Documenting the shoot: The boots meant for walkin'

I'm going to start a theme that I'll return to every now and then called Documenting The Shoot, where I'll show you what went into a shoot, what didn't work, and then what did with the final image. A before/after, if you will. My model was kind enough to give me her time to work on a personal project (thank you!), my 52 week project on Flickr, where each week I explore a different topic resulting in a weekly image. This particular week's topic was "Getting from Point A to Point B" and I decided to set up a fashion-type shoot featuring an amazing pair of boots and some fun cross-lighting techniques. We shot in my, shall we say, petite/cozy/tiny home studio which has low ceilings but works great for headshots. Full-body stuff is more challenging - I have to shoot from the very corners of the room, practically Spiderman-style, to avoid distortion. And you do not want distortion when photographing a person's legs.

Here are a few "before" images - you can see a few test shoots against a crappy dark background that shows off lint beautifully. I was trying to get some angles that showed off  the boots awesomeness, my models great legs, and a sense of movement as well. I had Audrey walk around a bit, but what worked best was to have her stand still, point her feet exactly as directed, and hang on to my ceiling for dear life (man, in hindsight, I really wished I shot that - next time!). The angle that looked the most "natural" was highly unnatural, but man, she was a trouper. I had a softbox behind her on the ground highlighting her shape and the laces, and an LED panel in front of her - really close - less than a foot, for detail.

I knew it when I got the final image in camera the moment I hit the button. So all I had to do was go into Lightroom, get rid of lint, and burn out the light walls of my studio in the background. And here's that final image:

Let me know what you think of this series and if you want more!

Olmstead's Paine + novelist + kid + portraits = one glorious day in Waltham, MA

Yesterday was an insanely beautiful day in the Boston area - warm, sunny, mid-seventies with a hint of breeze blowing in the smell of Spring! To take advantage of this very odd, but lovely Boston spring weather, I grabbed my kid, home for Spring vacation,  and drove to Stonehurst, the Robert Treat Paine Estate, where I met up with fiction writer Jon Papernick in his hometown of Waltham, MA.

Stonehurst was designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson and visionary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and it was completed in 1886 on behalf of Robert Treat Paine and Lydia Lyman Paine.

It is full of cavernous rooms full of beautiful mahogany carvings, eight-foot tall portraits of great detail, and furniture that looks as though the moment you'd turn around would surreptitiously slither away.

Of course Jon felt right at home among rooms full of books, and began chatting away with the caretaker as I clicked away, occasionally pulling a face and making me chuckle behind the camera.

Call me crazy, but when I visit old estates, I'm invariably curious about the bathrooms that were used back then. When I used to work at the George Eastman House, Mr. Eastman's bathroom hadn't been fully renovated for visitors, but as staff, we got to peek in. Here, my curiosity was assuaged by viewing an exquisite bathroom with a metal-lined tub with a carved wooden exterior.

Wandering the grounds and exploring the house, camera in hand, was the perfect way to enjoy the day.

Inspire Boston

Sometimes you happen to meet a group of people who are so kind, supportive, and talented, you feel like you've met your newest old friends. That's how I felt when I attended the Inspire Boston photography conference last year, and why I just returned again. As a portrait and commercial photographer, I am definitely the minority there (most are wedding photogs), but I learned so much and met so many talented people, that I was very excited to come back. And I'm so glad I did - though sadly I lost my voice and alternated between foghorn blow, torch singer rasp, whisper, and honk. It was awesome - and by awesome, I mean either A. not awesome or B. entertaining. I never knew what was going to come out next. There were two courses that I particularly enjoyed - Carrie Draghi's off-camera lighting class, and Jane Shauck's commercial photography lecture.

This image of Patrick Rogers was taken in Carrie's class using a cross-lighting technique to highlight his beard. I love playing with light and the minute I saw Patrick I knew I could do something fun! He is a real teddy bear, that guy, and his beard is definitely eye-catching.

Jane's talk, accompanied by some endearing banter with her husband, Mike, was worth my entire admission, it was so helpful. Jane is an elegant woman who balances two different photography businesses, and works primarily out of Connecticut and New York. Jane and Mike also used to live one street over from me in Arlington, MA! Small world. Now they're in CT and I wish they still lived in A-town so I could pick their brains on a regular basis. I really enjoyed watching the ebb and flow of their interaction - I wonder if I can convince Jer to shoot along with me in the future? Hmmm...

One of the best things about the conference was just hanging out with fellow photo geeks, and exchanging headshots with each other - tables turned with who is in front | behind the lens! Jocelyn Mathewes, pictured here, is the lovely type of talented quirky soul Zooey Deschanel could only aspire to be (I may be biased). I also enjoyed working with Brian Friedman, a wonderful photographer who is based out of NYC.

I was also very flattered have placed in the Inspire Photo Competition for the portrait that first comes up on my website. Many thanks to Matt and Enna Grazier for organizing this wonderful conference!

Almost twelfth anniversary

I've known this guy since I was nineteen years old. We met in an acting class at Carnegie Mellon, playing a scene from "The Gin Game" - he played Weller, I played Fonsia. He proposed five years later, in a Pittsburgh playhouse, when a revival of that '7os play came through. At the end of the play, when Weller collapsed in a fit of rage into Fonsia's arms, he casually leaned over me during the standing ovation, and said, "Well, that wasn't a happy ending, but would you like to try making one of our own? Would you marry me?" I cracked up, one of those nervous but happy crack-ups that won't stop. And obviously, I said yes. Twelve years later (or an hour away from twelve years if you're persnickety), including two moves, three houses, and one child, we still crack each other up. Happy anniversary, Mr. Mustache - you're the cat's meow!

Welcome! | Bienvenido | Bienvenu | Borekh habo!

  Mirror, mirror on the wall? Who's the fairest blog of all?

I've been guilty of using my business page on Facebook as a blog for far too long. So welcome to my new blog! There will be photos (of course), commentary (good luck holding me back, sister), and a commitment to keeping things lively!

While I still need a while to develop this little blog in order to make the evil Queen quake in her boots for fear of a blogging rival, I aim to make this blog underdog into a work of art (or at least entertainment). Fasten your seat belts, readers, you're in for a ride!