Just a post

It’s a New Look! A New Name too! (well, sort of)

But it’s the same old Michael. Welcome to the new Michael Albany Photography website and blog!

I have spent a lot of time redesigning the site here at www.michaelalbany.com (formerly www.michaelalbany.com and that address still works) and I updated www.magickmichael.com too. I really want to hear what everyone thinks. Click the link below and let me know your opinion.

Moving forward I will be adding podcasts, video and tips for people looking to have a photo shoot done. Topics will include “What to Wear to a Portrait Shoot”, “Having Fun at a Shoot”, “What To Bring To A Photo Shoot” and many more! Now that the redesign is done, I have a lot of work to do on fresh content.

Keep an eye out for details on how you can get your free videos and podcasts!

In the mean time, take a look around, let me know what you think. Don’t be shy, if you love it tell me. If you hate it, tell me that too. In either case tell me why so I know what to do to make coming to www.michaelalbany.com is something you want to do!

Click the link to share your thoughts and opinions!
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What a day to be “Out!”

Philadelphia Outfest was one heck of a day! Everyone was “Out.” Gay, Straight or Bi, it was one diverse crowd. Many were there to support their brothers, sisters, parents or friends but all were there to celebrate the diversity of the city of Brotherly (and Sisterly) Love!

Love is what the whole day was about. Love whomever, but love them for who they are. We saw mothers supporting their sons and families with same sex parents; brothers and sisters holding hands and hugging each other in celebrations of acceptance. Everyone was supporting everyone else. It was such a day of community…

To read the whole story and get a link to the pictures, click the link!

Vendors from all over the area were out to show their support as well. Giovanni’s Room had many authors there to sign books and they raised a little bit of money for the oldest LGBT book store in the nation. They can use more though. The wall that was collapsing has been repaired but now it needs to be paid for.

Giovanni’s Room is the oldest LGBT bookstore in our country and they barely make the mortgage every month. Some months they don’t even do that. But they have kept the doors open for over 30 years now to support the LGBT community. Now it’s time for us to help them. You can go to www.queerbooks.com and make a donation or buy that book you have always wanted.

If you want to help support the store in another way take a look at the happy faces from Outfest and vote on which ones you like best. You can find them at www.magickmichael.com and just click on the PhillyOutfest2009 gallery. Vote on your favorite images. The 12 voted on the most will be selected for a 2010 calendar. In order for us to have the calendar available for the holidays, you need to vote by midnight on October 31st!

After voting is complete we will make a couple of different options available on ordering a calendar. One version will be made with just one image to choose from for all twelve months. Another option will be a standard calendar with a different image for each month. Just like in life, Options!

Stay close to your computer as the winning images will be posted here at Michael Albany Photography’s blog at www.michaelalbany.com.

Get over there and vote by registering and leaving a comment. The 12 images with the most comments will be the calendar for 2010. Again the address is www.magickmichael.com and choose the PhillyOutfest2009 gallery.

Until next time, Happy Shooting!

Free Portraits – Again!

Just a short note for everyone that has been worried about me. I am recovering from my short procedure which turned into a second procedure which turned into a slight infection at the incision. I am doing well and well enough to go do a shoot today.

I will be shooting couples portraits all day at Outfest in Philly. We will be on 12th just north of Pine near Giovanni’s room, the oldest LGBT bookstore in the nation. Photo sessions are free and all revenue from your purchase of any print goes to the Wall Project to save Giovanni’s Room. Stop by & say Hi! We are going to try to put a calendar together too!

I hope that anyone that is in the area will come out and support your LGBT friends and relatives. Its going to be a beautiful day! I look forward to seeing you all there. Stop by and say hi! If you do, I have a free gift for you.

Until then, Happy Shooting!

To leave a comment click the link!

Magick Portraits II – I’m doing it again!

My next Magick Portraits event is going to be on National Coming Out Day. In Philadelphia, there is an event called Outfest 2009. You can get a map of the event and information on performers and more at phillypride.com. I will be there doing portraits of couples, gay, straight or ‘other’!

