Denny Henry

 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.

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

 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

This 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

Over 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