After a crazy busy year of work plus the added drama of losing a parent and undergoing a surgery to repair an umbilical hernia, I think it's safe to say that I need to slow down for awhile.

Happy Holidays, See you in the New Year.

"Well, it's been a year." For many, it's probably been the longest year of their lives. Some have spent the year trying to find some normalcy while they've lived with friends, or family or out of hotels. Almost everyone had to deal with insurance companies and for some, that was a big struggle. Some people got some upgrades to their homes while others chose to or were forced to abandon their homes (or what was left of them) altogether. Business were effected or in some cases, obliterated. And overall, the landscape still looks battered and tired. Whatever your personal experience was with last year's tornados, it's safe to assume that people are still, even after a full year later, "dealing with it." And so here are a few photos to sum up the above words. For timing context, please note that most of these photos were taken on June 3rd, 2025...a little over a year after the tornado.

Like most people, I enjoy traveling for work. I think that the change in routine, combined with a little stress and some distance from an ongoing “to do” list does wonders for one’s mind, body and soul. The sad reality though, is that I don’t often have a lot of downtime to get out and explore the areas where I travel. So I do what I can, which is usually snap photos from a moving vehicle. Photographing from a moving vehicle is challenging and also, very efficient. You can really see a lot of interesting things in a short amount of time in a vehicle. And if you’re not tasked with driving, you can completely focus on the world moving by your window. The following photos were taken late last year and early this year during work trips to Philadelphia and New York.

Greetings and Happy Holidays from us here at Novo Studio. Now that the holiday season is upon us, we thought it would be a good idea to get around to updating our blog and social media with some recent work. Every year, it seems that the end of summer snowballs into fall. Work picks up, schedules become difficult and our capacity to continually update things stretches thin. But finally, here we are and my oh my, what year it has been.

For many of us, this year was largely defined by the severe weather of Memorial Day Weekend which resulted in multiple tornados and caused area-wide devastation. Many of our friends, clients and neighbors are STILL dealing with the impact from that weather and that is very sad and unfortunate. On a more positive note, we had a lot of fun with our work this year. In spite of some wild work scenarios and crazy deadlines, this year was so much fun and such a good learning experience.

Thank you to everyone for the support, the encouragement, and the opportunity to continue to do what we love.

See you all in the New Year.

Philip & Jared

This week on the blog - The Polaroid: Photography as a hobby.

Back in the good old days, Photography was my hobby. A disgruntled graphic design professor once told me I’d never be a graphic designer because I couldn’t draw. His comment set me on a course to pickup a camera. And although his assessment of my future as a graphic designer was completely wrong and probably born more out of grumpiness or hangryness than lack of ability, I never put the camera down. In my late college years, I began experimenting with Polaroid cameras. And a whole new world of creative possibilities seemed to open up.

(Click to read more)

In almost 20 years of shooting full time Commercial Photography with Novo Studio, I have traveled quite a bit. But for the life of me, I cannot remember a time when I’ve traveled so consecutively for work. For the last 8 weeks, I’ve been gone in some capacity. This does not make me a professional traveler, but I feel compelled to share a bit about my experiences and lessons learned regardless. Since I’m not a professional traveler, I’ll keep my stories, my tips and my tricks short and sweet.

But first, Coffee.

Today on the blog: A (rather large) collection of images from recent travels to New York and Pennsylvania. This was a 2 week work trip, broken up in the middle by a weekend in New York City. And we made the most of it. Along with really good food, really good drinks and miles and miles of walking, I successfully made the pilgrimage to the photo/video Mecca, B&H Photo. And I did not walk out empty handed.

A couple weeks ago, we had the opportunity to travel around Arkansas and work with an amazing crew of directors, camera operators, grip people, producers and talent. Of course on jobs like this, there are always plenty ty of behind the scenes images captured. Today, we’re sharing some. Many thanks to 360 Film Works for having us along for the ride.

Cheers.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved music. And now at 43 years of age, I finally started recording some of my favorite music. You can click the photo to read more or you can click here to listen.

Today on the blog: Recent Commercial Product Photography for Apollo Scrubs, a new apparel company who’s target audience is people in the healthcare industry. Marketed as “Thoughtful workwear you’ll never have to think about”, Apollo’s products are designed to be extremely functional and durable, yet so comfortable enough that you’ll forget you’re wearing them. And with thoughtful details such as moisture-wicking capabilities, antimicrobial protection and 4- way stretch fabrics, Apollos products are sure to be a hit with their target audience.

If you or someone you know is in search of some new scrubs, be sure to check out their products here.

Cheers!

One of our favorite things about this line of work are the jobs that seemingly come out of nowhere. Case in point: Jacksonville Florida. Although we’re sworn to secrecy about what we actually worked on there ( Best Paste, Apollo Scrubs, Asmbly Agency), we did take our trusty little travel cameras with us with the intent of somewhat documenting our adventure. And document, we did. So today, we’re sharing a few of our favorite travel images. Enjoy.

It seems surreal to be writing a blog post during these unprecedented times. Just 2 weeks ago, the signs of spring and the workload that typically follows, was buzzing with activity and promise. And then, everything literally stopped.

Literally.

Stopped.

In the days that followed…

Happy Friday everyone!

It’s been a crazy busy week for both Jared and I as we’ve been on-location and apart most of the week for work. But we met up at the bike shop yesterday to pick up a few things and I got my first look at the new Bike Arkansas Magazine issue. Coincidentally, I also came across this awesome video clip that Jared shot while we were in the woods the day of the shoot so I thought I’d share both here on the blog. The weather’s supposed to be nice this weekend, get out and enjoy it!

Change is inevitable. Sometimes, it’s quick and abrupt. And other times, you start to feel the slow pull and growing tension of the current circumstances and you start wondering what to do about it. The latter has been my experience over the last couple of years…

Food and beverage photography is quickly becoming one of my favorite jobs to work on. Part of this newfound love lies in the fact that I…

Here’s a quick behind the scenes photo from a recent photoshoot at Tusk and Trotter, for Visit Bentonville and The Local Palate, a culinary publication out of Charleston, South Carolina. I am confined to only behind the scenes photos until the publication releases in March. But after that, I’ll be sharing some tasty cocktail photos on here on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy!

In the midst of a hectic travel schedule, I somehow found the time to slow down and enjoy the journey. Here's a few images from my recent travels. Enjoy.

I've been on a shoot for the past couple of days and the property where I've been shooting is incredible. The actual location where was setup and shooting was near some cliffs and in some woods because it was outdoor apparel. But the other parts of the property had more cool junk than I've seen in a good long while. After finishing up, I was given a small tour of the property and snapped a few photos. Enjoy.

It's been a busy start to the year, much busier than this time last year. This time last year, I couldn’t have handled it. Professionally and personally, I was drained. So drained in fact, that I started 2017 by taking a sort of sabbatical. Owning AND operating a business is hard. And this whole balancing life and work thing is a learning process that is ongoing and ever-changing. In this season of life, I have been lax in my blogging endeavors. I hope to remedy that in the coming weeks, as I’ve got some fun things to say and some cool work to share. In the meantime, I thought I would share a very quick update on where I'm at a year later and how taking a sabbatical has changed my work life.