In my continuing effort to ‘pay it forward I recently learned that Giovanni’s Room (www.queerbooks.com) at 12th and Pine Streets is the oldest LGBT book store in the country, and they have a problem: printed books, magazines, newspapers etc. are all suffering because people feel that they can get the type of information supplied by them online rather than going to an actual book store. In some cases that is true. But in many cases it isn’t. Some of the books Giovanni’s handles are not available online or they are at least very hard to find. Because of this financial reality, when the owner learned he had a problem with an exterior wall he didn’t know how he was going to pay for the repairs. If he couldn’t fix it he might have to close the store and go out of business.

When people in the community learned about the problem with the wall they were understandably upset. No one wanted Giovanni’s Room to close so they banded together and decided to help any way they could. Many fund raising efforts have been launched. Everything from book signings to bake sales have either happened or are scheduled. I want to help too.

After consulting with the current owner, Ed Hermance, and his former business partner, Arleen Olshan, I have arranged to do portraits of anyone that would like one. After the portraits are taken prints will be available on my website at a tremendous discount. All proceeds will go to Giovanni’s Room and towards replacing the wall. Additionally, the best twelve portraits will be used to create a 2010 wall calendar, the sale of which will also benefit the wall project.

The calendar will also be available on my website so that those not in the Philadelphia area can help even without getting their portrait done. If you would like to donate and help save a national icon, go to http://www.queerbooks.com or call them at (215) 923-2960 to learn how you can help.

You will find me under the big Magick Michael Photography sign at 12th & Pine Streets. This time I will not be setting appointments. Portraits will be done on a first come first serve basis. The event is taking place over a 5 city block area and there will be plenty to do before and after you have your picture taken. There will be food, music, poetry, games and I heard rumor of giant puppets but don’t hold me to that one.

Come out on October 11th and support the diversity of Philadelphia and your neighborhood too!

Until then,

Happy Shooting!

The “How To” on Free Magick Portraits

I have been contacted by many photographers asking how they can do their own event for Free Magick Portraits for the unemployed. At first it seemed like a compliment to get recognition from my fellow professional photographers. But after many phone calls to all over the country and E-mails around the world I decided to write a white paper for those wanting to create their own event.

To help everyone out there that wants to create their own Free Magick Portraits the white paper gives the basics on what I did and what you can do to have a successful and rewarding event. If you use the title of Free Magick Portraits for…”, let me know and I will make sure that you get a posting and a link for this site to the details about your event. Let’s make it an international success!

You can download the PDF version of the paper by CLICKING HERE.

Until next time
Happy Shooting!

What a Wonderful Day!

 

My oh my, what a wonderful… event! On August 26th I did the Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed and it was fantastic! A stellar turnout! Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed was a raging success!

Originally when I set this up I didn’t know how it would go. I just wanted to do something for the community at large and the unemployed community is pretty large now a days.

Everyone was great. All the people having their shots taken were smiling and everyone was grateful for the service we provided. The volunteers are the ones that should get all the attention. I couldn’t have done it without Eva, Heather, Perry or Kimberly. You guys rock!

Click the link to learn more
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Free Biz Shots – Gaining Momentum!

I know I promised an informational post about lighting flowers and I will be writing that as soon as I am finished this post. I just have to tell you all how many people are truly inspired by this little project of mine.

I have gotten positive feedback from unemployed people, other photographers, the local TV news (well, 2 out of 4 of them anyway), you name it! I have gotten calls from across the country and e-mails from around the world! On my way to Vermont last Friday I had to pull over 3 times just to take calls about the Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed! This ‘working vacation’ has turned out to be more working than vacation!
But you know, I don’t mind. If this is what working is all about, I have been missing something for the last 30 years. I am consumed by this project. I am so proud to be giving something to people that makes them feel good. Add to that the desire of other photographers to also do the same thing! I just found one this morning that says on their page that they are “considering doing the same thing”. Follow Troutman Photography on Twitter and encourage them to do it. The rewards are amazing!

The project has gotten write ups from Picture Soup and one of my favorite people Beate Chelette who has worked with one of my idols, Helmut Newton. The project itself may become something greater than it already is if people all over the world set dates and do this too! Imagine if at least one photographer in one major city in every state in the US and one major city in every country were to pick up their cameras for free for just one day to give back to their local area. Imagine the energy and the positive emotions that would flow out to the world. Can you imagine it? I can.

