Professional Headshots

Recently I've been asked to take a number of head shots for different reasons. It's something that I've had a desire to get into, and it seems to be a case of "when it rains, it pours" as I hadn't done any in well over a year and then suddenly had an influx of requests!

I did a few for a friend to use on his website/promotional materials for drumming up business (he's a composer). Here's my favorite of the many shots I took.

Pittsburgh in the snow

In February I spent a couple of days in Pittsburgh for work. I knew the city was going to be covered in snow, so I brought my camera with me in the hopes I might be able to grab some photos. I was lucky that my last appointment before heading home ended early, so I was able to grab my camera bag out of my car and wander about the main Pitt campus for a bit. With the setting sun, the light was absolutely stunning and I was able to capture some interesting play between light and shadow. And to play with backlighting, which is always fun.

 

So many photo opportunities!

As I do only rarely on here, tonight I'm blogging about photography, but not showing any new photos (well, maybe one. We will see how the post goes as I write it!). After a bit of a slump through the winter, where I was really only photographing the things that I wanted to (and trying to find some topics to get through the cold days), things have really picked up!

Over the past month I've done a family shoot for my neighbors down the street; here are my favorites from the shoot, on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.726735814016459.1073741849.509299119093464&type=3

Shot some professional headshots in my home studio for a friend from college. This shoot also included photos of his adorable 2 month old daughter, which was new for me but I'm very happy with how they came out! I'm almost done with them (I just shot them on Sunday), so will have them to share here soon.

And then just this week I took a few hundred additional photographs for different reasons; none of these were paid, but were things that I'm not used to shooting very often so it was nice to stretch my creative juices. This includes:
- shooting an approximately 4' tall Lego castle made by my boss's daughter (I'll explain that in more detail when I show the photos)
- more professional headshots of all of my coworkers, as we need to update them in our system

Today I wrapped up my week of shooting with a special outing with the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) Photoclub. I joined the club a couple of months ago, but had yet to be able to attend any events. Two days ago I received an email about a special opportunity just for Photoclub members: a sneak peek at the lion cubs, before they are revealed to the public tomorrow! I had thought about taking the day off of work anyway, as I had some other personal things to do today, so this was the perfect reason to actually take the day. I am so glad I did - it was amazing to get to photograph these adorable cubs with only about 20 other people. It did make me realize the sheer amount of gear that true wildlife photographers had - my 75-300mm camera, with basic tripod, was vastly insufficient compared to theirs! Despite that, I am happy with my pics and can't wait to share them. I would post one now, but we're actually not allowed to put them up publicly before their reveal tomorrow. Next week, I promise! Instead, I leave you with daddy, who was in the enclosure with them (but was brought out prior to them, so he could get used to it first). He's gorgeous!

Foxfield 2014: Child Portraits

Prior to heading over to the Foxfield races this year, I grabbed a few portraits of all of the kids at our house. The lighting was difficult, due to fairly direct sun, but I found a patch of shade and did my best. The kids looked so beautiful all dressed up, I was glad to preserve it!

 

Foxfield Races 2014

Last weekend we attended the annual Foxfield Races in Charlottesville, VA. In addition to the many photos of my friends and the kids who attended, I did get a few shots of the beautiful horses as they ran.

Weekly Photo Project: April 2014

Once again, I got to start off the month with a category of my choosing! I had just finished editing some photos from our trip to the Outer Banks earlier that month, and loved this photo below. Since I set up the photo to get the exact look I wanted, I came up with this topic.
March 31 - April 6: "Perfectly Posed"

Spring at the pond

As we've all noticed, our extended winter has led to a later spring this year. April has been a truly beautiful month, particularly this last half. I previously posted photos of the spring blooms on my street, but hadn't yet had a chance to capture the new growth around the pond. On a walk with my family on Easter Sunday I got the first of my spring pond photos to share with you here.

