Millennium Tattoo Headshots

I'd have to say this is my most anticipated shoot so far this year.  Not only did I have several beautifully inked girls lined up to shoot with (thanks Kate), I also felt very challenged to carry out a vision I had for the images.  I wanted to craft the shoot around a story which took some work and planning.  I had no shortage of volunteers to assist with me :-)

The loose storyline here in the series of images is 1) All the girls gathered at the front desk of Millennium Tattoo checking out sample images for their "first tattoo".  Well, not really their first, but work with me...  

Looking over tattoo options

Then 2) feature each girl have them talk about the tattoo they are most proud of.  I had other questions but had to narrow it down to one so the font would be large enough to read.  

Last, we have a group shot on a most excellent red couch we used throughout the session. 

Big thanks to Kate for setting most everything up, to Frank for allowing us to use his shop on his day off, to Ross for helping with lights and adding music to the shoot, and to Nicole, Shannon, Kait, and Heather for modeling.  One other girl that was mostly behind the scenes was Rachel that helped with make-up for the girls and some modeling on the first set-up.  Great teamwork! 

The girls...and me :-)

100 People

I received an inquiry several months back that read something like, "Hey, we're having a family gathering in the summer and we'd like you to photograph the full set of people".  Sounds innocent enough until you discover that the invite list is just over 100.   

Might be old hat for some but I looked at this as a challenge since up to that point, the largest group I've shot was about 25 people.  I reached out to the internet for suggestions and there were some good ones.  'Bring a bull-horn and a step ladder' was a funny one that I remember.  Turns out I didn't need the bull-horn but I definitely knew I would need the ladder.

I showed up a little early to scope out the situation and this venue had a wedding going on outside (the preferred location) and the family's event was inside.  I had about 30 minutes to determine a location, set up lights, grab some test shots and get it done. 

Here's the result.  A few head-swaps later, I did manage to get everyone in.  Phew. 

100+ People from the Takacs Family

The Highline: Headshots Take 2

I liked this location so much that I had to go again.  I had a day off recently and organized a shoot with Aneta which, as it turns out, is from Prague and visiting with her boyfriend for the summer.  Glad I caught her why she was here in NYC.

Helping out, in more ways than one was Seqoiya, the MUA that operates under Pure Glamour.  She was great and helped with both hair and make-up and also helped with some lighting too. 

I scouted out the next location but it was a little further than I wanted to go.  I came across these stairs and knew I had found our next spot. It's a little funny (now) how long it took to get these shots with all the time we spent waiting for people to clear the stairs.

Just for fun - 'How I got to work'

So, I got a new toy.  Its a GoPro Hero3.  Love it.  Its small.  Its fun and you can take it just about anywhere.  So, one day last week I took the GoPro with me on the train and down the street and into the building, all set to music.  I did the edit on the train on the way back home.  Fun. 

Lauren + Andrew

Over the weekend I second shot a wedding with my friend Gary.  Since he's a preferred vendor for the Grandview Hotel in Poughkeepsie, when I shoot with him, its usually there.  Its a really nice venue and they definitely treat their vendors well too.

So we started off shooting with the groom (was supposed to be the bride but we went with who was available first.  We later joined the bride and her mother and some of the bridesmaids.  I'm sure in this arrangement you can tell what images go with which person.

The window light was really nice.  We captured a few of the bride while she was getting ready for her big day.

Next we set-up for a first look on the docks.  This was my angle for this series of images where they had their first look at each other before they said, "I do".

A couple shots that were more formal…

A candid one that i really loved…

And this was just too funny.  Look at the difference in the expressions from the guys to the girls.

Erin + Brian

Recently, I photographed the wedding of Erin + Brian with a good friend of mine, Erin.  No, that wasn't a typo. Two Erin's.

I started with the groom and his family.  We grabbed of shots of the family and I also had the pleasure of coming up with some shots of the rings.  Although I've received mixed reviews (you know who you are), I happen to like this one and when I showed it to the groom he seemed to like it too. 

