Portraits of Pioneer Mountain Men. Location: Jackson, Wyoming.
Pioneer Mountain Men
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Category Archives: Personal Work
Pennsylvania Dutch Country
Here’s a fun post for TBT… I spent some time exploring and shooting new personal work in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country a few years back while we were traveling the country shooting new photos and video work. Such a beautiful and unique area. Seeing the way the Amish farmers work and live their lives is always a great experience. In a way it feels like you have gone back in time.
Settling in Lancaster County in western Pennsylvania The Amish people are a group of traditional Christian church fellowships with Swiss German origins. This area is mostly farmland and you will frequently see The Amish farmers out tending their fields using teams of oxen or traveling the scenic roads in their traditional horse and buggies.
If you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend it. It was so peaceful shooting in the silence and hearing the click clop in the distance of approaching buggies off in the distance. A little known fact… The reason you rarely if ever see photos of The Amish people in person stems from their beliefs. The Amish hold humility as a cherished trait. To pose for photos can be viewed as calling attention to one’s self and as such most would prefer not to be photographed. I always try to respect this and go out of my way to not show them or be too blatant in the way I photograph. In most cases I actually avoid showing people in these photos in a way that they can be directly seen or recognized unless I specifically ask them and are given permission to do so.
Bonneville Part 2… Collaboration with Smalldog Imageworks.
One of the great things about being a creative person and working in the industry that I work in is when your work inspires other creative and talented people who’s work you love and admire. There are times when this brings about opportunities to collaborate with those people on projects that both inspire and benefit each other. 
One such opportunity arose when Scott Dorman from Smalldog Imageworks wrote to tell me how much he liked the first Bonneville posts I had made (as he is very much a fan of classic cars and bikes.) This led to me asking him if he would be interested in working on producing a few more of these images with me as I am creating a whole series from this shoot. He jumped at the chance and the result was the first 3 images here in this post. 
What is interesting about all these images is none of these vehicles were actually in motion when I shot them. I shot them and many other pieces with the final images in mind, but the actual scene when shooting was much more random with many layers of people and cars in the background. When this happens and I will often have the final composition in my mind but knowing that there is no way to get it in one shot in camera. Instead I will work to make sure I have all the parts at the correct angles and perspectives with many variations and options I need to make it a reality and build it later in post. I incorporate a lot of this into my everyday work but Scott takes this talent and multiplies it times 10 and was perfect choice to bring these images into reality. He’s a real pro when it comes to picking the right angles so the perspectives work as well as people, body positions, and adding motion, the flying salt, spinning the tires & moving the ground. It’s no surprise that he is one of the most sought after retouchers in the business today.
Training Day…
#OregonExplored
Long Beach
View from the Hood.
Winter’s Here… Time to go Ice Fishing!
Winter is finally upon us! Winter is finally here which brings with it all sorts of fun stuff…
Things like heading to New Hampshire with friends to take in the annual ice fishing derby! These folks are serious about their ice fishing. What a great excuse to head out on the snow and frozen lakes to drink beer, ride snowmobiles and have fun! 
Winter Wonderland
So That Others May Live… The US Coast Guard Cape Disappointment for The American Worker Project.
So picking up where we left off, our ongoing travels this fall took us all over the Northwest, ranging from the Oregon coast up through Washington State and onward into Canada to Whistler BC. Which brings me to this current post and latest installement into The American Worker Project.
Over the course of several cold mid November days, I had the distinct honor and privilege of working with the brave men and women stationed at the United States Coast Guard Station, Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, Washington. After making contact with the station’s Commanding Officer LCDR Tom Condit, I was invited there to document the hard working members of the motor lifeboat rescue teams that patrol the turbulent waters off Cape Disappointment.
A little bit of history for those who are not familiar with aptly named Cape Disappointment…
Located at the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean, Cape Disappointment is known as one of the most treacherous and deadly waterways in the western hemisphere. Commonly referred to as “The Graveyard of The Pacific,” the waterways in the area are so turbulent that since their discovery in 1792, well over 2000 shipwrecks have occurred and over 700 lives have been lost. The reason for this, is an occurrence that happens when the large waves emanating offshore from Japan and the Aleutian Islands, charge across the Pacific and collide with the strong currents flowing from the mighty Columbia River, culminating over the bar at the mouth of the river near the jetty. The result is incredibly turbulent water and high surf that is unpredictable and extremely unforgiving.
