A thousand feet off the ground, no helicopter doors, paralyzing wind – just another vacation day for Photographer Jordan Reeder. “Part of my job is experimenting and testing,” says Jordan. “I love shooting landscapes, and I just wanted to try something different, so I chartered a chopper.”

Jordan had shot aerials once before, grabbing shots of high performance bi-planes from the open cockpit of a WWII military plane. But this time his goal was to test a new Sony A9 camera system while capturing Chicago’s visual abundance.

“With helicopters, you only get about 30 minutes, so you really have to think about the right time of day and gear planning. Changing lenses or messing with accessories can be dangerous because it’s so windy – everything has to be strapped down,” says Jordan.

“To get good shots you have to get lucky with the weather. And always remember not to lean out too far – or you get smacked with the wind and your eyeballs start shaking around in your skull.”

An award-winning product, lifestyle and location photographer, Jordan spends most of the year on commercial shoots for clients like Discover Card, Nvidia and Cisco. But his vacations, like this family trip to Chicago, tend to get taken over by photography as well.

“It’s always a little hectic jamming in shoot time on family trips,” says Jordan. “But it’s painful to be somewhere awesome and not take some time to shoot.”

Check out more of Jordan’s award-winning work here.

With his evocative photos full of rich light and color, it’s easy to see why we’re excited to welcome photographer Michal Venera to the Freda Scott Creative roster.

His first camera, a gift from his father when he was 12, was used to capture the winding old-town streets and moody light of his native Czechoslovakia. At 19 he defected, making his way from refugee camp to New York City and finally to San Francisco.

Michal worked his way through art school, building on the education he’d given himself wandering Prague’s museums as a boy. Since then, he’s built a successful 30-year career in lifestyle, product and scenic photography as a commercial and fine art photographer.

Big-name clients from Pottery Barn to Wells Fargo to Crystal Cruises come for Michal’s talent. But they stay to enjoy his studio – a 5000 square foot cedar wood barn he built in the hills of Marin. Drenched in light and surrounded by expansive views, it lends serenity to any shoot day.

When not on the job, Michal runs his own little farm on the property, raising sheep and tending to his 300 olive trees. That is, of course, if he’s not traveling or pursuing new pieces for his art collection.

In true artist style, he also lives part time on a reclaimed tugboat in Sausalito, just across from San Francisco. There you might find him indulging his daily water skiing habit, dodging the heavy marine craft on Richardson Bay.

“I love it all,” he says of his long and varied career. “It’s kind of a problem. I love lifestyle, I love shooting product and creating scenes. But I’ve been lucky to work in many different genres, sometimes all on one job.” You can see more of Michal’s wide-ranging portfolio here.

It comes as no surprise that Essentia tapped Photographer Patrick Bennett for their “Overachieving H20” campaign. After all, Patrick has been pushing the limits in his field for decades. “I hang off cliffs, lay on railroad tracks, dodge punches…whatever it takes,” he says.

In just the last year, Patrick has bagged over 200 shots for Essentia Water, which he estimates totals around 10,000 frames shot in seven cities throughout the country. That alone earns him a place in the Relentlessly Dedicated Photographers hall of fame. But Patrick is never content to just ‘get the shot’ – he prefers to reinvent it.

“I’ve always picked the hard way to go,” he says. “In track I ran the 400 and 800. I played hockey. I chose an incredibly competitive career. So for each shot, I build it from scratch, never relying on formulas, to make it as unique as possible. That’s why I love location work – every location is a new studio to work within.”

To that end, Patrick recently found himself shooting on a city street with live traffic, trying to get a shot of a runner sprinting past. “I’m laying in the gutter, so I can’t see. My producer is just yelling if I need to dodge an oncoming car. All while the model is flying by at top speed,” he laughs. Of course, they nailed it.

Another time he was shooting on an Alaskan tugboat. After 3 days of pouring rain he finally got the shot during a stormy midnight refuel, using the work lights of the two ships in addition to his flash. “But,” he laughs, “that was nothing compared to the time my assistant had to hold me precariously by the pants as I leaned fully out over the water to shoot the Bayliner speeding away at sunset.

His most unforgettable moment came on yet another boat. “I’m in the bow of a small ship waiting for the Dragon capsule to come down from space. I’m shooting still and motion – two cameras side by side – so once we heard the sonic boom I could line up my cameras to the puff of smoke from the exploding parachutes and follow it to splashdown. All while we’re rocking on heaving waves. Ten minutes later we uploaded the shot via satellite phone and Elon Musk tweeted my photo of the successful return of the SpaceX Dragon to earth.”

