About six months ago I volunteered for The Heart Gallery of America. It’s a “traveling photographic and audio exhibit created to find forever families for children in foster care.” I’d first heard of it a couple of years ago, and I knew I’d eventually sign up as a volunteer photographer. They don’t have a chapter in Ventura county, so it was suggested I sign up with the LA chapter. Only recently was I notified of an opportunity in my area, and it turned out to be within a mile of my house! So for the first time today I did a Heart Gallery portrait session.

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This shoot had me nervous. The child I was going to photograph was a fourteen year old girl. Severely disabled, wheelchair-bound, unable to speak, barely able to hold her head up…how was I going to do this? In what kind of environment would this be? Would there be any locations suitable for the portraits, or was it going to be a sterile institutional setting? Would she even look at the camera? All sorts of disastrous scenarios went through my head in the lead up to this shoot.

Turns out I was worrying too much. The little girl lived in a house with full-time care, along with three or four other girls who also had special needs. I got there during snack time, so I had a few minutes to set up my equipment. The house had a nice little backyard with a tree in it, which is where I took the portraits.

This little girl was definitely aware of me and her surroundings. She responded well when I spoke to her, although she didn’t smile. At one point I showed her the images on the back of the camera, and I didn’t think she really comprehended what she was seeing. But at the end, I asked if she wanted to see the pictures again…and I think she nodded. Definitely something changed in her eyes that told me she wanted to see them, so I showed her. And when I thought we were done, I started to set the camera down. Her gaze was locked on that camera as it moved away: she wasn’t done looking, that’s for sure! So I showed her a few more images.

It wasn’t a long shoot,  but it was an intense way to start my relationship with the Heart Gallery. I had been so worried about screwing up or the session going badly, that I hadn’t prepared myself for the fact that I might be moved emotionally by it. But I definitely was. I’m still sorting through my emotional response to the shoot.

For privacy reasons, I can’t show you the images. Although I’m sure they’ll go up on the Heart Gallery LA website at some point. But I can at least show you one of the lighting set-up shots I made.

Recently I was hired by a client to take portraits of three generations: the client, her daughter and son-in-law, and her grandson. She wanted the images made in her backyard, and I love when people have me do that! I think it can be particularly meaningful to have family portraits made in a location that is important to the client. I always like to ‘scout’ the location first, if possible, so that I can get a sense of the lighting, backgrounds, best time of day etc. This backyard had a lot of shade in the afternoon, and shade is the photographer’s friend when shooting that time of day.

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The grandson is two years old, and very impish. We did manage to get him to sit still for a few ‘posed’ portraits with the rest of the family, but much of the time he was tearing from one spot to another. Fortunately, I discovered a hidden lighting ‘treasure’ at the house. While most of the back yard was in shade, the sun completely lit one wall of the house. It was so bright, and such a big light source, it just looked amazing. I didn’t need to use any strobes at all for this particular spot! And moreover, I did not have to worry so much about where he was in relation to the light source…he was free to run around and act himself.

The above image, and the one below, were taken using available light. It was just a matter of positioning them properly. As photographers, sometimes we get caught up in both the technical aspects of the process, and/or fall into certain habits. But if you’re always using your eyes, you can take opportunities like this and run with them. I love this light! There is no way I could have set up a 20′ x 20′ soft light source outdoors, which is what this wall had become. And it was a light beige color, which meant it was warming the color of the light as well. Bonus!

Later on, we moved around the other side of the house (below). This area was in complete shade, so I set up an 43″ shoot-thru umbrella and my Metz Mecablitz 60 camera-right, and I think I had a fill light at the camera position as well (I don’t recall). The little boy spotted an interesting bird, got grandma to look at it, and I managed to capture the moment. One of my favorite!

I’m always ready to have fun with my clients, especially when they act my age. Here you see the boy imitating me. I’m lying next to him with my feet in the air, meanwhile trying to snap pictures of him and keep from laughing so hard that I can’t hold the camera straight.

And finally below, we have one with mom and dad, and their son. This one was lit using both the Mecablitz and 43″ umbrella, and an SB-28 with a LumiQuest SoftBox III modifier to soften it up a little.

Great shoot, great family, and I got a workout from the two year old!

A few weeks ago I shot a birthday celebration at the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara, California. This was a ‘milestone’ birthday for my client (I assume she just turned 30?), and she and a group of close friends were staying overnight to celebrate the event. I haven’t laughed so hard on a shoot in ages! Holy cow these people were funny, and FUN.

