All to say, we have a good time.

While we were waiting for our first subject yesterday morning, we ate breakfast, made a few images & laughed.

-Exodus 31:1-5

tomorrow marks one year of my involvement with I Am Second and the first person i shot for the campaign was Jason Castro. i remember being pretty nervous.

i had pitched the idea of shooting production stills to use as additional content on iamsecond.com, but the folks at E3 knew they would need studio portraits for the print & outdoor efforts, so they asked me to try my hand at those as well. at the time, studio photography wasn’t something that i had a ton of experience with – which was the root cause of 97% of my nervousness.

here’s that first image:

so much about the campaign was still in a process of discovery when we shot Jason & as much as we liked this image, it was a unanimous belief that it wasn’t the right feel for the campaign. so, twenty days later, i did a full day test which led us to the current high contrast look that has become a staple of all the I Am Second photography.

i’m actually floored that it has only been one year since I Am Second started for me. i’ve grown so much, personally and professionally, since i came on board with I Am Second, that it feels like a lot more time has passed since it all began. looking forward, i’m incredibly excited about all the stories still to be told.

i destinctly remember almost every detail from the day. it felt like trial by fire, but looking back, i realize that there was a heavy dose of divine grace given to me. just as God gave the plans for the tabernacle to Moses on Mt. Ararat & then prepared Bezalel & Oholiab, he worked in the heart of Norm, provided the direction with E3, and gifted craftsmen like Sam, Scott & me -  it’s incredibly humbling to realize that not only are you part of the plans, you were called by name and given grace for just such an occassion.

the best thing about shooting Jason is that it lead us, creatively, to refine our thinking about how photography could, and should, be used. and, for my part, the effort has lead to results i’m incredibly proud of.

a print ad that ran on the back cover of D Magazine’s April 2009 issue.

Speaking of the stories, COLLIDE magazine is running a feature story on the story behind the stories of I Am Second in their MarchApril issue – soon to be on newsstands. The entire creative team was interviewed for the piece and Daniel Darnell did an outstanding job of putting the story together. He sent over an advance PDF to me about a week and a half ago & I think it’s a really great piece of design as well. Here are a few tears:

Be on the lookout for it and pick up a copy. It’s a pretty great read & quite pretty to look at.

**EDIT.

turns out you can’t pick COLLIDE up on newstands at this point, however the super awesome people at the magazine will gladly sell you a single issue for only $5. just send them a note here. i just recieved my copy today & i have to say it looks even better in print, so it will be a well spent 5-spot and much better for your soul and waistline than a comparably priced Starbucks coffee drink.

and i just thought i’d get a great Heika article about Brett Hull’s creativity or some clever spin on the Sean Avery debacle.

i have a few thoughts about the ads, but i’ll keep those to myself. i think the photography looks good & i’m glad to see a web property like I Am Second being advertised online. it makes a lot of sense. i wonder if getting served three ads on a single article is strategy or coincidence?

ashley. iamsecond.com 2008.

it was her senior year of highschool and everyone in the town expected her to win the Miss Brokenbow pagent…

she had been the runner up for the previous three years and felt like she needed to do something to give her an edge. what started out as an excercise in disciplined eating – the one thing in life she felt she was good at and had control over – spiraled into an eating disorder that stayed with her for years. the harder she fought to stay in control, the more she lost it.

as i’ve said before, i was consistently amazed at people’s ability to sit in that chair and stare into the lens and unflinchingly tell their story. Ashley was no different. i think it takes a deep sense of being healed to be able to do what these people did.

here in Dallas, there is an I Am Second commercial playing – a montage of people talking about their issues; in it, Ashley has a single soundbite about her inability to have a normal relationship with food and, according to a recent entry on the IAS blog, they have received more calls from people wanting to know about her story than any other. if you or someone you know has ever battled to maintain a normal relationship with food or with the need for have control in any area of life, you really need to watch and share this story.

ashley telling her story.

since June, I’ve been working with some really incredible people on a project that i’m very proud to be a part of. i’ve blogged about it several times, but haven’t had the liberty of actually disclosing it’s official name. but, seeing as the billboards are up and the television spots are airing, it is a secret no more. take a few minutes and check out iamsecond.com.

brian welch, formerly of Korn

we have another shoot on Friday that should be interesting.

these are a few of Blake’s behind the scenes images.

blake shares his story.

more photos after the jump.

less is more.

he is second.

we should be posting one of the short films on the DME blog in the next day or two.

tie them as symbols on your hands

interesting hands have become a theme I’ve been exploring during the project -

we’ve seen wise hands and generous hands, hands adorned with super bowl rings and burn scars; young, uncalloused hands and the hands of war heroes; hands that have hurt and hands that have healed; there are such incredible stories written in the hands of men.

all i can say is it has been beyond inspiring to sit and listen to the stories of what these hands have done and who they have touched. i can’t wait to share the full project with you in a couple months.

if i can, i’ll post a link to all the great stuff we got as soon as they’re online.

and, as always, there’s more after the jump.

a tribute to Mr. Arias; props to him

robin.

mike

lan (and before you think i ask people to do questionable things, lan is actually mocking me – and it’s funny)

scott, the former front man of Skin Deep. he’s back.