When someone is in trouble at sea, stranded, alone and taking on water, it is the US Coast Guard who answers the call. They will go out in extremely adverse conditions and lay their lives on the line to rescue those in need. As you can imagine this requires lots of training in often intense and hostile situations, so that they may be prepared to take on this task regardless of the conditions.
As I mentioned above, I had the good fortune of being granted access into this world for a few days to document these hard working and dedicated men and women for my American Worker Project. First off, I have to say what a pleasure and honor it was working with them. As you would expect from any US military unit, their level of professionalism and expertise were unparalleled. During my time with them I was able to go out on onto the high seas several times on the dawn patrol “bar runs” that go out every morning at dawn. The purpose of these runs is to give first hand reports of the conditions on the bar so that they can set any restrictions for the day for all watercraft entering or leaving the cut at the Columbia River. I also got to photograph them working on both their 47 foot and 52 foot motor lifeboats as they did high seas surf training, man overboard rescue training. boat to boat rescues and towing drills.
The most exciting activity of the bunch, hands down was the high seas surf training. I was reminded several times by the crew and Senior officers of how lucky I was to be included in this activity, as it is extremely rare that a civilian is allowed to go out in these conditions with them. It is not something that I took lightly and did my best to capture just a little bit of what it is like for them out on the water.
The experience is amazing! At times it is not unlike being in a huge washing machine as the boats are tossed around like toys by the power of these huge waves. Imagine yourself standing roughly 15 feet off the surface of the water, tethered to the railing atop the upper deck of a 47 foot boat with 5 crew members, looking up at waves that are cresting easily 10 feet higher than you. Your instinct is to want to go the other way, but instead the Surfman who is driving the boat sends us charging toward the wave, tossing the boat up into the air with a wall of water washing over you as you hold on for dear life and then brace for the next wave which comes only 6 – 10 seconds later. Now consider this… the day I was on board for surf training was a relatively tame day for them. While it was a white knuckle ride for me, it was but a fraction of the conditions that they are actually able to handle. Quite an experience to say the least, but all in a day’s work for these folks.
It was decided that I would ride atop the 47’ as it is the “drier” and more stable of the two boats in the 15-20 foot seas that we were about to experience. Plus, this would allow me to get some amazing shots of the 52 foot lifeboat named “Triumph II.” A boat commissioned in the 1960’s and one of four still in service today. This boat has the unique feature of being much heavier, which means instead of riding up and over the waves, it tends to cut through them, resulting in some very dramatic views as you can see from the photos above and below. The boat completely disappears from view, only to punch through like a submarine surfacing. As amazing and treacherous as this seems, it is something this boat is well equipped to do, being that it is designed to operate in winds of up to 70 mph and waves in excess of 32 feet in height.
I imagine it was quite comical to them watching me as I tried to hold on with one hand while attempting to shoot photos with the other hand… all the while bouncing around like a tethered paddle ball, as we experience several G’s when our boat careened over a mountain of water which then proceeded to rain down upon us like a waterfall. Now I like to think of myself as having my sea legs, as I’ve spent a great deal of time on water over my life, but I was definitely being challenged that day. Funny as I may have looked, it was good that I opted not to use my normal surf housing but instead rigged my cameras with splash bags to save on the extra weight. It is a miracle my gear survived in tact, but better to have a lightweight splash bag than something that ends up being more like holding a bowling ball on a roller coaster. In hindsight it was comforting knowing that I was with highly trained professionals and that if something goes too horribly wrong, you can escape out of the surf zone and regroup… but one can only imagine what it must be like going out in a bad storm in seas that are twice as high and not just restricted to one small area, but rather go on relentlessly for hours. To add to that, once you reach the people you are trying to save, it often requires a rescue swimmer going into the cold turbulent waters to pluck them from the sea. Bravery is an understatement. Moreover their sense of pride and dedication in what they do is infectious.
Special thanks go to Petty Officer 2nd Class Ali Flockerzi for helping to connect me to the right people, To Lieutenant Commander Chief Tom Condit, (without his trust and permission I would never have gotten the access needed to create these images) and last but not least Sr. Chief Greenlief and the many other crew members that took me under their wings for a few exciting days on the water.
