G Squared Studio

Well we are nearly through our first month and we have had some great help getting things rolling. I am not sure what the typical traffic to most Etsy shops are, but I feel we have gotten a good sum of visitors thanks to you.

We have gotten messages from users that think our products are brilliant and are important. I feel terrific that our photos have made an impression. This gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, this can be successful. Christmas is coming up, and now I understand why Wal-Mart and every other box store starts pushing it early. Doesn't make it right, but at least I understand better.

Jenn and I are passionate about what we do and I hope that comes out in our work, but that first sale is elusive. We are ready to fill orders and we are hoping we break that ice soon. I know so many people who have found success on Etsy, and I hope I can take what they have taught me and run with it.

Our next steps are to try and add more items, a specific blog, and then a website. Our little shop is just the beginning for us.

If you haven't been to the shop, check it out. If you'd like to buy something, we'll throw in shipping. Use coupon code: SHIPIT at check out.

Aspirations

Your senior year in high school can be classified as a pinnacle of an adolescent's life. Since kindergarten our children are groomed to be pushed out of the nest when they are 18 and fly. Their first flight will be either working or going to college. With Brittanie this is no exception. She has worked all through high school taking all her classes for high school at the college level. She is going to graduate high school with an Associate's Degree and her high school diploma. This is a huge accomplishment for any person, but for Brittanie it is just the beginning. From here she has a choice to make. Where to go to college?

As I sat her down on a bridge in Cascade park over a moving stream, it was the perfect metaphor for what is to come. Right now she has built her bridge from childhood to adulthood. Rushing below is all the adversity she has had to over come to get to where she is. As she continues her journey she will dip her toes into adversity, but I hope she remembers what it feels like to accomplish a feat most of us never did at such a young age.

Brittanie aspires to be a doctor. After spending an afternoon photographing her, her aspirations and dreams are what I thought were missing on the youth of America. She will be a success and we all can say, "I knew her when..."

Start Up

I was up all night. My wife would say I was sleeping, but I was awake. I had ideas running through my head. Ideas for video shorts. Ideas for photo shoots. Ideas for so many things. I couldn't quiet those voices. Just as they about shut up for the night was when my wife snuggled into my section of the bed and pushed me out.

I guess crap rolls downhill. I got up and saw that the three year old was pushing her into me and me into the abyss. I gave up and got up. 

I guess this was the perfect metaphor for what I have done. I had a idea, a big idea, but it needed money. So my wife helped me take that idea, scale into smaller bite size chucks to achieve a larger goal; proving my theory that behind every good man is an even better woman. All of it so that I can provide for the little monsters that we call kids. 

Last night our little internet shop opened to a little fanfare, I tweeted a few links, put some stuff on Facebook and people came and viewed the shop. It is a leap of faith I never knew I was going to do and let alone do together with my wife. What happened next was awesome. People reaching out on how they can help promote. "Send me a flyer", "E-Mail me a link", "Do you have..." It was amazing to see so many people rooting for us. Refreshing actually. One email I got stuck out. It was from another internet shop owner. "Why do you photograph firemen?". So I thought about it and responded back: 

We have photography that shows real men and women doing extraordinary things. There is a print of a firefighter in a smokey building. You can barely see him, but if you were trapped in that building you would easily mistake the hands that pull you from that hell as the hands of God. I have another print of a vintage fire engine with bright reds and greens that any little boy would want in their rooms. I think people relate to it because when we were kids, that was the engine we imagined riding in one day. There is even a print inside of a structure as it is set on fire, a rare glimpse into what firemen see and the public rarely, if ever, sees. 

These aren't just photos to me. Behind every frame I've made there is sweat, passion, and desire of someone who absolutely loves the job they are doing. You have to love firefighting to do it. That passion is what I am after, a photo is the only way you can capture it.

A friend of mine has a saying about photography:

"A photo tells a story...a good photo starts one." - Adam Watt 

This is the start of our story.

Out of Necessity

I am staring at a blinking cursor. There is so much potential in that little flickering set of pixels. Out of that blinking cursor comes something new. Created out of someone's mind and onto the screen. Right now I am that little blinking cursor. I am filled with potential, hope, something great, and it is up to me to make something of my talents and love of what I do.

I looked at losing my job earlier this year as devastating, and it was, but something special has happened this summer. I got to know my kids a little better. I got to know myself a little better. I learned very quickly what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something with my photography. I wanted to capture and sell and make myself the number one resource for fire departments to capture their stories. I wanted to start a relationship with the Cleveland Fire Department, a fire department coming off one of the worst scandals in it's history, to become a person they could turn to when they wanted quality photos of what they do. The activities of a few should not taint the public perception of the good work they do and I wanted to tell their story. I also wanted to double down my involvement in Fire Photographer Magazine and help it grow.

I can tell you that everything I set out out to accomplish this summer has happened. I have qucikly become Cleveland's go to on-scene guy for big events. The first event grew into another, and into another, and by the end of summer firefighters recognized me, other agencies recognized me, and I was standing in a live fire burn house snapping frames of doctors playing the role of firefighters. I met the chief, battalion chiefs, and PIOs I am happy to call my friend. People who I look up to as super heroes know my name. I was invited to sail on a Navy warship with them. I was given incredible access to capture things the general public don't get to see. Fire Photographer Magazine is growing, so what's the next step?

My dream job is working on a fire department as their official photographer. That is not a secret. When will that happen? I don't know if it will ever happen, but instead of looking at the summer as a waste, I am using it as a stepping stone for the next steps. I need to live, I need to contribute monies to the bills my wife has been working hard to pay, and I need to feel creatively satisfied.

