The Unexpecting Photography Subject

In my last post I mentioned that Luxe Magazine had sent us to the mountains for two portrait shoots.  After photographing James Surls, we headed to Avon, Colorado to photograph Nancy Rehder, owner of The Linen Kist.  Nancy's store sells luxury linen and she even has her own designer line.

When we showed up for the shoot, Nancy had prepared a bed in the store with the bedding and linens that she wanted to show in the photo.  The only problem was that she had no idea she was the subject of the photo!  She quickly became nervous and even went and changed clothes.  I was able to use one of the greatest skills I have as a professional photographer.  Making my subject comfortable even if they don't want their picture taken.  Having the person you are photographing feel like they can trust your skill and that you are going to make them look their best is something I rely on shoot after shoot.

We were able to use the bed she had all ready for us and just include her in the photos.  It ended up being a great shoot.

Nancy Rehder in her store, The Linen Kist, for Luxe Magazine.  This is the photo Luxe selected to print.

One of my favorite photos from the shoot with Nancy Rehder.

Milena Joy at the A.Line Boutique in Landmark

Milena Joy, an image consultant in Denver, asked me to take photos for her marketing.  I've known Milena for a couple years and initially worked with her when I photographed her wedding in Mexico.

This was the second shoot I've done for her consulting business and she is always great to work with.  She is really comfortable with the camera and posing, which makes my job much easier.  She had set up the shoot at a clothing store in Landmark, the A.Line Boutique.  It was a great location that gave us multiple backgrounds choices to choose from.

Milena came ready with a bunch of clothing choices and freshly done hair and makeup. I had Josh, my intern, constantly moving lights as we moved from one setup to the next.  Overall it was a fun shoot and I think we got some good stuff.

On a side note, we are working on putting a makeover package with Milena consulting on clothing, hair stylist Stanley Thompson of Matthew Morris Salon, and makeup artist Donna Kelly.  Clients will initially go shopping with Milena to purchase a new wardrobe.  Then on the big day they will get hair, makeup and then a photo shoot to capture them at their best.  It is a great gift for yourself or somebody else.  Watch for details about a launch party we are having in November.

Enjoy the photos from my shoot with Milena.  The first one is just a fun one showing me doing what I do.

Photographing a Middle Eastern Market

On the corner near my studio is a Middle Eastern market that I've been wanting to photograph the owner of for awhile as part of our neighborhood series.  In the summer they put out fresh produce everyday that was the perfect backdrop.  For this shoot I decided to focus on getting multiple usable shots rather than just the one that we usually get for our neighborhood series.  This allowed me to have more imagery to offer to my stock agency.  The biggest difference you will see is the lack of having a person motion blurred in the background, since the time needed to do the work would be overwhelming in multiple photos.  It was a smooth shoot and Razza, the owner, was a pleasure to work with.

It was also our first attempt at shooting an educational behind the scenes video, so look for that to come soon.  Video editing is a whole different ballgame than photo editing, so it is taking a little more work than expected this first time around.

Big Chill for Luxe Magazine

I was asked to photograph, Orion Creamer, the owner of Big Chill for Luxe Magazine.  I had looked at Big Chill's products online, which are retro looking refrigerators, stoves and dishwashers, and had a lot of fun ideas for the shoot.  They have been featured in many magazines like Martha Stewart Living, O (Oprah's magazine) and even on the set of Rachel Ray's cooking show.

When we got to the location in Boulder there was a huge open warehouse that would be a great background for the shoot.  We moved a bunch of refrigerators into place, set up our lights and started doing some test shots.  The photos were looking good and then we converted the image to black and white and everything changed.  Most of the fridges were pastel tones that all turned to gray and were indiscernible in black and white.  Luxe prints all of their people features in black and white, so we were stuck and had to figure out something fast.

Ryan, my assistant, recommended that we shoot in the alley where we had seen a bunch of ivy growing as we drove up.  I thought it was a great idea because the soft lines and colors of the fridge would contrast with the busy ivy.  It was right outside the warehouse door and ended up working out great.  It was a fair amount of work to get a fridge safely outside and off a pallet, so we decided to work with only one fridge.

We had great diffused natural light from a lightly overcast sky and bounced light into the shadows with a large piece of white styrofoam that was in the warehouse.  We put Orion into position and started shooting.  He was very comfortable in front of the camera and everything came together.  I was very happy with the final product and the important thing is that Luxe was too.  The first image is the one they selected and the second was one of my favorites.

Great Day of Photography

July 13th

Today was one of the best days I have had as a photographer.  It was one of those days where opportunity after opportunity seemed to present itself and most of the time I was able to capitalize.  I also felt like I was able to connect with a lot of the people I photographed, which always leads to better pictures.  In my experience doing travel photography, those type of days don't happen very often so you really have to appreciate them when they do.

I spent the morning photographing the English camp, but spent the afternoon walking around Hanzhong with Phil Eyster, the director of EPI, taking pictures.  That night I went to the main square in the middle of Hanzhong and did more night photography in the heart of the city.

I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

One of the best travel portraits I have ever taken.  I loved this guy!

A beautiful young girl.  I have been taking many pictures of kids because the parents keep asking me to take their child's picture.  I guess they hope I'll come back some day with a print.  If I was ever back in Hanzhong, I would definitely bring prints of everyone with me to hand out to them.  Maybe someday.

A woman walking with her umbrella in the sun.  A typical scene in Hanzhong.

An elderly man leans in the entrance to his home.

A young boy stands next to a bike on a side street in Hanzhong.

A girl waits for customers at a shoe store.

A young woman poses for the camera.

A man who makes keys and fixes bicycles from his business on a street corner in central Hanzhong.

A dusk shot of buildings surrounding Hanzhong's central square.

A young woman stands in front of glowing signage at night in Hanzhong.  I had a Chinese person that accompanied me that night and was able to ask the woman if I could take her picture.