It’s funny how things happen. I had shown my Time for Print project to the photo editor of Men’s Health Magazine a couple of months ago. A few weeks later, she called and asked if I would use that similar style for something coming up in their magazine. Sure, I’d love to!

And a few months later, we have this tearsheet! That’s how it works kids. You show people a personal project. The editor likes it. Their magazine has a project that can be informed by your project. And you get yourself a check (well, still waiting on that, actually. Wink wink!).

Check out this month’s Men’s Health Magazine for some hot Polaroids! Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot.

This is Part 10/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

**NOTE: Some words and names have been left out of the following anecdote to protect Top Secret-ness of this project for Client X. Don’t worry, I have permission to use this image in this context. Thanks for your concern.

I have no idea who this guy is. He was at _______ Hot Springs in _______ earlier this year when I was there photographing a project for _______. After camping the night before, we planned on waking up super early to catch the sunrise at the Springs. Can you say “best idea ever?” I can! The sun had just started to rise above the mountains when we walked up to the springs. The air was still cold, so when this gentleman walked out of the hot spring, the hot air from his body turned to steam. He looked like a human fog machine. The early morning sun lit the steam up in this miraculous glow. I’ve been in the presence of photographic magic before, but this was the first time that I had seen a photographic miracle. I was speechless for about 20 minutes. I still don’t have many words to describe the moment.

This is Part 9/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

What can I possibly say that the photograph itself doesn’t say already? I want to be here every day. Forever. That’s it.

This is Part 8/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

Ok, so I’m going to cheat a bit here. I’m posting two images for this one. I can’t decide between the two, so screw it. As most of you must know at this point, I do a lot of work for Outlier Clothing and their main focus is clothing that performs in the outdoors as well as in the city. Tailored performance.

Besides really loving the images, I’m proud to continue working with Outlier so closely. They are constantly creating new products and rely on strong visuals to sell them. They’ve been trusting me to create the photos and continue refining and evolving “the look” for over two years. When thinking back on the great accomplishments of 2011, having Outlier trust me to create the majority of their visual branding ranks among the very top.

This is Part 7/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

Plan all you want. Meter a million times. Make as many notes as you want. Research. The best photos will always be the ones that surprise even you.

I became a photographer so I could experience the world more profoundly. To have an excuse to walk out my door everyday and observe. To be surprised. So when this negative came back from the lab, this technical “mistake” surprised the shit out of me. And I loved it. I have a whole bunch of correctly exposed versions of this, but I always come back to this one.

Surprises are good.

This is Part 6/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

This photo is directly related to Number 5 from yesterday. After the races were done, I had built in a few extra days in the travel plans to get some post-race photographs of the cycling teams, or (preferably) drive around France and Belgium. The teams were getting on planes almost immediately, so I was left to wander around the coast of Normandy. Besides filling up on WWII history and driving through beautiful small towns, I tried to stop at every little beach I could. One of these beaches required a short hike and climbing down a ladder to get to the water. On the way back to the car, this couple was heading to the water. I stopped them and asked them to take their portrait. Something about the red and the green in the scene that jumped out at me. As a result of this photo, I’ve noticed that I’ve taken many, many red/green landscapes in the past.

Besides just really liking this photo, there are two morales to the story. One, always try to plan some time to get lost and find stuff while you’re on assignment. Two, it seems like I secretly enjoy Christmas colors.

This is Part 5/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

Anyone that follows cycling will know immediately what this image is. This photo was taken during the 2011 Paris Roubaix race. It is probably the second most important and famous race in the world after the Tour de France. To some fans, it is THE RACE of the year. Cyclists must race over these cobbles (pave) for many miles. This years race was warm and dry, but it’s more likely to be cold and wet, and those conditions makes the cobbles T-R-E-A-C-H-E-R-O-U-S. They are feared and respected like almost no other obstacle in professional cycling. Do some youtube research – it will make any non-cyclist a fan.

Well, I was there. And I had press credentials. Yup, I was in a car behind the peloton. This is like being on the sidelines for the Super Bowl. Cyclists around the world spend thousands of dollars to travel to this race. Many more will never experience it in person. And at most, they’ll see the peloton ride by once or twice in the day. With press credentials, I saw them at the start, 6-7 times during the day, and I was at the finish line to see the victor. An amazing day.

What you can’t quite appreciate from this photo is the speed at which these guys come through. No amount of photographic training prepares you for the stress of those 2-3 minutes of bikes and dust and fans and elbows being thrown and beer being spilled. Pre focus, check meter a million times, pre compose shot, stay calm, stay calm. . . . .  BOOOOOM. All that shit goes out the door and you’re firing away hoping you get SOMETHING. Oh yeah, this was all on film. Medium format. Twenty shots to a roll. What was I thinking? I literally sat in front of my ziploc bag of film at the end of this trip and said, “I hope I get at least 10 shots. I have no idea what this is going to look like.”

This is Part 4/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

In many ways, 2011 was the year that I connected to the outdoors more than I ever have. January started with a camping/mountain bike road trip to Arizona. This trip was pitched as a project to an outdoor brand so in a sense it was a “job.” But really, all it amounted to was 7 friends with bikes in the middle of the desert for 4 days. No client, no producers, no script. In fact, that was kinda the point. The photographs were supposed to feel like a real life road trip with sprinkles of branding tossed in.

For me, the photo above captures that spontaneous road trip spirit. When you get a flat with only a mile to go to reach the car, you improvise. “You sit on the saddle, and I’ll stand up the whole way.” And while you’re at it, I’ll photograph you one-handed with a Mamiya 7 while trying not to hit any cactus. We must have looked really silly to anyone watching.

We had chosen Arizona for it’s warmth at that time of year, but a cold front had moved in and record lows were recorded over the 4 days we were there. Temperatures were in the 20-30° range at night. Plus 20-25mph gusts. Not ideal camping conditions. While it was pretty brutal and we talked about getting hotel rooms, it seems like that trip set the tone for 2011 – Mother Nature always wins.

This is Part 3/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

Over the summer, I traveled South with a good friend visiting from Argentina. We drove from NYC to New Orleans stopping everywhere in between. I’m pretty sure the photo above was in South Carolina. On my loose lists of things I wanted to show my friend was a dirt track. Seeing as how we were in the middle of NASCAR country, I thought it would be pretty easy. As we were driving on the highway one day, I see a hand painted racetrack sign that says they race every Saturday. Lucky us. It was Saturday and they were starting within an hour.Keeping a loose running list of things I hope to see is always helpful. While no project is a failure if I can’t cross off everything on my list, having thought through what I want to accomplish and what sorts of things I want to see is always helpful.

The light that day was incredible. Everywhere I turned, a photo appeared. I spoke to the track manager and he let us get into the infield and get up close – we literally got pelted with dirt. The moment I remember most is this photo above. The National Anthem being played on the crackly PA system, the sun setting, and the round-and-round noise of a single truck flattening out the track. It was a perfect moment in small town Americana.

This is Part 2/10 of the countdown to my favorite 10 images of 2011.

I took this photo while on Assignment for Travel + Leisure earlier in the year. The assignment was to profile the new Americano Hotel and the hip neighborhood around it.  I wrote about that assignment previously on the blog here. The bottom line here is that the magazine trusted me to wander around the neighborhood for a couple days and just find cool stuff. When you have a camera in hand and keep your eyes open, you’ll find stuff. Trust your instincts and stay loose. Little miracles, like this triangle of light, happen all the time. Be ready.