Not Your Box Store Conglomerate Portrait Studio

I find it funny every time I go shopping for groceries at my local conglomerate super store. Yes, I am admitting that I shop at the damn place although I do my best to support local small business as much as I can.  Anyways, whenever I walk past the portrait studio, I see multiple families waiting in line with their screaming and "I'm hungry" kids for some teenager that is getting paid minimum wage to press a button on a camera which was set by some district manager over the department who pays a visit once a month to make sure that the permanent lighting setup and camera settings are congruent for the boring seamless or muslin background that everyone of it's customers are shot on.  And let's not forget to tighten the screws on the tin wash pan to stick the baby in...

Why hire a Professional Photographer?  More after the jump...

Simple Eloquence

There is nothing more satisfying that shooting some simple head shot and test images.  No studio, no extravagant and complicated multiple light setups, and no worries of art directors, assistants, or makeup and hair artists fussing over keeping each strand of hair in place.  For this post, I was commissioned by the lovely Ashley Eliza Parker to update her head shots for her acting and modeling resume.
More after the jump>

"Disintegration" Behind the Scenes

I finally got around to edited the behind the scenes footage from the recent themed Disintegration Shoot I had the honor in collaborating with some very talented people.  This shoot was 2 months in the making and about 80 hours of post production.   If you haven't seen the Video on my Youtube Channel, turn up your speakers and lend me 14 minutes of your time.  

Help Portrait 2011

I am priveledged and honored to once again be invited to participate in this year's Help Portrait event held in my local capital of Salt Lake City.  If you haven't heard about Help Portrait and you are an amateur or professional photographer, you need to stop what you are doing right now and check out the link.  In a nutshell, Help Portrait is an annual international event started by Jeremy Cowart where photographers all around the world grab there cameras and donate their time and talents, finding people in need, and taking their picture.  We then edit, print, and deliver the image to the people on the spot.  The people could be those of less fortune, including homeless, single parents, low income families, and pretty much anyone who wants to come get there portrait taken.

These images aren't for financial gain, portfolios, or taking the picture.  In Jeremy Cowarts words, Help Portrait is about GIVING the picture.

Help Portrait Promotional Video

See some of the amazing images from our local Help Portrait Event and dive into some of the heart felt emotions shared that day after the jump.

Find the "Hero" of your image

Model: Emilyne MUA: Heather Shelton

Many photographers both amateur and professional alike tend to shoot images of gorgeous people, or should I say people that are deemed beautiful by today's western culture and society.  Travel back in time 150 years and you'll hardly find that that a size 4 was considered to be attractive.  I am not stating that a there is anything wrong being a size 4 or size 24, but I'm rather leading this post to making a point about photographing fashion.
What makes a photograph fit in the genre of fashion?  Is it the outfit, pose, or model?
More after the jump

Le Vino Rouge- A New Behind the Scenes Video

*A Quick Note:  I recently signed up for Google Plus which conveniently links all user account related apps together including this blog.  I was not reading the fine print and accidentally deleted a default album which happened to contain ALL the images this blog ever had posted.  As you can imagine, my frustration cannot be described in politically correct terms as I now have the task of attempting to reload all the images for nearly 2 years of posts.  I cannot guarantee I will get this done as I am having to work on it in my spare time.

On a lighter note, this post is about a recent collaboration I did with Audrey,  a local cosmetologist and part-time model that  approached me with this creative and unique concept about love, wine, and elegance.  I was instantly on board with this concept as I felt it would be a great opportunity to share some basic lighting techniques and film another behind the scenes video and Strobist tutorial.  And Audrey does such great work with hair, I had to work with her again.  I initially met Audrey during the Audrey Hepburn and Jean Harlow shoots as she did the hair.
See more images and the Video after the jump...

Marie + Wayne

I met Marie last year during another wedding I was shooting.  She happened to be a coworker of my friend and partner in crime.  Business cards were exchanged and nearly a year later, I was pleasantly suprised when she gave me call asking Chris and I to cover her wedding.  Chris as usual would be handling the video and I would be producing the the still photography.