I recently did a photo shoot with Jenna Freeman. She is a pilates instructor, runner and all around great athlete and model. Even though it was an early call time for a sunrise photo, the rain and fog created a nice scene. We covered a lot of ground and by 9 am we were heading back to get some breakfast.
I like rugby. Watching. Not playing. And taking pictures. I shot these portraits at a Metropolis Rugby match.
Over the last few months we’ve had some work done on our home. I’ve been taking portraits of the workers throughout the project. They are craftsmen and I was thrilled to take their pictures. More of the portraits are on my website, http://www.davidellisphoto.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=4.
I recently went to Ixtapa, Mexico for a vacation. I visited beautiful Ixtapa Island for a morning and had a great time meeting the local islanders.
Here’s part of a series on demolition derbies that I shot over the course of two summers (the promoter I worked with called it impact motor sports). I went to county fairs and out of the way locations to document the activities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana. It was great. The crowds, color and action were perfect for pictures. There are more photos on my web site.
The Twins have had a terrible year. They will probably end up with the worst record in baseball. After all the years of playing budget baseball they finally went out and spent the money on long term contracts for their key players. It didn’t work out so well. So, in a tribute to the game, I’m posting some photos from a series I did on town baseball a couple of years ago. Towns, all over Minnesota, have baseball teams with local players (some of whom have played in the minor and major leagues). It is great fun to watch, it is affordable and the players give it their all. It is something the Twins could learn from! (There’s more on my website!)
With the passage of the ten year anniversary of 9/11, I went back and began to review the work that I was doing around that time. It brought back a lot of memories. In August of 2001, I had taken a great photo workshop in Sante Fe with photographer Paul Elledge. I returned from the workshop with a completely new perspective and started working on a series of personal projects that I felt would allow me to show my point of view. I came across a boxing gym in the Frogtown area of St. Paul called BT Bombers. It was run by a retired St. Paul police officer and was funded by small donations and a lot of good will from community volunteers. The building was a disaster. It was run down–the ceiling was caving in and when it rained parts of the interior would get drenched. In the winter it was either incredibly hot or freezing cold. It smelled like mold and sweat. The building was collapsing and probably should have been condemned. There was a lot of gang violence in the area and many of the athletes that came to the gym were trying to escape the stress of their everyday lives. Every week there would be a couple of coaches, a core group of boxers and a bunch of new faces that would show up. I enjoyed going there. I had great access and they were thrilled that I was taking pictures. I ended up going there for 1 1/2 years until the gym closed in 2002. I wonder where all of the boxers are now–ten years later.
In addition to the images posted here, I’ve created a gallery on my web site that has more of the pictures from this series. After not looking at this collection of work for almost ten years, I went through the contact sheets and found that the pictures that I liked now were, for the most part, different from the images that I selected years ago. There are two pictures that I showed in my portfolio years ago, but everything else is “new”.
This is the last week of summer vacation for my kids. We’re trying to do some fun activities that we probably won’t have time for once the school year starts. So, with that in mind, we went on a short trip to Stockholm, Wisconsin yesterday afternoon to visit The Pizza Farm and the Stockholm Pie Company. We just got to the Pie Company before they closed at 5:30. Each of us got some pie to go and then we made the short drive over to The Pizza Farm. At the Pizza Farm they just make pizza. You bring everything else (utensils, drinks, etc.). Everything that they use on the pizza is grown on the farm. While the pizza is baking you can explore the farm and hang out. After a short wait, the pizza was ready and it was fantastic. The kids were already talking about going back! 
