Headshot Design

A good headshot is a valuable marketing tool. Send a message. Project an image. Plant a thought. Who you are, what you're like. What message do you want to send? Trustworthy - Reliable - Professional - Wise - Friendly - Helpful - Teacher - Leader - Funny - Fit - Good looking - Unusual - the choice is yours. Your headshot can make that impression. Don't just have your picture taken. Have your image made. Facebook, Twitter, your Blog, Website. Put yourself out there in a designed photograph. You are the only you, sell it.

Relationships

Relationships make the world go round. It's the people in our life that make it worth the effort we put in to it all.. I'll make a photograph in a way that showcases the importance of the people in your life. Our Black and Whit Relationship Series photographs tug on you heart strings. Big beautiful images of relational simplicity. You can feel the connection, the love, the friendship. Capturing your family this way makes beautiful wall art for your home.

What if you could have a portrait of you and your child that visually tells the story of your relationship. Have you ever watched a father with his kids when you could see the tie they have together? You've seen a mother with her children, you know the way she loves them, dreams for them. What If you could see this in a portrait capturing that relationship? We would love to make this artfull memory for you.

Help-Portrait- Photographers giving

Our community of photographers just finished the local rendition of a World-Wide movement Called Help-Portrait. On December 12th 2009 portrait photographers all over the world gathered in their communities to photograph families and individuals that otherwise might never have a nicely made portrait of themselves. Here in Fort Collins about 15 photographers and another 15 or so volunteers joined together at Every Day Joe's Coffee House and spent the day making pictures. 8x10 prints will be provided to all the familes that came out to enjoy a small part of their day with us. Giving back feels good, and as a bonus, friendships have been made within the photographic community. I teamed up with Brent Yoder (Capturesqe Photography) from 8 to 1:30. When I left for another commitment, Matt Dickstein (duke PHOTO) took my place with Brent to finish out the day till 5:30 PM. I want to thank Brent for his long day of hard work. Thank you to Sarah Boyd (PHOTO DENOVO) for organizing the Fort Collins event, and for managing a herd of photog's throughout the day.

Father and Daughter

For some years we've been invited to make portraits at an annual Father Daughter event. Dad's spend an evening with their daughter making crafts, playing games and such. A hectic adult world plays against simple time with your kids. Here's Dad's chance. A few days after, he receives a nice portrait with his little girl. One for their family history. How often does a dad get a portrait with his daughter? Some opt not to sit for a portrait. I can't imagine. The discounted price $10. I... can't imagine.

Some of the years past, the organizers wanted to do the background and propping. Other years they leave it to me. I usually go for a clean and simple portrait letting their clothing or costumes represent the theme of the year. This year I put a bit of our relationship style in, to provide something more treasured. I ended up conceding on my B&W standard for this, as we have no control over the clothing-some themed and some quite colorful- I instead opted for color photographs.

I used an old Ed Pierce signature Westcott halo as a main light camera left (which covered me with silver glitter - the silver inside is flaking away). A ringlight for fill, a striplight for a little rim from high and behind subjects camera right, and a studio strobe behind the subjects for a background light.

Some of these families I've photographed for years, the girls change while their dads stay the same, the nature of youth. Children grow up. Become young women. Go to college. Get a job. These portraits are the memories of their sweet youth.

Fireman - Explorer

I had a High School Senior consultation a few days ago with a mother and her son. The consultation appointment is important to the success of the photo session. We visit to get to know one another. I ask the Senior about what they're envolved in, what they do for fun, plans after High School, etc. Then we develop a plan for their senior session. At this meeting Michael told me of his plan to become a Fireman. He's currently in the Fire Department Explorer Program. The lightbulb above went on, and exciting ideas started flowing through my head. I asked him if he would like a few photographs with his fire gear and he agreed to bring it along on our scheduled photo session.

The Fire Explorer program prepares teenagers with training and participation. They go on calls with Firemen, assisting with some tasks both in the station and on calls. Gives them a leg-up on the career when they get out of school. After high school Michael is headed to college and a degree in Fire Science.

Near the end of our session he donned his gear and we made a few photographs that were really fun. My assistant Garrett and Michael's mom helped shape the light and here you see the result. The background was under exposed and a shoot thru umbrella with portable strobe was used as a Main light camera left. A portable strobe with a warm gel and no other modifier was aimed at the subject from behind and to camera left for an edge. In post I darkend the foreground and background and Micheal is lookin' cool man.

MotoPortrait

Moto-Portraits have become a large segment of our Lifestyle Photography. In September we made a Biker portrait at a local motorcycle hang-out here in Fort Collins, Colorado. The FTC Coffee House. I've written about this shop before here and here. A nice family motorcycle themed place to enjoy your coffee or stop for lunch. They have a Bike Night every Thursday. Being part of their Thursday night crowed, I offered a Bike Night photo session as a raffle prize. They loved the idea and here you see the result.

I wanted to capture the evening atmosphere, so on the night of the shoot we waited till after sunset. I found the owners of particular bikes and had them park in a row behind the subject bike. I had them turn on their lights, making a nice background. This combined with the incandescent lights coming out from the shop, and a large red L.E.D. sign out of the picture background camera left (casting a red hue on the building), really made the mood of the shot. The exposure was set based on the continuous light on the background. I lit the subject and front of the bike with a medium soft box and portable strobe from camera right. Light was added to the motorcycle from a gridded strip light with portable strobe from low camera Left. A large panel was held over the strip light (by the Biker's mom and a friend, Thanks!) to keep light off the rider but still on the lower half of the motorcycle. Test shots were made, strobe power was adjusted, and we made our shot.

The in camera capture was very close to the end result. In post, I darkened the foreground which was too bright from the strip box, and darkened a couple headlight reflections on the block wall. We got a neon look to the shot and a 20x30 canvas is hanging on the wall of the Coffee House. The winner of the raffle now has something he'd likely never have had done. He loves it. His family loves it. His kids and grand kids will love it. That's what I'm her for.

Dark Shadows

Todays post is a departure from my usual. I'm a member of a local photography group that meets occasionally in various locations to shoot, or just gather at a local Bar & Grill to talk photography with other like minded photonuts (our spouses can only take so much). It was arranged for us to get inside the more than 100 year old Feed & Grain building in Loveland, Colorado. I've shot outside the building a few times (see Nov, 21 '08 post) and was really curious to get inside. These are just a few of the photographs I made. The building is really dark and spooky inside with only a few areas lit by a single bulb here and there, and as I felt my way around, I kept thinking I was in a teen-terror movie. Without a tripod, I kept leaning on walls and beams, bracing my Nikon against anything I could for the long exposures. When we exited the building, I found my black camera bag (and much of me) was near white from all the dusty surfaces. Next time I'll be sure to have a tripod - There were many cool features I couldn't capture without one... like all those cool rope and pulley man elevators that were in the dark.