More than 20,000 people ran the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis last Saturday. The highlight for many runners is taking a 2.5-mile lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and stopping to kiss the bricks. I biked the entire course so I could catch the starting line action, the mid-race lap around the track, and the…
Josef Newgarden visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum last week for the first “An Evening With” event in the newly renovated space. Fans bought tickets and waited in line for this sold out event to meet one of their heroes, a back-to-back winner of the Indianapolis 500. If you don’t follow racing, it’s important to…
Last week I spent three days at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum documenting grand reopening events and it’s absolutely GORGEOUS! At first glance of the exterior, the facade of the building looks the same as when it was built in 1976. But when you step inside, you can see everything is sleek and modern. It’s…
Caleb Hearon’s “So True Live Tour” visited Indianapolis last week. Hearon and guests played a sold out show to around 1400 people at the Egyptian Room at Old National Centre. It was a mix of standup, crowd work, drag, and a hilariously explicit conversation with friends. Meet Caleb Hearon Hearon is 30 year-old standup comic…
What is color photography, really? As I always say… “Color Photography isn’t about taking photos IN color, it’s about taking photos OF color.” How does color contribute to the story that I’m telling? When does it add information? When does it distract from the subject? When is color the subject itself? These are things I’m…
Photographing a Balloon Glow like Jupiter Flights at Connor Prairie is challenging due to quickly changing light conditions. Digital photography makes this much easier with instant feedback and take a lot of frames. However it is possible on film especially with an automatic mode like aperture priority.
The Indiana State Fair is one of my favorite places to take photos. I go each year and there’s always so much to see and do and experience! My wife and I take our 5 kids to the fair each year, so I’m there as a parent and a participant as much as a documentary…
Gregorian chants echoed off the bleachers as tens of thousands knelt in the darkness, in near-silent prayer & meditation. It was a long way from the usual stadium lights, high-energy music, and the cheering & jeering of the usual crowds at Lucas Oil Stadium. The National Eucharistic Congress was held in Indianapolis, Indiana from July…
Cars & Coffee photography is something I’ve done regularly this year. When engaging with a familiar subject, it’s important to me to keep it feeling fresh & interesting. What Can We Learn About Cars & Coffee Through Photographing the People? So this week for Cars & Coffee Photography, I decided to focus on the people…
Ballet INitiative in a nonprofit dance collective based in Indianapolis, Indiana. My introduction to their group came last winter when one of my kids was part of their annual Nutcracker with a Twist performance. The show, billed as a “feminist 1920s Nutcracker,” is primarily based in ballet, but also incorporates other styles of dance. This…
Last weekend Graham Rahal Performance hosted a cars & coffee event at their location in Brownsburg, IN. I headed out with the boys to see what we hoped would be some cool cars. We were not disappointed! We could not believe how many people showed up! And apparently they were a bit surprised as well….
This past weekend we made our sorta annual visit to Carmel Artomobilia, a car show in our town of Carmel, Indiana. As with most events I photograph, I wanted to focus on both the cars AND the people observing them. So here is my street photography approach to the car show… Related Posts If you…
I recently worked with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to document their Verizon 200 at the Brickyard race weekend. There were four races over the weekend and I was there taking photos of the experience. The Scene I took a documentary approach to show what it felt like to be at the track, capturing the overall…
Having lived in Indianapolis for 17 years now, I always wondered who got to drive the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Camaros I’d see around town each year starting in the spring. Well, now I know because I’m one of them! An Extremely Brief Introduction to the IMS If you’re not familiar with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway…
Available Light Only Documenting the mood and atmosphere of A Merry Prairie Holiday at Conner Prairie was a fun challenge as a photographer. There was a mix of light sources that ranged from candles and fires to outdoor projections to modern holiday light displays. Projection The first show we encountered was a projection on the…
Last fall marked my third time documenting the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. It’s always a lot of action and emotion with plenty of great photos to take (if you know what you’re doing, that is). My SEO plugin wants me to type a bunch of words. “F*ck off, plugin,” I say! I’m going to tell this…
One of the many reasons I love my work is that I never know what type of shoots are going to come my way. Documenting the rededication of Bethel Cemetery is definitely a photo story different than any I have done before. A logistics company called Cardno contacted me in the fall to document the…
Documentary photography from Indy Mural Fest, Indianapolis Indiana 2019
Indiana Grown Marketplace These are images from the 2019 Indiana Grown Monumental Marketplace. This event only happens once a year and includes nearly 150 vendors from across the state of Indiana. I was hired to provide a comprehensive catalog of images for digital and print advertising and I only had four hours to do it….
