Bloghttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/en-US2010-03-19T00:45:16ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.3 (http://www.squarespace.com/)International Students in Washingtonhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/3/17/international-students-in-washington.htmlDenny2010-03-17T12:00:53ZWashington DC corporate photography event photography photography Last week I got a last minute corporate photo assignment to shoot a cultural event for interns that are spending a semester in Washington. Most of the students were from outside the United States, and the idea of the festival was that they would all share the culture of the countries they're from. By the end of the night, about half the crowd was signing and dancing, which made for fun shooting.

]]>Outtake from a Festivalhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/3/15/outtake-from-a-festival.htmlDenny2010-03-15T12:00:25Zcorporate photography outtakes photo photographyBefore every shoot, I have some idea of the types of images I'm going to be making or looking for. On some shoots such as portraits and weddings, I have very specific ideas of what's needed. Other times I have a more general idea of what the final product is going to be, and have to see what I can do on the spot.

Every so often I come across images that aren't really what I was looking for, and don't fit the assignment, but I have to shoot it anyway.

]]>Thomas Demand at the Corcoranhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/3/10/thomas-demand-at-the-corcoran.htmlDenny2010-03-10T13:00:41ZThe Corcoran corporate photography photographyOne of my favorite things about shooting for The Corcoran is that I get to meet great artists. Listening to each artist in their own words gives a more complete picture of how they view their field and a better insight into their own thought process. Thomas Demand was one of the more soft spoken artists I've met at The Corcoran, but listening to him gave me a lot to think about while pursuing my own photography.

Thomas Demand works with photography in his art, but specifically stated that he doesn't consider himself a photographer. Demand is fairly critical of many of the conventions of photography.

He spent the better part of an afternoon meeting with the photo seniors and discussing their work. He didn't hide his opinions, or beliefs about photography, and offered candid advice that would push the students farther with their work.

]]>Portrait of a Photographerhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/3/3/portrait-of-a-photographer.htmlDenny2010-03-03T13:00:58Z4x5 Black and White Portrait Studio Portrait The Corcoran behind the scenes corporate photography large format photo lighting setup photographyThe below portrait is of Susan Sterner, the head of the photojournalism program at The Corcoran college of Art + Design. She was also my teacher when I was a student there.

It can be nerve racking enough photographing other photographers, but I think it's even worse when that photographer is a former teacher.

I started with two ideas for the portraits that would relate to Susan's involvement in Photography. The first idea was to shoot her in a studio environment, and to include the strobes and seamless as part of the setting for the portrait.

The second setup was to use a 4x5 Crown Graphic to shoot a tight shot of her face with a very shallow depth of field. I set up against a white stucco wall with a large window to the left of the camera. The image on the bottom shows me focusing the 4x5 camera.

Susan Sterner

Behind the scenes image by Jacqulyn Maisonneuve

]]>Portrait of a Book Artisthttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/3/1/portrait-of-a-book-artist.htmlDenny2010-03-01T13:00:47ZLocation Portrait Portrait The Corcoran Washington DC behind the scenes corporate photography lighting setup photographyAs part of an ongoing effort to update their website and other collateral materials I have been shooting portraits of various staff and faculty members of The Corcoran.

This portrait is of Kerry McAleer-Keeler, the woman who is in charge of the Corcoran's Art and the Book Master's program. We shot the image in the Corcoran's letterpress studio in their Georgetown campus. The studio is filled with racks of type setting pieces as well as presses to use them on. All of the equipment in the room made for a nice backdrop, but makes it fairly cramped to set up lighting and shoot in.

Chair of the Corcoran Bookarts department Kerry McAleer-Keeler

I set up two locations in the room to get different styles of portraits. The picture below shows the setup used for the image above. The setup was fairly simple, consisting of a bowens monolight in a medium softbox above the camera and a reflector underneath. I tried to maximize the space I had to work with, and ended up setting up some of my equipment over top the presses.

Behind the scenes image by Jacqulyn Maisonneuve

]]>Images from the DC Snowstormhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/2/11/images-from-the-dc-snowstorm.htmlDenny2010-02-11T20:30:00ZBlizzard Washington DC photography snow Yesterday was the second round of snow to hit Washington in a little less than a week. I ventured outside yesterday to shoot some pictures for a little while before the snow died down. When I went out, it looked like they hadn't begun to plow the streets and it was hard to see farther than about a block.

Near whiteout conditions on Wisconsin Ave in Washington DC

Woman walking near the Washington National Cathedral in Northwest Washington DCPedestrian on Wisconsin Ave in Washington DC

]]>Jackie Working on Her Thesishttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/2/1/jackie-working-on-her-thesis.htmlDenny2010-02-01T13:01:00ZBlack and White The Corcoran Washington DC film photography photographyThis Thursday, February 4th, is the opening reception for Jackie's senior thesis at The Corcoran. Everyone's invited.

Before graduation, every senior at the Corcoran College of Art + Design has to complete a thesis project. Photojournalism students spend the first half of their senior year researching and producing a photo story on a topic of interest to them. Jackie started the semester with the idea of documenting sustainable living in Washington, DC. Early in the process Jackie met Sidra, John, and their daughter Martin-Lane, they are a local family who run a restaurant out of there home. The family and their restaurant are centered around healthy living and sustainable practices. From July through December, Jackie photographed Sidra, John, and Martin-Lane regularly to document their way of life. The final images offer a view of a family living in an socially and agriculturally sustainable manner.

If you can't make it on Thursday, her work will be hanging in Gallery 31 of the Corcoran Gallery from Monday February 1st through Sunday February 7th, 2010.

Below are a few shots I took of Jackie during the final stages of her project.

