Kings of Leon for Rolling Stone

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Rolling Stone commissioned me to photograph KOL at the House of Blues last night on tour for their new record, Mechanical Bull. On the plus side, the sound was great. The new tracks felt bigger than the room. But beyond that it was a pretty challenging shoot. 

ISO was maxed out at 5000-8000 for most of the set. Solid red and blue gels 98% of the time. I asked the lighting guy if they planned on any contrast and he said no, "they wanted it as dark as possible" -- yowza. So I moved about the room and did the best I could to grab a variety of angles to compensate for the red, blue & black-out.

Not super enthused with the result, in all honesty, but at the end of the day it was a dream realized and for that I'm pretty grateful. 

DIY Weekend - Vertical Herb Garden

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Nine months ago I found a pallet in pretty good condition in an alley, and like an inspired homeless person, triumphantly dragged it the 6 blocks home. I spent a couple of hours sanding it down, building a french cleat so I could mount it to the wall and then drawing up (what could only be described as) ingenious plans for the vertical herb garden it was destined to be.

Yesterday, motivated by the interior shots I need to take for the new studio website I built going up next week (www.TheLOFTHAUS.com), I finally got around to finishing the project. 

Just in time for my favorite cooking season I now have: Chives, Basil, French Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Mint, Oregano and more Basil (because, let's face it, you can never have enough basil). Also, some succulents & lavender for texture, color and a bit of fragrance (but mostly because - here's hoping anyway - I can't kill them).  

Google, Incoming

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W Loop real estate is beside itself now that Google's moving into the neighborhood. For now the building's just a beautiful shell so after the hazy rain we had last week, I went out for a few skeletal shots.