Patrick will continue to shoot for Essentia Water throughout 2017, as well as his other industrial, transportation and farm clients. And no matter what shot he brings back, we know there’ll be a good story to go with it. You can see more of Patrick’s commercial and personal work here.

Faced with hair-raising complexity and tight timing, photographer Nader Khouri knows there’s only one way to nail the shoot: plan, plan and plan some more. The payoff is clear in his latest lifestyle photography for Lennar’s new San Francisco Shipyard development.

“This shoot had a lot of moving parts, so, first step, I wanted a great producer on the team,” says Nader. “To me, that’s Amy Silberman.” Nader relied on Amy to keep things running smoothly, managing permits, talent, time and budgets on the 3-day, 10 location shoot. “Amy knows so many people and she is a logistics magician,” he says.

Together, the team planned for every possibility. They chartered a boat for a commuting shot, rented restaurants, shops and an office location, procured permits for SF city streets, Muni platforms, the Port Authority and RV parking, wrangled 8 models and their schedules, secured catering, created Plan B scenarios and managed budgets, call sheets and crew book.

Then it was time to take the actual photos. The client wanted to showcase the way residents would live, work, shop and relax in the new community. Nader worked closely with the talent to get natural performances on a run-and-gun timeline.

“I love how it came out,” says Nader. “And we had an epic celebration with the crew when it was all over.” You can see more of Nader’s lifestyle photography, as well as his impressive food and beverage work, here.

Lennar San Francisco Shipyard: Nader Khouri, photographer; Amy Silberman, Producer; Lisa Moir, Wardrobe and Props; Deborah Dapolito and Veronica Sjoen, Makeup & Hair, Models, Blackwell Fileshere.

It’s difficult to describe Illustrator Carolyn Vibbert’s style, largely because she’s mastered so many techniques and approaches. Her deep portfolio of work includes whimsical maps, clean-lined logos, charming landscapes and myriad illustrations in styles reminiscent of cut paper, acrylic painting, woodcuts and watercolors.

“Often it’s a job that pushes me into new territory,” explains Carolyn. “A client might like my style but want something a little bolder or more energetic or with humor. That makes the job even more exciting.”

Technology also helps Carolyn explore and evolve. “Back in the day,” she says, “all my work had to be done on peel-able illustration board that could be wrapped around a scanning drum. Every change had to be done by hand. Now I can just delete and try again.”

But no matter the style, her process begins the same way for every job. “I pull lots of reference material, then develop a thumbnail that captures the energy or shape of the piece. I keep it loose and refine as I go along – I still use a lot of tracing paper for revisions!” she explains.

“But in everything I do, I always start with a naturally drawn line,” says Carolyn. And ultimately, that foundation of human warmth is the strong through line in this highly accomplished commercial artist’s body of work. You can see more of Carolyn’s illustrations and designs here.

Steve Belkowitz has photographed top models and pro athletes, but he’s not afraid to keep it real when it comes to talent. “The client was nervous about using real employees for the Del Monte shoot – it can be uncomfortable for folks who aren’t used to the camera,” says the accomplished people photographer. “But I knew with a safe, relaxed environment they’d do great.”

Shooting for just two days with employees of the company’s fruit processing plant in Dallas, Steve needed to get the group in the groove quickly. “We wanted them to do funny things, so we played good music and kept things really light on set,” he explains.

Once the shots were solid, Steve relied on skilled retouching to tweak the look just enough to make the employees look heroic, but not perfect or unnatural. In a few cases they also dropped in props that were shot separately. “We probably did about 5 rounds of revisions for each image,” he says.

The shots are being used for branding materials for Del Monte’s fresh fruit division, including print ads, social media and collateral. “It’s also the company’s 125th anniversary, and they want to authentically connect with their consumers,” Steve explains.

That’s a perfect match with Steve, whose photos often leave the viewer with a smile. You can see more of his lifestyle and people photography here.

Andrew Maguire has scaled epic cliffs and skied snowy ravines to get the perfect shot, and now he’s conquering the jungle to bring home adventure photography for outdoor brand Merrell.

Andrew and a small crew recently spent five days traversing the rainforests and beaches of Puerto Rico, covering active lifestyle and sports shots for Merrell’s website and social media campaigns. Andrew directed the motion shoot for the effort as well.

With Andrew’s deep portfolio of outdoor and active living shots, he’s perfectly suited for a brand whose mantra is “Find Adventure Anywhere You Go.” In fact, Andrew and Merrell have embarked on many projects together, including a just-wrapped shoot in Southern California.

With other recent shoots in Iceland and on Mt. Whitney behind him, Andrew is gearing up for his next adventure. You can see more of his sport and active lifestyle photography here.