Animal Planet Exhibit

I usually don't use my blog as a form of unashamed promotion, but... this was/is pretty cool.
The photo shoot I did for Animal Planet a few months ago has been a huge hit within The Discovery Channel offices. So much so that they produced a small fold-out calendar (which sold out). Now they would like to print a larger calendar for sale and have printed 16x20" prints of about a dozen images which are hanging in the lobby of their corporate office in Silver Spring. I had a chance to stop by this week to see it and say Thank You to the art buyers. They are great to work with - very professional and love to have a good time on the set. Can't beat the experience!

The images of the exhibit aren't great, but you get the idea.

AKC Dog Photo Shoot

I recently had the honor of shooting for The Discovery Channel again - this time for Animal Planet. Their annual AKC Championship Dog Show is coming up in February and they needed shots of dogs with attitude for their advertising campaign - one of the ads they are using is above. The shoot was in two parts: morning session was a NYC crew filming some on-air pieces with the Phantom (an amazing high speed video camera that shoots at 1000 frames/second - see specs here). The stills portion (my assignment) was in the afternoon. Some of the shots are below. Six dogs were on set - one bulldog, two poodles (one black, one white), two afghans and one pomeranian. My assignment was to capture their personality either through a look, gesture, movement, etc...
I've photographed animals before and have found that it is a mixture of timing and a lot of luck. It's similar to photographing people but a lot less animated and most definitely harder to capture that decisive moment. You can't really tell a dog to "hold that pose". It's there one minute and then gone forever. So the camera is stuck to your eye for quite a while, waiting for the right expression.
All the dogs were great, but the bulldog had the most personality (both in body and expression) and gave us exactly what we were looking for - that "I don't care, just get the shot so I can get out of here" look. The poodles were very calm and all their personality shown through their eyes. Very loving animals. Photographing their "overdone hairdos" was a first for me. The Afghans were, to be honest, not that bright. Talk about dogs with ADD. They couldn't keep still, but loved the wind machine which calmed them down, somewhat... But boy could they give you that "sad eyes" look. The photo below reminds me of a painting of The Madonna from the 1500's.
If you would like to see more, there are images on my web site under "New Work".

Re-Licensing of images

Sometimes in our business we don't get the chance to see our work in the published format. This is especially true with public relations assignments. I would rarely see the photos I took in print - or even know if the client used them or not. Advertising assignments are different though. I always get a peek at the comps with my photo included, and sometimes even asked if I had any comments (but I'm sure they are just being nice). In any event, when asked I always receive the final as a pdf for me to use. In future posts I'll have more example.

Then there is the rare occasion that a client likes the image(s) so much they re-license them - sometimes over and over. The above image is an example of the finished ad and below are two of the photos taken for the assignment. This was shot two years ago for Wonders, a before and after school day care business based in Bethesda, Maryland. They say the image is working so well that they want/need to keep using it for their print campaigns. It has become the iconic image for their business. A very nice compliment indeed.


"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success." - James Cameron

A Time to Explore

"If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up." -- Richard Avedon

This is how I feel most days. There is always something to photograph, something to explore. That's why this past summer has been one of personal projects. It was a great opportunity to work on new lighting techniques (at least new to me) and to get out of the studio and away from the computer. From shooting with the 30ft ladder to photographing horses the summer forced me to find projects to shoot. Now with fall approaching, I'll to find new opportunities, new projects to work on.
To me, being a photographer is not only working for clients, but exploring and creating work that helps me grow as a person as well as a photographer. It's about creating a style that matches my personality.

Why I Love What I do

Just wanted to share with you one, of the many, reasons why I love what I do.
This past week saw quite a variety of assignments. First was still-life shots forGianna Rose, a company that makes very nice soap products. The second was of three Olympians - Dominique Dawes, Tom Dolan and Wendy Weil. These images are part of a story for The Washington Post Magazine about local Olympians due out on July 27th. The third was of Bruna Genovese, a model who wanted some portfolio shots. And the forth was portraits of a goat for a story about Pocket Meadow Farm.

God I love what I do.
Where can one meet and take photos of such a variety of subjects - and have FUN doing it!!

Boy it is so nice to get up in the morning looking forward to the day - really makes it all worth living.

Inspiration

This past week I spent some time in New York City visiting a close friend, seeing clients (and potential clients) and presenting at Photo Salon in Soho. The Photo Salon is comprised of a group of New York based photographers who get together once a month to show new work. It was an honor, and somewhat nerve-racking, to show some of my new work (a slide show of 45 images). In attendance were some of the industries top photographers, art directors and consultants. Although I do enjoy showing work, and the feedback that usually accompanies it, having to show either just before or just after some of these photographers was a little daunting. Some of the other photograhers presenting were Jay Maisel and Howard Schatz. Both very talented and inspirational photographers. Howard Schatz is quite an amazing photographer. The new work that he showed really can't be explained in a few short words. Lets just say that I was very happy that I showed my stuff before him!
Luckily I did have a chance to ask him a question that I have always wanted to ask - Where does he get his inspiration? He answered very simplily, "movies, tv, through other photographers' work, just about everywhere". He showed a little note book where he writes down ideas, thoughts and inpirations. Many of us do this, but the difference with him is that he acts upon what he writes down. He sets aside one day per week to experimenting with new ideas. This is something that many photographers do not do. We don't act, yet just sit back and collect a lot of great ideas and then let it go to waste by not acting on it. His new work was inspirational because he acts upon his ideas.

At dinner with friends I was asked where I get my ideas and what I look for when shooting. I think I gave them more of an answer than they bargined for. I can be quite passionate about photography and went into a detailed description of what I had seen during the day of walking throught the city. From their responce, I realized that many living there know that all this exists, but rarily recognize nor appreciate the beaufy in the angles, shapes and curves that the city has in it's buildings and parks. It made me realize that I do have passion in what I do and that I do find inspiration in the things surrounding me.

Barber Shop

These are two images from a recent shoot for BlueCross BlueSheild at a small barber shop in Washington, DC. The first is an personal portrait taken of Fredrick just before we started shooting. He had a great look and I wanted to take a few minutes to take his portrait.
The second photo is the one used for the advertisement. It was a fairly simple shoot - mainly used the available light from outside and the existing tungsten lights in the shop. Two lights were use. One on the left, behind the subjects and bounced off the ceiling. The second is a fill light directed towards the subject.