I have the utmost respect for what they do. They put themselves and their lives at risk daily, doing whatever it takes to keep our waterways and homeland safe. After hanging with them for just a few short days it really brings new meaning to the slogan used for many of the branches of the US military. “So that others may live…”
The American Worker Project: Patti Dunn- TChoup Industries
My most recent addition to my American Worker Project takes us down south to New Orleans, Louisiana where I had the opportunity to photograph Patti Dunn, owner and lead designer for a very cool company called Tchoup Industries. Patti is a ten year veteran pack and luggage designer in the outdoor industry and now operates a small store in New Orleans where she and a small team of local New Orleans residents, manufactures and sells her cool custom hand made shoulder bags, backpacks and other accessories.
All the bags and other products produced by Tchoup (pronounced CHOP) are done so by hand, right here in New Orleans using sustainable locally sourced materials. Some of these natural materials include nutria fur and alligator leathers as well as recycled materials such as webbing strap that has been rejected by the auto industry, repurposed rice bags, discarded wool curtains, irreparable boat sails, and more. They proudly to turn these materials into functional bags and accessories, instead of letting them go to waste in overcrowded landfills.
If you are looking for a unique gift for someone special or maybe even something for yourself, head on over to her website and see the many cool bags and other products they make! 
Update from the Road – Part 1… Spring 2016
Well it’s been a while since my last “Update from the Road” and time has just been flying by! When I last left you we were on our way to Park City, Utah to catch the tail end of the snow season with plans to shoot a bunch of winter and mountain adventure sports. Today is the 6th of May & I’m typing this on a plane returning to Utah from a job we just shot in Orlando, (more on that later) & reflecting on the last couple months. Once again, our time here seems like a blur.
So much has happened…. If you’ve been keeping up with my blog entries, you read about my shoot with Park City PowderCats. If not you haven’t had the chance to read and see the photos yet, you can read about it here. It was such an amazing couple of days on some of the best snow imaginable, making some really cool images images and I also had the opportunity to meet some really great people.
We also shot with RAMP Sports which is a really cool ski and snowboard manufacturing company based right here in Park City Utah. They have a very unique culture and make awesome hand made skis & snowboards using a very Earth friendly sustainable process using bamboo as a base. All their products are not only green but they are also certified “Made In America” as they are hand made right there in their shop. I spent the day shooting a bunch of their employees at work and captured the various stages of the process of making these killer skis & boards. Later that week I spent the morning skiing up high at The Canyons, shooting their CEO Mike on one of the last powder days before the closing of Park City for the season. I’ll post the images here on the blog as soon as I get the all clear from RAMP as some of the shots are proprietary in nature. In the meantime, here is a little teaser of one of the guys grinding the edges on a snowboard.
It’s different up here… It’s interesting being in a resort ski town and seeing the changes that occur after the resorts start to close. The days are warm, the grass gets green & leaves start budding and flowering on the trees… which in itself is just like anywhere else in the spring I guess, but with one major difference… While the lower elevations warm up quick and soon resemble spring, it is still cold up high on the peaks. Often times it will be warm and sunny and you look up at the mountains and they are covered in clouds…. Cold and clouds means SNOW! That’s right, there is still fresh snow up at 10,000 feet and higher and folks are still hiking and snowmobiling in and doing back country ski tours. Just this past weekend Snowbird, (where we shot last week) got 19 inches of snow over 2&1/2 days. You’d never know spring has sprung there…. yet 15 minutes down the valley the sun was shining and it was a beautiful 60 degree day.
Spring has sprung! So as time presses on it would seem spring is here to stay. As things in the lower elevations are warming up you start seeing people switching gears. The snow toys get put away and out come the summer toys and along with them, the road cyclists, mountain bikers, golfers and fishermen. You know what that means? Summer is right around the corner!!
We teamed up with fly fishing guide Joe Mitchell of Stony Brook Fly Fishing recently to shoot some cool fly fishing stuff on the lower Provo River just south of the Jordanelle Reservoir dam. With the increased snow melt streaming down the mountains the rivers are running cold and fast and the fishing is great. Up and down the rivers fishermen and women are out doing their best to catch their fill of the various fish that inhabit these waters. I hope to be getting back out to get more of this tomorrow before pulling out of Park City to continue our journey. I’ll be posting images soon from these shoots so stay tuned! For now, here’s a little teaser.
