Published!
(My first published image)
DEVCO (New Brunswick Development Corporation), licensed this image for one of their recent ad campaigns. The ad ran in the NJBIZ Real Estate Report Spring 2013 Supplement, inside front cover.
While other images were included along the bottom of the ad, the main image was my night shot of New Brunswick on the Raritan River. The actual photograph is a panorama of 4 stitched images and is much longer than what is displayed here (obviously, it was cropped to fit the print layout of a periodical).
Nevertheless, DEVCO thought highly enough that they licensed it and based an entire ad campaign on the strength of this image; not to mention, they feature the full panorama as the heading banner on Facebook.
Story behind the image: a while ago I wanted to get a decent night shot of New Brunswick on the Raritan for my portfolio. I Google'd for the best vantage point and found a private residence on the river in Highland Park. I approached the family at the residence and they graciously allowed me to shoot from their back yard. After 3 attempts, I nailed the shot featured in the ad.
But that is only half the story: I met DEVCO (New Brunswick Development Corporation) by accident. I'm a performing musician and my latin-jazz quartet, Frank & 3 To Clave, performs weekly at CubaCan, the Cuban restaurant on the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park. When the super storm Sandy took out CubaCan for several months, I devoted more time to my photography. I always wanted to get a nice shot of the city "from the heights", so I Google'd and found the tallest building in New Brunswick, The Vue. I contacted them and asked to shoot from their roof and they put me in touch with the building Property Management company, DEVCO. They agreed to escort me to the roof on a set date and time, and while taking my "best shots", I photographed one of their projects, a parking garage. Before long, DEVCO wanted to see more of my work. I presented my portfolio and that soon led to a great working relationship. To date, DEVCO has licensed a number of my images and purchased prints of much of my New Brunswick portfolio.
From the humble beginnings above I've had my work published (here with DEVCO and in an upcoming book), featured in the Alfa Art Gallery, George Street Playhouse and The Heldrich Hotel. I can't say I "owe it all to DEVCO", but I am certainly grateful for their patronage. And while I have many people to thank, I especially want to thank God for I have indeed been blessed.
Please stay tuned...as more events come up, they will be posted here. In the meantime, I can be reached at 732-688-1467 or via email at [email protected]. Thank you.