2019 NTEA Work Truck Show “TRUCKS!!!!!!” (read in the voice of Benny from the LEGO Movie yelling “SPACESHIP”) is what I hear when I get a call to come photograph some shiny new trucks at the NTEA Work Truck Show. A few months ago my Subaru was in the shop for being 20 years old…
Welcome to my third and final post on my practices for shooting in low light using only available light. This post addresses the low light post-production practices I use to get great shots in extremely low light without using flash or strobes. Get the whole series here in a cool PDF download. All the kids…
Thanks for checking out my second post on my practices for shooting in low light using only available light. For an introduction to the benefits of available light photography and a review of the type of gear I use to get great shots in low light, be sure to read the first post. This post…
One of the most difficult aspects of photography is shooting in low light. However, with my documentary approach, it’s a skill I need in order to maintain the integrity of the subject material and avoid affecting the end result with my presence. Therefore over the past 15 years I’ve developed a series of practices that allow…
You see model trains a lot during the holiday season, but nobody does model trains like the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis. Jingle Rails is their annual train display. Models travel through famous local scenes and national landmarks from the American West. You’ll find downtown Indy, complete with a scale model of the Soldier and Sailor’s…
Next up for our holiday events is Christmas at the Zoo in Indianapolis. This is always a great event at the Indianapolis Zoo because in addition to Santa’s Village and lights throughout the zoo, a lot of the animals are out and about and available for visits. Santa’s Village The Bicentennial Pavilion houses Santa’s Village…
In October I was commissioned to document the Indiana Pacers premium experiences. They want to give fans looking to purchase tickets a sense of the available spaces during a game. It was fun to get a first-hand view of all the awesome areas throughout Banker’s Life Fieldhouse. In this post, I’ll talk about how I find good…
One of the things I enjoy most about shooting this time of year is the diversity of people that come out to celebrate America’s independence. It’s a great reminder that we all love this country and we all are welcome here. Here’s a slideshow of some of our favorite images celebrating America… A handful of…
Another stop we made on our holiday tour of Indianapolis was Jingle Rails, presented by The Indiana Rail Road Company, at the Eiteljorg Museum. Eight model trains travel through miniature scenes including downtown Indianapolis, Hollywood, Las Vegas and western landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore. After the Jingle Rails photos, you’ll see…
This week we headed to the Indianapolis Zoo for their annual Christmas at the Zoo. 2017 saw the addition of a new Santa’s Village under the Bicentennial Pavilion. With Santa in his study, Mrs. Claus in her kitchen and reindeer in the barn, there was plenty to see and do. The kids enjoyed multiple trips…
Winterlights is the newest of the major holiday attractions in the Indianapolis area. A part of the 152-acre Indianapolis Museum of Art campus, recently rebranded as Newfields, the event features more than a million lights, winter treats and displays set to holiday music. The family and I decided to check it out this week and…
This past weekend was the grand opening of the Carmel Christkindlmarkt. I stopped by on Sunday evening to check out the scene. It’s a beautiful setup with the Palladium in the background. The iceskating is affordable, and there are special deals on Wednesday and Thursday, so be sure to check out the website for details:…
Photographing a solar eclipse was an incredible adventure! It was only a 4 hour drive to Hopkinsville, KY to get the longest duration of totality in the country. Never mind that it took over 7 hours to get home. Still worth it! Amazing Shadows One of my favorite parts of the eclipse was the crescent-shaped…
Here’s some documentary photography of a youth baseball team from Carmel, Indiana. These photos are taking at Grand Park, a massive 400-acre sports complex in Westfield. Baseball usually requires a really long lens to get any decent action, but with youth baseball, I can usually stand close enough to get some cool shots with my…
Trafic Design, is a Quebec company specializing in corporate design and branded environments for business. Trafic contacted me to document their promotional exhibit design at the 2017 NTEA Work Truck Show, the largest event in association history. It featured more than 500 vendors with nearly 12,000 attendees, occupying all 566,000 square feet of exhibit space in the Indiana Convention Center. Trafic’s client, Ranger Design, is a…
As a born and bred Midwesterner, I love documenting Indiana fairs & festivals. I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana attending the 3 Rivers Festival. Each year, my family would travel to my father’s boyhood home in Wayne County, Ohio to attend the fair. The animals, funnel cakes, disorienting carnival rides and tractor pulls were…
RIOT LA 2016 is currently underway in downtown Los Angeles and this is my 3rd time documenting the festival. It’s always one of my favorite events to photograph each year. With standup, improv, podcasts, music and more, RIOT artists are always pushing boundaries and experimenting, and as the festival’s lead photographer, I’ve always been afforded the…
Thought I’d get out and do some shooting yesterday evening. I went to the Cole Noble Gallery at Artistry Apartments during First Friday festivities in downtown Indianapolis. Well, apparently First Friday an extremely large event every month (48 galleries/venues), which I’m sure everyone already knows. Unfortunately, I only had time for one stop. Honestly, I feel like…
CarmelFest is a big Independence Day celebration held every year on July 3rd & 4th in Carmel, Indiana. Since 2012, I’ve participated in the event as a sponsor and “official photographer”. I enjoy living in a smaller city where I get to see so many people I know celebrating our country together as a community….
Whatever I’m shooting, my aim is to document all aspects I see, so viewers will have the most complete picture possible of people in a certain place and time. What people wear says something about their personality. Showing surroundings creates context for the subjects and expands the viewer’s experience. When I’m physically close to the subjects, the…
At the beginning of May, I was brought on to photograph Finance & Society, an economic conference in Washington D.C. produced by The Institute for New Economic Thinking. A dinner on May 5th at the National Museum of Women in the Arts featured a keynote by US Senator Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA). The following day, the conference was held…