Photo by Alex Thorne Photography

By Alex Thorne

A Burke, Va., financial services firm needed portraits for their website and the initial request seemed pretty straight forward.  However, after a face-to-face meeting with the client, the project grew into an interesting opportunity to help the company present a more personal image to the public.

The client had expressed an interest in showing off their newly decorated offices.  In addition to formal headshots, I also recommended that we capture some images of the staff with the office as the background.  The shoot really developed into a nice combination of formal and intimate images that really capture the firm’s personality.

I wanted the informal portraits to look natural, so I decided not to use any flash lighting for these images.  I only had artificial light to work with, so in order to fill in the shadows from the overhead lights, I needed to us a handheld reflector.  I tapped one of the employees to be my assistant and directed her on how to direct the light onto the subjects face.  I used a 50mm lens at f/1.6 to get some separation from the background and to make the subject almost pop out from the rest of the image.

Photo by Alex Thorne Photography

I think these images demonstrate how adding informal portraits to a company’s stock of headshots can go a long way in presenting its employees’ personal side.  You can see more images in my portrait gallery by clicking here.

Below are a few more examples from the shoot showing both formal and informal portraits of the staff.

Photo by Alex Thorne Photography

Photo by Alex Thorne Photography

Photo by Alex Thorne Photography

Photo By Mike Mitchell

By Alex Thorne

It’s a classic storyline:  someone discovers some old negatives they shot a long time ago and sells them for big bucks.  But for Mike Mitchell, his struggles with depression and finances makes this story particularly uplifting.

The Washington Post’s Manual Roig-Franzia brings to life Mitchell’s passion for photography, along with his personal trials and triumphs by weaving the theme of light throughout the entire article.  Anyone who loves photography and using light for creative effect will be inspired by this read.

From The Washington Post:

“When things are good, when sadness gives way to peace, life rhymes for Mike Mitchell. That’s the way he puts it.

It rhymes. He hears it, though you may not. A private poetry reading for one.

Of all the things that rhyme for Mike Mitchell, nothing rhymes like light. There it is, off in the clouds. A burst, describing momentary squiggles of brilliance in the sky. He sees it and he listens to it, though it makes not a sound. Lightning in the thunderhead. One silent burst, and it’s gone.”

Continue reading here–>>

Click here to view a slideshow if Mitchell’s images.

Every now and then, stepping away from your own work and taking a look at what other photographers are doing can boost the creative juices.  I found the following list in an article written by Katy Cowan at Creative Boom.  Each site brings a new and interesting perspective to photography.  I particularly like the Guardian In Pictures iPad app that has professional tips in the caption of each shot.  And then there is the 50mm site, which I was naturally drawn to as my all-time favorite lens is the 50.  One of these days I’m going to write an article about why it is the most beautiful lens to shoot with.

Enjoy!

1. The Big Picture: Inspiring news stories in pictures, created by the picture editors at The Boston Globe.

2. Guardian In Pictures: The Guardian’s own popular ‘news in pictures’ section. And if you download the iPad app you’ll be able to follow ‘pro tips’, learning how to take similar shots.

3. 50mm: An inspiring blog by photographer Sean Wood… just as you’d hope and expect – great shots that dominate the web page and allow easy browsing.

4. Fish Spa: A photography blog with huge images to browse through. Great for a dose of inspiration first thing in the morning.

5. They Shoot Film: They Shoot Film is a photo collective started by two photographers, Patrice Esser (on sabbatical) and Garrick Fujii. They are based in San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively.

6. David Kleinert Photography: Daily fauna, flora and landscape images from Australia.

7. Joe McNally: The thoughts, notions, and ideas here come from thirty years in the field as a shooter… Follow famous photographer Joe McNally and his blog.

8. I Heart Faces: An inspiring blog with weekly photo challenges, tutorials, tips & lots of fun! They welcome all levels of photographers, bloggers and moms with cameras.

9. Flickr Blog: The companion blog to Flickr, showcasing a huge range of photography from across the globe.

10. Shutter Sisters: This is one of my favourite blogs with a range of beautiful photography shot by a bunch of talented, female photographers. Check it out!

Andrew Smith

Yes, not hard to do well at all, but as you can see from my previous post, “Food Photography Gone Wrong,” too many people just don’t take the time to do it right.

I’m not sure what it is about food photography that I find so interesting.  Maybe it has something to do with my appreciation for a professional photographer’s ability to turn rather ordinary subject matter into works of art.

Or, as a recent Guardian article that sparked my interest in writing this post starts out:

The structure of familiar foods, when examined closely and artfully lit can be fascinating and ‘Tagliatelle’, ‘Spaghetti’ and ‘Macaroni’ are all good examples of this.

Andrew Scrivani

The images in the Guardian article, which seems to have a fetish for the subject matter, are hi-quality work.  However, just about anyone who takes the time and follows a few simple tips can produce attractive images according to Andrew Scrivani, a freelance photographer for the New York Times.  His article covers shooting the whole table, but his tips can also apply to food as well.

