Get on the BUS!

This past spring I had the pleasure of working with Creative Director Janessa Gursky and her team at Evolve Design Group (Sarah, Dave, Mark, Regina, Jen) on the new ad campaign for the City of Orlando's Downtown Business Bureau. They approached me with an opportunity to create a fresh new look for the city to help attract new businesses to the downtown area and bring people to those businesses. I will put up another post about the whole job at a later date and show the campaign and the TV spots I directed as well. We shot over 25 locations around town in a week using actual businesses involved in the DOBB.

Anyway, today out in front of Orlando's City Hall on Orange Ave. the good people at LYNX (the city's public transportation company) working with the DOBB, Evolve, and the City of Orlando itself unveiled the new buses wrapped with images from our campaign. Actually, it was one bus but it is the free bus that only goes around the downtown area. Still I took my daughter with me so she could see the big buses and buildings (easy to impress a 2 and half year old) and was pleasantly surprised at how nicely the design and images came out. On one side of the bus is J Henry's Barbershop in Paramore and the other is Captain Gary "Awesome" Johnston as the Bartender at Stardust Lounge on Lake Eola. Very cool.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Thanks to my crew: Kim McEniry (Producer), Kristen Nugent (Hair and Make-up), Tammara Kohler (Uber- Stylist), Gary Johnston (Asst. Prop Master), Zachary Scheffer (Digital Tech, Post, Editing), Ian Reid (Camera Assist. 3rd), and special thanks to Mike Isler (1st AC and HD DSLR Video Ninja), and Tobias Denney (NYC Union Propmaster and old friend from home) for coming all the way from NYC to help out. If I left you out let me know and I will correct my error........

Another stab at this and the MACHO comps.....

About a year or so ago I decided I would join the ranks of my fellow photographers and creative types who have a similar sadistic desire to create more work for themselves by having a blog. At first I was like,"this is awesome" a new forum to put all that is Chris on the web. After a bit I found it to be just another thing that I was now going to have to do and therefore I bagged on doing it. But now, I am rejuvenated (sort of ) and will be taking another stab at it.

Anyway, with my re-launching of my blog I am putting up some of the images we just finished for MACHO Martial Arts over the summer. I will add some of the other things we have been up to later with clever anecdotes attached to them but today this is what you my vast internet audience gets.

Working with Macho (Angela Chuchiolo) in particular, Zach Scheffer (my digital ninja, www.zacharyscheffer.com), as well as the likes of the amazing Tammara Kohler (stylist- www.fusedfashion.com), and make-up artist Karen Cleary. We shot 10 or so of the world's top martial artists, not Ultimate Fighters, the top Karate guys, with swords and nunchucks and what not. Mostly it was for catalog but we also concepted and created a series of images for Macho based on the lone hero fighting an army of ninjas idea. The concept is that these fighters are prepared for whatever they have to deal with because they trained using Macho's equipment, but we were not going to show the equipment, just use the tag line," Be ready" or "Be Prepared", or "I am Prepared", or "Always be Ready". This is not the easiest of ideas to sell, especially when your not an ad agency yourself. It is pretty much expecting your viewers to figure it out, let's say it's not overt more subtle but only in what they are trying to sell. Everything else is definitely over the top. Anyway, this was all done in house and Zach and myself (along with the help of Gary "Awesome" Johnston for locations and set building) shot every element in and around the city of Orlando or in our studio and put it together. No fancy retouching agency in LA or NYC, just right here in Otown. Lots of work and if anyone has any questions I will maybe answer them. But basically it's like this, Florida ad agencies it's ok to dream big we can make your dreams come true (in a photo).

Click on images to view them larger....