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Nov
23
Cezar Mateus is Lute maker based outside of Princeton, NJ. He has a workshop at his house with all the tools and machines and there are many lutes in various stages of production. The workshop is very organized with full scale drawings, and the exotic woods needed to make the instruments, some that have been drying for years – all labeled.
The portrait of Cezar was taken in the house, I really liked the openness of the space and the many beautiful objects – art and antiques tastefully displayed. This was a natural light portrait – I saw the contrast of what I wanted right away – the sun was very bright that day and bearing down in the room I shot from through a big skylight – it cast just enough light onto the subject.
One of enjoyable parts about this particular session was that Cezar was playing the lute the entire time. Sometimes you have to figure out the portrait – should it be posed, looking into the camera, or casual where the subject is engaged with their work. I think I default to the latter, but perhaps should do both. Not all subjects are comfortable with posing, let alone being photographed. There is also the time aspect, you don’t want to exhaust your subject by trying set after set and over stay your welcome. In this case though, Cezar was playing a beautiful movement written for the lute for about five minutes, which gave me plenty of time to frame the shot.
Nov
14
My good neighbor, Chase and I talked about creating a composite card for him to see if he could potentially pick up some modeling work. We planned this idea for ages and decided to do two looks in one session, the ‘plaidiator’ – a working guy look, which we were joking that it was looking like a younger Brawny Man – but, that’s ok, and the formal ‘guy in suit’ look. We tried this new red background I had painted – it’s canvas, but sort of looks like leather to me – definitely different to backgrounds I’ve seen. We settled on a two light set up, key light on strobe, fill light on cell (doesn’t fire), but softens the shadows slightly on one side of the face. Once we got the shots we liked, we took a break and prepared for the second look.
No matter how good a suit fits, you still need to clip and clamp it to pull out bunches and wrinkles in the sleeves. Lucky for me I had two amazing assistants to take control (Tamara and Diana), let me tell you – assistants that you know and trust are invaluable. I always ask them, what they would like to try creatively, and have them take the lead with any set that inspires them. Everything is worth a try when you are all there working together. The last set, included the suit, no vest or tie and a prop. Chase liked this mask we had in the studio and wanted to work it into the shot. We used a fabric background and a ring flash. It’s great how it lights the subject evenly and softly but doesn’t spill onto the backdrop.
I think we were all pleased with the results of this photo session, and once the final edit of images are designed into a composite card and sent out, we’ll hopefully hear some good feedback and Chase will get hired for some modeling work.
Nov
03
Sherry MacLean, the CFO of the MacLean Agency, a Princeton based insurance agency (Business & Personal Insurance, Employee Benefits, and Wealth Management) contacted me to talk about a series of corporate portraits of the entire team. There were many sets and groupings to meet all of their needs. We set up a simple portrait station for the corporate portraits – and then tried a more casual approach for a second image. The light in the main lobby was so bright all we needed was a reflector to bounce a little more light onto the subject. We alternated backgrounds depending on contrast – so there would be a variety, either wood panel or white wall. Either way we’d get the tone I’m all about.
I am loving this approach of different crops, textures, eye contact or none for this series – I think it’s such a smart approach to corporate portraiture. Perhaps I had in my head that things needed to be the same – but they don’t, after all we are all different – how could they ever be the same.
The featured image of Sherry and Jerry MacLean (founder of the agency) is something that came to mind on the way to the shoot. We had discussed a two shot of Sherry seated and Jerry standing, as well as Sherry standing and Jerry seated – but would they let me throw tons of paper in the air as well for a concept image? Heck, why not – these folks were fun! I think I may have got the flying paper in the first shot – but it was so much fun I wanted to do it again and again and had more and more paper repeatedly thrown.
Special thanks to my very experienced, and hard working crew:
Dwayne Dunlevy – hair, make-up and styling | Diana Moore – assisting and styling
Oct
13
Meet the Willard Brothers, Steve (left), Matt (center) and Glen (right). Sam Willard started a tree service company in 1950 that became Shearer/Penn. Steve and Glen are brothers and sons of Sam Willard. Matt is Glen’s son. Willard Brothers has a showroom of exotic woods for making furniture or turning, or anything you can think of.
Sep
05
I was thrilled and nervous when I was asked to the photograph the Mayor of Trenton. I did some research and looked up Mayor portraits – but wasn’t inspired by what I found. On the day of the photo session we had quite a comprehensive shot list to complete: an official Mayor Portrait for the press, a cover for a business magazine, a couples portrait with the Mayor’s wife, and some casual portraits.
