Portrait in the Park....

Past client, Art Tabuenca was in town from San Luis Obispo and we met up to do some quick headshots in time for the launch of one of his new products. He's the CEO of Blue Marble, a firm that specializes in socially responsible investing. If you've got dough you want to invest and want a portfolio that is guilt free, he's the man to talk to.



We shot it at a Bixby park and walked around looking for the right combination of grass and trees. It was a little tricky to get a clean background because everywhere there are parked cars and people milling about. I brought a step ladder with me on the Xtracycle to give me some height so I could fill the background with grass instead of someone's F-150.

White Balance magic....

I decided to try out some white balance techniques I've been playing with. I shot this portrait in shaded daylight. I set my camera's white balance to Tungsten, so everything had a bluish tint. I then set up a strobe with a tungsten gel so that my subject would be properly exposed. The end result is a nice moody portrait right in the middle of the day.

Constructed Realities

This weekend I did a photo shoot for a local development company, Conduit Development. Their growing speciality is building with ICF, or insulated concrete forms. Basically, instead of using wood to frame a house, they use foam forms that shape the walls which is eventually filled with concrete. This creates a solid, well insulated, fireproof and more eco-friendly structure.

I was hired to shoot some portraits of the principals as well as some lifestyle images telling the story of a family moving into a new home built by Conduit. I got to work with real clients who were actually walking through the frame of their new house. It was a fun shoot but also a challenge. I had to direct people but also keep it loose enough so the images look natural.

Shoots like this take lots of quick thinking. I had a storyboard of some images I knew I wanted to get, but I also had to keep myself open to impromptu images.