Absolute control is the most important part of your business.  This whole "open source" nonsense will quickly fade into the sunset, and nobody in your organization is going to come up with ideas as good as yours.  Employees don't think on their own, they need a strong leader to tell them when to be at work, when to take a smoke break, and how to iron their pants.

Many people all over the world have asked me how I accomplish such a tight reign on my staff and I always tell them the same thing, founder photo's.  At frshnk we believe that if someone is watching over your shoulder at all times you wouldn't dare check your Facebook.  Tweet on my time and "I'm a watchin".  Since Chris and I can't be in every cubicle at the same time (I mean after all we do have four and I am not a super hero) we demand that everyone on staff either utilize our image as their desktop or have one framed (a minimum of 8x10) on their desk next to their monitor.

One of the in house projects we have here at frshnk is called injoy studios.  Injoy is a 1100 square foot studio focusing on portrait, wedding photography and having fun.  While commercial work falls under the frshnk banner, all of our portrait work is done by injoy.  Don't get confused, the frshnk and injoy photographers are the same people, they just have to wear a few different hats.  Above is a new project the injoy studio is working on called Shot Blast.  It's a pretty simple idea really, grab a series of images from one subject projecting as many emotions or faces as they can in thirty seconds.  Drop by if your in the area and get your Shot Blast, uh ... er shot.

Like any design firm, we have had our fair share of "difficult" clientele.  The uninformed that believe their logo must be three quarters of the page to obtain the maximum brain smack their company is looking for.  The VP of something or other who argues that they absolutely must have everything you designed for them as a .doc for redesign purposes.  Redesign?  Isn't that why you hired us?  Yes, we have been there but we also have clients with vision.  C.E.O.'s who aren't afraid of a little edge in their ad campaign and who actually understand typography.

Who would have thought that a camera and a good eye would allow one to have such lofty adventures and meet such amazing people?  I have had the pleasure of traveling to exotic worlds and meeting celebrities all because of a little light box and a dash of talent.  Recently we have been photographing a lot of people in the medical profession.  People who work long hours to try and make other people's lives better.  Skilled craftsmen who take what they do very seriously because, at times, the tools that they hold can give life or take it away.  It is an awesome and awe inspiring thing.

We are humbled at how awesome our clients are.  We appreciate you more than you know and we wouldn't be the company we are without you.  We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and a beautiful new year.

Stop taking yourself so seriously.  Wear a faux mustache to your next Monday morning meeting, if nobody notices it's time to step up your game.  Don't be afraid to be different.  You are you, and there isn't another you so rock it hard.  If you aren't bringing much to the table, smash the table and create something new with the splinters.

Shooting a conference should be fun. Period.  It's a butt load of people cramming into one place to learn something new and exciting, what's not fun about that?  Don't get bent out of shape when the lighting is too low or the aisles don't lend themselves to photographers ducking and weaving all over the place.  Give yourself a mental fist bump and get to shooting!

The client simply asked that we show the magnitude of the build out.  It is a massive build out so you would think that would be a relatively easy task

The FreshInk studio has been a wreck as of late.  It's not because we are a bunch of neanderthals, although some might say we are, it's because we have been undergoing a much needed renovation.  We are exhited about the transformation our space has undergone while keeping it's charm and amazing natural light feel.

The build out was a necessary part of a new project we are starting called Injoy Studios.  More on that in the near future.

If you are downtown you should stop on by and say "hi" and grab a cup of coffee.  We haven't re-opened just yet, but it won't be long now that we are in the home stretch!

Chris was painting a bunny and I thought that it looked cool so i picked up my Camera to document some of the process. This video is the result of pure inspiration.