Plum and pear blossoms

My street is filled with the loveliest plum trees; almost every single house has one in front. That means for about 10 days in April, the street not only looks beautiful, but it smells amazing as well! Unfortunately, my schedule combined with the elements such that most of the plum blossoms had blown away before I could get out and photograph them. On the plus side, the pear blossoms are now popping out, so just as one fades the other begins. I start here with the plum blossom remainders in my front yard.

Beach portraits

When we traveled to the Outer Banks for a long weekend back in March, the weather was so lovely that we were able to spend well over an hour on the beach. The best part for me was being able to capture these photos of my beautiful children.

 

The little mermaid

I spotted this mermaid statue at my parents' house; with the lovely afternoon light streaming in through her windows, I had to photograph her!

Embracing simplicity

There's a big advantage to going to the beach in March: very few people meant I was able to capture photos unsullied by the presence of people. The stark beauty of the beach is enough in and of itself.

North Carolina Aquarium

Last month we went to the NC Aquarium in Manteo, NC. We've been there previously, but I didn't have a camera at the time that could capture good interior photos in this environment. Now that I do, capturing these animals was a lot of fun!

Wintery beach sunsets

About three weeks ago we visited the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Despite the freezing cold winds, the cloudless sky was too great of an invitation for sunset photography for me to pass up. These first two photos were taken at the Albemarle Sound on the first night of our trip.

The Weekly Photo Project: March 2014

As I mentioned in my last Weekly Photo Project post, I started off March with choosing the first topic. Having just finished going through my photos from a visit to The Louvre last year, I chose this as our first topic, and submitted a photo of my favorite statue from the museum (Cupid and Psyche)

March 3-9: Objet d'Art

San Diego Zoo

In November 2013 I went to San Diego for a conference. I took one additional day there, after the conference was over, to spend at the San Diego Zoo, as I had repeatedly heard it is one of the top zoos in the world. My friends were not wrong: it was amazing, and I would go back again in a heartbeat. I took well over 200 photos there, so it was hard to select just a few favorites to post here, but I did my best!

Many of the photos I took were of the beautiful flamingos. They, along with many of the other animals I saw, were practically posing for me! 

 

San Francisco

At the end of October I had the opportunity to travel for the first time to the San Francisco bay area with a colleague. I didn't have time to take too many photos, as we had at least 4-5 client visits scheduled every day of the trip. Since we started with visits early on Monday, we arrived on Sunday, which allowed us to get some sight-seeing done in the city prior to heading north to Sacramento.

We walked around a good part of the city, near a section of the Golden Gate Park. We passed beautiful row homes, interesting trees, had some dim sum (delicious!), and walked a few miles around.

I snagged these photos of my colleague without him realizing - I love the mood in them!

 

Family photo shoot

Remember back at the end of 2013 when I posted all of those wedding photos? After the wedding, my brother- and sister-in-law, with their son, stayed with us for a few days before returning to Australia. For one night, my in-laws also joined us so that we could have some quality family time, as things were hectic during the wedding. While here, my sister in law asked if I would take some "official" portraits of them, and it turned into a photo shoot of the whole family, with a bunch of different combinations. We turned my living room into a portrait studio, and had some fun!

I started with my adorable nephew and his parents.

 

Planes, Shuttles, and...more planes

The first weekend in February we went with my brother- and sister-in-law to the Udvar-Hazy space museum at Dulles Airport. We actually went back just yesterday with some friends; can you tell it's one of my favorite museums in the DC metro area? Each time we find something new and thrilling to get excited about. It's especially fun for me to go there with people who have never been there before, as there really is so much to see.

Weekly Photo Project: February 2014

February was the first month where we had a full month of subjects for the Weekly Photo Project on Facebook, and I was glad that I was able to submit something for each week. Here's hoping I can keep that up! I really enjoyed the topics this week; they weren't things I would have chosen, so it made me need to get a little creative in my thinking.

Week 4: "Makes Me Happy." I think the picture pretty much speaks for itself! How could this not make you happy?!

Silliness in the Studio

Yesterday's post highlighted the sweet shots that I captured when I put the kids in front of the new backdrop in my studio. Here I show their silly side..I can't decide which I like better!