These images were from two different times in the day, but both of the grooms side.  I wanted to do something a little different with the groom at the table.  They had a suite at the hotel so it provided me with the decoration for the rings and this great table for the groom.   

Finally, some images of the church, the newly married bride and groom and some refreshments from the cocktail hour.   

I'm feeling like its time for a drink, you? 

Noise

I've had the recent pleasure to shoot some corporate gigs with my friend Joe.  This session was at a company called Noise.   Nice group of people.  They are an agency that focuses on creating campaigns, products and content for the young adult market.  They've recently taken on an engagement with Joe to bring Scrum practices to their organization.  Here are a few of the images from the shoot.

I also got some environmental images as well.  Since they're called "Noise", they of course, had a turn table in the office.  Of course.

MediaMath Corporate Shoot

Ah, the corporate shoot.  MediaMath has a pretty large room that we were able to use for this shoot that was scheduled on one particular day.  Each person had your standard, classic headshot (as shown below) and then we also did one "with a prop".  Those were fun.  Some were into it and some weren't.  They were funny nonetheless.

Below are a few of the 150+ images I took over multiple days and multiple locations. 

This now makes the third shoot done for MediaMath.  See more images from a recent event called The Future Series and a few months back the 5th Birthday Party.

Jennifer + Conor

​Earlier this month I second shot a wedding with my friend Gary.  Fun couple.  I met Gary at his place and we drove up to the Grandview Hotel.  We shot a bit with Jennifer and her family then off to the church and reception.  Below are a few of my favorites: 

​One girl missed when I said, "look at me" :-)

​The start of a version of the Harlem Shake

​First Dance

​Jennifer and her father

​Notice the range of emotions on the faces of the girls as the bouquet falls.

​Bride's reaction to Gary's surprise gift at the end of the night

Lux on the Highline

So you know when you have certain expectations about something.  You're all excited and anticipating how it'll look and feel.  I had all those kind of thoughts going into this shoot on The Highline.  Turns out, it wasn't what I expected; in a good way.  There were some set-up's I thought would work one way and it turned out differently and other locations I thought would be a home run and they weren't.  Overall, the shoot produced some great images and I had the chance to work with some new people I hope to work with again.  Not a bad outcome.

We got started a little late, buy hey, that happens more than it doesn't.  Once Lux arrived, Alex (MUA) & Kate (Hair) got to work.  It helped that I had pre-scouted the location and knew where we'd meet, setup, and shoot for various locations around the Highline.  We focused on the area between 14th and 18th Street (just in case you were curious).  This was a time saver, for sure.  We started with a "clean face" look and gradually added onto that.  Here are a few I thought turned out well. 

Next set-up was in a covered area that had some old train tracks that were flush with the ground.  I also picked these areas as a backup in case of rain since they were completely covered.  

The images in this next collage were almost in the same place as the train tracks.  I noticed a grid pattern on a fence that separated the lower level we were on with the upper level where there were some shops.  I placed the light to the left and got some pretty cool patterns from that grid.  I added some color in post.

Set-up #3; A ramp and some handrails.  Lux made this work I'd say.

Running out of time, I had big plans for this location but there were so many people and it was getting late, I opted for something a little simpler than my original plan.  Still fun and interesting.  Great shoot and some nice new images for the portfolio. 

Credits: ​
Model: Lux
Make-up Artist (MUA): Alex Gilleo
Hair: Kate Duckworth

Andrew's Bar Mitzvah

April was a busy month.  We had my daughter's birthday, a wedding I shot with a friend, a birthday party I shot the next day, some new video work I took on, and a family Bar Mitzvah in CT.  ​

​My disclaimer for this event is that I was an attendee, not a hired photographer.  Although, I did bring a couple things with me just in case I got the urge to capture the family event.  I felt awkward as I walked into the party and wasn't there to work the event.  On the other hand, it was nice to just shoot what I was interested in.  Here are some of my favorites.

