Bikini in January...

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of working with Jennifer, a new model from Maine, who has a lot of natural talent.  Although this is the middle of winter, we planned an outdoor shoot in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.  (I'm sure everybody has seen a picture of the Portland Head Light, located on the property of Fort Williams.)






Being January, we could only hope for decent weather... and we were pleasantly given sunshine and temperatures near 45 degrees.  (not quite warm enough for a bikini, but...)  Unfortunately, a relatively warm day in Maine also brings out a LOT of people.  I have to give the models I work with a lot of credit.  Although I try to be easy going, if this is our first shoot, I am essentially a stranger to the young woman I am working with.  That itself has to make looking great in photographs that much harder.  But add constant bystanders and gawkers, and the task becomes that much more of a challenge.  Jennifer persevered, as the images we created turned out wonderful.  I look forward to working with Jennifer again, in the warmth and solitude of a nice studio.  I'm sure she too will appreciate that.

Wintery shoot for acting headshots

A model I had recently worked with asked if I would be interested in helping her friend get some shots for her acting portfolio. Jessi and I planned met on a cold, overcast Sunday.  I proposed the idea of using a stone or brick background for these images, and Jessi identified an awesome location near the City Hall in Methuen, MA.  Although it was cold and damp, Jessi was awesome at following directions for posing. You can check out her profile at www.jessimccarthy.exploretalent.com.

For the technical readers: I brought along my portable lighting gear, consisting of sealed lead acid battery powered Vivitar 283s, Cybersync remote triggers, and foldable softbox and umbrellas.  I had shot outside all morning with a model, and these lights never once showed signs of slowing down as Jessi and I worked till dark.  Check back soon for some upcoming technical posts on the gear and custom modifications I use.

Portraiture in the great outdoors

This past Sunday, Shannon and I braved a cold New England morning to create some amazing editorial shots.  We were at a historic farm in North Andover, MA, with the most amazing gardens.  While all was snow covered, this location proved to have a great variety of areas to photographer a beautiful model.  (I'll be adding this location of places to shoot in the spring and summer, as I can only imagine how gorgeous the gardens will be in full bloom.)

Shannon and I had recently worked together on a lingerie shoot, so this time we decided to go for a more editorial/lifestyle look.  Shannon brought a whole wardrobe of clothes to the location and made good use of many of them.  One of the lessons from this shoot, was that when shooting outdoors on cold December days, to bring plenty of chemical handwarmers for the model.  In the end, we got some amazing shots like the one shown here.  Perhaps someday soon, you'll be thumbing through a clothing catalog and see Shannon on the page, looking similar to this.

Three models in lingerie - iPhone application shoot

Yesterday I spent 14 hours in the studio shooting over 7300 images for a soon to be release iPhone application. I'll post more info about the application when it gets released, but these sample images of Shannon, Chrissy, and Krys below should make you want to download to your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Photographing children takes a different set of skills.

Last month I agreed to photograph a coworker's young son at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. Daniel was such a ball of energy.

I learned two important lessons that day...

1. Use the fastest shutter speed you can manage, with the smallest aperture for greater depth of field. Kids are fast.. I mean real fast. You have to use whatever you can to avoid blurry images.

2. If you want to use bubbles to get the child to look where you want, make sure you are downwind, otherwise they will follow the bubbles away from you. Kids are unpredictable. Although I thought he would head toward mom, who was blowing the bubbles, Daniel had a lot more fun chasing the bubbles already floating in the wind. This gave me some great shots of the back of his head.

The was a fun, but humbling experience. Photographing children is something every portrait photographer should try at least once.

Ashes in the woods

Ashes and I started planning this shoot a month ago. We came up with doing a woodland theme, and incorporating the concept of her being a wood nymph into the theme. We met in Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham, NH.

I'd never been to this location, but I have heard it's praises from many outdoor types. I got to the site an hour early to scout out possible shoot locations. I found a great area with large boulders and plenty of trees (well, it is a forest.) Ashes was a blast to work with, and in between swatting at mosquitoes, we got some great shots.

An evening shoot in Portsmouth

It's been hot and humid in the Seacoast for the past few days, but that didn't stop me from meeting Heather at Prescott Park, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I've been trying to coordinate a shoot with Heather for months, and I wasn't about to let a little heat stop that. Prescott Park has some amazing flower gardens, which really accented Heather's beauty well. We picked up a couple admirers (young girls) who were so cute, when they shyly asked me to give Heather some flowers they had picked.

We soon packed up and moved over to Four Tree Island, just over the bridge from the park. A couple of wardrobe changes later and we caught some incredible setting sunlight. After a few more shots back in Prescott Park, we headed downtown. In her stunning little black dress, it wasn't the little girls who were admiring Heather.

I broke out the portable softbox, as the night settled in. We got some really cool brick building and stairway shots, in this very busy part of town. Heather was such a pro, and pleasure to work with. See more images of Heather in her gallery..