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The Biltmore is a beautiful location, with lush gardens and a secluded feel. I had never been there before, much less shot there, so I and my assistant got there early to scout the location. I wasn’t concerned about finding places to shoot, as I’d heard the place was beautiful. However I was overwhelmed by all the great spots…we could only use a small fraction of them. I was like a kid in a candy store, photographically speaking (or, more realistically, I was like a photographer in a camera store): ooh look, we can put them there! And there! And those stairs! And that fountain…! My assistant (Heather) tried to keep up as I raced around the hotel. Once satisfied we had locations to work with, we headed over to collect the client from their hotel room.

Lighting this was pretty standard for my portable set up, since we had to be mobile. I used my Metz Mecablitz 60 strobe throughout as the main light. A 43″ shoot-through umbrella was used as a diffuser, and the strobes was triggered by Paul C Buff CyberSyncs. A Nikon SB28 was used for fill, with a LumiQuest SoftBox III in front of it. All this was shot using my Nikon D200 with a 28-105 2.8 lens. And primarily my big technical factor to watch was the proper balancing of ambient light with the strobes. Each location we picked was wildly different from the next, in that regard. And I had to be careful to get so carried away with having fun that I forgot the technical aspects of portrait photography.

We also captured some candid moments, as you can see below.

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A few weeks ago I took Kailee’s high school senior portraits. This is the third time I’ve worked with this family, and I always enjoy getting to know a family over time. I made her older brother’s high school senior portraits last year, which you can read about here. Kailee didn’t want to replicate what her brother did though, and instead wanted her images to be taken with lots of wildflowers around. And we got ‘em!

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When my client had made the appointment, months in advance, she had requested a location with lots of wildflowers. April seemed like a good month, but we’ve had a lot of rain this year in California. The flowers bloomed early, and I was concerned that they would be almost gone by the time the appointment arrived. I even contacted her mother and suggested we move it up, but that wasn’t possible. So I crossed my fingers and continued keeping an eye on several different locations known for their flowers.

Ultimately the flowers continued their long bloom, and we were able to shoot locally in Ventura. Arroyo Verde Park is a beautiful spot throughout the year, and the spring flowers are thick along the hiking trails. I knew they were primarily yellow flowers, so suggested Kailee wear yellow and/or white. Why not wear something contrasting the yellow, like blue or purple? Because of the green! Even though the yellow flowers contribute the most significant color in the images, the green is there, but goes unnoticed. (You’re noticing it now, I’ll bet.) However if we introduce a contrasting color into the mix, suddenly the green becomes a player. And then you have three colors to deal with, with possibly unpleasant results. Turns out Kailee had the perfect dress for the occasion. She even had the perfect necklace!

Lighting was very simple, as it had to be since we were hiking up some challenging trails. I had Heather assist me on this one, assuming the role of “voice-activated light stand”. I used just one light, my Metz Mecablitz 60, through a 43″ shoot-through umbrella. I had planned on using a fill light, but it turned out not to be necessary. I  was able to adjust the ambient lighting so that fill wasn’t needed. The lead image has Heather standing neck-high in wildflowers, holding the strobe camera-left. In the image directly above, the light is camera-right. You can see the sunlight to the rear, providing a hair/edge light on Kailee’s hair and shoulders in both images.

For the image above, we moved even further up the trail. At this point we were shaded completely by the hill from the setting sun, so I turned the scene around and shot the eastern sky and sunlit hills in the background. My subject is lit from camera left, and this time I’m standing in flowers too (and precariously perched on a steep upward slope, all the while keeping an eye on a stinkbug that didn’t like me). The flash is further away and more subtle here, giving just a little pop rather than appearing “lit”.

If you’re shooting in a canyon or valley, always consider that the sun will seem to set earlier there than it really does, because of the hills. I had planned an earlier shoot time than usual, just for that reason. I also had another location planned, that didn’t require direct sunlight. There is a hidden woods at the bottom of the canyon, and I wanted to shoot there. I’ve shot there before for landscape/nature images, but was not entirely pleased with the result. Turns out it needs a person in that location to make it work!

The lighting is the same one-light affair, but this time shadows are more contrasty because there is less ambient light to fill them. Rather than bump my ISO too high, I simply used a slower shutter speed and rested my camera on an extra light stand I’d brought. With slow-ish shutter speeds of 1/40th second, it did require Kailee to stand still. Any motion yielded a slight ghosting, but fortunately there were very few of these. In the image below, you can see the weak skylight hitting the trees on the left, whereas my light is camera-right.

I have used this park for other shoots too, and you can see a model portfolio shoot here, and a family portrait session here.

Do you need amazing family, children’s or high school senior portraits? Contact me here.

So if you’ve ever wanted to be a model, designer, stylist or fashion photographer – or were just curious about how it all works – please check out http://www.fashionandlight.com