Meanwhile back at the office…. The nice thing about being here for an extended period is we have been able to take the necessary time to shift into a different gear and hunker down and do the all important job of marketing. As any photographer will tell you, while we would all love to be shooting all the time, most of our time is spent feeding the machine and beating our own drum doing the various things that we do to keep the work coming in. After all, if all you did was travel and shoot photos, but never put in the hard but necessary work of getting it out there to the right people to see, the proverbial well would run dry pretty quickly. Then you are no longer a photographer and his family on an amazing photo journey but just a dude in a trailer who can’t afford to go anywhere. or even worse… a guy “living in a van down by the river!” – Chris Farley.
Well, the flight attendants are telling us we need to prepare for landing which is my cue to bring this post to a close. We have lots of other news and information to share so the next post will likely be just around the corner. Tune in next time… (later this week) when I talk about what it takes to make a journey like this not only possible but profitable. I’ll be sharing some details about marketing & promotion and the results we are seeing from all our efforts.
So as they say in Germany… “All feet are the same!”
*Update…. what the heck does that mean? Why is he talking about Germany and feet?Sorry… Bad language joke: if you say “All feet are the same” in just the right way, it sounds sorta like Auf Wiedersehen (German for Goodbye) & that is exactly what I am doing! 🙂
Park City Powder Cat Guides – The American Worker #8
This entry into The American Worker Series led me way up high to some of the very best back country skiing terrain available in the country. I was very fortunate recently to have been invited to join the guides of Park City Powder Cats on the beautiful 1000 Peaks Ranch in the high Uinta Mountains just east of Park City Utah for two days during a storm that dumped well over foot and a half of fresh powder on of some of the most epic terrain I have ever ridden. Over the two days I met some amazing people and got some really great photos while getting access to some of the most epic skiing and snowboarding terrain one can find. *Note- Some of these images need to be seen large to really get enormity of the terrain…. click the image to see a larger version.
For those of you that have not heard of back country Powder Cat skiing, you don’t know what you have been missing. Instead of skiing within the boundaries of a ski resort and being herded with the hoards and masses up ski lifts where you are lucky if you get one un-tracked line on a powder day, you are instead being brought up a private mountain in a heated Powder Cat coach that delivers you and 9 or 10 other lucky skiers and snowboarders to the top of some of the best un-tracked terrain in the country. At Park City Powder Cats they have over 43,000 acres of private land to choose from. That is an area larger than Vail, Aspen and Killington Mountains combined. What that means is you can go for days and days and never have to ski over someone’s tracks if you choose not to. We are talking HUGE bowls of steep and deep riding in some of the lightest and fluffiest powder I have ever experienced, which says a lot as I have well over 20 years on the snow.
A warning though…. a few good days here will literally ruin your experience at even the very best ski resort out there. It sets the benchmark way high and everything else pales by comparison. 🙂
So epic skiing aside, my reason for being here was to shoot the people that make it all happen at PCcats. I wanted to document the hard working ski guides, snow safety and drivers that take people out day after day into some of the most incredible, (yet potentially dangerous) areas to feed their nonstop craving for fresh un-tracked powder. Over our two day shoot I had the pleasure of shooting and riding with their amazing guides Johnny, Jason, Chris and Nancy. These folks have the best jobs in the world and they are very good at it. Their ever present positive attitude is infectious. Though I guess it would be easy to be positive given the venue in which they work!
It’s not all just “atta boy’s and good jobs” though, in addition to making sure people have a great time, this hard working team’s most important job is one of making sure your experience is a safe one. You have to remember that this is the back country and it can be extremely dangerous if you do not respect it and know what you are doing. Avalance potential is ever present in the back country and it is paramount that you know what to do and not to do. Every skiier is given an avalanche beacon and a safety briefing in the morning before leaving base camp. Before each individual run, they tell you exactly where to go, or (more importantly), where not to go to keep you safe. The guides work very closely with their expert snow safety patrols. Together they constantly assess the conditions and determine where their next run will be and exactly what parts of each peak will be not only the best run, but also how to best approach these runs to get everyone down safely without incedent.
Their snow safety team are constantly out on the various parts of the mountain during the day cutting new lines, knocking down dangerous cornices and throwing the occasional explosive charge to help mitigate much of the avalanche risk. They work hand in hand with the guides to help them to craft the perfect day for their guests and keep them out of harm’s way.
