Articles about shooting portraits

Babies to Beauties

I am a lucky guy. I get the opportunity to photograph many things and many people. In most jobs a person is given a task and the satisfaction of a job well done is often the only reward. If you are lucky and you enjoy your work the challenge is also a pleasure, a stressful one but a pleasure none the less.

I have a job where I get to enjoy the challenge, the satisfaction of a job well done, the results, and the joy of those I work for. And I get to do it for years to come; I often revisit images that I created years ago and still remember the joy of my clients.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of creating images for new parents (and an aunt) of a beautiful 8 month old baby. This little guy was amazing to work with too. He was a bit surprised by the flash of the lights and the clicking of the camera but he never was scared or upset. He mostly wanted to know why this guy with less hair than he had was pointing this big round thing that kept clicking at him. 

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[image title=”Nathan 4″ alt=”Nathan with Mommy and Daddy”]https://michaelalbany.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Gouldey-Web-061.jpg[/image]
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He was a good baby in many ways too. He would move towards the camera and try to grab the lens as you can see, but he was nice enough to not move so fast as to make it hard to focus on him. Of course being an 8 month old his attention was soon drawn away by his aunt and his Mommy and Daddy. After all they are the fascinating ones. They talk to him in his language and give him colorful toys to play with!

The joy of a happy baby is not the only advantage to my career. I also get to photograph wonderful buildings and structures like I talked about in my last two articles, “Urban Blight or Beauty” and “Blight or Beauty – Part 2.” On top of all that I have the chance to go out at sunset and create images of beautiful people in wonderful places like the Philadelphia Museum of Art!

Last night I had a portrait session with an aspiring model and we worked at sunset between Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill River and the Art Museum. We were blessed with a warm glowing sunset and a perfect summer breeze.

 

 

Grace is actually the daughter of a former client who I shot back in January. At that time we were creating images of Grace and her mom Libby. Those two were fun to shoot then and Grace is still a joy to work with 6 months later. When I say they were a joy to work with I’m not kidding, I wrote about it in the article “It’s Also About Having Fun.” Well, we had fun last evening too and the images turned out wonderfully.

 

 

So I think I have a pretty good career, from Babies to Beauties. Share on Pin these images with your friends and let me know what fun we can have together.

From Shy to Model

Sometimes when I am shooting someone I just feel that they have that special something that really grabs me. It can be the individual, or the lighting, maybe even the location, but it just gets my attention.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote in the article “Where Does the Time Go” about the family portraits I did of an old friend that I caught up with on Facebook. All the family members had that special something that just jumped out at me and that led me to ask the siblings if they wanted to sit for me again so I could concentrate on just them. The eldest is the one I knew when she was just a baby (she is 27 now) and although willing, our schedules just didn’t line up. The son was packing up to start his post collegiate life in Louisiana and had no time to even think let along sit for another photo shoot. The youngest, Katrina, though was able to schedule some time with me and it seems that fate just smiled down on us that day.

 

Katrina is a vibrant young woman with a smile that can light up a room and yet a certain shyness that gives her a special edge, at least in front of the camera. Like most people who are new to the professional’s camera she would bring out the canned smile that you know is just not going to work. That never stops me though and I was able to get her to relax after just a few minutes. Once she realized that this could be a bunch of fun she got into the whole thing and began taking direction and letting herself go a little at a time.

I specialize in getting to that side of a person; the side that really enjoys the attention and even a bit of flirtation with the camera. That is the part of a personality that can make or break an entire photoshoot and being able to bring that out in a person is part of what I enjoy about what I do. I say part because if I can get someone to be themselves I still have to be able to capture it and let it shine into the lens. For me, doing both is not just fun but exciting.

With Katrina it came almost easily and when she let it through it really came through! Once she was able to relax we could capture not just one side of her, but many sides of her multi-facetted personality. From the playful girl tossing her long red hair all about to the intense stare of a woman of mystery, all came from her and danced into my camera.

Katrina is thinking about doing some more modeling and perhaps making it a side career. I think with a few shoots under her belt she will be very popular and will win over the heart of many a photographer. From a person that was a bit apprehensive to do a photoshoot to an aspiring model, all in just a few days. You never know what is going to become of your next photoshoot.