And the last set of images here are pretty fun.  Emersyn held her own against the older kids at a game on musical chairs.  She lost to the Bar Mitzvah boy, Andrew.​

Melissa M

Several years ago I met Eunice through a meet-up photo-shoot in NYC in 2009.  Turns out her friend Melissa saw the images of Eunice and was curious what fantastic professional (I'm embellishing quite a bit here) took those images.  We had been trying to connect ever since.

Melissa lives in the Boston area and back in the day was roommates with Eunice and competed in beauty pageants together and have been friends ever since.  Melissa has picked up a few honers along the way: Miss Rhode Island Latina, Miss US Latina (where she met Eunice), and Miss Colombia New England.  Very impressive!

A few months ago Melissa reached out to me via LinkedIn and I suggested we get together the next time she's in NYC.  The next day, I received a response that said, "Okay, how about March 24th?".  Wait, let me think about it - 'Hell yeah!'​

I had a couple concepts I wanted to try out and Melissa was very receptive in collaborating on the ideas.  I think it helped to bring this shoot to another level.  I brought in a make-up artist, Nicole, that I worked with one other time and we were set.​

​Comparison of two treatments on this image

​Nice use of props!

​Last but certainly not least.  This image was the very last one we did for the day and I'm so glad we tried it because I feel like this is my favorite image that I've ever taken.  I was standing on a laddar with Alejandro (studio guy) holding it below.  Two lights were on Melissa; one camera right (main light) and the other was camera left slightly behind her.  I just asked her to twirl around with this great dress she had.  We grabbed several like this but this was the favorite of the bunch.  What you don't see here is all the clutter that was in the original image.  A big thanks to Prerak for helping bring this image to life!

A Great Designer

I worked with Prerak for about 9 months and he was one of those few (for me, anyway) that I really connected with.  He's a great designer and we got to know each other  through a mutual interest in gadgets, great design, and photography.  

Prerak has helped me with a couple projects now that were beyond my Photoshop knowledge and I look forward to future collaboration.

A few days before his last day, I had my camera in the office and we went out for about 30 minutes to grab some shots for him personally and for his website.  We went out to a place in midtown that I've shot at before and here are some of my favorites...

Desert Fashion

​As promised from my WPPI post, I can now share some images from the shoot I setup while in Vegas last month.

Since I already described the whole scenario in another post, I won't take you all through it again.  Let's get to the images.  I shot about 150 images and with some work was able to narrow it down to a handful to share here.  I've also posted a few of these back in the overall portfolio.  

First, some make-up for the "talent" :-)​  The make-up artist (MUA) here is Summer.  We were at her place for about an hour to do hair & make-up for Meli.  This is the second time I've worked with Meli - here's a link back to the first time.

Wellness with Friends

A good friend of mine, Jill, has started a business called "Wellness with Friends".  It promotes the enjoyment of massage coupled with the fun of having your friends around all in the comfort of your own home.

​Example room setup

If, for example, you were looking for a bachelorette party idea, you could call Jill to give her the details of how many people would attend, what types of services would they like, and what time do you want to start and then she would take care of the rest.  Everything from the scheduling of the staff to provide the service to the food to the transformation of the rooms in your home along with communicating with your friends to let them know about all the details.  That sounds pretty valuable to me if I could have someone take care of all the details.

​Services received

For my part, I have two things I'm helping with. The first was to capture what a "Wellness Party" would look like. Everything from the food, to the attendees, to people learning about and receiving services, and featuring the robes and other elements that help set the stage for the party.  I've put together a few images that help show you what I mean.

​Robes and socks used during the party

​Food & Drink

​Attendees of the party

​Wellness materials

The second part, to come soon, is helping Jill setup a website to allow people to easily learn about and book a reservation for a Wellness With Friends party.

WPPI 2013 Recap

This past week I attended, for the first time, an annual photography conference called WPPI which stands for Wedding & Portrait Photography (not sure what the I is for) in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Hotel. The conference and classes run just over a week long and I was there for about 3 1/2 days.

