New Advertising Campaign - Behind The Scenes

We recently had the pleasure of working with new clients on an advertising campaign for a notable East Coast bank.  The days of the shoot were 72 and sunny and loaded with puppies.  It's easy to sound #sorry-but-not-sorry, but we're pretty stoked to share some behind the scenes video from the two days on set. 

Special thanks to Expressway Productions, Shophouse, and the rest of the crew. I especially want to thank Rocco Avallone for the video edit.  We've been pretty busy lately and over the next few weeks I'll be sharing a ton of new stills along with motion assignments. 

Friends Who Inspire - Keith Greiman

The man eats candy and doughnuts for dinner and somehow doesn't look it. Keith Greiman is my: neighbor,  hip-hop show +1, bartender, baby-daddy, lead singer in a band that may or may not be retired, and friend. 

I met Keith over four years ago and If I'm telling the absolute truth, we met in a bar. It probably took a few times of us making small talk, but I would have to imagine he asked for my number first. Keith tends bar at Memphis Tap (which is the closest, best bar/rest in my immediate area) and home of the best hot-dog cart in Philly. He's also an amazing painter/illustrator who's work has been shown in galleries all over Philly (I would also say other cities but I never got to that question).  Keith's band, Prowler threw a retiring show at Johnny Brenda's a little over a year ago then immediately accepted a gig for a month later. I believe he does it for the attention, and he agrees. 

Keith and his lovely wife, Rita (also an artist) just had a baby who recently took up residence in Keith's studio. He's adjusting. 

Urban Surfers Update

By now most of you reading this post have been picked up and swallowed by the Polar Vortex. With temperatures hitting ZERO in areas around Philadelphia, NY and even as far as Baltimore, many of us couldn't imagine stepping near a beach. Well that's what separates us from these special folks I've been busy shooting lately.

Urban Surfers went on a bit of a hiatus during the last week of September  through the first week of November. I purposely didn't shoot any during that time since I had a backlog that I wanted to hold off until the weather started to really change. I wanted to get a diversity of seasons and the only way to see it would be to wait until the trees shed their leaves, and snow hit the ground. 

When I started this project back in June of last year, I started to a Google doc to keep notes on everyone I shot. The details I would keep were locations of the shoot and exact times in which we started shooting. I also kept mental notes. Mental notes on who surfed year round and had all the gear necessary to stand up to freezing temperatures. Lately I started calling on those brave souls to meet after snowfalls, and near zero degree conditions. Here are a few from the past month that I've shot: 

(please pass this this link along to anyone you may know who lives in the Phila., NY, Baltimore, or any East Coast city. I'm keeping my journal stocked so when I'm on the road, I can keep this going in cities across the US) 

Bikes, Buddha, Design, and Philly

September and October were busy months for editorial projects. During that time, I shot for two new clients; Surface and Tricycle, and two returning ones;  Bicycling, and Philly magazines.  The subjects varied greatly from shooting environmental portraits, interiors, studio still lifes, to street portraits.  

Surface magazine had me shooting in the Frankford section of Philly at the industrial design company, Amuneal. They specialize in retail display solutions and industrial designed furniture. 

Bicycling Mag: Featuring my friend and avid bicyclist, Carl deBeauclair.  

Philly Mag: featuring another friend of mine Jason Ganski who's co-owner of local design shop, Sedso. 

hrisc

Metal, Tattoos and New England Fishermen.

Recently I was approached by Jamie Leary, art director extraordinaire at Decibel Magazine to shoot the band, Doomriders for a collaboration between the magazine and Converse. The idea was simple - interview the band, shoot an ad and get at least a 3 minute video of the guys - and that we did.  

Doomrider's front man, Nate Newton and his wife recently had their first child so I wanted to capture some elements of him with his family at home.  We spent a part of a Saturday shooting at his home in Ipswich, MA and the following day at Congress St. Tattoo in Portsmouth, NH where each band member decided to all get tattoos by bassist/vocals, Jebb Riley.

For this trip I decided to stay once again at a home I found on Airbnb.com. And just like my last few stays, this one was once again special. My gracious AirBnB.com host was an older ad guy who was the 9th employee at Boston's famed Mullen agency. He offered to wake up with me at 5am (with coffee already brewing) and show me spots only a local would know. Stories like this is why I just love staying with AirBnB hosts! 

Stay tuned for the final ad and video which should release by end of June.  

Phoenix for British Guardian Guide

Recently I had the opportunity to photograph the band, Phoenix for the British magazine, Guardian Guide. The project had us shooting in NYC at the East Village Standard Hotel. With overcast skies, the penthouse location offered 365 degree panoramic views of the city and soft diffused light. The large floor to ceiling windows did most of the work lighting the guys, while some fill was provided to open up shadows. 

I gave each a veto for the playlist I had going and they only executed one song: "I Can Make You Famous" by Spank Rock. Needless to say I was a little mad at them for the rest of the shoot, kind of.. :) 

Really wonderful day was spent shooting on 7th Heaven Farm the earlier this week. Special thanks to Kiley at Shophouse Design  for the amazing wardrobe and styling. 

(shot by chris sembrot ) 

Some of the new pieces I had designed by  Mr. Adam Garcia  started to arrive last week.

 These posters should be leaving the studio and should start dropping on doorsteps by next week.