If you want to know what it’s like to work in commercial photography, I have some behind-the-scenes photos from a big photoshoot last week to share with you! I worked with Borshoff, an Indianapolis-based advertising agency, on a new TV and web campaign for a utility company. I was taking still photos alongside a video…
“Go big or go home,” is a saying that I heard a lot as a youth and young adult and quite frankly, it’s a bunch of bullshit. It promotes this idea that if you’re not able to do something world-altering, you just shouldn’t bother. It’s an idea I fell prey to as a young photographer….
Recently I had an opportunity to photograph something new: esports! Indianapolis played host to a 5v5 NBA2K tournament, called The Turn, in a brand new venue downtown. I was contacted by Populous, the architecture firm that designed the new space, to take photos of it in use. I had a great time seeing and documenting…
When I tell people I’m photographing a concert, their first thoughts are that I’m working for a publication or for the band itself. For me, it’s usually neither. There are a lot of people and organizations who need photos from concerts. Most often, when I’m at a show I’m working for a tourism board looking…
Hey, I was a guest on the Quinn Aden podcast! He’s a great interviewer! We talked photography, photo tech, business practices, copyright, and just generally about what it’s like to be a photographer in the world these days. Watch it below! If you’re on-the-go, it’s available on Spotify right here. We talk about copyright for…
This week I took a winter walk to shake off the Great Holiday Malaise and get back to taking some photos outside again. I like the variety of images in this series: abstract nature, people doing wintery stuff, and OF COURSE, just a couple golf balls. Hey, they were there! I had to do my…
Well, we’re back to photographing major sporting events! Here are some of my favorite photos from the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, 2021. When I posted these on Instagram, I had people ask if I was shooting the race for fun. No! While it IS fun to photograph, I was hired to be there. My client is…
I’m excited to announce a partnership with my favorite camera bag brand: Think Tank Photo! I’ve been using their bags and modular system for nearly a decade, so I can say that these are the highest quality bags I’ve seen and are extremely durable. Check out the video below to see an unboxing of the…
I feel that “everyday” photography is greatly underrated. Scroll any social media feed and you’ll see plenty of tropical locations and mountain vistas, often with thousands of likes. Those photos are nice, but I want to see everyday life photographed in an interesting an engaging way. It can be beautiful or harsh or happy or…
Doing some late night photography lead to something I almost never do: using a tripod. Taking out the trash late one night, I noticed the (nearly) full moon shining down on my backyard and felt inspired to take some photos. I knew that I wanted to shoot at a lower ISO (for better image quality)…
The title of this series is 13 Minutes in the Fog: A Photographic Journey. A foggy morning is always great for making you look at your surroundings anew. So that’s just what I did this week when the fog rolled in and the scene didn’t disappoint! Inside Out I frequently look for how our inside…
Recently I did an editorial photo shoot for PUNCH magazine. They have a series profiling long-time bartenders and they hired me to photograph Chuck Sypult, barkeep at the famed Indianapolis restaurant, St. Elmo Steakhouse. In this blog post I share some of my favorite shots. They only needed one photo, a horizontal image, for the…
Stonewall Sports Indianapolis is a community sports organization for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies. I went out to document opening day for their fall kickball league at Frederick Douglass Park in Indianapolis. What a fun group! There was plenty of music, customized uniforms, and not-so-subtle team names. If you’re in the Indy area and looking for…
Bloomington, Indiana is the home of Indiana University, my alma mater. I found these photos from a visit 5 years ago that I never put on the blog. This was a walk around town on a typical Friday in September. There were no special events or anything extraordinary happening. I feel like these photos are…
Today we make a return visit to the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres at Newfields in Indianapolis. For the sake of simplicity, let’s stick with calling it 100 Acres. Revisiting 100 Acres in Indianapolis allows me to explore a subject I’m drawn to frequently: the interaction between people and nature. What’s…
Seeing the peace and serenity of McCormick’s Creek State Park, it’s easy to see how this became the first state park in Indiana, founded in 1916. The spot was never destined to be harnessed commercially for its natural resources. Early efforts to build a sawmill and a quarry did not yield the hoped for results….