The conference offers a variety of classes and an expo area that allows for vendors big and small to come and show their stuff.  The expo filled two halls and has big names like Nikon, Canon, etc. and the other hall had smaller vendors with a lot of gadgets and equipment to drool over.   

Four takeaways from WPPI: 

1. Work hard.  You get out what you put into your business.
   
2. Network like crazy.  This is a referral-based industry.
3. Use your time efficiently. Automate what you can and redirect the new time to building your business.
4. Believe you can do it.  

Here's a recap of how I spent my time at WPPI: 
Sunday
Going to Market: Maximizing Portrait and Wedding Profits, Dane Sanders
Dane is a family portrait photographer out of Orange County, CA.  He's also a teacher, author and founder of a Facebook group I've become pretty active in called "Better Together".  The premise being that we're better together as photographers vs. trying to go it alone.  

In his talk, he went over the sales process from campaign to connection to the client and walked through step-by-step how he handles the end-to-end workflow.  He also talked about a popular topic among photographers which is, how to exploit what's unique about you when everyone seems to have a camera these days.  This should allow you to attract the clients you want and repel the ones you don't. Very nice session and a good way to kick off the conference for me.  

From Start to Finish: The Contemporary Portrait Shoot, Tamara Lackey
Tamara focuses mostly on children and families.  Similar structure to Dane's class but very different sessions.  Tamara has a great energy about her and gave a really nice walk through of a day in the life on a shoot with children.  On the business side of things, these are points I noted:  

1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. Why does it matter?

How to Avoid What Most Small Businesses Do - Fail, Zach & Jody Gray
Zach & Jody are a couple that I've known about for a few years now.  They are a married couple that focuses on the wedding market.  I first saw them on a DVD where they were talking about lighting, posing and editing techniques they use in their business. They are fun to watch, listen to and learn from.  They seem to actually practice what they preach. Novel idea, right?

For this session, they gave an overview of how they structure their business.  Here's an outline of their framework: 

1. Purpose - What is your vision, mission, values and goals?
2. Brand - All aspects of your business (visual and otherwise) should resonate a consistent experience for your client that support your purpose.  Its more than just marketing.
3. Sales - Qualify the client, build rapport, educate and close the deal.
4. Systems - Set up processes and environments that allow you to be consistent and efficient.
5. Momentum - Focused intensity + Time = Momentum
6. Belief - Our only limitations are the ones you set on yourself.  Believe you can do it and you will!

For me, Sunday was about: 

1. Figure out the purpose of your business
2. Exploit what's unique about you throughout the business
3. Believe you can do it and don't let anything stop you

Monday
Get Lit "Live", Dixie Dixon 
Dixie is out of Dallas (I think) and shoots fashion and commercial work.  I feel more and more like this is the type of work I want to shoot more of.  Since I had a shoot planned for later in the day, I was only able to stay for a short time.  One take-away was that I heard her say she makes sure to set a nice atmosphere for everyone on set and builds a connection with the model and other crew which helps her produce the type of images she's enjoys.

Photo Shoot in the desert​
As soon as I knew I was going to this show, I started to put together concepts for a shoot and scouting for models and make-up artists (MUA).  The day didn't exactly go as planned but what day ever does.  

I rented a car because it seemed that I was the only one with transportation.  I arranged for Enterprise to "pick me up" but they were running late and it seemed to be how the whole day went for me.  I got to the model, Meli, about an hour later than I hoped.  We then drove to the MUA, Summer, but her place was in the opposite direction of where we were shooting.  By the time we left Summer's place, it was close to the original time I thought we would be finishing the whole shoot.

On the upside, once we arrived on set, it was exactly what I was hoping for.  We got there around 1:30 and shot until close to 4pm. This unfortunately, meant that I was going to miss a class I thought I'd have time for in the afternoon back at the conference.  