Leaving the final shoot

Working on the edit and layout.Printing the invitations for her opening reception.

Picking up the the 12 final images that were float mounted by Joe Heintze

]]>D'Orazio Luthiery Videohttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/1/25/dorazio-luthiery-video.htmlDenny2010-01-25T13:00:08ZBuilding a guitar Custom Guitar Luthiery personal work videoRecently I've been getting my feet wet learning video. Most of the footage I've been shooting never ends up anywhere, it just helps me learn about the craft and process of shooting video. While I was in college, I worked a little bit collecting audio and editing video in Final Cut Pro, but until recently hadn't done much with what I learned.

For the past few years, a close friend of mine, Mike D'Orazio has been running a custom guitar shop building and repairing guitars and basses. I've photographed some of his custom guitars in the past, and been really impressed with what he's produced.

Below is a video of Mike carving the neck of a bass guitar he's currently working on. This version is still rough around the edges, but I wanted to get it out there to show the progess I'll be making on it over the next few months.

]]>Stefan Sagmeister at The Corcoranhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2010/1/13/stefan-sagmeister-at-the-corcoran.htmlDenny2010-01-13T13:00:30ZStefan Sagmeister The Corcoran assignment photography photographyI often photograph lectures and visiting artists who come to The Corcoran. This week's lecture was designer Stefan Sagmeister. His lecture was different from many others I've shot recently in that it was more in depth than just a slideshow of his work. He gave great insights into how he designs and the thought process that leads to new ideas.

After the lecture, he met with a smaller group of Corcoran design students to answer questions. His answers were candid and held the type of advice that is actually helpfull to people learning his craft.

Stefan Sagmeister speaking to Corcoran design students.

Stefan Sagmeister speaking about his work at The Corcoran.

Stefan Sagmeister shaking hands with Corcoran Alumnus Kevin Robinson.

]]>Time-Lapse of the DC snowhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2009/12/21/time-lapse-of-the-dc-snow.htmlDenny2009-12-21T13:00:00Zsnow time-lapse videoI set up a time-lapse video during the snow storm this past Saturday. I set my video to record one second for every minute that passed. I started recording a few minutes after 6:00am on Saturday morning, and stopped just about 7:00pm.

]]>Wedding Contact Sheethttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2009/12/17/wedding-contact-sheet.htmlDenny2009-12-17T13:00:51ZBlack and White Wedding Wedding Photojournalist assignment photography contact sheet film photography photography wedding photographyThis past summer I upgraded my scanner to one that can handle 4x5 film. I recently discovered that along with the ability to scan my 4x5's , it can also help me create substitute contact sheets for any 35mm film I shoot. These have been very helpful in determining what and what not to scan.

The below is a scan of negatives from Joel and Chelsie's wedding. Normally I only shoot digitally at weddings with a few sheets of 4x5 film thown in. At this wedding I shot a few rolls of 35mm to go along with the rest of what I shot.

Contact sheet from Joel and Chelsie's Wedding

]]>Portrait Test Shothttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2009/12/15/portrait-test-shot.htmlDenny2009-12-15T13:00:36ZPortrait Studio Portrait annual report photography assignment photography commercial photographer group portrait photography Recently I shot some images for an annual report. The shoot was schedulued last minute and had three locations for pictures. The biggest part (or at least the part with the most equipment to lug) was for headshots of the board of the agency.

The image below is one I shot while setting up. It's of my friend, a fellow photographer, Harry Chun who was helping me carry gear and set up.

Portrait of Harry Chun

]]>Personal Workhttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2009/12/4/personal-work.htmlDenny2009-12-04T13:00:38Z35mm Black and White Dulles airplanes film photography personal work photographyAfter many years of shooting nothing but digital camera's, I've been sneaking film back into my personal work. It started when I purchased a Crown Graphic 4x5 camera a little over a year ago, and more recently I've been shooting 35mm as well.

There have been a few things pushing me back towards film. The film camera's I've been using are the completly manual. The act of manually focusing and advancing the film slows me down just a bit and makes me think about each frame for a little bit longer than I normally would. It also keeps me on my toes by giving me a few more things to think about. I'm not sure how much longer film will be easy to buy. It isn't yet at the point where It's hard to find the film I'm looking for, but in five years, it could be very hard (or very expensive). Black and white film in fully manual cameras is what originally got me interested in photography, I might as well shoot it while I still can.

The image below is a scan of two images I shot before leaving the Air and Space museum in Dulles a few weekends ago.

Diptych of a plane leaving Dulles Airport

]]>Black and White Portraithttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2009/11/30/black-and-white-portrait.htmlDenny2009-11-30T13:00:09Z35mm Black and White Portrait Studio Portrait Washington DC film photography personal work photography white seamlessOver the past few months I've been very interested in making portriats of people.

This is a portrait of Jackie taken in open shade against a white seamless.

Jacqulyn Maisonneuve

]]>Outtakeshttp://www.dennyhenry.com/blog/2009/11/19/outtakes.htmlDenny2009-11-19T13:00:57ZWashington DC assignment photography outtakes photography randomI normally arrive at assignments at least a half hour earlier than the earliest I think I think I'll need to be there. This often leaves me sitting with nothing to do (sometimes for hours), but it always gives me plently of time to get set up and checkout wherever I'll be shooting. I use the time to check out different areas that I think I'll be shooting in, and figure out my exposure for each of them. I normally meter the scene, and shoot a few shots, normally right from the hip without looking. I've found recently that I really enjoy some of these test shots when I see them on the computer later.

The image below is one of those random shots.

Seats in the auditorium of the Department of the Interior

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