 

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Where Does The Time Go?

The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of shooting editing and delivering images. From a commercial shoot in Uniontown PA (near Pittsburgh) to a family portrait session this past Saturday; I have spent a lot of time with my camera in front of my eye and nothing makes me happier!  After all, I did get into this business to create images.

I will write more about the commercial shoot in Uniontown shortly but for now I want to focus (no pun intended) on the family shoot I did Saturday. Let me say first and foremost it was a pleasure to shoot the Lehr family and they are a great family. I met Teresa the mother, many years ago before any of the children were born actually, and lost touch with her over the years. The last time I saw her, the oldest girl Tara was 4 or 5 and Teresa just found out she was going to have another child. Well that other child was just one of two more children. Justin has graduated college and is on his way to start his engineering career in Louisiana. Where does the time go?

Teresa and I got back in touch a few months ago via my photography Facebook page and we have been talking on and off since. A couple of weeks ago she mentioned that she liked my work and she needed to get family portraits done as her middle child (who am I kidding, he is a grown man) was moving away soon. We set a date and the shoot was on!

Tara, the eldest, I have known since she was born and I kind of figured that she would be as attractive as her mother and I wasn’t disappointed. She has grown into a very intelligent woman like her mom. The other two, well I had no expectations. I knew and used to work with their father. In fact I was responsible in a roundabout way, for Teresa and Brian meeting. Actually I just let her know there was a job opening where I worked all those years ago and well, the rest is history. So I knew they all came from pretty good stock, two loving parents, strong and independent and an all-around good family.

 

What I didn’t know was how perfect and photogenic these people were! Wow! Talk about making my job easy; even when these siblings gave that “oh I am getting my picture taken, I better smile” sort of smile, they looked great. All I had to do was set the lighting and create the images, well and get their real smiles. On top of being hospitable, smart, engaging and photogenic, they all have the patience of saints. The location we chose was a local park that used to be called Turks Head Park, a block away from their home. Little did I know the first spot I chose as a backdrop was actually the breeding ground for every mosquito in all of the northeastern United States. If you ever want to attract mosquitoes, expose some skin, sweat a little bit from the warm summer sun and then pop off a few bright flashes. Sure enough you will have a few hundred in a few minutes. Did any one of my 5 subjects complain? Barely a mention; they were all wonderful.

The images here in this article are just a few of the images that we got. Although there was not a skin blemish amongst the 5, I think I did have to retouch a couple of mosquito bites but other than that, this is how beautiful the family is.

While typing this I just got a Facebook Message from the mom, Teresa.

“Thank you Michael for a fun relaxing shoot. I was a ball of nerves and you set me at ease. Also thank you for confirming what I already knew…..My kids are gorgeous outside and in!”

Teresa, No problem, it was my pleasure!

Life is a Cabaret Old Chum…

I had the fortune of helping one of my favorite charities last Friday. The Mt. Airy Art Garage was putting on a fund raiser to try and raise money to build out the studios they have planned for local artists to grow, learn and share their art (Feel free to donate to the cause!). The fund raiser was a cabaret and the singer was excellent! Michael Richard Kelly has a beautiful voice and he sang some of my favorite old tunes: “Where or When”, “Moonlight in Vermont”, and The Very Thought of You” to name but a few.

 

It is a rare event where the singer really grabs my attention in such a way that I almost have to concentrate on my job as a photographer. Mr. Kelly nailed it in such a way that I found myself wanting to put down my camera and just listen. My wife thinks my camera is permanently attached; he’s that good.

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Party! Business Portrait Party

Perhaps you have seen the Special Services section of this site that briefly explains Portrait Parties; maybe you haven’t gotten there yet. A Portrait Party is just one of the services I offer and it is where you can host a party with your friends and get yourself a free portrait. Your friends can save a whole lot too; it’s kind of like buying in bulk.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was asked if there was such a thing for business portraits. Of course there is! Well, it’s really not any different. One person (the host) gets their portrait done for free and everyone else saves up to 75% off my normal portrait session rates. It’s a heck of a deal actually. But back to the business portrait party.

