Friday, September 11, 2009


For a while I have wanted to make a portrait of my wife's grandfather. Over the weekend I was able to the make this portrait of him with my Mamiya C330. I could tell he wasn't too sure about having his picture made. After four frames he was done. He's really in interesting man. Throughout his life he's worked in the boiler room of an aircraft carrier, raised bees, been a truck driver, and organized unions. I always find his stories interesting because each time he tells one, he adds new layers of detail. 

Pat Shannahan
www.patshannahan.com
www.stepintoaz.com
@pshannahan

Friday, September 4, 2009

Photographing Arizona's Wine Country


AZ Wine Country - Images by Pat Shannahan

These are my favorite pictures I made for a recent story about Arizona's wine country. We went to vineyards in Arizona's Verde Valley as well as vineyards in Sonoita to the south. For me, the most interesting part of working on this story was meeting the wine makers and seeing the work that goes into making wine. In Sonoita, we walked through Todd Bostock's vineyards at sunset sipping Dos Cabezas wine made from the grapes that surrounded us. In the morning we photographed Dick Erath walking though his vineyard outside Wilcox as workers harvested grapes. He started the wine industry in Oregon and is bypassing retirement to experiment with making wine in Arizona. In Jerome we hung out with musician Maynard James Keenan of Tool in his Caduceus Cellar. He is teaming up with Erik Glomski of Page Springs Vineyards to make Arizona Stonghold wine. These photos will be part of a AZ Mag edition dedicated to Arizona's WIne Country. We are also planning on creating a wine page for the travel section of AZCentral.com.

Pat Shannahan
@pshannahan
www.patshannahan.com