3 minutes with Kevin Welch

A while back somebody asked me on a internet tv show what I did to prepare for a shoot. Other than make sure my batteries are charged the night before that's about it. I used to stress for days before a shoot visiting the location over and over looking for the perfect set up and it seemed the more I planned the less happy I was with the results. Now I just show up and let the surroundings "speak to me". Last week I had a shoot with Kevin Welch at Blue Rock. The day of the shoot I was contemplating my set up and decided to keep it simple. 2 lights with Kevin sitting on a stool with his guitar. When I arrived at Blue Rock Billy told me we needed to keep it simple because we didn't have a lot of time. I guess the stars were in alignment that night. I did about a 10 min. rig with my profoto kit and waited for Kevin to finish his sound check. When he came back stage we had about 3 min. so I had him sit on the stool, knock out a few chords while I released the shutter a few times and we were done. I couldn't have been happier with the results either. I need to rush them all and quit letting my head get in the way of the creative process. For more on Kevin go to www.kevinwelch.com.

Joe Vitale Succeed cover shoot

A couple of weeks ago Joe Vitale contacted me about doing a photo shoot for the June/July '08 edition of Succeed magazine. As always it was a blast working with Joe and he is always the gracious host. The best part of the day was photographing Joe with his new Panoz race car that was previously owned by Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. So, to read more about Joe and to check out the amazing photos head over to www.succeedmagazine.com.au/mrfire.html to get your copy.

Stepping back in time

I recently had a fashion shoot for LA designer Marrika Nakk. Marrika's clothes are very cowgirl inspired so I was looking for a really great barn to shoot in but since it was going to be 100 degrees the day of the shoot I decided to find something indoors. There is an old 1940's opera house in my home town that I have always wanted to shoot in and it ended up being the perfect place. I called up my good friend and make up artist Carol Wagener out of Houston to see if she would be interested in coming up for the shoot and fortunately for me she was available. I had to get at least one more shoot with her because she recently signed with Timothy Priano and is heading to New York in a couple of weeks.

Rocking with Ruthie

I LOVE my job! I had the pleasure of spending today photographing the phenominal Ruthie Foster. I have been wanting to photograph Ruthie for a while so long story short I contacted her manager last December to see about setting up a shoot and after working around her tour we finally got a date set. It took us five months to finally hook up but it was well worth the wait. I contacted my good friend Billy Crockett at Blue Rock studios who I shoot for every month to see if I could borrow his studio for my shoot with Ruthie. He graciously accepted my request and gave me access to the studio for the afternoon. Not only did I get some amazing photos of Ruthie I also got my own free 2 hour concert. If you aren't familiar with Ruthie check her out at www.ruthiefoster.com, you won't be disappointed. Thank You Ruthie for a great day!!!

Red Dirt Romantic at Blue Rock Studio

Oh I Wish....

After 37 years on the planet I finally saw the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile in person and I actually had my camera with me.

Little rubber buddha visits Joe Vitale

Last weeeknd Joe Vitale invited me to his annual Mr Fire House of Blues concert that he has at his home. This is the 3rd year that Michelle Malone has played there. A great time was had by all, especially Michelle when she got to go for a spin with Joe in his new Panoz race car that he bought from Steven Tyler. Hey Joe, I'm Next!



Michelle also travels with a rubber buddha that she photographs in different locations from the road. Check them out on her myspace page at www.myspace.com/michellemalonemusic

Elvis, Jesus and funeral food with the New Agrarians

The New Agrarians: Kate Campbell,Tom Kimmel, and Pierce Pettis

The shows at Blue Rock have never disappointed and this past show was no exception. Kate, Tom or Pierce would have incredible on their own (in fact Pierce did do a solo show at Blue Rock about a year back) but the three of them have joined forces to create the New Agrarians. They have gone back to their roots and sing about what they know best, The South. The power of their songs was amazing. I have never seen an audience so affected. Their were several songs where there wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was a very powerful night. They haven't cut an album under the New Agrarians but they each have several albums of their own so be sure to check them out and hopefully their will be a New Agrarians album out soon.

I'm an uncle

Brooklyn Elizabeth Bursiel was born March 26 at 12:07am in Austin,TX to my brother Mark and his wife Kari. She's going to be a super model or is at least going to feel like one with all the pictures I will be taking of her. I like her little dew rag.

MMMM MMMM MMMM, That Knuckle Yummy sho is good

What's a Knuckle Yummy? It's the hottest thing to come out of the Austin, TX music scene. It is the latest vision of Dony Wynn. Dony was Robert Palmer's drummer for about 20 years and is now producing his own thing in Austin. Dony has teamed up with the incredible guitar stylings of Pehr Smith and the vocals of good friend Elizabeth Lee. How do you describe the sound? You can't. It is one of the most original sounds to come around in a long time but the first time I heard them I knew exactly the shoot we needed to do and the photo here is exactly how they sound. As Dony puts it the sound is red mud, sweat, cobalt smoke, whiskey soaked dancefloors, freedom. Elizabeth is currently on tour in Europe with her other band Cozmic Mojo but when she returns they will be hitting the stage at Continental Club so keep your eyes open and don't miss it.