After incredibly busy Spring, Summer and Fall seasons of work and life, I am starting 2017 by taking a self-imposed "Creative Sabbatical." This simply means that for the first 2 months of the year, I will be accepting work on a limited basis with the intention of using the rest of my time to decompress, recharge, learn some things and rework some aspects of Novo Studio. I will also be taking more time to focus on creating personal photographs. (Translation... more driving, exploring and trespassing). I will be posting a few updates here on the blog and on social media. As for my personal work, you can feel free to follow along on my website, on my Flickr page and on my Instagram page. Cheers to a New Year, see you soon. 

Philip Thomas // Novo Studio

In anticipation of a very busy upcoming season, I'm taking some personal time this week. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my kayak, on my mountain bike, or around the campfire. Cheers. 

Lately, I've been dreaming of a photography road trip to some abandoned destinations. My recent schedule has afforded me many bike rides but no real time to travel and shoot. And while I plan to remedy that in the next few weeks, nothing I find will probably compare to the town of Picher Oklahoma. I shared some of my images here on the blog a few years back but this week, I happened to be revisiting them and I decided to make a quick little slideshow with some of my favorite images. Enjoy. 

No, we didn't go to Chicago recently. But a few years ago, we did. Did we have fun? Not really. Mostly because unbeknownst to me at the time, I had Mono. I think without having Mono though, it would be fun. Not as much fun as New York City of course, but fun nonetheless. One of our early 2015 tasks is backing up and moving files around at the studio and yesterday, I happened upon these pictures. They were made before we ever launched this site but I still felt compelled to share a few here on the blog. Enjoy. 

As many of you know, we are currently living a life-in-limbo. For the past few weeks, we have called Fort Smith Arkansas and the Mercy Hospital here, home. We've slept on hospital cots, hospital beds, a few different hotel beds and finally, a more permanent (and comfortable) bed at the Candlewood Suites. Our hotel is about a 2 minute drive from the hospital where our kiddos are currently living. We have settled into a bit of a daily routine and today by way of images, we thought it appropriate to walk you through a typical day and also, give you an update. Off we go. 

Say hello to Kristen Thomas. Many of you know her beautiful face from weddings over the years, where she would help photograph and also assist me. And if you’ve spent any time at all with her, you also know her sweet spirit, her contagious laugh and her absolute love for children. It’s probably good that she loves kids so much because she’s got two of them.

If you’ve been following our story at all, you know that last weekend, I rushed her to the hospital in the middle of the night because her water had broken prematurely. Right now, she’s on permanent bed rest until the twins get here. I’m so thankful we took a day last week to venture out into the great Arkansas outdoors and create some maternity photographs of her. She was a trooper the whole time and often ventured around against my wishes (typical).

Here are a few images from our treasured time together. Thank you again for all the love, the prayers and the support you have shown the two of us and our two kiddos. Pretty soon, they’ll be here! 

While on a recent commercial shoot, I was approached by someone working on decorating VIP/dressing rooms rooms for the new Arkansas Music Pavilion (The AMP). I was asked if I would be interested in creating some photographic art to help decorate these rooms and to be honest, I don't even think this person had even finished asking the question before I said yes. 

The AMP has been around for awhile. Prior to it's permanent structure being built in Rogers, a temporary version of the facility was setup in Fayetteville in the back parking lot of a shopping mall. Recently, construction began on the permanent structure and in just a few short days, the venue will hold it's first concert. My idea for the project was to create abstract images of the actual venue. These images would then be printed as gallery wraps or framed art and used to adorn the walls of the VIP rooms for the venue. I spent a few hours one weekday morning and an additional few hours that evening walking the venue, looking for interesting angles, textures, and details that I could capture as art. 

For me, this job is a perfect compliment and balance to an already busy season of work and life. Taking the time to slow down (or in some cases, stop), to look around and notice the beauty in the details is a great way for a creative person to breathe deep in the midst of seasons of life where air might be scarce. The resulting images were well-received by the clients and I thought I'd share a few of them here on the blog. Cheers. 

If I had to pick one word to sum up the year, I don't know what it would be. I suppose you can't pick just one word to sum up anything. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  And this blog post, with it's "20+" images would mathematically be more words than I would care to list out here. But hopefully, these images in some small way, begin to describe how much fun we've had being creative in 2013 (and quite possibly, late 2012). We're truly thankful for this last year and we're very excited for the next. Onward and Enjoy.