my pictures wouldn’t be out of focus.

Although Murray has been written up in many other magazines, this article is the first time he has told his story. It was written by Mike Seely, and is a really fascinating read. Here is the link to the article if you are interested. Along with the video, I also included a few behind the scenes pictures at the bottom.

Thanks to Jane Sherman for working with me on this, and thanks to Murray and Jamie for being such gracious hosts and subjects. Photo retouching by the fine folks at Gigantic Squid.

Behind the scenes pictures by Lonnie Webb.

Thank you to everyone who wrote in and asked the fine folks at FRAMED to do an interview with me. It was very flattering to get the call to do this, and fun to spend the day with Melissa and the whole crew. I am blown away by what a great job they did with this video from top to bottom. They actually made me look somewhat respectable, which is no small feat. In about 15 years, when Isla is an unruly teenager, I am going to make her watch this video, and then I will look her in the eyes, and say, “Respect”.

I know that 36 minute ticker may scare some of you, but I got several comments and emails today from people who said they didn’t plan on watching more than three minutes, and ended up getting sucked in and watched the whole thing. Hopefully that is incentive enough to press play. Even if you only have time for three minutes. There are no axes, or wood carving in this video, but there are a couple of pretty funny moments with a (Spoiler Alert!) karate master. Which reminds me, I am really excited you get to meet some of my creative companions who pop up in the video as well.

As always, thanks so much for your interest and support of my work. It means a lot to me, and thank you again to FRAMED!

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.

I was asked to create a bio video several weeks back, and I immediately knew I didn’t want to do another interview-type video. Don’t get me wrong, interviews are great and have their place, but this felt like a great opportunity to do something creative and show people a side of me often only expressed through my images of other people. I think this short film is a good glimpse into my personality and how I think about life and work. Sometimes words just aren’t enough, at least for us visual types. So think of this as a creative bio/promo, rather than a literal account of my work and life. I hope you enjoy it.

I posted several of production stills if you want a behind the scenes look at this video also.

CAST
John Keatley and Oliver

PRODUCTION CREW
John Keatley // Writer, Producer keatleyphoto.com
Eric Becker // Director weareshouting.com
Brandon and Les Hilliard // Director, Editor, Writer, Producer braindancers.com
Rodrigo Valenzuela // Director of Photography weareshouting.com
Ian Goode // Graphics giganticsquid.com
Ryan Dunleavey // Motion
Michelle Chappron // Hair and Makeup michellechappron.com

Music by Björn Olsson bjornolssonmusic.com

A short promotional film starring yours truly is in the works. That’s right, I am the (burly) woodsman. Editing will wrap up in a couple of days, but in the meantime, here are some production stills to pique your interest. I don’t think these will give away too much. It was a really fun project, and quite a different experience being on the other side of the camera. After holding several axes on my shoulder for extended periods of time, I was rewarded with a really deep bruise. Acting is hard and painful! When I got home, Nichelle punched me in the shoulder and told me to suck it up. She keeps me grounded.

I will explain this film a little more and talk about the wonderful team I worked with when I post the video next week.

Production stills by Dylan Priest. Pictured: Rodrigo Valenzuela, Eric Becker, Brandon Hilliard, Michelle Chappron, John Keatley, and Oliver the dog.

*UPDATE* Watch The Woodsman Video Here.

Photography Talk Chapter Two Video from John Keatley on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoyed the first video of my photography talk. As promised, here is the second video, and number three will be rolling out very soon also. The third one will be the Q&A session. I cover a lot of ground in this video including working with celebrities, but the main points are focusing on what you are trying to show in your work, and taking control to make it happen. Some of you have asked which camera these videos were shot on and although I have recently started to shoot video on the Canon 5D Mark II, I actually used this bad boy to film my talk.

Photography Talk Chapter One Video - My Photography Story from John Keatley on Vimeo.

A couple of months ago I hosted a Q&A and spoke about my photography to a group of about 100 people in Seattle. Many people who were not able to attend sent in questions, and expressed interest in watching a recording of the talk. Well, the wait is over. This is the first 15 minutes of the talk and I am going to do my best to have the rest up by the end of the week. So check back often. Enjoy, and thank you everyone who came out to hear me, and to everyone else who is reading this for your interest in my work.