Another photo from the Fall 2011 Distinction Magazine issue shoots; this one for the "Side Dish" section featuring food, people and interiors of three North Carolina OBX restaurants. The five-page story was written by Dana Staves with layout by Distinction's creative director EJ Troudt. This image is a pan-roasted duck breast entree at Ocean Boulevard Restaurant in Kitty Hawk.

Have been doing some work for Distinction Magazine, an elegant two-year-old local/regional quarterly created by the Virginian-Pilot newspaper and startup artist/photographer/agency owner Mark Atkinson. Something along the lines of Garden & Gun magazine. This image is one from the Fall 2011 issue's "In Design" section, a home designed by the BCF ad agency's ceo, Art Webb with help from architect Gerrie West. The six-page spread was designed by Distinction's creative director Jennifer Fenner around the story by Caroline Luzzatto and this and nine other interior/exterior photographs selected from the photo shoot.

One of my clients is only steps away from a light rail stop in Norfolk and wanted some not-too-literal images of the train for display and promotional uses.

If you've ever wondered about what to do with old film stock, here's one solution. Friend Chuck Guthrie came up with several rolls and we put it to work in the studio one day week before last.

I was on Andros, the largest of the Bahamas islands doing a story for one of the dive magazines and met an underwater blue hole explorer, Brian Kakuk. We went to the Conch Sound Blue Hole so I could get some photos of Brian for the story. Here, he's getting ready for the dive. I went into the hole as far as my cavern training would allow doing the underwater images. Brian did his exploration and I waited at the surface; we cleaned up and made our way back to the Small Bay Hope Lodge.

We stayed in touch and Brian led another friend, Wes Skiles, into some of the Bahamas Blue holes for a stunning National Geographic cover story in the August 2010 issue.

The same day as the canine talent gassed model/actor Kera O'Bryon, model/actor Barry Price was hanging from the studio rigging.

Another in the ad series for Sorrentino-Mariani Furniture with Art Director, Larry Peak.

If you think you've seen Kera and Barry in the movies, you have. Do an online search for either and see their motion picture credits. On top of that, they're both great people to work with.

Here's an image of Sherry Smith diving in the Bahamas from MV Sea Fever. There's a whole series of these silhouettes with Sherry in all SCUBAPRO gear (freediving and on scuba). This frame has been used on tens of thousands of hangtags affixed to practically every SCUBAPRO product for the past six years or so. Ah, but things change every so often, so we're starting to see them cycle out. Adieu Sherry.

Another whale shark from Isla Mujeres off Cancun, Mexico. Spent some quality time with hundreds of whale sharks in the water and good time with Douglas & Emily Seifert at early breakfasts, our golf cart, boat and dinner tables.

There is a plan afoot to add another piece to this saga in July or August of the new year.

Modern dancers Stephanie Mas and Allison Ploor from NY's Bodyart dance company with big red rope in the bottom of the "tank" here in Virginia Beach.

Shifting gears from Evil Mermaid to Angel Octopus. Model is Lindsey Hillier-Hotchkiss, owner of Lynnhaven Dive Center (LDC Adventure Outfitters) and the octopus is by Igor (Brian Acord). Igor is a talented artist working in/around Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Portsmouth, VA areas.

We went over to the dark side with this mermaid image and one of us was close to being arrested by the Crystal River Sheriff. Ah, the dangers of creative work on the dark side.

Jack Gittings assisted; evil tail by Eric Ducharme (themertailor.com).

This is an outtake from a shoot for a hotel furniture manufacturing company. The theme had to do with the furniture cost leaving funds to send the owner's dog to a spa.

Somewhere along the way, the Dog (Jack) gassed actor/model Kera O'Bryon (on right). Kera is great to work with and here she was pure spontaneous rib-cracking funny.

This is love and exuberance. It's Shark Angels founder, Julie Anderson in SCUBAPRO cold water gear off an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada. We'd about finished our shotlist and were trying some things that spoke to SCUBAPRO, water, scuba and attitude.

You get the feeling?

Mermaid Melissa Fenton took her turn in the tub while it was in the studio. Melissa is now in Los Angeles working on a new version of her career.

This was first time I'd worked with San Franciscan, Iara Mandyn. Our 8-person crew hauled what seemed to be two tons of gear down a thousand steps to the Rainbow River, Florida headsprings and we played to a throng of interested tourists. Many had never seen a real mermaid and we were the subjects of many a snapshot they would send or take home.

Easing into the 72F water was a bit of a shock to our 98.6F body temperature, but we acclimated to it after a few minutes of swimming. Leaving the dock, the mermaid/photographer creative team moved around the basin staying up-current from the bottom sediment we stirred up. Iara, ever the underwater pro, repeatedly dived to mid-water and moved gracefully past the camera until we had the shots we wanted.

When finished, we dried off, packed the gear and hauled it up the 5,000 steps to our vehicles.