The holiday season here in Cleveland is always an incredible time of year.  The main reason for this is that one of Northeast Ohio’s most famous exports is people; scores of creatives in their 20’s and 30’s leave town to gain experience in a different market but they also revel at the chance to be home and prove to themselves (and others) that they haven’t lost that midwest charm, no matter where they may have ended up.  Everyone comes home for the holidays to visit friends, family, and apparently drop by TJDS for some kick ass one of a kind portraits before we all roll out and head to Machine Gun Kelly’s annual XXmas show.  Having some of my most well known clients in the same room as some of my closest personal friends makes for an interesting cross section of the creative community.  Over the years we’ve had everyone from my landscape designer and the #1 female UFC contender to one member of a crazy boy band and a pair of YouTube sensations.  I can’t even begin to imagine what my golfing buddy “Paridon” and Michael Conor were talking about for 20min but I know it wasn’t the weather!!  These individuals don’t find themselves in a room together often… if ever, so it’s a honor to think that they all feel comfortable enough calling TJDS not just a creative space but also thinking about us as home.   Building a community like we have done here takes time, it takes a phone call on a random Tuesday to ask how someone’s daughter is adjusting to her new school, or helping someone quote out a job for a major shoe company, whether you’re a client, colleague or friend odds are we’re going to do everything we can to get you to that next level.

Below you’ll find a whole mess of crazy photos from this year’s event as well as last.  After two successful years we’ll definitely be doing this again!!!

Video by Owen Zubek, Jurell Sison, and Drew Griffing.