While I’m sure there’s a lot going on in the mind of a baby, I can’t claim to remember a single moment from that time in my life.  My childhood memories, however, are crystal clear and almost completely revolve around aircraft.  If I hadn’t been blessed with bad eyesight, I would have joined the ranks of Maverick, Iceman, Chappy Sinclair and Doug Masters as an ace fighter jet pilot slipping the surly bonds of earth and dancing on laughter-silvered wings.  There was literally nothing of greater importance to me than flying.  I remember being enveloped by awe when my father told stories from his days travelling the globe as a loadmaster on a C-130 Hercules in the Air Force, going to the Experimental Aircraft Association and to the end of the local airport’s runway to watch planes land and take off.  It was through my father that I met his co-worker Mark and his father Ken Corbett.  Ken was a pilot for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Lunda Construction.  My parents tell me that when I was a baby they loaded my sister and I on a MD80 jetliner to fly from Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Kansas City, Kansas.  I was too young to remember it and I don’t consider that my first flight.  Since memories are the very core of our existence, my very first flight happened because of Ken Corbett when I was 10 years old in his Cessna 185 Skywagon II.  Taxiing down the taxiway at Oshkosh’s Wittman Airport the day of my first flight, sitting in the co-pilot seat, feeling more anticipation than I’d ever felt is a moment I’ll never forget.  A lot happened to me as we bounced and jostled toward the runway.  I was so overwhelmed that I almost relive that moment more clearly in my thoughts than when I was actually there!  I remember Ken’s hands gently gripping the controls.  I remember looking up and seeing the sun dancing through the distorted plexiglass and illuminate his beautifully weathered face while he radioed the tower for clearance to take off.  I remember the smell of decades of flight that the old Skywagon had been through as Ken pushed the throttle to full and we lunged forward down the runway.  I remember the world around me squeaking, jumping, jostling, vibrating, shaking until Ken pulled the wheel back and suddenly that world went smooth and silent as we soared upwards toward heaven.  It was such an honor to be able to go to my hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin recently to photograph Ken and Mark together with their aircraft.  The Cessna 185 on the left is the very plane that took me for my first flight.  Mark’s Citabria Champion is on the right.

After Garet’s daughter was diagnosed with Kidney failure at the age of 10, he attempted to donate one of his kidneys to her.  36 hours before the surgery, Garet failed to cross-match with his daughter.  She had developed a very potent antibody against Garet’s B60 antigen and it would be likely that Garet’s daughter would reject his kidney so the surgery was cancelled.  After a difficult and exhaustive search across the entire country, they finally found a donor match and the surgery was successfully completed on July 12th, 2007.  It was during this challenging period that Garet conceived of a better way to organize living donor transplants that could save the lives of thousands of people facing kidney failure. This was the founding idea of the National Kidney Registry.  Garet turned his 25 years as a successful CEO into a full time quest to help people who face the same challenges as his family.

A life changing event becomes the foundation for one man’s passion.  This was the tone I wanted to accomplish with this series of photographs, as well as showing Garet’s inspired sense of hard work and determination.  I kept the lighting natural while still creating a slightly layered sense of complexity.  Since there was such a catalyst for Garet to embark on this venture, I chose to express that by using existing architectural elements in several setups to keep a strong sense of this foundation, and allowed those architectural elements and patterns to encompass Garet while not overpowering his influential personality.

After we finished the photoshoot and the equipment was put away, Garet and I sat down together after grabbing some Perrier from the coffee house across the street.  We talked about a shared love of the outdoors and our many adventures that take place there.  Garet’s attention turned back to the task at hand and his infectious interest sparked me to grab my camera while he spoke.  Using available light I shot while I listened to him explain the difficulties he and the Kidney Registry face.  The next 8 photographs show that moment.

Garet is very protective of his daughter’s identity, understandably preventing her from being photographed until she’s of legal age.  While I never met her, I did want to try to do something for her as a personal acknowledgement of her tough journey.  With the help of iCarly producer Robin Weiner and Hungry Girl’s Lisa Lillien I was able to bring Garet’s daughter a signed and messaged copy of Miranda Cosgrove’s debut album Sparks Fly.  So a huge thank you to those three talented women for helping me accomplish that.

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Oingo Boingo guitarist and movie & television composer / conductor extraordinaire Steve Bartek at his Los Angeles home studio.  Wanting to capture Steve’s unique character, I placed him in the surroundings in which he works and encouraged him to simply be himself.  The timbre I wanted was how Steve’s personality is part of, yet still overcomes, his creative cocoon that shields him from the bustling Los Angeles cityscape.  This was a very challenging shoot as I had to fit all the photo gear within a very small space, surrounded by beautiful and expensive guitars while keeping cool so Steve was able to express himself despite this intrusion.  Steve’s favorite instrument, a vintage music box piano, makes a cameo in the guitar shots.  Steve was wonderful, making me feel like a very welcome guest. We even indulged a shared love of Reed’s Ginger Brew.