Blog

Artwork photography workshop

2012-02-28T13:00:45Z

For the past few years I've tought a short workshop to Corcoran book-arts students about photographing their artwork. In this workshops I focus on simple techniques that don't require a lot of equipment.

One of the things I like best about these workshops is getting to see the student work. Most of the time the students are early in their studies, so a lot of them have the same basic types of books. Where the work differs is the content they put in, and the artwork that fills the book.

Book Arts students preparing to photograph artwork.

Corporate Photography - Fundraising Gala

2012-02-21T13:00:46Z

Non-profits all over the country use fundraising events and galas as ways to meet their operating budgets as well as raise money for new endeavors. Over the past few years, I've photographed a number of fundraising events for organizations around the washington area, and I've seen first hand that when the events are well run, they can be extremely benificial to the organization hosting them.

Continue reading about the importance of photography at a fundraiser

Wedding Photography - Engagement session at Longwood Gardens

2011-12-19T13:00:17Z

I am originally from Pennsylvania, and occasionally go back there to photograph weddings and other things.

I recently went back to Longwood Gardens (where I hadn't been in years) to photograph Joanna and Del's engagement pictures.

Corporate Photography - Portraits in a museum

2011-12-12T13:00:41Z

One of my larger projects this year was to make portraits of the senior management at the Corcoran.

When I've photographed management at the Corcoran in the past, it's mostly been on an individual basis, making it hard to get a good cohesive group of images. This time we were able to shoot everyone against the same white seamless with the same lighting, as well as in a space around the gallery.

This time, I had a dozen different people to photograph over two days. I brought an assistant, and had help from the Corcoran's communications department in scheduling everyone.

I've previously written about taking photographs in a museum. Many of the same considerations of copyright and permissions came into play when making these portraits. When scouting the different locations, I had a list of approved artwork that could be shown in photographs.

Wedding Photography - Meg and Dan

2011-10-27T12:00:57Z

Meg and Dan's wedding in was in the beautiful St. Agnes Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Wedding Photography - Allie and Jon's Wedding

2011-10-18T12:00:17Z

A few months ago I posted Allie and Jon's engagement photos in Old Town Alexandria, and this is the follow up post with their wedding images.

Their ceremony was at The Falls Church, and their reception was at Oxon Hill Manor. It was the first time I had photographed at each venue. The rules for photography at The Falls Church were fairly strict. Their biggest concern I think was the sound of the camera echoing around the mostly wooden sanctuary. To get around the issue of sound, I met with a representative from the church ahead of time, and got the OK to use a Camera Muzzle to quiet my camera.

Allie and Jon were both great to photograph, they each had a great sense of humor and were a blast to work with.

Wedding Photography - Getting Ready

2011-10-11T13:00:57Z

My favorite part of each wedding I photograph is the time before the ceremony when the bride and groom are getting ready. I enjoy interacting with the bridal party in an informal setting before the commotion of the ceremony and reception start. I think it also makes for some of the most fun pictures from the day.

Corporate Photography - Portraits on a blue backdrop

2011-07-26T12:00:23Z

Earlier this summer, I shot portraits of the staff for The Corcoran's pre-college program. Some of the people I had already met through my work at The Corcoran, but most I had not. The portraits were scheduled during a break in training for the summer staff. I was able to spend enough time with each person to get some of their personality to show through in the images.

Wedding Photography - Allie and Jon's Engagement Photos

2011-07-20T12:00:14Z

A few months back, I shot some portraits for Allie and Jon. I was also the photographer at their wedding a few weeks after that, so more pictures of them will showing up on my blog soon.

We took the pictures in Old Town Alexandria along the waterfront. Thankfully the rain held off for a little while, and we were able to spend a few hours making some pictures outside. Both Allie and Jon were great to work with. The best pictures came when I took a step back, and letting them be themselves together.

Corporate Photography - Festival

2011-03-30T16:00:07Z

A few weekends ago I photographed a cultural festival for interns spending their semester in Washington. I photographed the same event last year, so I knew what to expect the second time around.

I knew before hand that the images are going to be used in two ways. In the short term, the photos were posted online for the event attendees to view. The longer usage is in support of the collateral material produced in house by the organization. To meet both of these needs, I was looking to feature as many of the guests as possible, and also produce images that fit the organization's visual style.

More Images after the jump

Corporate Photography - Lectures

2011-03-23T15:00:07Z

Last week I had a fun assignment for one of my semi-regular clients. They were looking for new images for use in their annual report. They were looking for un-posed images shot with a shallow depth of field to fit their corporate branding identity. The images below were shot before, during, and after a panel lecture. The lecture was at a newly constructed building, so there were plenty of contemporary locations to shoot.

More images after the Jump

Personal Work - Building Museum

2011-03-17T12:00:59Z

The image below is from a trip I made a few weeks ago to the National Building Museum. The sunlight shinning through the buildings ceiling made for dramatic patches of light across the different levels of the building.