My wife and I have been tossing around the idea of opening a creative studio. I would work as a photographer, she would work as the in house graphic designer. I grab the photos, she edits,  we sell them. We could make videos. I would write and shoot them, she would add artistic flare to them and we could sell that. She could create logos, crafty awesomeness, and we could sell that. The cursor blinks.

So what I have been doing is researching the laws about selling photography of firefighters doing their job. The conclusion is with a release I can do it. I spoke with a few firefighters that I have photographed and low and behold, I can now sell some of my best photography.

The next few weeks you will start to see things from me on various social media platforms asking for your help. Help is getting this jump started. I take photos that some people see as niche. I don't subscribe to that school of thought. I take photos that tell the same story as a landscape of Paris, except my story usually involves something burning.

So as this little cursor blinks on the screen, out of it comes something amazing and I hope to have your support both here in my personal endeavors and over at Fire Photographer Magazine, as it is recognized as the best place to see fire photography on the interwebs.

Stolen

This post originally was posted in Fire Photographer Magazine but I wanted to share it here as well. Thank you for all your support as always. You are the best. 

Cleveland, Ohio |9-4-2012 | 2240 hours

I just tore my best friend’s car apart looking for one of three missing bags. Minutes ago as we dropped off a fellow blogger and friend at her office in Downtown, she got out to discover her missing bag. Astonished, I got out checking the back of the car, which is the hatch of a Dodge Magnum. As I looked I notice two of my bags were missing. Not where I left them. Missing. Gone. Taken.

How did I get here? What the heck happened?

I am reliving this day in my head over and over again. I was up and out the door by 0615. I met with the PIO of the Cleveland Department of Safety and we car pooled to the Justice Center where I parked and locked my car. Over the shoulders was a blue and orange backpack filled with emergency munchies, change of clothes including my Fire Photography T-Shirt, a Cleveland Browns hat, and my car keys. Over my shoulder was my black shoulder camera bag. In that bag was a Nikon D3100, 2 fully charged batteries, battery charger, two class 10 memory cards (8GB & 16GB), 3 lenses (VR 18-55mm & VR 55-200MM & screw tight Macro Fisheye combo lens, two standard light filters, and the mount for my Tri-Pod.

I was prepared. We met up with the Commander of Navy week which has just concluded in Cleveland. The last frigate, the USS DeWert, was set to steam from Cleveland to Detroit for the next week. Erica, the PIO, Danielle Fink from Channel 3, and me representing Fire Photography Magazine were going to on the ship the whole way. I was tasked to take pictures and video to document the entire day. From cast off to docking in Detroit and everything in between; this was the chance of a lifetime and to do it in conjunction with Cleveland’s Safety Department and Fire Photography Magazine was something I felt very proud to be doing.

To give you a sense of what this magazine does; I disembarked the USS DeWert in Detroit and there was an Engine sitting on the dock waiting for the tanker to fill water barricades. Of course I snapped a few photos of the rig and the guys on it, and introduced myself only by my name and asked me who I wanted to ride with tonight. They told me they liked my work in the magazine and to keep up the good work. Fire departments read my work? People I don’t know like what we are doing? This just solidifies my mission and my decision to do the kind of work I do. To shoot the stuff I shoot. We tell stories that matter to the boots on the ground. To have their support was amazing.

With my two bags over my shoulder, my best friend was there with his car to take the three of us back to Cleveland, but first we were hungry, in need of a beer or two, so we asked a local for a recommendation. They recommended Slow’s BBQ, and it did not disappoint. Half-way into the restaurant we were joking about the crime in Detroit and that we should probably bring stuff in, but we laughed as we hate it when people say that about Cleveland and we sat down. The decision to not go back for my camera will haunt me forever.

We finished dinner and headed to Cleveland. As we pulled into Channel 3’s parking lot, is when we noticed it. Danille’s bag was gone, my camera bag with everything in it including the 800+ photos on the ship and on the dock was with it, and my backpack was gone. Erica’s iPad and bags were left untouched. There were no visible signs of a break in and we just stood there, astonished. We are now just another statistic on Detroit’s crime reputation.

But I stood there, blank, numb, and with anger so red I could feel it pulsing in my toes. Erica called the restaurant and our friends at the Cleveland Police Department. They opened their doors to help start the investigation and pass whatever they had to Detroit, so they can start looking too, that is if someone hasn’t murdered someone that day. They dusted Pat’s car for prints, got a few good ones and they took my prints and the prints of everyone in the car to eliminate prints on the outside of the car.

Their generosity is something I truly appreciate and the people of Cleveland need to appreciate. They help, they will help, and they want to help. I often work with the fire department, and seeing a side of the Police Department no one sees because they can’t unless something bad has happened, is something I will never forget. They picked through everything for any shred of anything we can get.

I might never see my camera again. I will never see the photos I shot on the ship, but the memories and kind hearts of everyone I encountered is more than enough not to give up on the human race.

To all that have helped get the word out about my camera, thank you. I can’t thank you enough for the support. That camera was my livelihood since losing my job in early May. My family has been nothing but supportive, and what is life without your family? My friends who have stepped up, watching the baby while wife was at work and I was on the ship, and then was kind enough to drive us home from Detroit. Last but not least, everyone at the city of Cleveland. Their support in my mission to capture and tell their stories is nothing short of amazing.

To all who have got the story out; Thank you. Really thank you a million times.

An anonymous donor has come forward and offered to help me get a new camera. I am still in tears over this kindness, and I will let you know once I am back on my feet again and shooting fires. 

2012 Cleveland Air Show

Photos taken at the Cleveland Air Show on September 3, 2012 at Burke Lakefront Air Port

The Big Tease

The big tease. I have been working on a fire training video and it is finally nearing completion. Here is a sneak peak of what is to come.