I got this call to photograph Wisconsin State Senator Fred Risser, who also happens to be my State Senator. Sometimes I see Fred out riding his bike, which is great because he’s pretty old (85). He’s actually the longest serving legislator in the entire country, serving since 1956! Not is he a state legislator, his pappy was, and his grandpappy and even his great grandpappy… 4 generations of Wisconsin state legislators dating back to the end of the Civil War, which is pretty darn cool Also, They were all from different parties but all strong progressives, which is also pretty darn cool. Senator Fred was a gem of a subject and a pleasure to spend a day with. Here’s some of my favorites from that shoot and also the link to the story- http://www.npr.org/2013/02/27/172431659/at-85-old-school-politician-shows-no-signs-of-quitting

This was a shoot for Vice Magazine. They wanted me to shoot this man named Burt Avedon for an interview piece they were doing for their fashion issue. Every photographer knows the name Avedon, and Burt is/was the cousin to the legendary photographer, Richard. But Burt is a legend on his own… HE IS the worlds most interesting man. He was a fighter pilot in WWII and Korea, then a Navy test pilot and an instructor at Top Gun (the real Top Gun!!) and he even challenged J Peterman (the real J Peterman, not just the Seinfeld character!) to a fight, an airplane fight! Then he ran this clothing company called Willis and Geiger, which he eventually sold to Lands End… and if that was wasn’t enough, he was married to a princess, a real Italian Princess!! Burt Avedon, wow… and he even had a real Chinese opium bed in his barn, which of course we put to good use (for the shoot, no opium, not on my shoots!). Here’s a few of my favorites, plus what they ran and a link to read more about this legendary man- http://www.vice.com/read/the-great-lost-expedition-brand-000212-v20n2?utm_source=vicefbus

WHEELS UP!! Please make sure your seats are in their upright and locked position! This is from a recent shoot for Delta Sky Magazine, photographing local Madison D.J. Nick Nice. We wanted to shoot a portrait with a club vibe but not during an actual performance, so DJ Nick recruited some fun-loving friends to come by the cigar bar where he was to DJ that night (note to self, cigar smoke lingers for weeks after a shoot, even on c-stands). The shoot ended in shots colored Delta blue with the cheer, Wheels up! Here’s a couple of my favorites from that shoot, along with how they ran it, which I first saw, oddly, on a Delta flight!

In February I had the honor to shoot the UCI World Cyclocross Championships help in Louisville, Kentucky for ESPN the Magazine. Now, I love cycling, but I really love cyclocross! I’ve been to two other Cyclocross World Championships, in 1997 and 1998, in Munich, Germany and Middlefart, Denmark (yes, that’s a real town name!)… but I wasn’t at those to shoot, I was racing as a member of the USA National Cycling Team. It felt great to be back at this event, and to see so many people I knew from a time of my life that feels like was a completely different life was very special to me. And to shoot this for ESPN the Magazine (!!!), well, that’s just a dream come true. I have to say though, I’m happier with my results at the World Chapionships as a photographer than I was as a racer.

Here’s how they ran it (BIG!), along with some of my favorites and the link to the extended slideshow on ESPN- http://es.pn/cyclocross

A collection of things I see while riding my bike.

I love cycling and I love cyclocross even more. So I went out in the cold to shoot the recent Cyclocross National Championships in Madison, Wisconsin to try out some new lighting ideas I had and want to use for the Cyclocross World Championships coming up soon in Louisville, Kentucky. I was really going for the super concentration game faces on the start line and the exhaustion and elation on the finish line. It was a great 4 days of shooting, if not completely muddy and cold.

ESPN Magazine! A dream client, literally… they’ve been on my dream client list for a while now… and what a first shoot for them… a Packer’s Christmas! This shoot was pretty wild, so many fans dressed for Christmas, and so many so drunk… it was a wild scene in the atrium of Lambeau Field in Green Bay. It took nearly a year for it to actually get published so it was huge trial of delayed gratification… to sit on these photos for so long! But I am very proud with how they’ve turned out. Below are some of my favorites, plus the layout they did.

I had the great pleasure and honor to photograph the biennial report for the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant. Shooting at Growing Power and meeting it’s founder Will Allen was definitely a highlight.

Sometimes I get a call for an assignment and I start doing a celebratory happy dance before I even get off the phone. This was one of those assignments. And when the photo director called me after the shoot, while I was out on a bike ride in rural Wisconsin, to tell me that I was losing a couple pages in the layout but getting the cover, I did another dance, and the smile was on my face for the entire 50 mile bike ride. It was a dream shoot (aside from the Jurassic-sized mosquitos) for a dream client. What else can you hope for? Here’s some of my favorite photos from the shoot that didn’t end up on the cover!

This was a shoot I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time and I was very excited to get the chance to do it and pretty pleased with how it all came out.