Two recent baby shoots

Both of these youngsters are between 9-12 months of age. Boy can they move! Nothing at all like shooting newborns.

Baby Elle alone and with mom Lisa;

















Baby Ishan with mom Rupam













with dad



big sister Ayesha



affecting boredom as only a 4 year old can...


Technical notes: I usually start out the session by photographing the baby on a neutral background...either white seamless or black cloth works nicely. This gives us a lot of really nice, clean images we can use for announcements, holiday cards, etc. and it works no matter where we are shooting or what the location looks like. I shoot with my Qflash in a medium (24x36) recessed softbox, for soft directional light that wont bounce all around the room.

We will normally take some shots "au naturel," and some with baby in various states of dress. Overall I am looking for natural expressions, personality, and not needing (or expecting) the baby to stay still. I let the parents play games with baby or use a noisy toy to get him/her to look towards the camera once in awhile. If the baby is quiet for a moment, I take the time to shoot details of the hands and feet, along with some more solemn images of the baby herself. Newborns and the very young may be photographed sleeping or lying/sitting semi-awake. It is important to start shooting shortly after feeding time, when the baby is relaxed and content.

From there it's time to bring mom and/or dad in, and this is where we start to capture more of the interaction between them and baby. I love it when the home has a large window to backlight the parents with, and a nice couch or chair that helps focus the composition on the baby and parent. I tell the parents to just cuddle and play with their child, to forget that I'm there.

After a few minutes of this the older babies will usually get a bit fussy, from being held down and focused on for so long, and may need a break. If he/she seems ok to shoot again after 10-15 mins, then we can put baby on the floor and let him crawl around a bit and play with toys in a more active way. This is a good time to get environmental portraits.

Finally, if there are older children to be photographed, the baby's break time is a good time to do it. Younger kids will want their own time in front of the camera, and they are more likely to share the spotlight later for family portraits if they get it. It's very important to notify the parents that you don't need them to tell their children to smile, or to order them around in any way. Younger kids especially don't know how to fake a smile, and when they try they usually end up looking constipated. :) It's enough to just talk to them, and let their natural happy expressions come out when they talk about something they like.

San Francisco Night Engagement Session

Karen and David

(a bartender at Fuse celebrates Karen and David's engagement by fixing up some complementary fire shots; a mixture of Malibu, pineapple, and 151, poured into shot glasses and lit on fire)

My session with Karen and David was awesome and HOT (in more ways than one); easily one of my favorite E sessions of all time.

From the beginning the couple had expressed a desire for something new and different, with perhaps a bit of an urban/edgy feel. After weeks of thinking about where to start shooting, they chose the Mint bar on Market St.; a location with sentimental value from early in their relationship. They also wanted to incorporate some of the city's famous neon signage in their pictures, such as the marquee of the Presidio theater and the strip clubs around North Beach. We planned to meet shortly before sunset, and continue beyond dusk to catch the different parts of the city as they were lit up for the night.

I was a bit worried when I saw it was going to rain; of course I've shot E sessions in the rain before with no problem, but usually in the park or other places that provide some partial cover. I knew that if the couple felt cold or uncomfortable it would be hard to get good expressions from them, and we might have to reschedule. But K & D really were up for anything, and didn't mind getting a little wet...of course it probably helped that we started in a bar, and then hit another bar about halfway through to warm up both inside and out. In the end the weather turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the wet, foggy atmosphere gave the streetlights and neon signs a kind of mystical glow, and the water on the ground provided lots of cool reflections to play with in the pictures.

Karen and David were SO much fun to hang out with, and so easy to shoot--their chemistry is undeniable. They had lots of ideas and suggestions of their own, and we often found ourselves noticing the same place or having the same idea at the same moment. Furthermore they trusted me completely, and were not afraid to try new things or feel a little silly for the sake of good photography.

Here are a few teaser pics (more than usual because I am just so in love with them);

Inside the Mint



walking around the Presidio area


on to Broadway and Chestnut




(thanks to my friend Ed Pingol for the inspiration)

ending up in Chinatown at 11:30PM, (4 hours of shooting! time just flew by)


The rest of the images will be posted here by the middle of May.

Edit: someone asked about my lighting--most of the images were lit with an off camera Qflash (in the hands of my totally awesome and quite-a-trooper intern Gerald), gelled with 1/2CTO and with a 20 deg. grid. The sitting on the bar image also included on camera flash bounced off the ceiling for fill.

Couture Accessories for any bride

I have developed kind of a thing for designer shoes, especially heels. For all stylish bridal accessories, really. I just love a good shoe or dress or jewelry shot. These items are the first thing I look for when I enter the bridal room and the first thing I usually photograph, when nothing is really happening yet and I have the time to walk them around a bit and look for new and creative ways to shoot them.

And, while getting married can be a great excuse to buy some amazing accessories, not everyone can afford to devote thousands to their purchase. But now, thanks to a website called Bag Borrow or Steal, even brides on a budget can afford couture!

The website offers you the opportunity to "borrow" (aka lease) 100% authentic designer bags, purses, and other accessories on a weekly or monthly basis, for a fraction of what the items cost to own. They have things from famous designers like Chanel, Gucci, and Hermes, and even have a whole bridal section devoted to wedding-specific items.

