My Photos on the Ellen Show

Ellen Degeneres hosted Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe -- and featured the historic photographs that I made of him for OUT magazine -- on her show last week. See my work in the clip above... Or catch the entire interview here.

Happy National Geographic

The editors at National Geographic Magazine chose one of my photographs from the Minnesota State Fair as the opening spread for this month's 125th Anniversary Issue.

You can follow my experience shooting with a large format camera at the State Fair here. Other landscape projects that I've shot with the 4x5 and digital back include:

Mall of America for TIME. Read my journal entry and see more images here.

Buddy Holly Crash Site for Texas Monthly: here and here.

Minnesota Monthly LAKES Issue: here, here, and here.

The Florida Keys Series: here.

Wind Power for Texas Monthly: here.

Octogenarian Newlyweds

Smith Alumnae Quarterly sent me out to photograph a couple that just got married... in their eighties. Read their love story here.

Salon's Sexiest Man of 2012

Every year, Salon publishes a list to counter People magazine's "sexiest men" issue. This year, they chose Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe as the Sexiest Man of 2012, based on his politics - AND on the shirtless photographs that I shot of him for this month's OUT magazine cover story.

Read the Salon Interview with Chris Kluwe here.

Halloween 2012

Chris Kluwe Kick Ass

OUT magazine asked me to shoot a portrait of Chris Kluwe, the Minnesota Viking punter who's been in the news lately for speaking in favor of gay marriage.

Back in September, Kluwe caused an uproar by posting a blistering open letter in the sports website Deadspin that ripped into Maryland state legislator Emmet C. Burns Jr. for complaining about a Baltimore Ravens player who expressed support for gay marriage.

The scrape has particular resonance in Minnesota, as we'll be voting on the issue Nov. 6.

When OUT first contacted me, I thought it might be a fairly routine shoot. But when the style editor began sending me fashion photos from the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog for reference, I knew it was going to get interesting,

Our first hurdle was finding a location. The Vikings weren't going to let us shoot on their property, since they don't have a particular stance on the gay marriage issue. This left me with only a couple of days to find a place that could work as a good background for the story.

I made some phone calls to local schools, but whenever I got to the part about Kluwe's scorching letter, the conversation stalled. I couldn't blame people from shying away from a political issue, but I needed to find a location, fast.

Finally, the day before our shoot, the Minneapolis Public Schools returned my call and said we could shoot anywhere we'd like. We decided on Washburn High School, my wife's alma mater, a few blocks from our house.

I met Kluwe in the parking lot, just as school was letting out. I arrived with my assistant Bryce, hair+makeup artist Rene,  a minivan,  generator, and the magazine's style editor Brent, who had flown in from New York that morning with a trunk full of clothing options.

Pretty soon we had the Viking's punter half-naked, lying in the grass. Kids came up to get his autograph. Kluwe didn't flinch. He wasn't embarrassed. Not even when the junior soccer league and their parents swarmed the field to play their weekly games, carrying-on straight faced in the midst of our beefcake celebrity photoshoot.

The next morning I woke up to find a thank you letter from Kluwe in my email inbox. You can read the article and see the OUT magazine photographs here. Soon after, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a blurb about our shoot on page 2. It was my first glance at the cover with my name on it.

Saturday's New York Times ran a three page story about Kluwe, mentioning the OUT Mag photos more than once... and my mother-in-law called from the Palm Springs airport, letting me know that CNN has been flashing my photographs across the television monitor all weekend.

Friday Night Lights

Martin/Williams hired me to photograph football players on behalf of their client, Syngenta, to help sell fertilizer. We had over 35 people on set: first, second, third, and fourth assistants, half of a semi-pro football team, a coach, an organic chef and helpers, special effects makeup artists, wardrobe stylists, talent wranglers, location managers, a producer, production assistants, an art buyer, art director, account execs, and interns.

 
I also had enough generators to power a small village.

Outside Magazine

Outside magazine sent me up to the North Shore of Lake Superior to photograph Daniel Alvarez. He's paddling his kayak from the northernmost point of the continental US (Northwest Angle, MN), all the way down the Mississippi River to the southernmost point (Key West, FL).

We spent a perfect day on a secluded stretch of beach, a few miles north of Grand Marais.

You can follow Daniel's excellent adventure here.

Driving to Texas for Fun and Profit

I drove down to Texas to shoot a story for Texas Monthly about wind power. Coming from the North, it was the warmest weather I've ever experienced. Still, I wore boots and jeans all day in the hot breeze. The ditch behind me was alive with snakes, slithering and rattling around the whole time I was shooting.

It was 67 degrees and rainy when I left Minneapolis. By the time I reached Sweetwater, it was 111 degrees F. It was so hot that I burned my hand on the door to a Subway sandwich shop.

Father Joe is a Texas wind energy pioneer. After I photographed him, he told me that sometimes his statue of the Virgin cries real tears.

The Quietest Place on Earth

Mental Floss magazine sent me out to photograph the anechoic chamber at Orfield Labs in South Minneapolis. The chamber is suspended by springs inside a room with 12-inch concrete and steel walls. Three-foot-thick fiberglass wedges absorb 99.9% of all sound.

According to The Guinness Book of World Records, it is the quietest place on earth. I spent about an hour in there alone, working with a 4x5 camera. When I finished shooting, I stood in the middle of the room and listened. All I could hear was the blood rushing through my veins.

The Wall Street Journal #2

I photographed a modern, prefab home in Minneapolis for today's Wall Street Journal. It belongs to Kaywin Feldman, director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and her husband Jim Lutz, professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota.

