Dance-Off 2020 - meet the competitors

In 2017 the world witnessed the birth of a new star. Alex Rakola, only four years old at the time, shocked fans with “the stomp heard ‘round the world”, winning the “metal-thing-on-the-side-of-our-house” dance competition. If you haven’t seen that famous fleet footed battle, you can see it here.

Needless to say, daddy took the loss pretty hard. After a few years of moping he pulled himself up by the laces and is hoping to stage a comeback. The training has been fierce and tensions are starting to boil over at the once peaceful Rakola abode.

It’s young vs. old, exuberance vs. experience, panache vs. precision.

Who will win? Stay tuned to find out!

Vacation(land)!

If you’ve poked around the site at all (I highly recommend it) you’ll notice that I have no problem sharing some personal images. If you want to know what it’s like to work with me, check out the pained (errr…. I meant joyful) look on my family’s faces during this recent trip to Maine.

For those who want the technicals… everything was made on a Sony A7, except for two that were done on an iPhone, and one that was done on a gopro. Lenses were generally a Sony 28mm f2 or a Canon FD 50mm f1.2. with an FD 35mm and a FD 135mm making one appearance each.

And Now.... Cats!

The best photo projects are the ones that make you stretch your brain, as well as your shutter finger. The books I’ve had the honor of doing with Lori Epstein at National Geographic Kids are a perfect example of when the two things come together in an (almost) harmonious and (usually) hilarious way.

We’ve braved icy mornings in New England, exploding soda bottles, flaming oranges, slime, lasers, buckets and buckets of pond water and–for our most recent adventure–the most mysterious force in all of the animal kingdom… the domesticated house cat.

After a successful Dog Science: Unleashed book release last year (also by author Jodi Wheeler-Toppen and a AAAS/Subaru Science Book of the Year finalist) we got the call–Make a companion book for cats.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking: they must mean genetically modified, extremely intelligent, fully trained, professional stunt cats, right?

[errrrr….. no.]

Luckily, we got the next best thing: super cooperative, funny, elegant, offbeat social cats, along with their human buddies. We traveled to a number of homes in the metro DC area and took on the feline superstars on their own home turf. And, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are very, very happy with the results.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking: they must mean extremely intelligent, fully trained, professional stunt cats, right?

[errrrr….. no.]

Luckily, we got the next best thing: super cooperative, funny, elegant, offbeat social cats, along with their awesome human buddies. We traveled to a number of homes in the D.C. area and took on the feline superstars on their own home turf. And, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are very, very happy with the results.

Look for it on bookshelves on August 27, 2019!

You can find the first four books I worked on at the links.

What science book would you like to see

Now on Deck at Philly Reps!

I’ve known Stacy Swiderski for 6 or 7 years now, since her days at Wonderful Machine. She’s been editing my work for just about as long, currently under her own shingle. When I found out that she was starting a project based marketing and consulting house, Philly Reps, I was on board!

What makes Philly Reps different from the rest of the shops out there, and what really got my attention, was their focus. They promote and cultivate one body of work at a time, so it has a chance to sink in. For a happy generalist like myself this is perfect. I’m really excited to see where this goes!

Click the screen grab below to take a look!