Getting Low and Close for Desert Flora Photography
When I have some downtime on rural land photography shoots waiting for the sun to get lower in the sky, I put on my macro lens and see what the desert might be hiding. Such was the case on a recent shoot in McKinley County, New Mexico. I had gotten all the traditional photos I needed, wide landscapes, and was waiting to make my signature HDRsunset shots. So I took a stroll around the property, not looking far and wide, but low and close. I have told photography students in the past, if you show me in a photo what I can see from my own eye level, that is one way to make merely a snapshot. To make a photograph I used to say, show me something I cannot see with my own eyes at my own eye level. Thus, by getting low to the ground, to the eye level of this desert flora, and using the very shallow DoF abilities of the macro lens to create a creamy bokeh, I can show the viewer something she/he cannot see merely by standing in the same spot.
I received a phone call from Trish about making product photography shots of her fine soaps here at the JCP Home Studio, but a shoot that would first be preceded by prop shopping at Thrift Town! So we met at my favorite thrift store in Albuquerque, where I helped her choose some props to use in the background of the product shots, and then we had the actual shoot. Trish did a great job picking out excellent props and helping with the staging of the soap, allowing me to concentrate on the technical aspects of getting the lighting right first, and then the composition with the soap being well placed among the props for maximum impact the her customers view the soap photos on her website. It was a really fun shoot starting with shopping and ending with some really great photos of very fine soap! And thank you Trish for leaving two bars behind for me!
Noble Law Firm contacted me about making professional headshots for all their lawyers across three cities in New Mexico. One of those cities was Las Cruces over 3 hours to the south of Albuquerque! They wanted consistency in the headshots so I told them yes, I can go to Las Cruces, then Santa Fe, and finally the office right here in Albuquerque. After the long drive south, the headshot shoot at the Las Cruces office was one of the most fun I have ever had, especially for headshots!
Having a headshot on your website gets more clients
In asking for feedback from a client about why that client chose me, among the multiple reasons given, the one that stood out to me was because I had a picture of myself on my website. This is the exact advice I give to many people I meet at networking events that have, to me, anonymous websites without their photo and sometimes even without their name anywhere on the site. If I meet you in person, I will go to your website later to follow up and seeing a modern, professional headshot helps me remember who I was talking to. If we have never met and I am seeking out a service or product, seeing the face of the actual person behind that business makes a big difference to me personally. I believe this is especially if your job involves working with people. People want to see who they will be working with, hiring, making a purchase from. This is one of many reason why having a modern, professional headshot is not only critical, but also the best value in marketing and branding there is!
Featuring another headshot from a big shoot for an engineering company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This entire company now has modern, professional headshots, all uniform in style and appearance showing their 70+ person team is a team. Professional headshots for the entire staff are important for presenting a unified team to potential customers and clients. If only some have modern, professional headshots, and the customer sees they are working with the person without a professional headshot, that leads to thinking am I going to be getting the best possible service? Is this person really a part of this company? Leaving questions for the client/customer is not good right from the get go. Professional headshots for the entire staff leaves no questions, and gives a strong answer, this is a team!
Business Headshots suited to the client in Albuquerque
Jeff visited the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico needing a very specific business headshot with guidelines provided by the new company he is working for. They had a neutral, soft gray background and were a centered orientation style headshot. Here is a photography secret: you do not need to go out and buy a gray background. A white background, depending on how you light it, looks gray! The physical background used for this headshot, is the exact same one used for this one, for example. Know matter what your headshot needs are, I can produce a professional, modern headshot for you here or right at the location fo your choice, be it your office or home.
The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce has added some new team members since I last made headshots for them in September of last year. So I took my mobile studio headshot photography setup back to the Chamber, but this time shooting outside in a breezeway. The American Flag and the New Mexico State Flag were still used as the background, and I still used my signature setup of a 26” softbox setup as a beauty dish with a silver reflector for the lighting. One addition this time was putting a light on the flags to provide separation of the background from the subject, as the end of the breezeway was in dark shade.