While visiting the Florida Keys, we decided to visit Key West for a day. It sounds a bit odd to take a day trip to a location that is nearly 1400 miles from home. But as hotel rooms were limited (and therefore EXTREMELY expensive), we thought a day trip to Key West from nearby Islamorada…
If you ever find yourself visiting Everglades national park, I HIGHLY recommend a stop at the Robert is Here fruit stand. Just 10 minutes from the park’s easternmost entrance, this stand has so many amazing fruits from all over the world, with many I can guarantee you’ve never even heard of before! Robert is Here…
Looking for a fresh perspective on my own surroundings, I created some black and white nature photography in my yard. If you enjoy photography, you likely value documenting your daily life and/or creating art on a regular basis. And while it’s great to travel to tropical beaches or vast mountain ranges, most of us aren’t…
The Everglades Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs, Florida has been an area landmark since 1936. Originally built as a roadside attraction on the highway between Tampa and Miami, today the park is a nonprofit that houses rescued birds and reptiles. Home to all types of flora and fauna native to Florida, Wonder Gardens is a…
Pictures are just better when they’re taken at close range. So when going to the beach, I brought a waterproof camera. Here are the results…
Travel with Kids If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you know that I shoot a lot of stories on the road. What you might not know, is that we always travel with our kids when producing our work. My photos focus on telling the stories of the locations we visit, and…
After a year of staying near home and only visiting state parks, I had forgotten just how large national parks are. Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park was a great way to reacclimate to hiking with young kids in an expansive environment. Anhinga Trail is less than a mile round trip and there were plenty…
Being a documentary photographer means photo stories present themselves at random times, including while waiting for takeout at an eclectic restaurant called Havana Spice in the city of Homestead, Florida. I need to be ready to shoot them at the drop of a hat. This is exactly why I carry my compact Fujifilm mirrorless camera…
In addition to focusing on action and emotion, I like to find the art in sports photography. Here are some methods I employ to get a greater variety of images and bring the audience closer to the subjects. God is in the Details Looking around an event, I’ll see what details catch my eye. A…
Aspect ratio affects everything we do as photographers, from creating images in-camera to making prints and posting photos online. Here are three videos I made to help you navigate aspect ratio and keep your creative vision intact from camera to the final product. Intro to Aspect Ratio The first video is an introduction to aspect…
I absolutely LOVE doing documentary photography of basketball! If you haven’t heard, Indiana is a HUGE basketball state. Yes, more than other states. There’s nowhere else a movie like Hoosiers could have been made. I scanned years of my archive of images I shot for organizations like the Indiana High School Athletic Association and the…
The literal definition of photography “drawing with light.” So the fundamentals of photography are shadows and light. Sometimes it’s important to get back to the basics. One reason Larry Bird was such a great player was how many free throws he shot every day as a kid. It’s Hoosier lore that he’d shoot 100 free…
I love taking photos in the snow! It lets me see everyday locations with a new perspective. Snow provides technical challenges and unique visual possibilities. Let’s talk about those before you head out in the cold with your camera. Here are 8 tips for snow photography. They cover content, composition, and technical considerations when photographing outdoors…
A good photography practice can be to return to the same scene multiple times to photograph it under different conditions. If you saw my post about photographing night snow, you’ll have seen this first image already. Well, I found myself in the same area the next day, both during the afternoon and again in the…
Twenty years into photography, it’s rare to find a subject I haven’t already photographed in some capacity. Enter Night Snow. Whenever possible, I get outside when it’s snowing those big, fat beautiful flakes, but I had never tried it at night. First, it required me to do something I absolutely hate: take a tripod. I’m…
Documentary construction photography, design & collaboration for Cityscape Residential for their website by Common Design.
One thing I’ve learned in my 17 years of professional photography is sometimes you need to just get out and DO SOMETHING, even when you’re not feeling inspired. Being a parent, if you haven’t decided what you’re doing with yourself at a certain time, someone will come along and decide for you. Yesterday morning, my…
This morning I decided to try an experiment. I would see if I could shoot, edit and make a blog post in 60 minutes or less. I dedicated 20 minutes to each task. I knew I could do SOMETHING in that time frame, but how many photos would I get that I liked in 20…
Going through some images from 2020, I started to see a lot of single images that I hadn’t published. When I put them together into a collection, they seemed to go together pretty well. I suppose that means my personal style and vision is becoming more cohesive each year. Related Posts Seeing as most of…
What’s a photographer to do in a pandemic? I’m someone who likes to photograph people most of all. I need to avoid people as much as possible right now. And when I’m around others, I can’t photograph them in the close manner I’m accustomed to. So I spend a lot of time outdoors. And with…
It’s winter in the Midwest. What’s a social-distancing photographer to do? Go for a walk in the woods! Grateful to have some beautiful nature right outside my door. On this day I noticed a lot of interesting details, complex reflections and unique colors. I may not have had sweeping vistas to photograph, but I like…
How to find a great photographer to work with for your family portraits, wedding, or event.