I dropped the model and her husband off at their place, grabbed something to eat, drove to return the lens I rented from a local shop, got the car washed since it was pretty dirty from being in the desert and then dropped the car off.   Well, almost.  One thing I forgot to mention was that I brought the car USB charger for the phone from home but forgot to bring it out with me that day.  So, because I was using navigation on the phone, it takes up more battery than normal use.  By the end of the day, I was out of battery.  I was completely out of battery just before I returned the car.  I ended up returning it to the airport with about 15 minutes to spare before I would have been charged for another car rental day.  I caught a cab back to the hotel at a few minutes after 6.  Here's one image from the day.  More to come soon. 

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Dinner at Diego's mexican restaurant
Someone was nice enough to arrange for a dinner for a large group and part of why I was at this conference was to network.  I was running late from dropping off the car but was determined to get to this dinner.  There were about 15 people there.  We had a nice time chatting it up about the work we do and getting to know each other.

Tuesday
Retouching & Enhancing Techniques: Instant, Easy and Useful, Jack Davis
I attended two retouching/editing classes.  This one was great.  The other one, not so much.  Jack's tools of choice are Lightroom & Photoshop.  I've mainly used Aperture for my editing to date but have been curious about Lightroom since many use it.  He switched between the two and had such a great, quick way of explaining and demonstrating technique.  Something he emphasized throughout the session was to create presets and automate as much as possible.  I'm a big fan of this as well and I need to do more of it.  It also goes with a common emphasis of finding ways to be efficient.

Visit the expo
I had a few goals in walking through the expo.  First, I wanted to just take it all in.  I also wanted to spend some time at the Nikon booth and talk a bit about video.  I had a nice conversation with a rep at Nikon that was helpful.  I also wanted to visit a friend of mine, Mike S., that I've shot with before.  He was exhibiting with his wife on a photo booth and software they've built.  This has been an area of interest for me as well.  It seemed like they had some good activity at the booth and they had Elvis with them as well.  I hope they got some good traffic.

I also sat in on a couple sessions in the Expo.  I hadn't heard Kevin Kabota speak before but he had some interesting work to shot and lots of simple and inexpensive ways to be successful on set.  One funny example that comes to mind was to use a battery charged leaf blower to create the wind-blown look for a model.  That's thinking out of the box.  I love when behind the scene's shots are shared.  It gives you a sense of how different you can make something look with light and some simple tools.

Finally, I attended an expo talk by Vanessa & Rob on their "Same Day Edit Workflow".  Pretty impressive the amount of stuff she gets done on the night of the wedding thanks mostly to an efficient system and help from an assistant.  There are a bunch of practical take-away's from this session for me.

Bridal Show 101 for Photographers, Dawn Shields
The last session I sat in on before heading to the airport was about how to be successful at Bridal Shows.  She had done lots of interviews with brides as they walked through a bridal show and then interviewed them for feedback on the photographers booth, what they liked, or didn't like about the overall experience. She also had lots of statistics that really helped if you were going to dive into this world.  Very informative.

Lots of stuff going on and so much to see and do.  A friend of mine that I used to work with, Gary Cirlin, was also there and since it was my first time, he warned me over dinner that I will likely leave with a mixed set of emotions that would be a little anxious, excited, inspired and frustrated all at the same time.  He was right.

Many things about the conference were great but there are a few things I would do differently next time.

1. Stay closer.  I was staying in the MGM but it was a 15 minute walk from my room to the classes.  There are rooms that were much closer but I didn't realize that until I was there.
2. Get a roommate.  Not sure about this one but I would consider it to save money. Vegas is more expensive than NYC for some things. 
3. Stay longer.  I think one more day would have been useful for me.
4. More networking!

Can't wait to go back again next year.

​Update: I just came across this video that was done by StillMotion last year that gives a good sense of what its like to be at WPPI from the exhibiter's perspective. -> http://vimeo.com/37354985

Britney + Matt

​Rounding out my edits from weddings shot last year.  One thing that resinates with me when I shoot weddings is the interaction and respect within the family.  It makes me think of the saying that goes, "you don't just marry the individual, you marry the family".  I feel like the values and behaviors of the family come through in the individual.  This family was no exception.    

