Clicking camera buttons and keyboard keys all day leaves me itching to decompress by getting my hands dirty. Oftentimes, that happens by riding a bike (in which case, it’s my legs that get dirty). But I also enjoy cooking and as most everyone who has even flirted with the idea of learning to cook better, good food begins with good ingredients. At the Center for Arkansas Farms and Food, the University of Arkansas is giving people the chance to get an education and an experience in the world of farming. (Click to Read More)

As a photographer, it’s easy to put Blake St. House into words; simply beautiful. For starters, it’s a well designed space with an abundance of natural light, high end decor and plenty of photogenic coziness. As a member of BlakeSt. however, it’s a bit more difficult to putting this fine establishment into words. It’s almost like you need to actually experience it to be able to understand it and even after the experience, I’m still not sure words are easy to come by. But to me anyway, the closest description I can conjure up, is that it just feels like home.

Last weekend was a crowning achievement for the University of Arkansas’s School of Art. What started out as an idea, turned into a rather large grant (the largest in the history of universities, save athletic programs). And along with that huge grant, came plenty of meetings, lots of plans, the reworking of those plans, even more meetings and the collective support of the faculty and students. And now, a major milestone has been achieved: The Grand Opening of the Windgate Studio + Design Center.

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We recently had the opportunity to experience Crystal Bridge’s Pintura Festival, cameras in-hand. Of course, carrying around our cameras didn’t leave our hands free to enjoy the delicious looking street corn they were serving. But sometimes as a commercial photographer, those are the breaks. We did however get to witness…(click to read more)

Of all the odd jobs I’ve worked in my years on this earth, not one of them was a warehouse job. Sure, I’ve ventured through warehouses before. They’re usually very large and very dark. And they’re usually filled with contents that are piled high, forming a confusing array of aisles. And for the workers that have to navigate these environments on a daily basis, I’m sure it does get easier but I am quite certain it’s never actually EASY. Fortunately, there are people in this world that are highly passionate about streamlining the processes of working in a warehouse and making jobs much easier. A few of them are located in Northwest Arkansas and they call themselves OX.

There is no shortage of pizza establishments in Northwest Arkansas. And that’s a good thing, because while most people will argue all day about their preferred toppings for pizza, everyone I’ve ever met (and this is a true statement) likes pizza. Some people even love it. I know I fall into this particular camp. I have my favorite places too. And thanks to a recent editorial photography assignment for Arkansas Times, I can safely, confidently and wholeheartedly add Pizzeria Ruby to my list of favorite pizza joints. (click to read more)

Spend enough time in Northwest Arkansas and you’re bound to hear someone mention Fox Trail Distillery. They’ll probably mention that Fox Trail is the only distillery in this area. And in the same breath, you’ll also probably hear that their drinks are delicious. And this person would be right on both accounts. What you may or may not hear from this person however, are some other subtle details which in my opinion, make Fox Trail even more of an experience than just a place to “grab a drink”. (Click to Read More).

Last Fall, we celebrated the release of Black Apple’s Flagship Cider in…a super large can. Of course in order to PROPERLY celebrate this magnificent feat of engineering and deliciousness, we created a little stop motion video for the occasion. And today, we’re sharing it here on the blog. Enjoy.

Today on the blog: Semi-recent photography work for everyone’s favorite architecture/engineering/construction juggernaut, Crafton Tull. We’ve done a little bit of work for them here in NWA but for this specific job, we traveled to their offices in Little Rock to capture images of their day-to-day, in the office operations. As always, we…click to read more.

Today on the blog: More music photography goodness, featuring The War on Drugs and their amazing show a few months back on the lawn of The Momentary. Truth be told, this was another one of those music artists that I’d heard of but not really listened to. And of course just like last time, I found myself listening to them on the drive home. If you’re not familiar with them, here’s an essentials playlist to get you started. Cheers.

I always value my time working with people in the food service industry, especially Chefs. For a Chef to take precious time out of their prep work to accommodate a photographer in their own restaurant space is the kindest of gestures. And that’s exactly what Chef Rafael Rios of Yeyo’s did for me recently, when Arkansas Times hired me to photograph him and his space for a magazine article. Prior to the shoot, Chef Rios told me to “Come Hungry”.

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Today on the blog: Recent event photography for The Momentary featuring Japanese Breakfast. I (Philip) must confess, I had not heard much about Japanese Breakfast prior to this concert. Needless to say, I was blown away and I spent the car ride home blasting them out my windows. While going through the photos, I also decided to…(click to read more)

Christmas is coming. But for the students at the University of Arkansas School of Art, Christmas will come BIGTIME in January 2023, when the Windgate Art + Design Studio officially opens its doors. For years, the University’s Art Program has been expanding and as a result, the University has found all sorts of nooks and crannies in which to house and educate their students.

The Windgate Art + Design Studio is anything but a nook or cranny. This brand new building is a full-on multi-use center for a majority of the art students to call home. We were tasked with creating a short video to highlight the brand new building.

It’s been one heck of a busy season for us here at Novo Studio and for that, we are grateful. But we’re also tired and aside from a few random stories and update posts, largely neglected our blog and social media channels. In an effort to catch up and also to provide you all with some good reading/perusing material for the upcoming holiday, we’re going to be sharing some more content in the upcoming days.

Today, we’re sharing a recent photography project for local architecture firm, Buf Studio. They did an amazing job on Chef Matt Cooper’s newest restaurant, Conifer located in downtown Bentonville Arkansas. (click to read more)

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.

Happy May Everyone.

This month is already proving to be an extremely busy one for us at the studio. And basically what that means, is that we’re really not in the studio that much except to charge batteries and switch out gear. However, our friends at Black Apple Hard Cider mentioned that they were going to be doing a special Star Wars themed cider release and they requested some promotional content to help advertise it.

Of course, we decided to do something quirky and fun. What originally began as a simple stop motion project turned into the writing of a short story, the addition of silly voiceovers and sound effects (courtesy of the aforementioned new audio recording gear in the previous blog post), and one big excuse to dig out the old childhood Star Wars toys from the attic.

During the production, we spilled absolutely zero cider, somewhat of a first for us. We did however break a cider glass. This however, was done on purpose and in a controlled environment (aka, plastic shopping bag). Little projects like this, while intimidating in the midst of a busy schedule, can prove to be some of the most rewarding and of course, the most humorous.

For more information on Black Apple’s May 4th Cider, visit their website, instagram or Facebook page.

And as always, May The 4th Be With You.

This week on the blog, we’re sharing some images from a project we’ve been working on for the past year. In the Spring of 2020 (you know, the one where the world completely shut down…), we were contracted by the NRCS to work on a book project for some of their grant recipients. Over the course of the last year, we’ve traveled around, meeting these grant recipients, spending some time with them on their farms and properties and documenting the ways in which they’ve utilized fencing, wells, irrigation systems, rotator crops, and animals to make food while caring for, protecting and even encouraging the development of their natural resources.