Running Pregame

SUPER POST....and July 2011 Flew By

Sorry for the lack of posts. I know it has been a while. July flew by with a ton of fun projects and a week away with my family in Vermont. So here's a super post of what went on:

 The above shot of Holly Courville running through the sunflower field ran as a double page spread in Runner's World. I'm very proud of this shot. It was shot on one of those super ridiculously hot and humid days. I was sweating and poor Holly had to keep running back and forth while I dialed in my lighting and composition. Which I found to be a challenge since the sun was coming from behind but I wanted the front of the sunflowers in the shot. I had to light the runner with a portable strobe and then hold my camera upside down to cheat the shutter sync and shoot at 1/500th of a second to really freeze the action without blur. It took a while and a lot of sweat but we nailed it and I'm proud that it ran in the mag. I also just sent out a promo postcard with this image on it. (If you are a creative and didn't get one and want to be on the list please email me and I'll get one right out!)

I also had this feature in the Boston Globe Magazine on a blueberry farm up in New Hampshire. It was a last minute assignment that needed to be shot over the weekend of the 4th of July. I'm always psyched to shoot so that wasn't a big deal. Plus my parents used to own a blueberry farm in upstate NY so I knew a little about the operation and could talk the talk. Well I guess NH and Google haven't quite nailed down the map thing yet because the road it told me to take didn't exist and combined with no cell reception it took some exploring to arrive more than two hours late. Thankfully Duncan Geddes, pictured in the portrait outtakes above, was super nice and understanding. So we got to explore his property and create some beautiful images for the story. As I knew and Duncan reminded me it was too early for the berry's to be in full go mode and if we shot it a month later the fields would be completely blue, but the editors need the shots done early to fill the space in the mag so we worked our magic and pulled it off.

Then came the call, "Hey Josh, can you please go shoot this island in the harbor for us tomorrow? We need the images as soon as possible. The story closes this week." "Of coarse I can" I replied and began figuring out how to make my way out to Lovells Island. It was me, my camera bag, a sandwich, bottle of water and a swimsuit on a ferry out the next morning. It was super cool and I kept thinking of the show "Lost" as I was exploring these old war forts and looking for the "hatch" which I did find. (see the last outtake above) I can't wait to get back out there and camp for a night or two. One part of the island I had a whole beach to myself with no one around. I threw on my trunks and went for a swim all by myself. It was awesome.

Plus my wife, daughter and I went camping in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in July too. We really enjoyed being in the mountains. We swam, read, toasted marshmallows, made smores and I even got a day in at the awesome mountain bike trail network called Kingdom Trails. It couldn't have been a better vacation!

I had some other really fun assignments that I can't show yet but July definitely flew by.

Runner's World Peter Larson

This shot ran nice and big in the June issue that's on stands now.

While the story in RW was on runner's form, Peter's mainly studies frogs.

I was hoping for a CSI style lab and office but that wasn't the case. We opted for this nice clean portrait as an alternative.

Runner's World Rave Run Spread

Please check out pages 10+11 (Yeah double page spread!!)  in the April Issue of Runner's World to see this shot of Melissa Donais in print.

Runner's World Website link:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-239-281-570-13885-0,00.html

Runner's World 2011 Calendar

Melissa Donais ripping through the trails at Harold Parker State forest.

Leslie Nordin braving the cold down on Beach Road in Hull, MA

In Print: Beckie Wright and Joe Poliquin in Runner's World

In Print: Carly Kinnas/Runner's World Magazine

In Print: Mike Tammaro/Runner's World

This is in the May issue of Runner's World. We did a few set ups on this shoot including shorts and a tank top outside in February. Mike Tammaro is a trooper and was up for anything. You couldn't ask for a more cooperative subjuct. Thanks Mike!
Also in the same issue of Runner's World my friend Embry Rucker has a nice feature and cover. Nice work Embry!

Monday: Marketing Update

Just when I was starting to wonder if these network marketing sites were a waste of my time I got a call from Andrea at Runner's World. She had got the weekly update blast from Linked In, my name was fresh on her mind and she gave me an assignment! That's why I'm on the Linked In and the Facebook, to promote my work and to keep my name popping up in front of clients.
It's not a waste of time at all!

Oh Yeah, and the Runner's World TOC Shot

I also had an image of Leslie Nordin on the Table of Contents in the October Runner's World. It was right next to friend and former Transworld Snowboarding photo editor Embry Rucker's credit for another well done cover of Runner's World. Embry gave me one of my first assignments when he was at TWS. Thanks man, and thanks for the continued inspiration.

In Print: Leslie + Sawyer Nordin

I finally got a chance to post the images of Leslie and Sawyer Nordin that are running in the October issue of Runner's World Magazine. Cool story and cool to see in print.

Josh Cochran

Josh Cochran is the illustrator that I shared a page with in Runner's World Magazine this month. I liked what he did for RW so I looked him up on the interweb (here). He has some really cool stuff, go check it out.

In Print: Nate Jenkins

Nate Jenkins (Team USA and Saucony Marathoner) for Runner's World Magazine

Sawyer Nordin

Sawyer Nordin is an amazing 5 year old. He was born blind and was the first sightless person that I have photographed. He's full of energy and loves to sing. I photographed his mom Leslie a few days ago for Runner's World Magazine. She ran the entire Boston Marathon blindfolded to raise a ton of money for the Parsons School for the Blind. Yep, that's 26.2 miles without sight, amazing.

Melissa Donais

A few weeks ago I photographed Nate Jenkins for Runner's World and met his girlfriend Melissa Donais. She's also a distance runner sponsored by Adidas. This weekend we got together and went to this amazing location that I had found while mountain biking with fellow photographer Christian Kozowyk.
When we rolled into this spot I yelled " I call it. I'm going to shoot a runner here." Christian fired back with "we'll see who get's here first." Well I got there first and when I e.mailed him some shot's he wrote back "Awesome, I can't wait to shoot that place!" Let's see what he shoots.

B.T.S. Runner's World: Nate Jenkins

Here's a few iPhone shots that Henry took of Saturday's shoot for Runner's World Magazine.
We had a great location with perfect weather and runner Nate Jenkins was super cool. We were able to get the portrait and try some cool creative stuff too. Thanks Nate, Melissa, and Henry for a mellow and successful shoot.

Shot with Canon 5d Mark 2, 100-400L lens, Profoto Acute head modified to work with the Hensel Porty pack.