The image above shows snow safety patrollers Dave and Wes setting a charge to help shake loose any dangerous snow that might potentially be a problem to their guests. This particular shot was from Day 1 of our shoot way up high around 11,000 feet on a seriously steep grade with a dangerous cornice during one of the only moments where the visibility was good and not a complete white out. Nothing like heading out to the top of the world and throwing explosives, all in the name of safety! They have to be on top of their game and have razor sharp focus as without what they do, as the guides would have no way of knowing what each face is doing on that particular day without them.
This is General Manager and head honcho Ron. This guy is amazing. He is quite literally everywhere doing every conceivable job you can think of… from helping coordinate guests, to running a cat up the mountain to groom the cat trails so that the drivers can get the guests to where they need to be, to shuttling people out on snowmobiles that need to get to different areas around the mountain, to coordinating with a production company filming a movie on property. He does everything and all with a constant smile on his face! With him running the show and his amazing “Can Do” attitude it is no surprise that he has such a well oiled and positive team. Good management filters down through the ranks and it shows throughout their entire operation.
Last but not least are their team of talented powder cat drivers. Without these guys at the helm they wouldn’t be able to deliver their guests to these amazing spots. Make no mistake, their job is not easy. They have to be experts at what they are doing. These are large, HEAVY pieces of machinery, they do everything from crossing running ice cold river beds to climbing up super steep grades and chugging through giant snow drifts that can take 5 or 6 tries to get through. There are many times on any given climb when you look out the window and realize you are motoring up a steep grade riding on only a tiny ridge line with no room to spare on either side, and thousand foot drops to your right and left. These guys do it without breaking a sweat!!
If you are an advanced skiier and you’ve never done this before, you owe it to yourself to save up and go out and do it at least once. I guarantee when you leave, you will leave craving your next opportunity! You can reach them here to book your next trip!!
Update from the road…Winter Edition – Part 1.
Well it has been a while since I’ve posted a summary update from the road. So much has happened since I last updated you back in late November I’m going to have to break this up into several posts.
As I reflect back on the whirlwind of the last few months I must take a moment to appreciate the view out my side window of my office in the back of our rig. Today we find ourselves just outside of Park City Utah with a killer view of the snow capped Wassatch mountain range right out my side window. It’s the kind of view that makes it hard to get work done as the mountains call to you. Below is an image I made of this view just this morning. Last night as I started writing this blog entry there was a soft pastel blue and pink sunset going on as the remnants of a 3 day storm that left the mountain with just over two feet of fresh powder started to break up and leave the area. The next few days promise to be gorgeous blue bird days… perfect weather for making some great images and harvesting the hidden powder in the back country behind the resorts. But enough about that for now, I’ll get back to the present day later in post #2.
So what have we been up to here in the Barrett camp since Fall? Where do I start? The end of November and first week of December brought a few assignments that had me back in Florida shooting. Because of these assignments and a schedule that required we be back in South FL at a pre determined point, we had to skip over two locations that I really wanted to shoot. One was The Outer Banks in North Carolina and the other was in West Virginia where I was to shoot coal miners for the American Worker Project. A disappointment, but work is work and we’ll just have to circle back around another time to do these shots.
The rest of December and the first half of January was a blur as we found ourselves back in our home base of South Florida. We spent some much needed down time decompressing, visiting friends & family, doing the holiday thing and working in the office doing post production work on all the images I’d shot in the past few months. We also took a few weeks to explore other areas of our home state on the west coast from Naples, up through St Pete and on up to the Panhandle.
At this point our schedule demanded we hit the road as we had many miles and stops to make before getting here to Park City to capture the last months of the snow season. Our first stop was more of a tourist/photo opportunity to visit the underground caverns (who knew Florida had caverns?) and explore the swampy bayou ‘way down yonder by the Chattahoochee’.
