Gobble gobble, hula hula, gobble gobble! We're taking some time off in Kauai for Thanksgiving week. Kicking off the shoes, turning down the cell phone, escape the internet and turn off the city noise.

This was a first on a shoot. A live chicken!! Adam Burke is a witty and funny comedian here in Chicago and I highly recommend catching one of his shows. I also highly recommend you pick up a copy of December's Chicago Magazine and check out my photo and read the Arean Opener!

A big thank you to Courtney, Ashley and Marc for being a fantastic creative team!

I had a (cold and slippery) blast shooting the story of Chicago Magazine writer Bryan Smith for December's issue. Make sure you pick up a copy and check it out! He's a fantastic writer and has a great sense of humor (my kinda guy!!)

Thank you Creative Photography for giving me a monstrous tweet this week! I've received a plethora of emails and comments about my work. Keep spreadin' the love!

I'm always flattered when good blogs feature my work. I recently popped up on Fubiz and am blushing at the comments I'm receiving about my work. Thank you!!
Get your daily dose of inspiration at Fubiz

We're headed back to Texas again! YEEEEEHAW!!!!! This time, we're in one of my favorite cities - Austin!! Oh yeah!!

We're updating our books right now using two different variations of the same set of images.

Smaller, letter-size books are perfect bound through either Paper Chase (for large quantities) or Blurb for short runs. One set of these smaller books get their covers mounted to a hand-honed birchwood veneer to match my big books. These little wooden beauties are great traveling books and are easy to have tucked into my messenger bag when I'm out and about. The remaining 'naked' books are used as leave behinds for larger book showings.

My larger books are a combination of manufactured Pina Zangaro screw post covers in white which have also been covered in a beautiful hand-honed birch veneer. It's a very simple, economical way to own portfolios that incorporate the perfection of the machined Pina Z screw post hinges with the craftsmanship of hand cut wood. And all while staying within my branding of pure white and natural wood. My logo on the cover is laser-cut vinyl created by another local printer.

The larger books are printed here at the studio using the small Epson R2400 with K3 inks on Inkpress' Luster Duo 300gsm. All of the pages are then machine punched, trimmed and scored at a local printshop and then placed into the book. And, yes that is my stockpile of ink cartridges waiting to be recycled (FYI - Staples gives you 3 bucks per cartridge, up to 10/month)

The main reason I use the screwpost binding with bare prints is because we don't have to use those awful plastic print sleeves (which you shouldn't be using either) and I can update the book anytime I want, day or night! If I create a new portfolio piece . . . BAM! it's in the book! If an image doesn't 'fit' within the flow of the book anymore? BAM! It's gone! Simple & Easy.