October 2010

Accolade – Received a nice little “thank you” from my colleague and friend Jurgen Mantzke at Enfineitz through a Facebook posting. Believe it or not, these little posts that we create for ourselves and fellow bloggers are read and remembered by thousands if not millions. It is insane how much exposure we can receive through social networking websites. Case in point – I made the almost fatal mistake of “posting before public release.” In other words, I blogged about a product before the company had released the product to the public. Duh, what was I thinking? Long story short, my weblog post was read by a random person in Europe as a result of a Google search, that person wrote to the company in New York, the company wrote to the ad agency in LA, the ad agency wrote to me in Denver, all within 24 hours. Five years ago, that could not have happened.

Self Promotion – Signed up for another free listing online. fotodeck Find A Photographer is still young and only time will tell if the website overloads with every level of talent imaginable (like soooo many other Find A Photographer sites) ultimately crowding the site and making it unnavigable for art buyers. Research over the past four years has revealed to me that most art buyers (with budgets of $1,000+) use one or two trusted search engines or photo representatives to find photographers in out-of-town markets. But FREE advertising never hurts. I had a colleague recently comment to an assistant, “who is this Don Cudney his name is everywhere?” Absolute worse case scenario is to meet a potential new client (art buyer) and they remark – “I’ve never heard of you.”

Update – And the Winner is ….. John Manzio. Congratulations, John, you have become the first winner of SHOOT! A Colorado Photographer’s Reality. A special thank you to all the viewers that watched the first season of SHOOT!; myself along with the producers, cast and crew appreciate your support. See you next season?
Watch the Season Finale of SHOOT! online.

Assignment – Created images of swimsuit model Crystal Matthews and Renaldo Hill of the Denver Broncos as part of a 8-page layout for Jackson’s Sports Bar and the 2010 Snow Angels issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. Charity Stock, Stylist. A special thank you to Cali Lowdermilk for her assistance and BTS imagery.
* Final layout and BTS video will be posted after publication.

Renaldo Hill – Personal Work

Crystal – Personal Work

BTS Images by Cali

Update – The season finale of SHOOT! A Colorado Photographer’s Reality airs tonight (Oct. 26) at 7:30PM MNT on Channel 12 – Denver. View the first 5 episodes and post a Comment about the show at shootcolorado.com.

Assignment/Behind the Scenes – Created images of models Aubrey Brewer and Carleen Laron for Antoine du Chez and as part of a 8-page layout in the 2010 Snow Angels issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. Charlie Price, Fashion Director. Alan Coonrod and Bonnie Wiegle, Hair Stylists. Katelyn Simkins, MakeUp. A special thank you to Cali Lowdermilk for her assistance and BTS imagery. * Final layout will be posted after publication.

Update – Hello Don, I’ve updated your Wonderful Machine profile. Let me know if everything looks okay. Paul Stanek/Photo Editor/ Wonderful Machine/Because Art Buyers Need Photographers Looks good, Paul. Thank you!

Tearsheet – Hard Rock Cafe Denver invites guests to rock out in support of breast cancer awareness and research! On Sat., October 23rd, Hard Rock Cafe Denver will host an exclusive performance by the dance team Rockstarz as part of Hard Rock’s 2010 PINKTOBER™ initiative. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, part of the national grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists working together to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures.

Stay-cation – Took a few days off to visit and play tourist with my eldest sister Karen. We visited the Rocky Mountain National Park, drank a pint at the Grand Lake Brewery, ate at Beau Jo’s Pizza in Idaho Springs, attended the Denver Broncos Vs. the New York Jets game and filmed The Script live at the Ogden in Denver; let’s not forget breakfast at Pete’s Kitchen after the show! Love you, Sis.

Behind the Scenes – That’s a Wrap! SHOOT! A Colorado Photographer’s Reality television show is “in the can,” almost; final editing and post production will be completed and the final Episode #6 will air on October 26th at 7:30pm MNT on Channel 12 Denver. Past Episodes can be viewed at shootcolorado.com.

Host Adiamond Baker looks on as Judges Don Cudney, Kristy Wingfield & Andrew Clark deliberate the winning contestant.

Assignment/Behind the Scenes – Created images of swimsuit model Lorin along with Tom Ethington and Brad Richardson of the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse Team for Jackon’s Sports Bar and as part of a 8-page layout in the 2010 Snow Angels issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. Charity Stock, Stylist. Special thank you to Maritah Holdren/Jackson’s. * Final layout and BTS video will be posted after publication.