Read the article, watch the movie, and see the slideshow here.

The Wall Street Journal

I photographed a 6,800-square-foot Green Estate for today's Wall Street Journal. Read the story and see the slideshow here:

Driftless #2

After shooting all day I drive into town, looking for something to eat, and somewhere to sleep. It's Sunday night, just after dark. Everything's closed. As I make my way down the main street I pass a vacant building with all its lights on. Dollar General?

I pull over and set up my 4x5 camera. A pickup truck stops. A middle aged guy leans out and wonders what I'm shooting. Stars?

Nope, I say, Just the building.

Oh, he says… and reaches under his seat. He holds out a Bible. He looks at me and says, The Lord saved my life.

I turn back to my camera. He starts praying, shouting into night. After a while he stops. Have a great night, he says, and drives away.

Driftless

American Airlines sent me down to the Driftless Region to photograph organic farmers for their in-flight magazine, American Way.

Drift is a geological term for the junk that glaciers leave behind. Much of the upper Midwest was scraped clean during the last Ice Age. But some places escaped, mainly in southern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa. Along these borders, the landscape is ancient.

The Fine Art of Surfacing

TIME asked me to catch a last-minute flight to Indianapolis and photograph the US Olympic Synchronized Swim Team for this week's issue.

Like fish, the women crisscrossed the pool from 7:30 in the morning until 5 o'clock at night, with a short break for lunch and weight lifting. The fluorescent lighting in the practice pool wasn't great; Right before practice ended, the team agreed to move into a better looking pool.

I shot this from the tip of the Olympic High Dive, leaning over the edge while the coach crouched next to me, shouting instructions.

The Truth About Sardines

This month, Photoserve interviewed Texas Monthly art director Brian Johnson about what it's like to work with me. Here's what he said...   (Thanks Brian!)

Brian Johnson at Texas Monthly Finds It with David Bowman

When it comes to assigning photography, there is little more rewarding than finding a freelancer who wants “it” as bad as you do. I’m not talking about someone that wants work—I’m talking about someone that wants IT. As we all know, “It” is elusive. “It” is often stubborn. “It” can be a bitch to even understand. However, when you find that person that is willing to jump in a van and live off of sardines and water for five days in search of it you get that buzz. The buzz that only comes from the charge of excitement associated with knowing that “It” will likely be on your desk, in your in-box, or being downloaded very soon. David Bowman is a freelance photographer. David Bowman eats sardines. David Bowman knows how to find “It”.

I have worked with David for many years, and his eagerness to go after “it” has never waned. This drive has delivered some of the most compelling images I have had the pleasure to work with and fostered one of the most collaborative and creative relationships of my career. From portraits to landscapes, David manages to capture moments that seemingly live between the blinks of our eyes: the moments you feel, and know to be true, but never actually see. David has never submitted an image to me that is expected. He has the unique ability to deliver what you asked for but in a way that you never knew you could get. That is one of the most wonderful qualities I can think of in a photographer. This is why I continue to hire David Bowman.

Brian Johnson has been in the role of Associate Art Director for Texas Monthly for the past year while working remotely from Minnesota. In addition, he freelances as an art director and designer. Prior to that he was the Creative Director of Minnesota Monthly from 2001-2011.

Read the article online here.

5 Mins with Ricky Rubio

ESPN the Magazine asked me to shoot Ricky Rubio. He's the phenomenal 21-year-old point guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team. Originally from Spain, he turned pro at the age of 14. Three years later he was in the Olympics.

The shoot had to happen within 24 hours. He only had five minutes to spare, between practice and a game. Five minutes isn't much, I thought. They're probably just saying that. Surely I'll get more time once we're on set.

After four minutes of shooting, I looked over at his manager. Almost done, I said, in my most optimistic yet professional geez-all-I-need-is-a-little-more-time voice.

OK, he said. One minute.

It is ALIVE...

My new website: bowmanstudio.com

First Blog

I started my first blog in 2002, as a way to chronicle a harrowing jeep trip across the desert with my wife, baby and dog, as we moved to San Francisco without much of a plan.

Everything was new and exciting, and it was a great way to keep a journal. Soon after, Gourmet magazine hired me for a 10 day travel shoot... And then I was sent to the Bahamas for a month, on my first digital job. It was the beginning.

Along came another baby, and we decided to move back to Minneapolis. Somewhere in the shuffle, I lost my first blog entries.

Until now. You can read them here: End of Land Sadness (End of the World Gladness) and Bahamas.com.

My Big Fat Ad

Earlier this year, Syngenta hired me to make a photograph on a golf course to help advertise fertilizer.

We started small, and worked our way up.

The trick was to not leave any Steam Roller marks on the green.

A big thanks to everyone for making this happen.

Agency: Martin/Williams

Art Director: Rachel Roddy

Art Buyer: Lisa Crawford

Producer: Sally Mars
Retouching: Jellysquare

Digital Tech: Karl Herber

Assistant: Josh Quigley

Assistant: Bryce Bordenkecher

Location Scout: Anne Healy

Precision Driver: Brian Denny

Breakfast Burritos: Black Cat

Italians Invade Minnesota

Fast Company magazine sent me over to Mauro Porcini's house, to photograph him with his wife, Elisa. They recently moved to Minnesota from Milan. He's the new head of product design at 3M, and she's a clothing designer.

One of the first things they did after moving into their suburban ranch house was install a sculpture of a lion in the front yard, which he spray-painted pink.

After photographing outside, we moved indoors. Elisa served a nine-course lunch, and I photographed Mauro's shoe collection. The espresso flowed like water.

Read the complete article here.