Walking with Dinosaurs Press Conference

This morning I went to a press conference at the U.S. Airways Center that was hyping up the Walking with Dinosaurs Experience that will be coming to Phoenix in September. I realized when I got there that there weren't going to be any of the life-size dinosaur puppets set up like I had hoped, just a visually uninteresting stage and three speakers.

Luckily a group of kids from the Tempe YMCA showed up and got a little lesson about dinosaurs from a local paleontologist. Here the kids get a close look at a T-Rex tooth. (Click to Enlarge)

Branching Out On My Own

Since I've been shooting more covers in the past months I became a member of a modeling database website called Model Mayhem (www.modelmayhem.com) where I've been going to find cover models for the College Times.

Since I'm currently on a modeling freeze at work I decided to do some collaborative shoots with local models on the side and do some trade-for-portfolio work that I hope will eventually turn into paid work once I've built up more of a name for myself.

Yesterday I met up with a local model in Mesa named Ad'ee who is working on a themed collection pertaining to social issues (i.e. drug addiction, anorexia/bulimia, etc.). We tackled "Domestic Violence" at this session. Her best friend, Amanda (wearing my suit) helped out... Ad'ee's a little smiley in a couple pictures, but I think it makes it look more sinister and sadistic...

Cuatro de Julio

I know, I know...I'm a little behind.

But here are my requisite fireworks photos from the thing at Tempe Town Lake.

Phoenix Science Museum's Upgraded Planetarium

Today I headed over to the Phoenix Science Museum to get some shots of their newly improved planetarium. The Phoenix Planetarium now boasts the most technologically advanced system in the world and is much more than just a presentation of a few stars. It was really pretty fascinating.

Unfortunately, I was only allowed to take pictures when there weren't any people in the theater, so I tried to include the seats in the foreground to give the planetarium some sense of scale. If you get a chance to shoot there, I would say that this is one of those rare assignments that warrants using a fish-eye lens because of how huge and encompassing the ceiling screen is.

There were nebulae...

Our moon...

A close-up tour of Saturn's rings (notice the rows of seats and you'll get a feel for how immense this screen is)...

Lastly, the curators put every little extra the system had to offer up on the screen for me. They turned on all of the constellations, the cardinal directions, a scale showing the course of the earth through the solar system at each month, and a 3-dimensional grid of the universe...Really amazing.

Sign Spinners

I shot this video a few weeks ago to coincide with the print story we were running. I just now figured out how to get it uploaded to my blog. I'll be more timely with future videos...I promise.

Spring Valley

I spent the weekend cabinning with friends in Spring Valley near Flagstaff. It was nice to get away from the Phoenix heat for a couple of days and the scenery was beautiful. 

Sunday morning I was up at 5 a.m. to catch the sunrise...
Here's a manual panorama of the sunrise over the mountains (Click to Enlarge)...
I saw about 20 white tail deer crossing the valley and spent the next hour-and-a-half or so stalking them. My stalking skills need some work, though... I only got within 120 yards before they spooked and ran off into the woods.

Warped Tour

Wednesday I headed out to Cricket Wireless Pavilion in west Phoenix for the Vans Warped Tour. There were five different stages going and most of the bands I had never heard of, but it was a good time...

There was Mayday Parade... 

Against Me!...

The Academy Is...
Crowd surfers...
Gym Class Heroes...
and Alesana, just to name a few.

Here I caught a couple of fellow photojournalists (from the Arizona Republic) editing and transmitting back stage...Notice the intense concentration brought on by the pressure of making deadline. (Click to Enlarge)