Portraits

Corporate portraits;
Here is the thing about being a commercial photographer. We are not a portrait studio but we shoot portraits. We aren't baby photographers but we shoot babies. When you are a commercial photographer, your job is to satisfy your client. That means shooting everything that they need for the jobs they give you. Here is a group portrait of three executives at an international food corporation in New Jersey. This client usually hires me to shoot food, but knows we can handle a portrait shoot of executives, do a great job, and not embarrass him in the process.
The original shot was against a gray muslin backdrop that I usually use. It can be easily color corrected to almost any color background. This time however, my client wanted an office/corporate background, so I stripped the people away from the background and put the window shot in behind. It was a fun day with fun people and in the end, we have another happy client.

It's a peacock!

Okay, this one is weird even for "the woods". It's dusk, cloudy, rainy and what walks across our front yard but a peacock! I guess one of the farms around here must keep them with the horses, but this male got away. It walked across our yard and off into the back woods. Bye peacock. Have a nice life.

The Bear

I live on the edge of the woods in a house we built 14 years ago. I live there with my family, some neighbors, the deer and the bears. It's a nice life. I like to drive into New York City with a car full of equipment, shoot all day and then drive home to my family, the deer and the bears. It helps to keep everything in perspective. Sometimes I need that.

Top Ten Trust List

This is my top ten list of trust. From most to least.

trust the most
1.) God
2.) My wife
3.) My family
4.) My clients
5.) Individuals
6.) Corporations
7.) Law Enforcement
8.) Most Higher Educators
9.) All Building Contractors
10.) Any Politician
trust the least

The Company Car

Well, we're back in the saddle again.
Here is what you get when you buy a junker, replace parts from the crashed car, and buy a few new ones (like a rebuilt transmission). I have to thank All Tune & Lube in Dover New Jersey who did the great work for a great price and saved the business some debt. Now we have a 24 valve Dura Tech engine, dual exhaust and even reasonable gas mileage.
A funny thing is that over the winter when this whole mess was getting straightened out, we only went on location once and took only minimal equipment. Since the car was fully rebuilt, we have been on location using the gurney 6 or 7 times. The timing was perfect.
Anyway, there you go. Nothing in life is ever easy, but in the end, it's always good.

Dane Sonneville

Here's a tip of my hat to my great friend Dane Sonneville who passed from this world last Tuesday after a VERY full life.
My relationship with Dane began in 1982 when the awesome artist and art director Tim Barrall introduced us and he became my rep in NYC for 7 years. When we closed the New York studio he remained my friend for the next 20 years.
Later in his life, Dane lived half of the year in Sonora Mexico where he became a writer of novels and a painter of pictures which can be found on the Oovu gallery website. Dane will be sorely missed by me and his other friends and family.
As we walked the streets of NYC together, Dane taught me: "treat every human you meet as the most valuable thing in your life at that time because they can either move you forward or stop you in your tracks". I saw him live that as he treated every doorman, receptionist or creative director as the most important person to him at that time, and that made everyone happier, and propelled him onward.
As for the image above? That is what I call my 6 degrees of separation from Bill Truran. It shows that every one of my clients has come from another client. None have come from direct sales. And everyone has become a good friend. So my clients find me other clients and we are all friends. That's a great way to work, it's a great way to live. And I learned to live this way by walking the streets of NYC with my friend Dane Sonneville.

Money for Photo

When asked the question: "do you shoot...?" The answer is always: "yes!"
This time it's for a magazine about commercial flooring. I brought a small hand cart, bungied a light stand and light to it, put my camera case and Speedotron strobe on it and just rolled around from shot to shot. I had a shot list, but (as I was told) shot anything that looked interesting. I even went to up high on a forklift to shoot a big room. This shot is of the Seamless Flooring crew. No matter what language each of us spoke, we all got along and had a great time. Oh - and the client was very happy with the results. The answer was: yes, and I shot something for the first time and the client was happy. I already got a check, and now everyone is happy!