The Creative Life / by Bill Frakes

This has been a terrific week in our offices. Laura, Sara and I have had three visitors bearing presents.

Brice, Dan and Tim brought the gifts of good humor, technical acumen and boundless energy to the studio. All students of Jonathan Blake Huer at Ball State, they have worked with us on projects on both coasts this year, and will do more of the same in 2014.

Bill explains analog solutions to the digital corps.

Together, we have muscled through a huge amount of work, editing and imaging non-stop.

The last eleven months Laura and I have been in constant motion.

Traveling more 440,000 kilometers it's been a year of learning and exploration as we've crisscrossed the planet making images. Building a massive cache of data to process and sculpt into new short films and photographic essays.

We are moving strongly back to our roots in photojournalism.

Whether it's long form essays for Sports Illustrated, music videos, documentary films on a wide variety of stories we think need to be told, or iBooks with our partners Tr@ed Media - makers of amazing educational material - the year has been full of good fun and good work.

This week has been a time for reflection and planning. Seasonal music bouncing off the walls, slicing through air laced with the enchanting aromas of brownies and strong espresso, mixed with of laughter.

Early in the new year, we will be releasing a bunch of new work -- some collaborative efforts with our friends, as well as new content on our Websites, and a group of new films.

The creative life is a good one. I hope you'll keep watching our journey.