If you're in DC, I recommend checking out the building museum. They have an impressive exhibition of Lego Architecture on display until September 5th, 2011.

How I Archive my Digital Images

2011-03-03T12:00:52Z

I recently had a non-photographer friend ask how I archive my photos. In short, I'm probably a little neurotic of how I keep my archive secure. This post isn't going to explain my whole strategy for Digital Asset Management, it's just an overview of how I safegaurd my archive. I keep every image that I shoot, and work hard to ensure that they won't be lost due to theft, fire, corruption, or act-of-god.

The heart of my archive resides on 4 hard drives on my desk. These drives contain all of my raw images for the past three years. All of the drives are configured in a RAID 1 setup, meaning that each unit is physically two hard drives but they're acting as one. When I copy an image to the RAID drive, an exact copy is written to both drives simultaneously.

Whenever I copy an image folder onto my desktop archive, I also copy it to a portable hard drive that I keep in my camera bag. The portable drive serves as a short term off site backup in case anything happens to my desktop archive. It also serves the added function of giving me easy acces to my recent images at any time.

Once a hard drive is full, I copy it to a seperate drive, and take that drive to Pennsylvania to sit in a box in my parents house. The drives in Pennsylvania serve as a perminent off-site backup in case my desktop drives fail, are stolen, or my apartment catches fire.

The image below is of my desktop hard drives.

The first four drives are my photo archive, the last is my full computer backup.

Wedding Photography - New Services

2011-01-26T13:00:17Z

December and January are typically my slowest time of year for assignments. The Corcoran is between semesters, and not many people are getting married out in the cold. When I wasn't travelling this year, I used the extra time at my desk to update my website, and to set up a few new services for clients.

The biggest change to my website and services are the new packages and services I'm offering for my wedding photography. The new thing that I'm most excited about is the addition of on-site printing. In the spring, I'm going to begin using the printer on-site at weddings, so guests can take a print with them when the day is over.

Corporate Photography - Clips

2011-01-12T13:00:06Z

It's always nice when I get to shoot for a very specific layout. The image in the clip below was shot specifically for the front of this brochure. Knowing exactly how the image was going to be used was a great help in composing it. The difficulty in this shoot was to capture three VERY tall pieces of artwork in a long horizontal image. I shot from a few different angles within the gallery to give the Corcoran's design office options when they lay out the page.

In the end, I am not surprised with the image they chose. The photo prominently features one of the main works on display, and easily shows what they exhibition is about in a clean layout.

Click on the image to see the original.

Personal Work - Photographing Musicians

2011-01-04T13:00:32Z

I don't normally photograph concerts or shows, but every once in a while it's something fun and different to do. The images below are from a show at the Rock and Roll Hotel in DC at the end of December. My friend Curren, from the Corcoran, asked me to photograph a holiday show that her band was playing.

More images after the jump

Corporate Photography - Interior Design Presentations

2010-12-23T13:00:21Z

Photographing critiques at The Corcoran can make for some of my favorite images. It's a great way to get candid interaction between students and faculty. It's also interesting for me to hear students and faculty talk about work in areas that I'm not very familiar. The images below are from an interior design critique at the Corcoran's Georgetown campus. I don't know very much about interior design, but I've had the chance over the last year or two to get a glimpse of just how much thought goes in to designing or renovating a home or business space.

Interior Design Critique at The Corcoran

Corporate Photography - Dancers

2010-12-21T13:00:19Z

The Corcoran currently has a show of work by Artist Spencer Finch, including a few pieces that are site specific to The Corcoran. One of Spencer Finch's pieces that is specific to the Corcoran is a large blue sculpture suspended from the ceiling of the rotunda. The sculpture is a representation of a passing cloud and a passing meeting between Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln.

Earlier in December, Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company dancers performed a site specific dance inspired by the sculpture.

Corporate Photography - Interior Triptych

2010-11-22T13:00:09Z

The triptych below is from a recent shoot I did for The Corcoran. The assignment was to shoot the galleries atrium while the images from fotoweek were on display. The image below is a slightly different view of the south side of the atrium.

Corporate Photography - Photographing Lectures

2010-11-17T13:00:49Z

Recently, I had someone ask me how I get different pictures every time I photograph a lecture at the Corcoran. The lectures are held mostly in a semi-circle shaped auditorium, that isn't lit particularly well for photos.

Each of the people who come to speak at The Corcoran have different mannerisms, and ways of interacting with the audience. The images from the last event I shot are the perfect example of how subtle differences in each speaker or presentation can make for completely different pictures. At these events, the best pictures usually come at the beginning and end of the lecture when the lights are all up, and the speakers are interacting with the audience. I always keep my eyes out for pictures at other times during the evening. The images below were shot when the lecturer, Rick Valicenti, was standing in a mis-aligned spot light.