Selected: ADC Young Guns 9

“Jesse captures our ever-familiar daily life from subtle yet surprising angles. They are stories waiting to be told.” – Qian Qian, YG7

I am extremely excited and honored to announce that I am part of this year’s class of ADC Young Guns 9. ADC Young Guns® is the only international, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies today’s vanguard of young creative professionals age 30 or younger.  Judged on a body of both professional and personal work by a jury of past YG winners, this year’s class represents an impressive global roster of young talent in the fields of graphic design, illustration, advertising and art direction, photography, environmental design, film, animation & video, interactive design, sound design, product design and typography.  If you are in the New York area on October 13 check out the party.  The gallery show of this year’s winners work will be shown at the ADC Gallery from October 13- November 3, 2011.  Go here to see the winner profiles and for more information check out the official press release.

2011 Lecture on Contemporary Photography: “The Most Exciting Projects & Photographers I Learned About This Year.”

My latest project, Christmas in America: Happy Birthday, Jesus was featured in Mary Virginia Swanson’s spring 2011 lecture: “The Most Exciting Projects & Photographers I Learned About This Year.” The annual lecture is hosted by Rebecca Senf Ph.D, senior curator of the Center for Creative Photography and held at the Phoenix Art Museum. Above are stills and a video of my segment narrated by Swan and the occasional “awesome” from my father.

After the jump are the selected works and statements featured in the presentation.

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Mobile Portfolio

Today I am launching a mobile version of my online portfolio. Now you can access all the same content seen on my website from your smart phone and tablet. To check out the mobile site click here.

New Portfolios

I am posting to share my newly redesigned portfolio set. In the initial stages my goal was to produce something unique. An object that was easily recognizable and remembered by reflecting my online presence and strengthening my branding across both platforms. Like the site, green indicates the best of my assignment work and the blue showcasing my narrative personal series.

Upon completion the iPad was released. Like many visual artists, I was drawn to the easily customized platform that didn’t require hours of proofing, printing, and the cost of materials. But at the same time, I like the idea of showing nicely printed and sequenced photographs. And, I didn’t see any options to truly customize my presentation and was concerned my branding and identity could get lost in the mix. So I decided to have both and marry the old with the new. Integrate the iPad’s multimedia capabilities with classic book design having hand printed matte pages, half linen construction and a cradle for the iPad. The new presentation has been very well received and excited to share.

The above video was produced as a book preview on my contact page seen here. More photos and construction images after the jump.
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Santa Fe Contest Winner: Family

I am proud to announce that I was recently selected for Santa Fe Workshop’s first ever photography contest, Family. The end result is a book showcasing the work of 50 photographers from 25 different countries.  My work featured is a portrait of my Grandparents in the bedroom of their Bella Vista, Arkansas home.


The Jury included Brenna Britton, Deputy Photo Editor? of People Magazine; ?Julie Blackmon, Photographer;? Anthony Bannon, Director of ?George Eastman House;? and Reid Callanan, Director ?of Santa Fe Photographic Workshops.


Click here to order a copy of Family.

New Work: The Krause’s

Ava. 2010

More and more, I am drawn to make photographs that are domestic in theme – with family as subject.
I find inspiration from the late Larry Sultan, and friend and fellow Springfield, Mo., native Julie Blackmon.
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