My first award winning photograph, and its story.

What??? You thought I only paint, sculpt, write, and tell jokes? No no no, I'm an award winning photographer. I've shot Rob Zombie, Nikki Taylor, but I mostly worked with models, and did a ton of Macro / artistic stuff. That's a previous life now, and all the things that I learned in photography make my art so much better. All right... what's this adorable photo's story?

Like I said- I used to work with models mostly. Can't write that without telling you the story of how that happened- that's a whole other story.

I actually studied 3D... that's what I wanted to do back in the 90's: make special effects for music videos & film. LA is the place for that industry, and that's where I went to study for a few months, and hopefully work... but no... Someone put $20,000 on my credit cards, and I had to go back to South Florida to try and sort all that out... And there, there was not the 3D work that I was looking for.

As I struggled to find paying work, my friend had suggested that since I lift so much work, he's got a few days of paid work for me: He did I.T. at One Model Place, at the time, the world's largest online community for models and photographers. The boss's dad passed away and left 40 years worth of storage that needed to be moved.

I was thrilled! Get paid for weight lifting? I had a blast and did such a good job, he boss fired the other 2 guys. When I finished, my buddy suggested I ask the girls running the print department if they needed help, because I've got plenty of experience in 2D design.

I asked, they did, and I got a job. I made business cards and comp cards (photo-resume postcards) for models and photographers. It was kind of boring, but I didn't follow instructions... I interacted with the models and photographers, often customizing their stuff for free, as a way to get a conversation going... And my photography improved because of it. My photography... that only existed because my buddy told me that our boss is a huge photo buff, and would happily lend me any of his lenses, if I got a compatible camera. I did, and he did.... And most of my wages went right back into getting more photography gear for myself (oh man, almost went into another sub-story... ask me about how I got my 16-35 mm lens - that's an epic story).... and by doing extra work for free, I got conversations with photographers that I looked up to, and I kept improving.

I wasn't just a photographer though-- I had all my 3D & compositing skills... So I had a more creative portfolio than most..... And many of the models wanted to work with me for that reason.... to create really unique portfolio pieces that make them stand out from other models.

Occasionally, I would donate my photography skills to someone that I thought needed it. Single mothers that were modeling to raise money for their kid's medical bills... things like that.

Anyways, someone sent me a link to the Humane Association's Pets & Pals photo contest. I had a dog, my little brother had a dog, and one of the models I had helped was the mother of this kid-- I did a shoot for the kid... So.. I asked if the kid could come be part of my shoot. I bought a giant bucket of ice cream -- the really bad for you ultra sugary ultra colorful stuff..... I got it for its appearance, not for its health benefits :p . I also got a pack of ice cream waffle cones.

My concept was a little girl licking her ice cream, and our 2 dogs licking it at the same time. That didn't work out, because my dog, Peanut (a 1/2 sheppard 1/2 lab) just kept gulping the entire scoop of ice cream down every time! We lost 3 cones this way. We were down to one cone. Sorry Peanut, you're fired. It was just Nugget and Marissa.

Nugget was a 1/2 pitbull 1/2 boxer, and 100% the biggest baby. He would just lick at the cones.. voila! There's the photo I submitted.

I forgot all about it, didn't even knoww when the judging would be done...

In the meantime, things changed. We set up our own print shop (initially we were running our files to the shop next door), and I ran it completely. I was a one man shop, and I had a blast.... for a year.... I had an air matress at the office, that's how much time I spent there! But eventually, too many people were telling me what to do and how, and the magic faded...

I gave not a 2 week notice, but a 2 month notice. I found a replacement for myself (my pot dealer, who was my good friend's husband, and she wanted him to have some legit work as well. Don't worry, he was quite smart and capable, it's not like I just took anyone to run this office I loved), trained him, and was looking forward to a life as a freelance photographer. 1 week before my last day an envelope appeared with a check for $1,000. I was thrilled... but confused. Forgot about the contest.

Turns out I won the grand prize!

I took it as a sign that I was on the right path. I left, and had a great many years as a photographer!