Archive for August, 2008

wonder

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

wonder, originally uploaded by stephenhunton.com.

My fav from a shoot with The Presleys. We have this great little trade off program where they’ve watched our dogs a couple weekends, all for some free pics of their kids. Last Sunday we shot for around an hour and then went to Moe’s.

Unfortunately one of the kids mad barfed all over the table, but it was pretty funny in the end…isn’t it amazing how desensitized you become to puke and poo once you’ve had a kiddo???

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Busy Livin vs. Busy Work

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

We all know what busy work is, right? It’s when you make yourself as busy as possible in hopes that you look busy at work, and thus your boss(es) will think to themselves “hey, Johnson over there sure is busy. I should give him a raise”. Well, that never really happens, yet I constantly hear people huffing and puffing about the amount of emails in their inboxes, the non-stop meeting schedule they have and how they just “love” eating lunch from their cubicle.  These people are busy, of course…it’s a fast-paced environment, but I’m talking about the person that points out their busy-ness to everyone all the time, non stop.  
I think, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to see more and more people using this same tactic in life.  ”I’m so busy…got this to do, that place to go, dinner with this person, lunch with that friend…” the list just goes on and on, and to me, sounds so exhausting.  Some people just thrive on personal interaction. I’m one of those people, but I don’t find myself playing the “busy life” card as much as some do.  Are they really stressed out about the amount they have to get done, or is it an inner desire for someone to relate to them when they talk about it?
Maybe I need to try this tactic?  I’ve been feeling so busy with work, life, and everything in between that it does feel daunting at times, but could voicing it to everyone around me help relieve the symptom….or would I then become “that guy”? 
The fact is that I think we’re all busy.  Whether it’s work or life outside of work, we’ve all got so much to do, and it seems to get busier and busier as the days go on.  Maybe a quick solution is to avoid playing the “busy life” card, simply because it just takes up more of our precious time during the day, and instead let’s take a second to tell someone we care or wrestle with our kids…
just thinkin.

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Where did august go?

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

August has been a busy one, from a frantiC TV shoot a new Home Depot
commercial that starts 9/6, to the Olympics being on air and working
on a few last minute projects. Kristine is in the second trimester now
and feeling better than she was, but it's a new challenge being
pregnant with a little guy running arond everywhere. It's fun, but can
be challenging for both of us. I'm just hoping for a break soon, so
that I can help more at home, but something tells mr that I've got a
couple more weeks of craziness before I see the light at the end of
the tunnel.

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jealous…

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

I’m sure I should support Roy in his vacation…but here’s my view today:

and here is his!!!

I do have to say though…my view is pretty great with Adler and Kristine in front of me…but I’d rather be looking at them on the beach!!!

Things at the office are pretty crazy this week. We’re prepping for a TV shoot on Monday, but also taking Clients to Dallas for a visit at the Agency this Thursday. Everything seems to be moving pretty fast, but hey…”it’s advertising”.

Hopefully by now you’ve seen the Olympics TV spot we did on TV…I know I have…because I’ve watched Olympics like a mad man. I’m such a fan this year, probably more so than any other Olympics in the past.

Can you believe how awesome Team USA has been in the pool so far? I can’t. and how about the Men’s gymnastic team last night! It’s like patriotism has started pouring from me like the sweat off of a marathon runner.

I want my faith to be like this. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. This week it’s closer because of things like worship @ Buckhead Church or reading about Life on The Larsen’s blog. God continues to show Himself everywhere, and that makes it easier…so like my patriotism for the US during the Olympics…what does it take to keep the feeling once the Olympics are over…or God isn’t quite as visible in the everyday as he is now?

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Stephen Hunton Photography : The Home Depot, The Olympics…lucky me

Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Most of you know that I work for an advertising agency by day and on occasion will also take pictures as a side profession.  Well, recently I had both jobs collide into one.  It was basically the perfect storm of one of the coolest advertising projects I will EVER get to work on, and in the midst of that I was able to play the role of the photog throughout the week.
A little background.
My Client, The Home Depot, is a major sponsor of The Olympics.  In fact, they actually have a program (OJOP – Olympic Job Opportunity Program) where they employ athletes who dream of making the games. These athletes work in stores around the country and then travel around the world in search of their Olympic dreams.  It’s really a cool program.  They’ve employed over 660 athletes throughout the years!
So….. on 8/8/08 the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics kicked off.  Somewhere in that program you saw a 60 second spot and a :30 spot that features a few of our incredible OJOP athletes.  I use the word “incredible” not only because of their athletic ability….though it’s pretty impressive….but because of their character. Each of these athletes were SO COOL to work with. So appreciative of the OJOP program and just full of excitement to be there.  A.G. Kruger, the hammer thrower, was pretty intimidating to look at, but the second he started talking to you, you realized that his heart was twice as big as he is…and that’s BIG.   He was so pumped to talk about the summer track camp he is working at, teaching kids how to throw the hammer. 
The spots will run throughout the games and it will be a project I’ll never forget…OH…about
 the photography!  So, over the 5 day shoot, we filmed 12 different sports.  My Client asked that I take some pictures of the athletes in their Home Depot aprons and then I was also able to run around like a giddy school kid taking pictures of the action.  The coolest part was that everything was lit so well.  The only bad part was that the director was always putting his camera right were the best shot was! ;)  
So there we were…me (the brand manager) and both of the creatives…all with our own cameras snapping away.  It was so cool.  And I came away with well over 1k pics…of which I think I gave 60 to the Client.  You can see some of the online advertising that was created with it on facebook and nbc.com (the Olympics page), but here are a few of my favorites ( you can see more @ http://www.stephenhunton.com ):

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Blog Community : Come together and pray for the Larsens

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Many would say that you can’t have friends via the blog world, yet The Huntons do.  Lauren is a fellow photographer who lives in Dallas.  We became connected through the Flickr community a while back via some other photogs.  Lauren and her husband Matt are currently watching their newborn daughter fight for her life in only the first days with them.  Please click on the link to the right and pray for them.  The church is not a building. It’s a mass of believers that come together to worship, respect, and call on God. The blog world can be an example of the modern church.  Let’s come together and pray for God to bless the Larsens and their daughter Life.  Pray that He will heal her. Pray that He will give Matt and Lauren peace. Pray.

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busy is the new normal

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

Isn’t it weird how being busy feels normal now?  Maybe it always does, as you grow up…you just start to feel busy all the time, but I seem to remember back to a day when feeling like I had time was the normal thing.  I’d get busy and then I’d just think to myself…”self, this is crazy, I can’t wait to get done with this busy cycle and get back to normal.”

Now it’s sort of like “Self, it’s crazy, and well, it’s been that way. And just to prove it, you’re talking to yourself”.  
It seems like there’s so much going on in the world of The Huntons.  For the full story, just click over to THE FAMILY BLOG! But there’s also been some music, photography gigs, and work that’s been nutzo!  I’ve been working on some TV for The Home Depot to run during the Olympics for months now and it’s finally going to be live on 8/8/08.  It’s not my creative idea, but it is still my project and one I’m really proud of.  PLUS, I got to do a bunch of photography at the shoot with the athletes we filmed, which will be my next blog.
don’t get me wrong. Basically all of the busy stuff is good stuff, but sometimes it would just be nice to be like…”Self, what do you want to do for this month?  I dunno, why not sit on the deck and chill for…oh…7 days or so”.  Actually, that’d suck, cause I get antsy when I don’t have much to do. ;)
Well, it’s late…which is the new early. I’m going to bed.

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