Thomas Houston follows up on Scivani’s article, literally, with his quick tips for better food photography.  To sum up: manually set your white balance, keep it simple, close-up compositions, use natural light and a tripod, avoid using flash unless you know what you’re doing, bump up your ISO, and use a fast lens.

Speaking of fetishes…

Now if you’re on the cutting edge and think the photography industry is ready for a convergence between food and fashion photography, and you’ve been wondering why it took the world so long to invent waffle trousers, check out Boonie Alter’s article which starts out with:

Just when you thought that you had eaten enough for the next month…we bring you Hunger Pains. It’s fashion and food photography coming together in a vegetarian way.

Photographed by Ted Sabarese, a New Yorker, he is portraying his fascination with people and the food

Waffle Fashion

that they eat. The models are wearing clothes (made entirely of real food) that depict a meal each was craving. Hmmmm, some strange food fetishes here.

As a portrait photographer, I’ll give this one a two bananas up!

And let’s not forget Lady Gaga’s meat dress either.

Lady Gaga Meat Dress

Pete Souza and President Obama

Tonight’s National Geographic on PBS will be chronicling the daily life of Pete Souza, President Obama’s official photographer.  This should be a fascinating look at one of the most elite photography assignments in the industry.

But, as today’s Washington Post review of “The President’s Photographer” points out, this assignment has one of the most grueling schedules imaginable.  Up at dawn, shoot all day, and an endless stream of grip-and-grins to feed the White House’s PR machine.

Souza’s resume is impressive.  Some of the highlights also include being an Official White House Photographer for President Reagan, and a New York Times bestseller titled, “The Rise of Barack Obama.”

Here’s more from The Washington Post’s review of the program:

“The President’s Photographer” follows Souza following Obama last winter, as the health-care reform effort begins to quiver under the weight of compromise. Contrasted with Souza’s earlier stills from Obama’s 2008 victory, the shots have suddenly become more grim. A White House photographer’s daily output must capture the full spectrum of a public face that is often starkly contrasted with the private mood.

Perhaps only Bo the Dog and personal aide Reggie Love have better access to Obama than Souza, who is a constant presence with a couple of cameras slung over his droopy shoulders. Both Bo and Love figure prominently in some of the memorable shots Souza has taken so far; the president, we learn, is particularly enamored of a photograph of himself blocking Love’s shot on the basketball court.

Read more–>>

Jane Fonda was arrested in 1970 for possession of suspicious pills and for kicking the policeman who arrested her. The pills turned out to be vitamins; the charges were eventually dropped.

By Alex Thorne

As portrait photographers, we become sensitive to people’s emotions and expressions when they are in front of the camera.  We see a lot of genuine and sometimes not so genuine smiles, laughs and other expressions as we get people to pose for us.  However, in the book Mug Shots: An Archive of the Famous, Infamous, and Most Wanted, Raynal Pellicer shows us another side of many famous personalities.  These shots capture a completely different set of expressions not normally seen in a traditional portrait – which I at least find interesting.

Pellicer’s book looks back through 100 years of archived mug shots to reveal a who’s who of some of history’s most influential and infamous personalities.  We are used to seeing these personalities when they are performing for the camera or in front of large audiences; however these images take on an eerie and intimate quality that draws the viewer closer.

The mug shots are pure, unadulterated emotion and an interesting break from the everyday portrait.  Click here to view a slideshow of sample images from the book.  Maybe mug shots aren’t art, but they are fascinating to view.

We all probably have seen many examples of bad food photography, but some of the images captured by Harmon Leon at the San Francisco Chronicle top the list of worst food photography.

Check out this quick read here –>>

Obviously, food photography’s purpose is to make the restaurant’s food appetizing, however as you will see, these images backfire in a big way!  Leon has posted several articles about food photography, starting with this story that focuses on restaurants in and around Market Street in San Francisco.

Here’s one of my favorite shots with the caption from the article included.

The restaurant Munch Haven's photo seems to be asking, "How about some pasta topped with whatever was scooped up after that horrific auto accident?"

And finally, check out the first picture on Leon’s second posting that begins with a photo of Sweet and Sour Pork.  Now doesn’t this look delicious!

If you want to see food photography done right, check out Virginia’s own Stewart Photography’s food gallery.  Now there’s something you would want to sink your teeth into.

Image via Wikipedia

By Alex Thorne

An interesting photography exhibit just opened up in Washington, DC at the Phillips Collection. Titled, Truth Beauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945, the show takes you back to the early days of photography, as some early enthusiasts attempted to transform the “fussy craft” into an art form.

Here’s more form the Washington Post:

In 1917, when Marcel Duchamp took a lowly urinal and declared it a sculpture called “Fountain,” he made one of the most original, important moves in all of modern art.

The strange thing is, he’d been beaten to the punch by an artistic movement that was just fading out at that moment and seemed to stand for everything he didn’t.

Read more of the Post’s article–>>

Image by kharied via Flickr

Posted By Alex Thorne

When the photographer Philippe Halsman said, “Jump,” no one asked how high. People simply pushed off or leapt up to the extent that physical ability and personal decorum allowed. In that airborne instant Mr. Halsman clicked the shutter. He called his method jumpology.

Read more–>>