To have many more people take the Free Biz Shots to the next level would be the ultimate compliment to me and a fantastic benefit for all the people out of work. I want to dream of it and I want to hear from all the photographers out there that are thinking about doing it. I want to give them all my experience and tell them how to get the idea rolling in their cities and neighborhoods. I want to see the smiles on all the faces of all the people who have their pictures taken and all the smiles from those helping take the pictures. I could go on for hours!

But not right now. I owe you all a blog entry on lighting flowers. After another cup of coffee, I will work on that.

Until then, and I truly, truly mean this, Happy Shooting!

Got a Job? Still Need a Portrait?

Got a job? Still need your portrait done? Guess what? I do those too! Just because you are going to miss the free portraits just because you have a job doesn’t mean I am going to charge you full price. I have my standard rates but I am on a roll here. I am trying to something for the economy too. Call it the “Magick” stimulus package.

So what you have a job? Like most of us that are working, time is always crunched. You have go to work, fix house, do the dishes, walk the dog (or clean the litter box), on and on it goes. So many responsibilities, so little time. When on earth would you have time to go to a photography studio just to sit there for 30-60 minutes and let someone shine bright lights in your eyes? Let me tell you a little secret, you don’t have to. Shhh! Not so loud! Do you want everyone to know?

Seriously, I come to you. My studio is 100% mobile and I will come to your home or office and get those shots you need to find a better job! You can update your LinkedIn or Facebook pages too. And because I am in such a giving mood this month I am going to do something I have never done before. I am going to run a “special”! Set an appointment to have your portrait taken before September 12th and I will give you 20% off my rates!

This doesn’t just apply to business shots either. You can get family portraits too! Heck I will even photograph the family pets! I am easy, and now I am cheap too! Get all the details (and more) on the MMP News page!

I am working on an article about lighting flowers. Check back soon for the article. Until then:

Happy Shooting!

Free Business Portraits For the Unemployed

I have just booked a location to do free business portraits for those that are unemployed, between positions or just plain out of work. I want to give back to the community and the best way I can think to do that is to help others somehow. These are difficult times and what can be more difficult than going to work one day and coming home unemployed? Well there are many worse things, illness, disease… but this isn’t about what I can’t fix. This is about helping fix what I can.

I was at home last week wondering what I can do to help others. I can’t do this, I don’t know how to do that, but you know what? I can take a pretty damn good picture. How can a photo help somebody? Recently many experts have been advising people to include a picture of themselves on their resume or to make their social media image ‘business like’ if they are looking for a new position. Now that is something can help with! Finally I found a way that I know I can help people.

On Wednesday August 26th in Philadelphia, I will be doing as many business portraits as I can squeeze into 6 hours. I have done bulk portraits at events before. You know that photographer standing by the coat room at your companies holiday party? Yeah, that’s me. I have been able to take over 250 shots in just over 3 hours at an event like that. I am hoping that I can beat that record and help some people in need. hell, if only one person shows up and it helps them get the job they need, I will call it a win. If two show up then its a win-win! If three show up, it will be a win-win-win, and if four… You get the idea.

If you want to be included all you have to do is be out of work and be willing to show up in some type of business appropriate attire.

To learn more send your questions or request for a time to bizshots@ (email no longer active) and someone will get back to you as soon as possible. I have no clue as to how popular this shoot will be so please be patient.

Until then or until my next post, Happy Shooting!

Appearance! By me of all people!

I will be showing some of my work at the FRESH GROUND COFFEE HOUSE in Willow Grove PA this coming Friday evening July 24th from 8pm until Midnight! Fresh Ground was put together by a friend of mine in a wonderful little church in Willow Grove and they had their first one last month. I attended and the church wasn’t struck by lightning. Amazing!

You can get all the details on Facebook.com (just click here to check it out) but I can tell you that there will be live music from Bill Haney and Friends, fresh coffee, good people, conversation and you can see my work all for free! I like free, free is good. If you’re like me and thinking, “they are going to go all religious on me,” don’t worry. Last month the only time I heard the ‘G’ word was when someone stubbed their toe and that was followed by a word other than ‘bless’.

I look forward to seeing you there! Yes, you.

To leave a comment, click the link below.

So you’re here. Maybe its not Friday yet, maybe it has past and you came by and said hi. Leave a comment and tell everyone else what you think.

Happy Shooting!