This is a great quote from my friend, the highly successful photographer/artist, Taco Jim:

I look at thousands of images every week. I see so much repetition of ideas and poses and locations that it depresses me. Then I see that same repetition in my own work, and it inspires me… inspires me to erase everything and start again in the opposite direction.

He’s a brilliant taco, that Jim.

Here are some shots from my recent photo shoot with J Rilla, a rap artist from Sheboygan (the 2009 Kiss Icon). We did an interview and photo shoot for my one of my new websites, AsHeardInWI.com.

This is a shoot that I did with three-month-old Ryan and his parents, yesterday. It’s best viewed by clicking the “full-screen” button on the bottom right of the slideshow. Enjoy.

http://www.fuzzmartinmedia.com/clients/2009/Ryan/

You know, because it’s Monday.

It’s sad that I even noticed they were using a Hassleblad camera in that shoot… but I did.

It was a beautiful, but long day. I figured I’d try to release some stress by taking my camera for a long walk. I didn’t actually think that it was four miles from my house to the Horicon Marsh… but it was. My feet hurt. 

I asked Phil to come out and help me with some lighting stuff tonight. He didn’t realize that I was going to have him be my subject. Thanks Phil!

There were lighting setups that I have wanted to try, and I didn’t have a lot going on today, so I called up Ashley to see if her and her friend Amanda wanted to shoot. I didn’t realize it was going to be so friggin’ cold outside, but they were troopers and came out anyway.

Ashley and I shot at Studio 611 in MKE today. Here are some raw, out-of-the-camera shots for your viewing pleasure:

I posted this earlier in the day, but Lunarpages is dicking me over (and subsequently losing ALL of my business and any further referrals).

Check out this background that we were shooting inside of at Bucketworks on Saturday. It’s an old background from the Milwaukee Ballet. The original artist is putting it back together inside the Bucketworks warehouse. It was pretty cool in person, but I think it looks even cooler behind me in the mirror.

Trippy Background

FINAL DAY! We shot at the Brickyard Gym on South Kinnickinnic today. We had a great crop of models and a really cool old-school location to shoot at.  It’s sad to see everybody leave, but I am soooooo beat now from shooting.

Some of my (mostly unretouched) photos from today:

Boxing Blonde

Hang On

Training

Feel the Burn, Wuss!

Bad Hair Day

Tracy in Chains

Today we shot at Bucketworks in downtown Milwaukee. Everybody asks me what Bucketworks is, and all I can say is, “cool.”

G'day

Happy St. Patty's Day

Wrestlers

Lumberjack

Customer Service

We’re shooting at Bucketworks right now, but I thought I would take a quick timeout to show you the group shot.

(Happy Birthday Simon, btw!)

From the left: Beth, Fuzz, Cat, Michael, Brent, Simon, Dieter, Stacy, Jim

Day three of the Brew’Lypse photo shoot was an interesting one. On Thursday afternoon, we had been informed that our first venue for Friday morning was going to have to cancel due to a family emergency. So, I called the beautiful Iron Horse Hotel on South 6th Street, left a message for the General Manager, told him what we were all about, and then asked if we could shoot there on Friday morning.  About an hour later, the marketing director called and told us that they would ‘love for us to come shoot’ there…

…until 10:15pm when they called to change their mind…

So, we ended up shooting at the wonderful Rock Bottom Brewery. They were very accommodating and the shoot turned out great! Here are a few of mine:

Sunglasses

Cupcake

Friends at lunch

Drink

Today we shot at Sunburst Ski area in Kewaskum, WI. It was a lot of fun, not too cold (30º), and we got a lot of cool shots.

Will Jumping

Will Jumping

The Family that Skis Together

Steve Vols

Anthony and his puppy

Photographers at bottom of the hill

(From Simon McConico)

Photo by Simon McConico

Hello Potential Models, MUA’s, and Hair Stylists!

What is the Brew’lypse?

There is a group of photographer friends who have been getting together since the Winter of 2007 to shoot commercial stock. We have held these “lypse’s” in Michigan, Tennessee, Indiana, and now Wisconsin. We are composed of photographers from all over the Midwest and even Canada. These events give us a chance to catch up with each other and to also shoot fun, crazy, and outside of the box photos. You can check out the list of photographers coming on the Brew’lypse site. (www.brewlypse.com)

Where/What are we shooting?

