happy valentines day

flowers on valentines day, not a ground breaking concept but a nice excuse to share some new work. plenty more coming soon..

drink more wine.

my favorite beverage, shot from my favorite perspective, right before consumption.

cheers.

happy fall.

happy fall. happy friday.

be inspired.

i recently came across the work of ernst hass and i will admit; i was blown away. his work really took me off guard. i guess i was just having one of those days where i didn't expect to be surprised, and then BOOM. although i guess that's how surprises work, right? his work was really solid as was his career...to say the very least. but what i really responded to was reading his philosophies. there are ten total on his website but one in particular that i would like to share. for those that are interested, it's #9 of his 10 total:

"vision and taste

i looked at an apple for such a long time until it became the first apple i had ever seen. i was so excited that i called a friend to tell him my experience. but how could i find the right words for what i had experienced? how could i describe my visual sensations with such literary words as red, yellow, green, shining, round? after this movement of nuances and counteractions in form and color, even in touch and smell. anyhow, i did not find the right words, and my friend did not believe me. so, i ate the apple, as i have eaten many an apple before. it was a fairly good apple.

i called my friend again, telling him i just ate a fairly good apple, and he understood me immediately. conclusion: in visions we are alone, in taste we can be together. all i try is to find the inside images in the outside reality."

those two paragraphs kept me smiling the rest of the day. to read more of haas's philosophies or to check out some of his amazing work be sure to check out his website:

http://www.ernst-haas.com/index.html

the images below are a direct response to being inspired.

color awards

i am honored to announce that my work has been recognized by the international color awards; also know as the masters cup. i placed third in both the food and silhouette categories. both of the images that won are part of my ongoing body of personal work. in addition to placing third, two other images were nominated in the food category; one from my 2-d pie series and the other from the seattle metropolitan magazine's 'best of asian restaurants' issue, with art direction credited to benjamin purvis.

to do so well against some of the biggest names in the industry within their respected disciplines has been an exciting and humbling experience. congratulations to all.

you can see my work and the rest of winners and nominees here: http://www.thecolorawards.com/Photoshow5/

third place winners...

and the nominees...

textures of st. lucia

check out some of the textures i found inspiring on our recent trip to st. lucia. cinder blocks and dead leaves aren't the first things to comes to mind when exploring and island paradise but i just couldn't help myself. the light was great down there and the below subject matter lent itself to make some fun imagery.

footwear

y-3 sneaker/mirror test.