From there we spent a little over a week in the Big Easy… New Orleans, LA. By then it was the beginnings of Mardi Gras so as you can imagine the town was abustle with tons of activity. Parades happening daily all over the city and people having a great time celebrating. I made some great connections to shoot through some contacts at Peter Mayer Advertising, who I had recently worked with, and also through the local tourism office. New Orleans is a hot bed of creative artists and craftsmen and I jumped at the opportunity to shoot several of them for my American Worker Series (I’ve posted a few teasers from these 4 shoots here but I will be posting the real images soon!!) We shot with Alex Gernier of Doorman Designs. Alex makes furniture using reclaimed wood from the old houses of New Orleans destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Next came a shoot with Ben Dombey who is a glass blower who hand blows these amazing glass drinking glasses. Each of them are unique in their own individual way and custom embossed with locally inspired items stamped in the base. See Ben’s work here. I also got the opportunity to shoot with Patti Dunn of Tchoup Industries. Patti and her partner make these amazing hand made bags and backpacks. You can visit her shop here to see their work. While wandering through the French Quarter one day, I stumbled upon the coolest little shop, (The Bevolo Gas & Electric Light Museum) where they hand make old fashion style gas lanterns. I talked to two of the craftsmen as they were building their lamps and ended up shooting them for my project as well.
I also shot a ton of the local street musicians and in a few of the bars. That is one thing that really stands out about New Orleans to me is the amount of musical talent that is everywhere.
We wrapped up our Louisiana leg with a quick trip to Oak Alley Plantation. Oak Alley is an old cotton plantation rich with history. Once run completely by slave labor, Oak Alley is still a working farm today but the home is historical landmark and run as a museum. You may have seen it in several movies.
From here we set out through Texas, New Mexico, into Arizona and then on to Utah. But that is a story for another evening…. Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Winter/Spring update from the road coming in a few days!!
Winterberry Farm – American Worker Project #6
Earlier this fall, I had the opportunity to shoot at Winterberry Farm as part of my American Worker Project.
Located in the heart of the Belgrade Lakes Region in Belgrade, Maine, Winterberry Farm is a small, diversified certified organic farm set on forty acres of open fields, pastures and woodland. It is owned by a very nice and hard working family. Mary Perry is the owner, and she along with her 3 kids, (Kenya, Gil and Sage) run the farm. As anyone can imagine, running a farm is hard work but doing it on your own with just your 3 kids (Kenya is actually off to college now) is very hard work. Did I mention that they don’t use machinery to tend the fields? Instead they have 2 very stout oxen that do the heavy lifting. Regardless, hard or not, to look at them you just know that they love it. For more on the family and their farm, see their website here here.
Only fifteen minutes from Augusta and Waterville, it boasts an 1870’s Victorian farmhouse, a shaker-built barn, lush gardens, and the Winterberry Farm Farmstore where they sell some of Maine’s finest all-natural and certified organic foods.
Their mission is to create a sense of community and belonging by offering wholesome food and flowers and to restore old-fashioned values by inviting people to come and experience life the way it used to be, on their animal powered farm.
Their commitment to sustainable agriculture allows us to produce abundant food and flowers without depleting resources or polluting the environment.
Their certified organic food is produced specifically with families in mind, to ensure the health of our children and the land on which they are raised.
Surfing Pioneer & Surf Shop Owner – The American Worker Project #5
Heading on down the coast to Newport, Rhode Island I met up and photographed my next subject for The American Worker Project. His name is Sid Abbruzzi. Sid is one of the early pioneers of East Coast Surfing and has owned an operated Water Brothers Surfing Company since 1971 making it the longest operating Surf Shop in New England. During my brief visit with Sid I was treated to a virtual history of New England East Coast Surfing as Sid shared story after story with me about his life. He is a super cool guy and has a ton of stories to share. It just so happens that this very weekend on January 16th Sid is being inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame under the Pioneers of Surfing category. Congrats to you Sid!!
Sid is well known in the surf and skating world as one of the earliest pioneers of surfing. He’s traveled the world surfing, has rubbed elbows and is a friend with many surf and skating legends like Kelly Slater and Tony Hawk. Starting back in the 6o’s he and a group of surfers travel far and wide looking for the perfect wave. The late 60’s and early 70’s were a weird time in surfing. After Vietnam many people had stopped surfing and the industry lacked direction as people tried to figure out if surfing was just a dying fad or was it something that could endure and evolve.