We will be shooting a variety of things at a variety of places. You can find the schedule on the website (www.brewlypse.com), but I will explain some of the locations and ideas a bit more here:

Wednesday (12-9p.m.)
Condo/Real-estate Shoot: We are going to be shooting in a few larger houses, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Here are some of the themes that we will be exploring:

Moving in/out
Parenting
Super bowl Party
Couples relaxing/cooking/eating
Kids playing/birthday party

Thursday (9a.m.-2p.m.)
Ski Hill: Everything from snowboarding to skiing to getting hot chocolate in the chalet. Think of a weekend up north hitting the slopes. (This location is not confirmed, will confirm ASAP)

Skiing, snowboarding (anyone who can do tricks is a plus)
Couples in winter gear
Warming up inside
Snow fights and general mayhem

Friday (9a.m.–2 p.m.)
Restaurant: An upscale restaurant downtown is letting us in to shoot. Amazing place, amazing vibe, grab a date or chill with the guys/girls.

Friends drinking
General Party shots
Couples dining
Business lunch

Friday (5-9p.m.)
Model/Photog Party: We want to say thanks for helping make the weekend amazing. Come over and enjoy a microbrew and some grub. When you get a bunch of photographers and models together there is sure to be fun, crazyness, and photos.

Saturday (9a.m.-5p.m.)
Bucketworks www.bucketworks.org: Warehouse, lights, costumes… anything can happen! From older folks in Hawaii shirts to Nerds, to Crazy makeup and Hair… there is no limit to what we can create and make. You have a costume? Bring it. You have an idea? Bring it. You have a pet monkey? Bring it! (Unless it has rabies or doesn’t want to use the bathroom outside)

Costumes
Break dance/hip hop crew
Urban Grunge
Pretty smile stock
Traveling shots
Parents and family

Sunday (Morning, exact time TBD)
Depending on which one we book first -

Business Shoot: Power tie? Check. Power suit? Check. Ready to take over the world? Check. Whether you’re a partner or a peon you gotta dress the part. Grab your suit and briefcase and bring some big city attitude. What does it take to get to the top?

Gym Shoot: Yoga, Zen, and Muscles. Bring your in shape bodies and beast mentalities and get your workout on.

What you get for participating:
The shoot is TFCD. All participating photographers have agreed to provide edited images to each model that they shoot within 60 days of the event. This is a good opportunity to update your portfolio, get a headshot, or have fun with many different photographers who normally charge for their work. The harder you bring it, the better your shots, so go make faces in the mirror!

What we need from you:
If you are interested in participating in the Brew’lypse we need a few things from you. There will be MUAs and hairstylists available at some of the shoots. We will tell you which shoots you need to come to with a fresh face and clean hair and which shoots you will need to throw on some mascara and hairspray. Models will also be bringing their own wardrobe appropriate to the theme. Because this is a commercial shoot, please stay away from logos (Adidas stripes, printed T’s, etc.) and words on the clothing.

There are limited spaces for the different days so you will need to reply with the times you are available and, if you have one, a headshot and full body shot of yourself. (Some have already sent one in, thanks!) Because the spaces are limited, preference will be given to the models that are able to commit to more than one day.

This is a stock photography shoot, so all models will be signing model releases.

Please be aware that we expect the models we invite to our shoots to be professional, and any model who commits to model at one of our shoots and then cancels without reasonable notice will not be asked to model with us again. So please don’t commit to coming to a shoot if you aren’t sure if you can make it.

If you would like to join us, we’ll need the following info from you to print on the model release:
Full Name, Street Address, City, State, Postal Code, Phone number, Email address, Date of Birth.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email (easiest way for me to get back to you) or give me a call. We are also looking for people with special talents, older couples, and teens/kids.

Thanks,
Simon McConico
414-306-1422
www.brewlypse.com
brewlypse@simonmcconico.com

MUA’s and Hairstylists: Please give me a call so that we can talk about the shoots and your schedule. We would love to have you with us!

(from ChappedLypse.com/milwaukee)

We Want You!

We are looking for models of all ages, shapes, and sizes to be a part of Brewlypse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are a group of Getty Images and iStockphoto.com photographers from throughout the Midwest.

January 21st through the 25th, we will converge on Milwaukee and take the modeling and stock photography worlds by storm. We need models who will be available to shoot everything from fashion to bodybuilding/fitness to cooking and housework.

If you are interested, please contact Simon McConico of McConico Photography at: brewlypse@simonmcconico.com

I had a fun photo shoot this morning/afternoon with Mary. Mary and I actually met at UW-Washington County when I was finishing up some of my undergrad courses a few years back. Somehow we found each other on Model Mayhem (she didn’t know I was a photographer and I didn’t know she was a model) and we decided to do a shoot.

We had planned on shooting upstairs at Studio 611, but there was a pole-dancing class going on, so we had about an eight-foot area downstairs with which to shoot. Check out the slide show.

Istockphoto.com just informed me that as of Thursday, I will be eligible to shoot photos for Getty Images.

I am STOKED! (to say the least)