Corporate Photography - Headshots

I recently had an assignment to photograph 54 portraits in under an hour.  I have shot similar assignments for this client before, so I knew pretty much how the schedule needed to go.  The company needed both individual and group images of 54 people for an upcoming piece of literature that they're producing in house.  The images are all going to appear close to each other, and therefore consistency is key.  I set up a medium sized soft box against a wall in a small conference room.  I marked a spot on the floor where everyone should stand, and was able to shoot everyone quickly without too much fuss.  

The image below shows all 54 headshots, plus my test image.  The total time to shoot the individual and group shots was just over 40 minutes.  

55 portraits made in under an hour.

Wedding Photography - Jana and Kevin 4x5

 I've previously written about photographing Jana and Kevin's wedding, but I left out one of my favorite images from the day. I was extra excited for Jana and Kevin's wedding, because she specifically wanted me to shoot film.

I sometimes shoot 4x5 or other film when I'm covering weddings, in addition to my regular digital coverage.  Mostly I do it for my own enjoyment, and often the film images simply blend in to the other black and white images from the day. The film images that do stand out are the 4x5's, because I often mess with the tilt-shift functions of the camera when I'm shooting with it. 

Tilt-Shift portrait of the bride and groom shot with a 4x5 in Dupont Circle

Corporate Photography - Location Portrait

In my ongoing assignment to make portraits of students and faculty at the Corcoran, I've tried to make at least one portrait of each person that reflects their field of study or interests.  The portrait below is of Brittany, a recent graduate from the Interior Design masters program.  Brittany was very helpful in finding a location that would fit well for her portrait.  After letting her know what I had in mind for the portrait, she suggested a residence for which she had recently created some work.  I had previously met the owner at a few Corcoran events, and he was gracious enough to let us use his beautiful house as a backdrop. 

Because we were shooting in a person's home, I kept the setup minimal.  I didn't want to be running cables everywhere, and have lighstands littering the living room.  I used single battery powered monolight in a medium softbox.  

Corporate Photography - Location Portrait

Although The Corcoran is a rather large building, I am often limited on interior locations that I can use for portraits.  All the great artwork and open areas always make the exhibition spaces the top of my list for portrait locations, and I almost never get to use them.  There are a variety of reasons why I'm never allowed to set up portraits in the gallery space.  I'm sure disrupting visitors, and setting up studio strobes next to priceless works of art are two big reasons right at the top of the list.  The upside to this limitation is that I have been forced to find places that I normally wouldn't use for portraits. 

The below picture was shot outside the director's office on the first floor of The Corcoran.  Half the room is used as an office, while the rest is filled with books from the director Paul Greenhalgh's personal collection.  If I had not been forced to find an un-occupied space, I probably would have completely overlooked this room.  Not because I dislike the room, but because it is simply a place I don't often have a reason to go. 

Location Portrait at the Corcoran

Corporate Photography - Portrait of a Book Artist

As 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