He ended up back in Newport and in 1971 he opened Water Brothers Surf Company in an old shack right on the beach in what was then, a derelict end of Newport Beach on a private beach called Seven Seas Beach. Based on a handshake verbal agreement with the owner of the shack, he was able to lease the building for $300 a year until the land sold. $300 a year! for Newport Beach! Well they had a pretty good run there until 1993 when someone bought the property and forced them to find a new location. Sid describes those 21 years as “the wild west of east coast surfing”. They were forced to find a direction and that they did…. They basically made up the rules as they went along, did what ever they wanted and had a ball doing it. In addition to surfing, they also built large vert ramps for skating right next to the shop, right on the beach. During the 70’s & 80’s Water Brothers was THE place to be if you were a surfer or skater in the New England area. 
From there Sid moved his shop into a much larger space and opened was was to be the largest indoor skate park in the US. This park is actually featured in one of Tony Hawk’s video games as a park you can skate within the game. Over the years that location changed hands after a partnership turned sour and Sid eventually ended up in what is now his current location. The shop as it stands now is a wonderful space and is like a museum of east coast surfing history. The walls and ceilings are covered with memorabilia from a rich life in the surf industry and Sid is like a tour guide, with a story to tell about each individual piece of history that surround his store.
One story that stood out to me was how Sid actually saved one of Newport’s most coveted surf spots, Ruggles Beach…. TWICE. The first time was when he fought against city government officials who tried to outlaw surfing at the prime surfing spot. He campaigned against the new law and won and was able to make a public park out of the area where everyone can enjoy it’s beauty and killer wave break. The second time was when a developer had gotten approval to install a huge rock jetty at Ruggles that would have basically not only ruined the break but would have been an ecological disaster, killing the ocean life and changing currents that could change the structure of the shore line forever. Sid organized many people to campaign against this impending injustice and saved Ruggles Beach a second time.
You can follow Sid on Instagram @waterbrothers
The Sheet Metal Man – The American Worker Installment #4
For my 4th addition to The American Worker Project I decided to include a local icon in my home town of Belgrade Lakes Maine. His name is John Gawler and he is another person that no matter when you see him, he always greets you with a warm smile. He is one of these guys who you’d be hard pressed to find someone who had something negative to say about him… a genuinely good person.
For most of his life John has made his living working in sheet metal which means he works a lot fabricating and installing people’s roofs, making metal chimneys, metal flashings and other things of that nature. Over the years he has worked on pretty much everything from roofs for the locals to high profile jobs for people like Oscar De La Renta doing custom copper work on his New England home. One might imagine that being a roofer in Maine can be tough especially in the winter months but you’d never know it talking to John…. he’s been doing it since he was 17 years old and seems to love every minute of it. Ask him and he will tell you that he has always loved being outdoors and being up high, even as a kid he was always up high in a tree somewhere.
In addition to being a damn fine roofer, John (and his whole immediate family) are extremely talented musicians and entertainers. When I was a kid I remember they used to throw a folk festival called “The Buttermilk Hill Festival” up on their farm every year. Today they regularly perform and play concerts for many of the local community events and elsewhere around the state. They even have a few cd’s with their music on them. But that is yet another story for another day….
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Fishing Guide & Conservationist – The American Worker Project #3
For my 3rd installment into The American Worker Project I chose to shoot long time Maine fishing guide Mike Guarino of Maine Wilderness Tours. (Mike is the one in red) I first met Mike back in 1998 on a stock photo shoot I did back in my Sharpshooters days. I’ve seen him a bunch of times over the years and it occurs to me that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without a smile on his face. He one of those guys that not only loves what he does for a living but generally seems to really enjoy life itself. He does have a pretty good gig though, there are worse jobs than going out in the great outdoors and fishing everyday. 😉
When I approached Mike this time with the idea of including him in The American Worker Project he was instantly on board. He even recruited fellow angler Dr Peter Kallin to join us on this chilly fall morning to go out and create some great fishing stills and video.
Peter is not only a great fisherman subject but is also an avid conservationist. In addition to a long career, Peter is the Executive Director of the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance where he works tirelessly to help monitor and control the quality of the watershed in Maine’s most important resource, its lakes.
Enjoy the images below. I will be posting some video as well at a later date. Stay tuned!
Lobster Fishing- The American Worker Project #2
My second installment into The American Worker Project brought me Down East to the coast of Maine in a little place called Brooklin Maine. Specifically the waters off of Eggemoggin Reach just a few miles south of Mount Desert Island, but a seemingly miles away from all the crowds and tourists that one encounters when touring Acadia.
