Jeremy Cowart

A Ballplayer quote

2009-06-15T15:51:24Z

Saw this quote on my brother's Facebook. Really interesting and very true. It really sums up our selfish American culture today. (Myself included in that categorization.)

"The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the tfront. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back." - Steve Garvey

Hello again Flickr

2009-06-01T17:02:57Z

So I've decided to start using Flickr again. Why?

1. For the sport of it.

I've had so many conversations with guys about which they like better... College or NBA basketball. The common answer is college cause the guys aren't playing for money. They're playing for the love of it and the competition. Well I like to think photography is the same. I don't want to just pick up a camera every time I have a shoot. Not that that's ever been the case anyway. But I want to be more intentional about documenting life, the places I go and especially my family. Sometimes it's hard to pick up a camera when I get home from work. But hopefully that's going to change now. I've already been shooting a ton on my days off in the past week and also while I'm here in London.

2. YOU inspire me.

I'm incredibly inspired, especially lately at all the other photographers on Flickr. Even though I haven't posted in a long time I still browse it almost daily. And there's a vast amount of people out there blowing my mind.. teenagers, stay-at-home moms, everyone. These are the people that are really pushing me to keep shooting.

3. I have way too many images sitting around.

I hate the fact that I have thousands and thousands of photos just sitting on hard drives wasting space. I'd prefer they be hanging on people's walls and maybe someday that can happen once I start figuring out selling prints but for now at least some of these images can have a little life and be seen.

So here ya go. I'm back on Flickr.

Here's my photostream

London/Dublin

2009-05-29T12:29:55Z

So I'm headed tomorrow to London for 2 weeks and then a couple of days in Dublin. My wife will be joining me for 10 days of that trip for our anniversary. I've been to London but only for a couple of days. Any thoughts/suggestions as to what we should do as a couple? Thoughts as to some cool places for me to photograph? (Non-touristy suggestions please) I'm really anxious to see Dublin too and shoot some epic landscapes. Any suggestions there? Basically I'm open to hear any thoughts on either city. Thanks.

Carnival Goodness

2009-05-26T16:35:52Z

Last night my wife and I took our kids to the Carnival. I took my 5D MK II along with my 50mm 1.2 lens. I swear a carnival is the perfect setting for good photos, especially when you take a cute family on a nice night and shoot it all with that lens.

Oh. And isn't it crazy that I shot these photos and the Abandon video below with the same camera? That blows my mind that we can do that now.

Abandon Video

2009-05-26T15:03:00Z

I recently directed my first music video for Abandon. It was a simple performance piece video with a shoestring budget so we decided to use the Canon 5D Mark II. Overall it was a great experience and a big learning curve for me. I knew nothing about video and when I say nothing multiply that times 10. I knew nothing when I started doing photography professionally so I figured I'd go with that approach for video too. Sometimes it's cool to go into something not knowing any rules. And sometimes you just look like a fool (which I'm sure I did that day). The video was mostly shot handheld with a few tripod shots mixed in. The biggest problem was trying to keep focus while moving around in such low light with the band ALSO moving around like crazy. It was basically impossible to keep focus. But there's a few cool moments where the focus stars align. I'm definitely looking forward to doing a video with a DP who can pull focus. If anyone is curious about editing, a lady named Darla Koreiba did the editing in Avid. She did a really great job.

Overall I'm happy with the video and happy to have my first one behind me. I learned SO much and can't wait to do the 2nd one! Oh and if you haven't heard Abandon's music check it out! Really great guys. I mean we ended the video shoot with a breakdance contest. How rad is that?

Oh and be sure to watch the HD version!

Paper Route Shoot

2009-03-25T20:13:42Z

I'm extremely honored to once again have worked with my good friends/one of my favorite bands in existence, Paper Route. If you haven't heard their music yet please check them out. We recently did a shoot for their upcoming album "Absence". Here are some of the shots.

Richard Avedon Quote

2009-02-26T04:56:56Z

"Photography has always reminded me of the second child...trying to prove itself. The fact that it wasn't really considered an art...that it was considered a craft...has trapped almost every serious photographer." - Richard Avedon

Sarah Buxton Shoot

2009-02-14T20:44:51Z

I recently had the chance to shoot Lyric Street Recording Artist Sarah Buxton. Sarah is super talented. (In fact she is nominated for ACM's Top New Female Artist!) Sarah and Lyric Street were both really great to work with and Sarah was a CHAMP. Not kidding, the wind chill was 8 Degrees that day. (You can see the chills on her arms in the first photo below.) We were all bundled up in 7 layers of winter clothes and Sarah was just hanging outside all day in jeans and very thin tops. I swear women have a much higher tolerance of pain than men do. She was amazing. Here are a few photos from the shoot...

