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headshot
Two new hires at Eclipse Venture Capital means a couple quick portrait sessions in their beautiful Palo Alto office space. These are more environmental portraits, taking into account the surroundings, then a standard headshot. This type of business portrait is more interesting and challenging, and therefore more rewarding when I can do it well (and quick). Here’s a few of my faves…
I photographed the first few staff of the newly-formed Community Energy Department for the City of San Jose last year; since then the department has grown and they needed more photos of the new employees. We had originally shot in the Rose Garden in San Jose, so we booked the same location. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that (this being January and all) there would be no roses… Ah well, I started out with the fountain as a backdrop, but then the harsh sun came out, and we moved to a little crop of redwood trees to find some shade. The light continued to change throughout the shoot, which gave some nice variety to the headshots, even though the subjects themselves were lit consistently. Enjoy a few of my faves below:
This was a quick headshot for one person in Santa Cruz, California. We met up near Crow’s Nest at Twin Lakes beach on a weekday morning, and our goal was to get a few different backdrops that felt natural without distracting from the subject. The first shot is with the ocean in the background, the wood shot is the side of the restaurant in a breezeway, and the last shot I positioned my subject in the shade, with some nice, sunlit green foliage in the background. All in about 15 minutes, easy!
I found an out of the way spot in the office space for this company to set up and shoot some new headshots for 26 people in about 4 hours. I was shooting tethered to a laptop so each person could review the shots as we went, and reshoot as necessary. I love doing it this way because I know I’m getting at least a few shots for each person that they will be satisfied with.
Ah, corporate headshots: the perfect day to call in sick.
But not always. I try to make sure it's painless, quick, easy, and dare I say... fun. Seriously, if you give me 5 minutes, I'll give you a great shot (or three). Retouching is always included – I'm totally OK with vanity edits.
These types of photo shoots are always "on location" - that is, I come to your office, home or other location, set up lighting gear and get to work! For this company, I set up in a conference room for the individual shots, and we used the kitchen for a bigger group shot. Can you tell? Good :)
On-site professional portraits for a luxury real estate group in Menlo Park, California. I set up a white backdrop and lighting in the office and we had a blast getting a variety of poses, from full body to waist up and tighter headshots.
There's a new hotel in town – and it's a stunningly beautiful creation named Hotel Nia. I arrived a week before opening, so of course between the final construction, incoming decor and staff training, it was a bit of a chaotic environment to shoot in. Plus the weather was sunny one minute, and pouring rain the next – guaranteeing a variety of settings and a true challenge for the photographer (me). This shoot was dual-purpose – first, to get some food and drink photos for the restaurant, and second to capture some good portraits of various staff for press releases and the website.
This local (Santa Cruz) startup company needed some fresh portraits for their website – casual, yet professional; so of course we met at the brewery down the street on a cold December morning. Sadly, the brewery (Humble Sea) was not pouring at that ungodly hour, but we braved the chill anyways. I'm always the lucky one, not having to have MY picture taken – but I do my best to ensure the process is quick, painless, and dare I say? Fun. I had an awesome time with this crew, starting with a big group shot and quickly powering through all the individual portraits in about an hour. Not too shabby! Enjoy a few of my faves below:
This corporate client was having an off-site meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in The Pruneyard (Campbell) and since both local executives as well as ones from Germany would be attending, they took advantage of the setting to get some updated headshots (and group shots) done. I set up a studio space in an empty hotel conference room, using the existing wall as a warm/neutral backdrop. Here's the results:
We took some indoor and outdoor headshots / group portraits of some of the staff at this Scotts Valley business – the main shots intended for use in a Forbes Magazine article.
Cliff is a local architect, and I met him on-site at one of his latest builds in the new Main St. Cupertino shopping center. I loved the recycled wood he used in part of the building he designed, so I incorporated it in a subtle way into the background of the headshots. The group shot of the two of them was shot from a lower angle to show off the distinctive styling of the building behind them. These were all shot a little after sunset with a couple soft-boxed off-camera profoto B1 strobes.
