After a little convincing from Rob tonight, he dragged me out of the office and on a whim, we drove up to Green Bay for a train ride at Terror On The Fox (Wisconsin’s most well-known haunted attraction). Once again, we spent some time with Ken Kemper, “Jack-of-all-trades”. Father, neighbor, pilot and locomotive engineer. What would Halloween be for me without a trip to a haunted house? Perhaps next year I’ll spend some time in a real haunted location.. overnight!?!? Yup.

Ken was operating the train which takes haunt-goers to the the house at Terror On The Fox, so we decided to take a ride around the grounds in the locomotive. Although we brought some photo gear with us, we really had no intention of shooting photos tonight as a result of dire lacking motivation. On our final trip around the grounds, Rob and I whipped out the softbox and some pocket wizards to shoot a quick portrait of Ken at the helm.

In 2007, Rob and I spent an entire evening shooting inside the main house at Terror On The Fox for Beaker, the owner. For some reason I never posted the shots from last year, mainly because they sucked. Lighting was THE WORST EVER and we battled the hoards of attraction-goers in every room. I even lost the all-access pass Beaker gave me… which is another story in-and-of itself. Nonetheless, here are a few shots from last year…

Happy Halloween! More Trick or Treating pics tonight…!
~dave

I got out to shoot some photos of local hip-hop legends Leaders Of The Lost (formerly, the Jenetics), courtesy of Adam. Many thanks go out to him for hooking this shoot up! I got a couple shots off, whilst hanging out in the gross-a$$ cold. Dang it was chilly and pitch black dark, complete with homeless people lingering in the shadows.

A few one-off shots of Luke:

Keep it FRESH.
~dave

BRIAN & CANDY
September 12th, 2008
Heritage Hill State Park
Riverside Ballroom
Green Bay, WI

Congratulations!
~dave

HALLOWEEN IS IN THE AIR!

I’ve been waiting about an month to post this series, as I wanted to share it close to Halloween. This is my favorite time of year. And how better than to celebrate it with a horror concept shoot. From the get-go we wanted it to be “tongue ‘n cheek”. In fact, this whole thing wasn’t really even planned until Sunday morning, September 14th, when we all got together at church (I kid you not) and talked about it. We had no clue where to go, no real idea or concept in mind whatsoever, other than having a horror vibe. But with a little brainstorming we grabbed our gear, got into the car and pulled off this series in under 2 hours.

Thanks go out to my whole crew for making this happen and to Trevor for shooting the “making of” video below. Expect more “behind the scenes” videos to pop-up with some of my upcoming conceptual shoots.

[qt:http://www.davidejackson.com/VIDEO/MURDER101.mov 400 311]

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As some may know, I’m not the type of guy to solely pick up a camera and run out on a shoot only when I’m “on the job” or my kids are running through the sprinkler. To me, that’s no way to revitalize my genuine love for photography or grow with creativity. It’s about getting out there, pushing my limits and shooting for myself. I make time to do this stuff. Otherwise I’d be incredibly burned-out. Rob, Adam, Trevor and I are very much about shooting for the sake of learning, screwing-up and starting all over. But also for being together as friends and laughing at each others complete stupidity and nerdiness.

I’ve really been driven by shooting more conceptual work lately. I feel that this a direction I am heading towards more and more. Obviously, my conceptual work isn’t always this “dark” and couldn’t be pulled off on a wedding day or during senior shoot and the likewise.. but I have been trying to focus more of my energy on developing this outlet in my business, especially in the coming year. Where it’ll take me, I don’t know. Time will tell. But it’s dang FUN!

To other photographers, does your personal photographic development need to be to limited to client sessions and/or their shoots? Do you ever go out and have fun shooting, just for the sake of doing it? If not, you should try it sometime.

Happy Halloween!
~dave

Greetings from the Union Station Grand Ballroom in Joliet, Illinois! We packed up the whole family on Thursday and headed south for Chris (my brother-in-law) and Lindsey’s wedding. It was a nice change of pace, being able to dance with Melanie at a wedding and enjoy a few adult beverages. Of course, the camera came out. Isn’t she gorgeous???

I return home in the afternoon. I’ll follow-up to all my emails upon my arrival home. Needless to say, I didn’t even look at my inbox all weekend. And it feels good….

Cheers,
~dave