I was worried we wouldn’t have enough time to complete all these set and lighting changes as officials are typically very scheduled. I asked Mayor Jackson, “How much time do we have you for today?” wondering if the answer would be in minutes, not hours – his warm and friendly reply was exactly what I needed to hear, “As long as it takes to get what we need.”
Mayor Jackson was so fun and lively to work with, he brought superb suit and tie options that looked great – and he was open to make the images dynamic and bright. Everyone pretty much agreed on which were their favorite images. I hope I get to work with him again, he’s a lot of fun.
Aug
15
My friend Michael asked if I would take his portrait for a new career opportunity heading his way. It’s great when you know someone well and they trust you creatively. Michael has always appreciated the work I do and is rather liberal with feedback. That said, I have found him to be the creative force with projects that suit his needs. Our work process is hard to pin down and put into words – parameters in sketch form are discussed, but with an openness of creative freedom. He is also someone that doesn’t need a reminder or check list – like a Swiss watch – and then the rest is left in my hands.
In a way, too much creative freedom can go in the wrong direction – hence, a good plan is worth the investment and exercising as much creative energy as possible.
About the time of this photo session I figured out a studio system – a way of working that cannot be quantified. The best I can do to describe it begins with referencing my notes, working though a plan and fiercely finding what is right. You cannot know or see it until it’s there – and that takes immense patience on behalf of the subject and myself, and perhaps a dash of pressure.
I think I also walked into a style the same time as this new studio system that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time – natural light and strobe mix, textures, slightly shallow depth of field and a little bit of image processing. Maybe this style is a trend and won’t stand the test of time, but for right now I feel that I have evolved as a portrait photographer.
Michael cleverly published his new images on Facebook and Linked-In the weekend before he took office with the City of Trenton and updated his public profile all in a moment and in unison. It’s great to see a client and friend enjoy their images as much as I do. And, I title him as the aesthete – a person who has or affects to have a special appreciation of art and beauty – as both a system and a style landed during this photo session.
Aug
07
I was asked to photography a Psychologist – the need for the shots was for his speaking engagement at an art’s institution. We of course did fairly straight forward portraits in addition to the picture in picture concept.
I asked the client if we could try a shot at the end of the session. He agreed to hold a sheet of paper in front of his face. I then took a photo of the back of his head and digitally inserted the back image. I am very pleased with how the final image turned out and love how the background tones really match up.
I’m sure this is not the first time this idea has been done, although I have not seen it – it must have been done in advertising for something. The concept has certainly been done in fine art – Rene Margritte came to mind with his surrealist paintings. I think something interesting happens to your mind when viewing the image for the first time – mine flicks back and forth from back to front.
I really like the idea of self as the mirror, or taking a good look at yourself – perfect for a psychologist I thought.
Jun
11
An artist friend of mine asked if I’d photograph his kids. He liked the images and treatment of the ‘Riders’ series I did of the bicycle scavenger hunt. The artist goes by the name LANK, and is a very talented and creative fella – one of this art forms is stencils. Meticulously cut shapes and lines are the pattern or tool that is then used to spray paint through. So, his kids are around art a lot, and in my opinion have a creative advantage. So they were very patient and up for trying different sets and both assisting in the process.
We have a lot of props in the studio – and there happened to be some antlers out, so we held them behind the young girl’s head – to make a fantasy portrait – as if she were dreaming. We used a ring flash as the primary light. With the boy, his prop was a Nintendo DS – so I just left him with it. The three point light set up was on cell and strobe. The back light stayed on after the front two fired – leaving a silhouette. The photo becomes a graphic, much like the stencils Lank works with.
May
16
Every May the Upper Makefied Fire Department organizes a carnival in Washington’s Crossing, PA. It really brings a bit of excitement to the usually sleepy village. I’ve been looking forward to photographing the carnival for ages – what a great subject ! All the spinning machines, flashing lights and bright colors. I did several timed exposures during my visit. Low ISO, tripod of course, f/13 or so and 6 second +/- shutter.
Mar
31
My studio was a stop on the ‘Trenton Rat Racers’ scavenger hunt around the city. A brave pack of cyclists headed out in the rain to ride around the city and check in at various points. I set up a simple three point lighting, one background and two 750’s at 2:1 with shoot through umbrellas. As each racer checked in at the studio, I took a quick portrait – only 4-5 shots per person and in post decided to split screen my two favorite expressions. I had planned ahead of time to shoot the portrait series in black and white, but the colors shots are actually really interesting. So I might have to work on those too. It was great having random visitors stop by during the race!