The day started out a little rough for me since I tore a nice little whole in my rear bumper while backing into the driveway of the grooms parents house.  Breathe.  Focus.  Put on the happy face and let's get some nice pictures.  No damage was done to their place but the back of the car didn't look so good.  I tried to quickly put the incident behind me and focus on the task at hand.  Fortunately, I was greeted by a bunch of really nice guys.   

We moved outside for some shots around the house with the family.  They actually suggested this jumping shot (I did a few of these last summer) and this one turned out pretty well.  

My favorite is the guy on the left.​  Too funny.  Okay, onto more serious things.  I met up with David (photographer I was shooting with at this wedding) and got a chance to shoot a few with the soon-to-be husband and wife.

Fast forward about an hour and now its official.​  I'm also happy that I didn't fall off the little chair I was standing on to get this shot :-)

Finally, I wanted to feature a bit of the food.  When I say they had a spread, I really mean it.  I have probably 20 images of different selections of food.  Meat, veggies, cutting stations, ice sculptures, olives, shrimp, pizza, bread, pasta, and on and on.  It was amazing.  Here are four I liked.  Hope you're not hungry. ​

Amanda + James

​Even though this wedding was last August, its still pretty clear in my mind.  This couple was probably the most casual about rules and tradition that I've seen in my time shooting weddings.  They weren't concerned about hanging out together when getting ready for the day.  They were however concerned about having friends and family around to share in their day. 

Amanda and James had fun.  All day.  They also showed such sincere engagement toward each other.  Starting with some hair and make-up, we shot in a small hotel room with lots of activit.  This was a favorite of mine.  A little set-up but you'd never know - oops, I guess I just spilled it.

I also love grabbing details of things that are around the room like a shot of the bags on the couch.​

All love on this face as she stared at her soon to be husband during the ceremony...​

​There were also some pretty cute little ones on the dance floor later that night...

This last one here was at the end of the night with them going strong...​

Nyla @ 9 Months - With Friends

So, for the 9-month photo shoot with Nyla, we mixed it up a little and brought in some friends.  Suman (or Nyla's mom as she'll more often be referred to now) arranged for some kids from the same building they live in to join in some picture taking fun.

We started with some of just the immediate family (nice Valentine theme this time)...

And finished with three girls that play together on most days...

By the way, I loved this one for all the different things going on in the image.  The expressions and moment captured is why I love photography.  Looking forward to the 1st Birthday in April.

Plan C

The first post of 2013.  Psyched.

In December, I arranged to take some updated headshots for Joe.  He owns an Agile consulting company called Incrementor. Being opportunistic, I thought I would also schedule time with a model since I was going to have a studio and a little time to shoot - why not?  This post is about why I called this entry, "Plan C".  In addition to the time with Joe to update his headshot, I booked two models to shoot with to build my portfolio, and theirs.  The first model canceled a week before the shoot, the other, the morning of.  Oh boy.  What do i do?

I turned to the internet gods and posted a casting call for another model and crossed my fingers that the make-up-artist (MUA) wouldn't cancel as well, fortunately she didn't.  I screened several models during the day and had a great response to this second posting.  It was about lunch time and Andrea called me.  We spoke for a couple minutes and I could  tell from her tone that she was going to be great to work with.  Turns out she's from California (and so am I) so maybe that's what felt right.  

Coincidentally, a friend of mine from High School, Eric, was in town on vacation so he helped out with the shoot and took some behind the scene shots (see below).  It was great to catch up.  

We split up the shoot to have the first part of the session focused on very simple concepts, then had Nicole (the MUA) work with Andrea on a different look for the second half of the day while Eric and I worked with Joe on his headshots.  I've posted some of my favorites from the work with Andrea.  Also, great work on the make-up, Nicole.  I'll post some images from Joe in a future post.

As I mentioned, there were also some behind the scene shots Eric captured.  The first one makes me wonder why I pointed and extended my leg the way I did.  Funny when you see the things you do.