Professional colaboration

One of my clients in Portland, the law firm Friedman Gaythwaite Wolf & Leavitt hired me photograph all of their attorneys and to produce an audio slide show for their brand new website.  This is a small but incredibly busy firm and as usual time is always precious.  We were able to capture all of the photographs that we set out to get from the beginning.  The firm was considering the production of a video segment for the website but after presenting to them an audio slide show I had done for another client they decided that my product fit their needs better for both the ease of production and budget reasons.  The video production would have been much more intrusive on their time and much more expensive.  With the audio slide show we knew that all of the images I was already shooting could also be used in the final slide show.    In the schedule we had a few small windows to capture the 2 - 3 minutes of needed audio.  I interviewed the two most senior partners and it had been discussed that we would do our best to try and capture the audio in one take to minimize the editing and post production. These are passionate trial lawyers who would be well equipped to handle this task.  We did really well to achieve the necessary audio but in the end It became clear that my audio editing skills needed help for the final cut.  In a former life I had been on staff with two different TV production companies and it took one call to my old friend Jeff Griffiths who is an amazing editor to see if he could help me out.  Jeff runs the Griffiths Media Group in Portland and lives and works 3 minutes away.  He was more then happy to lend a hand and his editing skills.  We spent three hours on the piece this morning and were able to fine tune the piece to a point where my client should be really excited with the final product. There are a lot of fine creative people in Portland, ME and Jeff Griffiths is truly one of them.  

A Look Back at 2009 Photos

With the year about to end I thought I would quickly pull one image from each month of this past year.  Some of these images have not been shared before.  For me it is nice to see a snap shot of images that remind me of some of the places I have been, documented and explored.  I am looking forward to 2010 and all of the new images yet to be taken.  Happy New Year!

Web Article / Interview

This Fall has been a busy one with many days spent on the roads of New England shooting pictures.  I am fortunate that even with the economy in a bad place my own business has not suffered as bad as others.  Always looking for new inspiration in the camera I committed to photographing a number of Cyclocross races that were taking place in the region.  I am no stranger to cycling as it has been a life long passion and I have always been inspired by racers in all disciplines of the sport.  With this in mind I decided to have fun and see where the images would take me.  I shot thousands of pictures in all weather conditions from blue bird days to pouring rain in three states.  At the end of the season I had amassed some fine moments in cyclocross racing and even started to create a small following of viewers for those images.  After much researched I created a web site a www.jeffscher.smugmug.com to display and sell those race images.  Through some new contacts in the sport, mainly Richard Sachs I was able to get my pictures out to some key players in the industry.  One of those people I was able to reach was Brian Palmer who maintains a well regarded European based cycling blog called thewashingmachinepost.  At the very end of the season Brian contacted me and said he would like to do a web interview and profile for his blog. I put a lot of hard work into following the races and capturing the images I was able to create.  It is a great feeling to be rewarded with the recognition of others for my efforts. As the year 2009 wraps up it is not a bad way to end the year.  The interview / article and accompanying pictures can be seen here.

My Turn

It is not often on a location shoot that I get to have a camera pointed in my direction.  Today was the exception.  I nearly froze my fingers off in the bitter cold wind that arrived today photographing Todd paddling near Richmond Island.  With Todd back on land and into dry clothes we were discussing the shoot when it became my turn to smile into the camera. Thanks Todd. Even with the bitter wind it was a beautiful day to be on the coast doing what I love.  We finished the morning off with a trip to Cafe 158 in South Portland for some tasty bagels and coffee.  Josh's bagels may be the best in all of New England, it is worth a visit.

Don't Try This at Home

Todd Swinton once again amazes me with his feats of absolute athleticism.  Last night it rained here and then the temps dropped to the freezing level.  This morning the streets were like a skating rink.  Perfect conditions to balance on a steel rail...  Fortunately the sun had risen just in time to melt the micro layer of ice off a section of rail for Todd to balance on.  With the motor drive flying we captured some great moments and Todd made it look so easy.