Tom thinking, “when is this guy going to take my picture?”

Brad – Personal Work

Assignment – Photographed swimsuit model Marina del Ray and Dexter Fowler of the Colorado Rockies Baseball Team for Jackon’s Sports Bar and as part of a 8-page layout in the 2010 Snow Angels issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. Charity Stock, Stylist. Special thank you to Maritah Holdren/Jackson’s. * Final layout will be posted after publication.

Dexter – Personal Work

Assignment/Behind the Scenes – When I lived and worked as a photographer in Florida (the Sunshine State), I postponed or canceled at least one photo shoot a week and up to four a month due to weather, specifically, torrential RAIN. On the other hand, Colorado receives a reported 350+ days a year of sunshine. So how come the one day that I plan to produce three outdoor, on-location photo shoots, it rains? Lucky, it just sprinkled off and on and we were able to create all three layouts between rain clouds. Created images of Taylor, Brie, Lorin, Megan, Kristen, Lindsay, Miranda and Jackie of the 2011 Rockstarz for Waxing the City and as part of a 8-page layout in the 2010 Snow Angels issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. * Final layout and Behind the Scenes video will be posted 12/2010.

We’re Singing in the Rain … Just Singing in the Rain!

Assignment/Behind the Scenes – Created images of swimsuit models Barbara and Brittney along with Brandon Yip, Ryan O’Reilly and TJ Galiardi of the Colorado Avalanche Hockey Team for Jackon’s Sports Bar and as part of a 8-page layout in the 2010 Snow Angels issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. Charity Stock, Stylist. Special thank you to Maritah Holdren/Jackson’s. * Final layout and BTS video will be posted after publication.

BTS Video StillBrandon, Ryan & TJ – Personal Work

Assignment/Tearsheet – Created cover, table of contents and feature images of Jennifer Chang, Anthony Lambatos, Kimberly Smith, Deborah Morrison and Matt Shoup – Colorado’s Top 5 Most Influential Business Leaders Under 40 for the October 2010 issue of ColoradoBIZ. Chelsea Connolly, Art Director.

Jennifer Chang

Behind the Scenes – Helped Brad Wicks, Chad Barton and Tim Sabaska create additional video footage for episode 5 of SHOOT! A Colorado Photographer’s Reality television show. I have finally accepted the fact that Broadway Studios East sucks for any kind of clean audio recording. What did I expect? The studio is located on South Broadway along a busy bus route on the second floor of an old wood and brick building. Unless I time the audio between city buses, motorcycles and screaming drunks, I’m screwed!

Brad & Chad Interview Matt Alberts

Assignment/Behind the Scenes – Helped my friend and colleague Susan Goddard create images of attendees and their dogs at the Denver *Dumb Friends League Barks & Bow Ties Event held at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Aurora, CO.. Note to self – I do not have the heart or patience to photograph “scared” dogs and “crying” infants; I’d rather create images of an egotistical athlete or pompous CEO any day.

Why did it take so long to “bring back” the Photo Booth?

Assignment – Created interior and exterior architectural images for Bridgwater Apartments located at 6401 South Boston Street, Geenwood Village, CO. Architectural interiors almost always involve problem solving (complex lighting) and prop styling. Architectural exteriors are always dependent on time-of-day.
*Final brochure and website link will be posted after publication.

Assignment/Tearsheet – Created images and a video introduction of Danny Earls of the Colorado Rapids Soccer Team for the September 2010 issue of Mile High Sports Magazine. Nick Heckman, Art Director. Watch Introduction Video Here

unpublished

Assignment/Tearsheet – Created images of Bill Sullivan, CEO of Prologis for the October 2010 issue of CFO Magazine.

unpublished

Archive/Tearsheet – A 1980s skateboard ‘zine published by Don Cudney, Steven Jacobs, Jeff Dalton (JD), Shawn Thornton (WIZ) and many other writers and photographers spread-out along the Gulf Coast during the mid- to late- 1980s. Take into account this was pre-desktop publishing, pre-photoshop and pre-digital photography. Many of the images in the first few issues were photographed with a disc camera and the film was processed in my bedroom closet. All aspects of the magazine had to be photographed with negative or slide film, processed and then cut-and-pasted into the magazine layout by hand. Time consuming and not very pretty at times. Gulf Coast SKATE Review was published from August of 1985 until September of 1990.