In 2010, Infor sent me on a 10-city tour to photograph their actual customers in real work situations.  Very little staging, small strobes (if any), non-disruptive shots.  The first two here were shot in Houston at Alpa Precision Machine Works, where Alberto Gonzales and his team manufacture small metal parts for the oil and gas industry.  That’s Alberto in the middle there.  Very kind man and obvious natural leader, seeing how much his employees enjoy working for him at Alpa.

We moved across town to Cook Compression, who’s main product is the Moppet valve, used specifically in the natural gas industry.  Great people there at Cook, also, and big thanks to Cindy Cease for all her help and hospitality while we were there.  I gained a new respect for Houston while on this shoot.

Next, we flew up to Seattle to photograph Ampac Flexibles (formerly known at Mohawk Northern Plastics).  They manufacture plastics bags, mostly for the frozen vegetable business, with a process known as “blown film extrusion.” Paul Nemecheck (pictured there in one of his warehouses) has been with Ampac for over 20 years and knows every square inch of their incredible operation.  He’s a terrific guy and incredible host (he even climbed up on top of a train car for me.)

Our next stop was in London (after flying around Iceland and its volcanic ash cloud), where we stayed a couple of days shooting in the business district.  We hopped on a train and headed out west to Bath and Chippenham, where Herman Miller’s international headquarters are (also one of their manufacturing facilities and logistics/distribution centers.)  I absolutely loved England and everyone I met there.  Kevin Hall was an incredible host and gave us complete access to everywhere we needed to go.

A couple of weeks after we got back to the States, we left the country again for Toronto.  Specifically, Aurigen, which is a reinsurance company and another Infor customer.  This shoot was a challenge.  We’d been shooting mostly manufacturing facilities, and the work being done there at Aurigen was mostly on the phone and on computers.  More mind than muscle, for sure, but with lots of help from my overqualified assistant Jim Walters (I should be assisting him), we got the shots.

The next stop landed us just northeast of Manhattan in Chestnut Ridge, NJ, at LeCroy Corporation, who manufactures oscilloscopes.  Another challenge, since most of the work is done inside, under flourescents, on-screen.  But Kathy Woods and the rest of the team there made our job easy.

We stayed in Manhattan and got some good shots of the business between the work (commuters, people walking around downtown, Wall Street, Grand Central, etc.)  Even saw Russell Brand in his underwear (they were filming “Arthur.”) …More to come…

Congratulations to bossman Joe Ables (there with the big scissors) on the official opening of The Saxon Pub at ABIA.  There with him cuttin’ up is Paula Nelson, Jeff Plankenhorn, Warren Hood, Bruce Hughes, Malford Milligan, Landis Armstrong and WC Clark.  That’s a bunch of musical talent behind that ribbon there.  Stop in next time you’re out there and try one of Joe’s bloody marys.  Exceptional mix he’s developed…spicy enough to blow your hat in the creek.

So I got a call from my pals out at UT Golf Club yesterday, needing a shot of #12.  I dug up this one and thought about what a handy tool HDR has been for me and golf.  I shot this one at high noon a few years ago.  Before, shooting a golf course at any time other than “the golden hour” was a bad idea.  Noon was out of the question.  Not anymore.  You real estate marketers remember this when you’re told you can’t shoot in the middle of the day.

We’re all learning.  Like today, I learned how to use another tool in Photoshop.  And I learned that I can print stuff wirelessly from my phone. I love learning.

So as you punks kids masturbate make your way through high school, think of the old guy who has to pick this up out of the street in front of his driveway.  Think before you roll down the window of your Kia Sorento (but not before turning down the Justin Bieber music you don’t want anyone to know you listen to) and intentionally litter.  Think, and learn.

Keep Texas Beautiful, you precious little creatures, and have a very Happy New Year.

A few hints:

1. Location:  Outside Bender’s (great bar & restaurant) in Canton, Ohio.

2. Time:  6:30 PM

3. Date: December 2, 2010

I know, I know.  This can’t happen anymore.  A golf course designed and built for golf’s sake.  (I got that line from Frances Trimble, a highly-respected Texas golf writer and historian.)  Golf courses should be built with the golfer in mind, shouldn’t they?  Not for selling real estate or as a place on which to sprinkle the dookie water from surrounding developments.  Golfcrest Country Club in Pearland is incredible, and there’s nothing flashy about it.  Simple, straightforward golf with beautiful trees and turf.  So what if the clubhouse looks like Noah’s Ark (not my description).  This, my friends, is what golf should be.  Allen Findlay, chairman of the Greens Committee there, told me that Hurricane Ike took 400 trees.  I can’t imagine what it looked like before.

Usually I try to avoid shooting the unsightly periphery of golf. Power lines, Pulte Homes, etc.  Sometimes it’s unavoidable.  It’s there, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. (Westlake Dermatology would certainly disagree.) I vote for embracing the features we feel may be different, ugly, unworthy, distracting.  They are part of the environment in person, so why not in photographs?  These anomalies are what make us different, special, unique.  They are what make us, us. Look at Heidi Montag.  She has systematically removed every last cell of sex appeal in a long and expensive journey designed to achieve it.  The poor thing.

The shot above is one from a couple of weeks ago in Houston.  That’s Houston National Golf Club, up on the northwest side of town.  Some very cool mounding around a relatively flat golf course.  27 holes and plans for another 9, which will change the whole place into a 36-hole facility with a private and a public course.

After spending a week in Houston, I’ve gained a new respect for it.  The weather was PERFECT every day I was there.  No humidity.  45-degree nights and 70-degree days.  Maybe it’s always that way in Houston (LMAO). Normally in Houston, it’s not humid, it’s more a feeling of hummus.

So on the way back from lunch at Casino el Camino yesterday, I saw this on the dirtiest, stinkiest, most disgusting sidewalk in North America (6th Street, Austin, Texas) and see this.  If it were a Pepsi top, I think the same old thought would come to mind:  “People are thoughtless pigs, littering on my street.”  Maybe even if it were a Budweiser top.  Maybe. Definitely if it were ANY light beer.  But Coke has brand power with me like no other.  I wonder why.  Because I’ve never, in 44 years, had a bad experience with it?  Or maybe I have, and it still didn’t prevent me from buying it again.