Here is just a taste of what I found in my first few minutes on the site:

Vera Wang Double Diamond Earrings $128.00/week or $375.00/month


Rosiblu Pave cuff bracelt (13.97 carats!) $265.00/week or $795.00/month


Leiber 'Slender Curve" evening handbag $51.00/week or $150.00/month


Don't miss the vintage collection. Hermes midnight blue vintage Birkin bag; $816.00/week or $2,400.00/month


I happen to have picked some of the more costly items on there, but there are plenty of beautiful bags and jewelry pieces to be had for $50-$150 per week. So go there now, and borrow something fabulous for me to photograph on your wedding day! :)

Thanks to my friend Angela Anderson for tipping me off to this resource!
(all jewelry and bag pictures (c) bagborroworsteal.com)

WPJA Top 100 Wedding Photojournalists in the World Announced

Last week, the WPJA announced their list of the Top 100 wedding PJs in the world for 2007...and to my great surprise and elation I found out I am on it! :)

The list is based on each photographer's winning images from the previous year; you can read more about the WPJA's conditions for membership and their challenging contest requirements in my post about my latest win from a few months ago. Given that their membership extends well into the thousands, I probably don't need to say what an accomplishment and an honor this is... And it becomes even more so when you factor in rankings by state or city.

For example, the 93rd-ranked WPJA member is actually #1 in Florida. The 96th-ranked is #1 in Singapore. And so on. And even the lowest ranked photographer for any given state or city is still well above the hundreds or thousands of other photographers in that area who didn't make the list in the first place.

As for California, I happen to be in the top ten. :)

Here's the list

Flourish Pt. 2 (finally)

The results

I was really happy with my images from Day 2 of Flourish Workshop: the bridals and Lights Out sessions especially. I am hoping to do more of both of these this year. Taking bridal portraits is not really something that we do on the West Coast, perhaps because of the stigma of formal, stuffy, cheesy studio photography that the genre has endured. Yet brides out here put just as much thought into their dress, and their overall wedding look, as do brides in the South or East...sometimes even more so. With all of the cool location possibilities that exist in the Bay Area, I think it would be a no-brainer to reframe the bridal portrait as a way to express the individuality and real beauty of the bride on her own, without her partner in tow. And although these bridals were shot in the studio, the variety of set design and lighting gave all three women a very distinct look and feel:

Soft and classically romantic Erica (gown by Romona Keveza)




Clean and modern (and kinda sultry) Sarah (gown by Amsale)





Quirky, avant-garde Leah (gown by Paloma Blanca)




And one shot to convey the papparazzi-like atmosphere of the sessions:



The Lights Out shoot began with Kitty going over her approach and what inspires her to do this kind of work. Her work is very much about creating a fantasy...but not the cliche, bubblegum-fake Playboy starlet fantasy that currently dominates the boudoir genre. For her the illusion is not about altering reality; rather it is a place for a woman to find herself by becoming something else...by adopting a character (or caricature) and giving herself permission to play.

One of my favorite quotes from Kitty's presentation was, "Put a woman in a costume, and she will act. Put a woman in her underwear, and she will hide." It is because of the fantastical nature of these shoots that she finds the courage to be the beautiful, sexy person that she truly is; free from the limits and expectations that come with being "herself."

I am fascinated by this approach for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it shares a common inspiration with my wedding images. Showing brides how beautiful they are while staying true to who they are is and always has been a huge part of my wedding work. Of course the interplay between fantasy and reality is a huge part of weddings as well, and it is always interesting to see how each couple takes the tradition of the wedding day and makes it their own. I have shot many intimate portraits on request, but it's not something I ever advertised...mainly because I feared that it would be misinterpreted, and might put off some of my more traditional brides. But now that I've found a way to reconcile it, and a language to explain why I do both and what I'm trying to accomplish, I can see that changing. :)

Here are my images from the Lights Out shoot: (mature content ahoy!)

Denise
I love the way the shadow of the camera gives this shot a touch of voyeuristic thrill



Sarah

this shot makes me think of Uma Thurman circa Pulp Fiction for some reason


Kristen

I love that her red velvet shoes are just barely visible here



We also did an Engagement shoot at Flourish. I am very well versed in shooting E sessions, but it was fun to shoot one in a real winter environment for once!

Sam & Lizzie


and with a little extra flavor:

Angela & Luke


If Day 1 of Flourish dealt with all things practical, Day 3 dealt with all things artistic. We covered Photoshop first, specifically how (and why) to retouch images from the Lights Out and similar intimate portraits. Kitty again talked about treading the fine line between the fantastical and the real, and showed us how to do subtle body retouching to smooth imperfections while still retaining the overall natural look of the woman's body. Kim went over her Lightroom workflow for editing and post production. And Angela discussed creative album design.

Speaking of which, I am very excited to debut my new Couture Book line of albums for weddings shot in 2008; these books will offer an alternative to the straightforward flush mount wedding book that is made up solely of images. Each Couture book is the result of an intense collaboration between the photographer (me) and my handpicked professional graphic designer, combining beautiful storytelling images with elements of design, texture, color, and line art, all of which will be influenced by the look and feel of your wedding including invitations, monograms, fonts, decor, colors, flowers, etc. The result is an art book that is entirely your own, reflecting the intrinsic feel of the wedding and the couple themselves, that elevates your wedding story to a work of art. No two books will look anything alike...because no two weddings are entirely alike. More details and images on the new Couture book to come soon...

When all is said and done, the most important thing I took home from Flourish was a sense of how crucial it is as a photographer to be yourself. You can't be all things to all people, so don't even try...instead, find what you truly love to do, what you are good at, and do THAT. Once you do, you'll find yourself loving every aspect of your work...and surrounded by clients who support your vision.

Shoutouts:

Dresses courtesy of Bluegrass Bride
Makeup by Ana Crane-Simpson
Hair by Rodney Farmer, Salon Figaro
Studio lighting and set design by Angela Anderson and husband/cinematographer Gary, Kitty Maer
Kim Reed, Kitty Maer, and Angela Anderson for being so generous with their knowledge
And special thanks to all the women and couples, none of whom are professional models, who gifted us with their time and their permission to post images publicly.