State Fair – Photography is Nothing – Ep10
This week Zach & Courtney discuss their visit to the Indiana State Fair plus Zach’s project documenting fairs & festivals around the state of Indiana…
Photo Stories That Went Too Far – Photography is Nothing – Ep06
This week Zach & Courtney discuss photography projects that became obsessive, including Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase’s Ravens, Catherine Leroy’s coverage of the Vietnam War, W….
The Only Revolution is Within – Photography is Nothing – Ep05
This week Zach & Courtney discuss everyday photography, Zach’s 180 on fireworks photos, an important quote that influenced Courtney, and the work of photographers Sally…
It’s Easy to Start a Podcast – Photography Is Nothing – Episode01
Welcome to our very first episode of Photography is Nothing! This week Zach & Courtney discuss starting a podcast, literally dropping a $5000 camera, attending…
Kissing the Bricks at the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon
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…
Josef Newgarden at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum
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…
Grand Reopening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum
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…
Caleb Hearon in Indianapolis – So True Live Tour
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…
Creating Art with Art: Documentary Photography at Museums
For the last hundred years there have been photographers creating documentary photography at museums. Famed photographer Elliott Erwitt documented so many museums around the world…
Colors, Excitement, and Moments of the 2024 Indiana State Fair
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…
Reverence & Spectacle of the National Eucharistic Congress
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…
Backstage With a Professional Ballet Company
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…
Cars & Coffee & Cameras: Using the X100VI with some Amazing Autos
Last weekend Graham Rahal Performance hosted a cars & coffee event at their location in Brownsburg, IN. I headed out with the boys to see…
A Look Behind the Scenes of a Commercial Photo Shoot
Let’s go behind the scenes of a commercial photoshoot I did recently. This was a 5 day shoot at locations like small businesses in Indianapolis,…
Documenting Race Weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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…
documentary | events | sports
Photoshoot with an Indianapolis Motor Speedway Camaro
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…
2023 Indianapolis 500: Two Different Views
The Indianapolis 500 is a month-long celebration during the month of May in Indiana. This year I photographed two different perspectives on the festivities. First,…
They Almost Won the Indianapolis 500: Second Place Finishers
I went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum this spring, and seeing as the Indy 500 is this weekend, now is a great time to…
A Wild Weekend of Gaming – Big East Esports Championships
The Big East Esports Championship at Butler University was full of action and emotion and I was there to document it all! Scroll through the…
Documenting Work Truck Week in Indianapolis
Work Truck Week in Indianapolis is always a joy to photograph. This year was my fourth time documenting these big big trucks inside the Indiana…
How To Create Social Media Content with Zach Dobson Photography
Creating social media content for clients using my documentary photography experience to share client products, services, and locations.
Learn How I Find Great Photos on a Live Photo Walk
Live from _____, It’s a ZDP Photo Walk! Have you tuned in to a live photo walk yet? I’ve been a photographer for over 20…
How To Use Motion Blur in Photography to Tell a Story
Using motion blur in photography is a great way to convey action, movement, and excitement while telling a story. In this post I’ll give some…
New Butler Esports Park in Indianapolis
Photographing the new Butler Esports Park was my second photoshoot this year in esports. It’s been great learning about this new frontier in sports and…
Taking an Artistic Approach as an Event Street Photographer
Recently I decided to take some photos as a sort of “event street photographer.” Here I’ll talk about the process and show the results! What…
NBA2K in Indianapolis – Live esports tournament
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…
Stonewall Sports – Indianapolis Kickball
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…
A Spectacular Convergence of Nature, Art, and People
Today we make a return visit to the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres at Newfields in Indianapolis. For the sake of…
Documenting Construction, Design and Collaboration
Documentary construction photography, design & collaboration for Cityscape Residential for their website by Common Design.
Sun in the Wintertime
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…
A Look Inside the Perry K Steam Plant
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…
Monumental Marathon
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…
Bethel Cemetery
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…
Indiana City Brewing
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…
Indiana Pacers and Motorola
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…
Indiana Grown Marketplace
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…
Purposeful Design
Purposeful Design in Indianapolis, Indiana makes beautiful hand-crafted and custom furniture. That alone is impressive. Pair that with their mission to help individuals who have…
Bottleworks District
Bottleworks District is a massive development underway in downtown Indianapolis. This past weekend I took a tour of the property with Hendricks and their marketing…
Indianapolis Public Schools
This time last year I worked on a project documenting Indianapolis Public Schools. I went to 10 different schools over the course of four days…
100 Acres at Newfields
On a warm day in January, we stop by 100 Acres at Newfields with the kids. If you’re not from the Indy area, Newfields is…
Jingle Rails 2018
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…
Christmas at the Zoo
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…
Newfields Winterlights 2018
This week we visit Newfields Winterlights in Indianapolis, now in its second year. With over 1.5 million lights, this is THE light display to see. …
Industrial and Warehousing Photography
Morales Group is a leading staffing agency in Indianapolis. The Morales Group attributes their growth to their commitment to serve: their clients, associates, staff and…
Jingle Rails
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…
Christmas at the Zoo
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…
Kids. Just being.
I had a co-op day recently at my kids’ preschool and thought I’d take a few photos. It’s a kind and loving environment where kids can…
winterlights
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…
Indianapolis Zoo
Here are some photos from a recent trip to the Indianapolis Zoo. Even though it was a rainy day, there was a lot to see and…
Refugees in Indiana
Like many people, the images I’ve seen in the news lately of refugees fleeing violence and war have affected me deeply. Parents are going through extraordinary…
Monumental Mile
To start this month, I documented the Monumental Mile in downtown Indianapolis. This was a fun community event with a straight-shot run along Meridian Street…
Holladay Properties
Holladay Properties is a full-scale land development, design/build and fully-integrated real estate company. They contacted me to document a sampling of the type of spaces they…
Personal Legend Project: Kurt Braunohler
Kurt Braunohler, Comedian The first time I photographed comedian Kurt Braunohler was at RIOT Comedy Festival in Los Angeles in 2014. At that RIOT show, his joy…
Personal Legend Project: Daniel Elsener
Daniel Elsener, President, Marian University My in-laws, Jan & Steve McCracken, are Marian alumni. As a part of their efforts fundraising for the school, they’ve invited…
Personal Legend Project: Bill Browne
Bill Browne, Principal/President, Ratio Architects Bill founded Ratio in 1982 and the firm has gone on to create many iconic Indianapolis buildings such as Bankers Life Fieldhouse…
Personal Legend Project: Lobyn Hamilton
Lobyn Hamilton, Vinyl Artist Lobyn is a local artist whose primary medium at the moment is vinyl. He smashes and cuts vinyl albums and their…
Personal Legend Project: Tiffany Benedict Browne
Tiffany Benedict Browne, Author & Historian On the day I photographed Tiffany, I had the opportunity to witness her enthusiasm for history first-hand. For part…
Personal Legend Project: Broxton Bird
Broxton Bird Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Earth Sciences, IUPUI Many people dream of traveling to remote mountains of Tibet or Peru. Broxton Bird is living this…
Personal Legend Project: Rachael Heger
Rachael Heger, Support the Girls, Indianapolis Rachael Heger began collecting bras at the beginning of this year to donate to local women’s charities. The goal was…
Personal Legend Project: Alex Jackiw
Alexandra Jackiw, President, Milhaus Management Alex was referred for this project by GK Rowe, calling her a “national Icon in the Multifamily Mixed Use Property…