Bottle Rocket

Here are some photographs I took on the 2nd of July in Washington State near an American Indian Casino, two days before Independence Day. There was a fireworks market across the street made up of about twenty small shack like stalls selling every style and flavour of explosive you can think of. Around back I found a group of kids having firework wars, no eye or ear protection, just fun. Two teams, one on either side hurling lit widow makers and bottle rockets at each other. Awesome.

The End.

America

Its about cans of coke warming in the sun, busted headlights and pin-ups in the locker room. Green eyes, dirty neon golf balls and infomercials. Its having one more cup of coffee. Burnt out light bulbs, laptops and phone books. Its about listening to the air conditioning in the dark.

All photographs were made in the United States of America by Shaun Stander, 2011.

The End.

Finally

Things have been a little quiet on the blogging front the last few months, mostly due to that fact that I've had to opportunity to work in camera department on the new superman film, "Man of Steel" Starring Henry Cavill and Amy Adams directed by Zack Snyder (300, Sucker Punch, Watchmen). Its been a great experience but unfortunately I had to sign a confidentiality agreement at the start of production that combined with the films extremely strict no cameras or phones policy didn't really allow me to publish any of my thoughts or experiences about working on the film, so I guess thats all I'm allowed to say about that (for now). I have however been able to get some editing work done on my Photographic Essay about the Western Half of of the United States, which I saw while shooting a documentary with my friend Chris Saunders. We followed Jonathan Beeby as he walked from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles (his walk started in New York City). I had these images processed in Los Angeles already at the end of July but when it comes to shooting film things take a little longer. In any case I am almost done with the edit and here is one of the images from the series. I will be posting more work in the coming weeks.

- The End.

Sons & Daughters

My friend Gerhard Van Wyk is usually known for his swift artistic proficiency with ink and pigment but of late he has been meddling with another art form, Coffee. In the few years that I've known Gerhard I've come to learn that everything he does is based on a solid foundation of love, passion and honesty. And his new venture the Sons & Daughters Coffee Company is no different. I was recently in Pretoria, South Africa and we teamed up to shoot the first images for his website. Our goal was to stay true to what Sons & Daughters is all about, good Coffee served with a whole lot of Love, come have a cup.

All images shot with Canon EOS 1Ds Mark iii and 50mm f/1.4 & 100mm f/2.8 Macro.

The End.