We went up to Santa Fe, New Mexico to see a Guinness Book of World Records setting whale! How is that possible with Santa Fe not only being landlocked, but also mountainous? Well, it is a whale made of recycled plastic on the campus of Santa Fe Community College. Regular readers of Jason Collin Photography will note how many times Atlas Obscura sites are featured in my photo stories, and thanks again to that site (and for Jessica finding it), we had a whale of an adventure hundreds of miles from the ocean. See the photos below to learn what makes Ethyl the Whale so special. Want to visit this site yourself? Check out the map at the end of the photo story.
This was my second photo shoot with Alexis Johnson, who is running for U.S. Congress for District 3 of Santa Fe, New Mexico. For our first shoot we a little pressed for time, so I was very glad she had more time for this shoot done right in Cathedral Park in the heart of Santa Fe. This extra time allowed me to really find the best backgrounds in the park, which were still important to get right even though as you can see they are out of focus in both shots. The bokeh (out of focus background) quality is still very much dependent on what is being made out of focus. So purposefully choosing where Alexis stood for the above photo with a tree being hit by the sun resulted in that great, bright bokeh behind her.
On a Sunday afternoon in I was walking into the Santa Fe Convention Center to photograph an event for ACOMS and to my great surprise I learned I was photographing the actual U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams! I was told I would only be photographing a presenter and then some candids of the vendor area. This was not my first time photographing a prominent political figure. In Florida in 2011 I had the chance to spend a day photographing then U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. I have also photographed three governors, a U.S. Senator, U.S Representatives, and at least 3 mayors.
Noah Starer is a regular art photography client based in Santa Fe. He is a very original ceramic artist. This time he brought to the JCP Home Studio these eye catching wall ceramic art pieces. I think they look like the ocean and the Earth with their respective swirling color blends. Imagine one of these pieces across from your desk giving your eyes and mind a creative break seeing something different in the piece every time it is looked at.
Santa Fe Sage Inn contacted me about coming up to make some food photographs of new menu items for the grand opening of their social themed restaurant. It was a diverse shoot ranging from close up dessert shots, to from above “hero shots” of multiple food dishes, to stylized backlit drink shots. It was a fun challenge changing gears between the different setups required for each of those types of photographs. You can see that diversity in the gallery below. Thank you to Sonya for all your assistance during this shoot and when you are next in Santa Fe be sure and check out their social themed restaurant!
Ceramic artist Noah Starer, now Santa Fe based, brought his latest collection of ceramic art to the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico for photos to be made of 25 new pieces. I have photographed a lot of Noah's art in the past, and was glad to be able to attend his opening weekend exhibition of his work, titled Naked Clay, at Santa Fe Clay earlier this summer! I am glad to have seen his art career journey from Las Lunes now to Santa Fe and all the success he is deservedly having now. He is also teaching classes at Santa Fe Clay so check for when his next classes are to learn how to create your own naked clay!
There was a time just a few years ago I was quite taken with the BMW M3 E46. It is a hardcore sports car that can be had on the used market for the price of a regular new car, but maybe just for now as it will only start to go up in value for low-mileage examples like the one pictured here. The original owner is selling it via bringatrailer.com so I traveled up to Santa Fe, New Mexico to photograph it for him.