Jordan Quote

2009-02-10T21:41:44Z

"I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot . . . and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why . . . I succeed."

Michael Jordan

First Video Attempt

2009-01-30T22:39:56Z

So last night I shot my first music video for the band "Abandon". Not only was it my first music video but it was my first vidoe anything. My only experience in video is editing clips of my kids running around the house in iMovie. On top of that I was shooting with the new Canon 5D MK II. Overall it was an incredibly fun and very educating experience. I quickly learned that video directing is all about time management. Can you accomplish your vision, your ideas and your shots all in 10 hours? Including load in and load out? Whew, tough task. I think we did it though. The camera performance remains to be seen until we have a final edit or at least get to the editing room. It was quite the challenge to keep things in focus in such low light but the song is very agressive so hopefully we got away with it. I'll also be curious as to how the grain translates in the end. I'm really looking forward to this new journey as a director. I certainly have plenty of ideas and vision for directing. Now I just have to get my technical know-how caught up to my creative know-how. Looking forward to it.

Oh and it didn't hurt that the whole video shoot wrapped with a breakdance-off between me and their drummer. You know it's a good day when...

Donald Miller Photoshoot

2009-01-29T04:39:57Z

My favorite shoots are always the run-n-gun shoots. I love getting together with the artist I'm working with and just heading out together to explore whatever city we're in. That was the case with Donald Miller (Author of Blue Like Jazz and several other great books). We spent 3 historic days in Washington D.C. last week attending the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama, the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball and the Inaugural Prayer Service. The whole experience is easily my favorite experience as a photographer thus far... cooler than shooting Sting or any big TV gig. It will be the story I tell when people say "So tell me some good photoshoot stories." I'm so thankful to Don for bringing me along the entire journey. Speaking of Don, he was kind enough to let me post some photos from his shoot on my blog. I rarely get to do that so I was excited when he gave me permission. This shoot is very different from the typical shoot. And that makes me happy. He also let me shoot him like people rarely allow... raw, tired, no hair or makeup team. Nothing you see here would be considered "flattering light". These photos are the real deal. It's cool when someone allows such transparency.

My Top 5 Tools

2009-01-16T21:17:21Z

Here are 5 Tools that seem to be changing my life lately...

Oh. And if you aren't using an iPhone yet, you truly have no idea what you're missing.

All of these things seamlessly integrate with my iPhone, thus further changing my life.

Donald Miller Photo Battle

2009-01-13T16:18:28Z

If you haven't seen my Twitter Feed about this or Don's Blog then you don't know about the upcoming epic photo battle between the 2 of us.

Don and I will be attending the Presidential Inauguration together in DC next week. We'll be among 4 million other people watching Obama be sworn in as the 44th President of our country.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm super excited about attending this and witnessing history. But I'm more excited and equally nervous to go head to head with Don and his camera. Sure we all know him as the author of books such as Blue Like Jazz or To Own a Dragon or Searching for God Knows What but what we DON'T know is that he's a genius with a camera. He's taken some sick self-portraits and has some ridiculous shots of his dog.

So I'm wondering. Do you have any tips for my training for this event? Should I start doing lifts with my shutter finger? Aka "Shinger"?

Nevertheless, be ready next week as we both send live updates via our Twitter accounts.

We'll be tweeting about all festivities from Don speaking at Georgetown, to the actual Inauguration, to the Mid-Atlantic Ball that evening, to the Prayer Breakfast the next morning which will be Obama's first event as our new President.

To get live text updates from Don text: "follow donmilleris" to 40404 or just go here to follow Don on Twitter.

To get live text updates from me text: "follow jeremycowart" to 40404 or just go here to follow me on Twitter.

Oh, and the last thing. We'll be posting our Top 5 photos each for you to vote on the winner next week!

Wish me luck.

Economy

2009-01-09T05:27:41Z

I'm curious. Is the economy affecting you? How so? What are you doing different to make it through 2009?

Charlie Brown

2008-12-19T05:22:17Z

The things our kids say...

My mother-in-law (Mimi) was keeping my 2-year old son, Adler, tonight. They were watching TV and Charlie Brown came on. She said "Look Adler!! It's Charlie Brown!!"

He turned around VERY serious and said (while pointing at his crotch) "No Mimi. THIS is Charlie Brown."

We have no idea where that idea came from but it's had us laughing all night.