Holiday decor designed and photographed for Engledow Group in Indianapolis area.
Photos for Eating Well magazine of Nate and Liz Brownlee, owners/operators of Nightfall Farm in Crothersville, Indiana.
Took at walk with the kids at Ritchey Woods Nature Preserve in Fishers Indiana and got some great fall photos.
Documenting lost golf balls as found in nature lead to an interesting series of artistic photographs.
Nothing like a good ol’ fashioned last-minute photo assignment. I was asked at 4:30 to accompany my 8-year-old to the creek to hunt for golf balls. I enjoyed making artistic photos of found golf balls, which I was definitely not something that had ever crossed my mind before. I spent less than 90 minutes shooting…
It’s May and we’re half in the box. Documenting life in the here-and-now has been very interesting. As a trained photojournalist, I’ve always thought of “finding a story” as going out into the world and looking for something interesting to shoot. Ironically I’ve found these restrictions more freeing. I have to focus on what’s nearby,…
As the quarantine presses on, I’m finding a lot of different experiences to photograph. The first story I published on the blog was about doing familiar activities in a new environment. The next story interpreted the feeling of social distancing. This week I’m looking at closeness and family bonding in the wake of the distance…
Robert Capa was a famous photojournalist who, among other things, stormed the beach at Normandy with American troops on D-Day, nothing but his cameras in hand. He has a quote that I live by: “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” I take that approach in every possible circumstance. However, with…
We’re all doing things a bit differently these days. One thing that’s interesting to me is how some of the things we’re doing are CLOSE to what we did before, but not exactly the same. For example, my family likes to hike and explore nature. But since we’re not going out to parks right now,…
Now that we’re all out of school, I thought, “Hey, let’s do a post about the first day of school!” I like to do the opposite of what’s expected just for the sake of being different. Anyways, this is the Leazenby family and a few years back I shot this fun story following their two…
Hammond, Indiana-based brewery 18th Street comes to Indianapolis.
If you’ve been in downtown Indianapolis you’ve surely noticed the billowing steam that emanates from the Perry K Steam Plant. It’s also known as the Perry K. Generating Station. This cloud factory provides steam heating to over 200 commercial buildings and industries in downtown Indy. It’s the second largest central district steam heating system in the…
Today we head to the creek to look for a little motivation for shooting a photo story. It can be hard to find the desire to get out and shoot on a gray winter day. However, if as a creative, I need to create, even in less-than-ideal circumstances. In this post, I’ll walk through 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…
Indiana City Last week I visited Indiana City Brewing on the southeast side of downtown Indianapolis to check out their brewing process. It was fun to watch. The building they’re housed in is super cool and the morning light definitely heightened the scene. I’ve been doing documentary photography and drinking beer (not at the same…
Documentary photography from Indy Mural Fest, Indianapolis Indiana 2019
Aaron Scamihorn – Ronlewhorn Industries Indianapolis artist Aaron Scamihorn works as a graphic designer and illustrator. Under his company Ronlewhorn Industries, he creates illustrations, concert posters and design for companies like Indiana City Brewing, where he’s lead their overall design and can art since their founding in 2013. New Medium Last weekend, I photographed Aaron…
The NBA season is about to get underway, so I thought it time to finally share this shoot from last season. The Indiana Pacers hired me to document the inaugural game for their partnership with Motorola. I was brought in to capture some pre-game shots in the locker room and game action photos that highlighted…
Visiting Flat Fork Creek Park Flat Fork Creek Park is tucked away in the southeast corner of Fishers, Indiana. During this trip, Zach seeks different ways to capture the feel of this park at this time of year. Blue skies A bright sunny noon hour doesn’t often make for great photography, but sometimes you…
Our story this week features Turkey Run State Park in western Indiana. Carved by glaciers millions of years ago, this park features some of the most unique topography in Indiana. Walk with us through the ravines and sandstone gorges to see what this park has to offer. Please share this post with a friend who…
Earlier this year I headed up to northern Indiana to visit Angola Wire, a company that makes wire displays for retail use and custom wire parts. Shooting photos of industrial work and heavy machinery is always a fun task. And when sparks are flying, it makes for some cool images. I spent a half-day wandering…