i was honored to have been chosen to photograph the new anti-methamphetamine print campaign for the ONDCP/partnership for a drug free america. in the scope of advertising, in the scope of products to sell and messages to convey with such a dominant medium i really couldn’t ask for more than this. the billboards are out this month, mostly in the midwest (illinois and missouri). i’m still trying to track someone down in those states to go hunt down and take a pic of a billboard for me. there are also print ads and posters up in gas stations, convenience stores and bus stops.

we did the shoot back in april over four days, two in columbia, missouri and st. louis, and two days in show low and snowflake, arizona. (snowflake, arizona sounds like a fictional town, or an oxymoron, but really, it was so cold we didn’t realize how sunburnt we all got until later.) the print ads were done to play in conjunction with short videos made with the same subjects, real life recovered meth addicts dawn (with her daughter, janessa) in columbia and steven in snowflake. the videos were produced by the nice folks at rockhard films, who also did an amazing job producing the photo shoots. my limitless thanks to nicole and shawn at rockhard. and my thanks to the incomparable mr. caparro for bringing me in to work on this campaign. videos by rockhard films below, and behind the scenes pics from our shoot with steven. (don’t laugh, my batting-cage-bedsheet scrim works great. the batting cage doesn’t travel well, though.)

visit lifeaftermeth.org for more.

it’s long overdue but i’ve taken a step into the 21st century (of the internet) finally. with many sincere thanks to the efforts and skills of bill smith who as usual went above and beyond any call of duty to pull this thing together. so please go visit the new and improved, shiny and sleek www.msgphoto.com. now with easier navigation, much larger photos, and a general sense of professionalism that heretofore only existed for me in person. really. so, my art director friends, polish up your checkbooks, click the above link and get ready to give me those big time gigs. thanks very much.

so we’re gearing up for the next JDate ad shoot now. . . this next one should be fun. i can’t say much about it yet, of course, but it’s promising to be a little more off-kilter, which is always something i like. i get to do some things that i don’t often get to do in editorial work, which i’m very much looking forward to. and besides, i think these types of shoots are good for me. they have a natural optimism sort of built-in. it comes with the subject matter. you have to think it’s possible that these things (relationships) turn out okay. romantic-optimism. it’s good to dip your feet in such things once in a while.

i’ve been accused in the past of possessing a tinge of romantic-fatalism – i argue that this just comes from being raised in a secular new york jewish family with ties to woody allen. pessimism yields comedy. optimism yields greeting cards. i generally go with the funny.

but in these cases, for these sorts of jobs, it’s nice to put my romantic fatalism on hold for a while. just an afternoon. let’s not push it.

(this shot is my favorite from the last ad campaign – the baby was great, and hardly needed any makeup)