I was introduced to my new lobstering friends, Patrick and his sister Sharlene Grant, by our new friend and host Laurie, of Ocean Front Camping of Reach Knolls in Brooklin. Laurie and her husband Paul were amazing hosts and also a wealth of knowledge in assisting me with setting up several of my shoots. But that is a story for another post…. Stay tuned.
Getting back to my exciting day of lobstering…. Here are a few more photos from that cold morning on the water. Scroll down below the following photos for more info on my hard working subjects Patrick and Sharlene.
We started out our morning early at the crack of dawn, what turned out to be a late start compared to their normal days. After boarding their boat and loading up the day’s bait, we had a quick discussion about what we were going to shoot and how I can get the best shots without ending up in their way or over the side of the boat. 😉 I couldn’t have asked for better subjects. They were super nice and gave me free reign on their boat to shoot whatever I wanted.
Patrick and Sharlene are second generation lobster fishermen. Both started out at a very early age just as their father before them. Sharlene worked the boats off and on over the years and took time every summer to fish alongside her brother and her dad. Patrick has followed in his dads footsteps and has hardly missed a day on the water in over 30 years. It is hard work, but when you talk with them you see that they really love it. You would have to love it to get out on some of the cold mornings… 😉 It was a blustery 29 degrees Fahrenheit the day we went out. Fortunately the sun was out. I can only imagine what it must be like when it is cold and blowing with rain added in on top of that.
The job of a commercial lobsterman is hard. You work really long hours, get up super early and head out to search for your bouys in a sea of what seems like millions of bouys. This task of finding your traps (or Pots) has been simplified somewhat with the invention of the GPS but finding them and hauling them in is still an arduous task. Patrick captains the boat and snags and hauls in the traps while Sharlene preps the bait and does all the measuring, banding and sorting of the keepers vs the rejects. Then Patrick drops the pots and the process is repeated about a zillion times. All the while being soaked with freezing cold water. Simple right? 😉 Watching them work was something else, they are like a well oiled machine. One of the highlights of the day was when Sharlene pulled in a pot that at first glance only had two lobsters in it… upon further inspection it turned out to be one lobster that had shed its shell and left a perfectly preserved shell of its former self right next to it. A pretty rare find, even for a seasoned pro.
All in all we had a pretty good day. While it started out slow, it picked up about mid morning. Patrick joked that it seemed like every time I would switch from stills to video we seemed to bring in lots more pots full with lobsters. Sounds like a joke but it literally happened like that 3 times in a row. Stay tuned for an update with our video we shot that day. In the end we went back in to port with about 4oo+ pounds of lobster. Which is a pretty good haul for about 1/2 days worth of lobstering at the end of the season.
At the end of the day they sent me home with a giant bucket of lobsters and a few crabs and my family and I had the feast of our lives! Thanks so much to them both for making me feel welcome and for being such great subjects!
Hammond Lumber Company
As I recently posted, I have begun my new series, The American Worker Project which will be an ongoing project as we travel around the country, documenting the American Worker. I chose to start this adventure and visual assignment in my home town in Belgrade Maine. As many of you know I grew up in Maine and it is where we spend the better portion of each summer for the last 14 years when not off on assignment somewhere.
I figure what better place to start than the area you know best. I chose Hammond Lumber Company because it is a classic example of a good old fashioned family business with its heart and soul wrapped firmly in the people that work there. It also helps that I am friends from back in our childhood days with one of the principles of the company.
Hammond Lumber is a company that was started back in the early 50’s by Skip Hammond with only $50 and a dream. It has been a staple in the town and now around the entire state of Maine ever since. For over 60 years they have grown from a small mill with 3 employees including Skip himself to a large company with 13 stores and counting with many many loyal employees, many of whom have worked there for 20 – 30 years or more. Hammond Lumber is one of those special kind of businesses where you know you are much more to them than just a number. They offer personal service that is rare these days, all at a fair price.
I’d like to thank Mike Hammond and the other great folks at Hammond for giving me cart blanche and basically unrestricted access to film in their main saw mill. Over the coarse of 3 days we shot a ton of video footage and stills of their hard working employees.
Here are just a few images from the shoot. Click here or on any of the images to see a larger gallery of images posted to my website.