 

Like most business people these days I belong to a number of networking groups and one, PRE (Professional Referral Exchange) in Philadelphia, wanted to do something different for their members and shake up the normal lunchtime meeting. I worked with the chapter vice president and we setup a speed networking/Portrait Party lunch event. Members and their guests could come in, have lunch, do some speed networking, and also have a chance to get an updated business portrait taken. All in one shot! (har har!)

 

In fact quite a few of the people attending did get their portraits done and everyone had a chance to get to know each other and their respective businesses a little better. The entire event took only about an hour and a half, which is the usual amount of time for a PRE lunch meeting. Everyone had a good time, met some new business associates, and got a good lunch too.

 

Here are a few of the images that were taken that day. Just click to see a full size version of the images. Oh and that lovely lady at the top: That is Chris Coward, the chapter’s vice president. She holds the business coaching category for Philly PRE. You can meet her and all the chapter members at www.phillypre.com. I hear that their Member List page is going to be updated with a new format and some images. Hmm… where ever could they get those from I wonder?

 

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A Fan Club?

 

 

If you have been following me long enough you have heard of the Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed that I did a few times in recent years. In fact I was even written up in the LA Times about it and you can read about that here: Joblessness in the LA Times.

 

At that particular event I was also on the local Fox news station and they recorded me shooting the 174 portraits I did in just 4.5 hours that day at the Wachovia Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in Philadelphia. A copy of the video is on YouTube and you can link to that on the Publications page of this website.

 

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Where I’ve Been

I want to take a moment to apologize to my readers for not posting in almost 3 weeks! Bad Michael!  But Good Michael has been busy shooting weddings and portraits and bears (bulldogs actually), Oh my!  I will be back writing very soon but in the mean time here are a few of the sessions i have shot since I wrote last. And yes a couple of these people are return clients like Grace and Gayle. Leave a comment below and give them a shout out.

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[image title=”Wedding Shoes” caption=”Wedding Shoes”]https://michaelalbany.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/WeddingSneakers1.jpg[/image]
[image title=”Grace 2″ caption=”Grace 2″]https://michaelalbany.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/grace-002.jpg[/image]
[image title=”Shawn” caption=”Shawn”]https://michaelalbany.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/shawn-001.jpg[/image]
[image title=”Fedora” caption=”Fedora”]https://michaelalbany.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/donato-001.jpg[/image]
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Leaping Van Gogh

 

Just the other day I had the opportunity to photograph a local modern dancer. Deneane is a dancer and choreographer in Philadelphia and we met when she needed head shots done for her portfolio. When I photographed her head shots in the studio we got to talking and had all sorts of ideas of how we might be able to get creative and do a few images that would be above and beyond. What better way to go above, than to actual leap over a building!

 

 

I had the idea of Deneane doing high leaps on the top of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps. No matter where you are in the world if you have seen the movie “Rocky”. One of the most famous scenes is of Rocky running up those steps and putting his arms up in a victory stance at the top.

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Looking Special

 

Often when you decide to have your portrait done you want it to look special and you want it to stand out. So how do you achieve that special look?  Themes.

 

You can always choose to do the usual themes that are everywhere: a standard family or personal portrait, the ever popular pinup themes. Some choose to go with a western theme or even the Mafia type images complete with Fedora, cigar and Tommy Gun. There are also many photographers that specialize in things like western themes, barn not included.

 

This past weekend I had a chance to work with a young lady who by nature really enjoyed a retro look. When we met in December she was wearing something that looked straight out of 1938 Paris. Her natural look just screams mid-century fashion. When we setup the photoshoot we decided that a 1920s, 30s or 40s look is just what she wanted, and it was just a matter of her finding the clothes she wanted to wear for the shoot.

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Special Moments

 

How important can images be? I mean everyone has a digital camera these days and the ones in our phones are dynamite, right? Meh, they are OK if the image you want is only going to be displayed on your phone or your friend’s phone. Professional portraits cannot be replaced because it’s not just that image that means something. The memory of you at this age, this time in your life, perhaps your partner’s life and your time together; maybe it’s not about you or your partner but the magic of life the two of you share. The magic of a child.

 

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