From Photographing the Art to Photographing the Artist
It was great working with Marlene last fall making photographs of her paintings in her studio. So when she called me about this time having a branding photography shoot, I was looking forward to returning to her studio for an entirely different shoot. She had plenty of artist props and settings to get a wide variety of branding shots, but she also wanted a couple of the photos we made to be able to be cropped to a more typical headshot style. The flexibility of my lighting setup and the high resolution of my mirrorless camera allowed me to get just what she wanted in terms of both a branding photo ,and one that could be cropped to a headshot. This provided max value “two in one” photos for Marlene to use on her website. I had one idea for the final shot if Marlene was game for it. I asked if she would be willing to lie on the floor and surround herself with brushes and tubes of paint for a straight down perspective branding photo. She said sure! I turned out to be my favorite photo of the shoot. Thank you Marlene for continuing to choose me as your photographer!
Colorful and Black & White Branding Photography DJ Musician Producer Photo Shoot in Studio in Pacific Grove California
Incredibly, this was my fourth shoot (1st, 2nd, 3rd shoots) this year with local DJ and music creator Jason Kushy as his career continues to take off! We were back in my photo studio in Pacific Grove for this shoot where Jason wanted some branding photos with a colorful background. He chose a shade of red for those images. Then we shot on a gray gradient background for photos eventually converted to black and white for some minimalist, but eye catching branding portraits. All this resulted in yet another creative shoot that provided Jason more high impact branding photos to use for his own Spotify account and for his label to submit to publications writing about his new music releases. Thank you Jason for continuing to choose me as your photographer!
Branding Photography shoot in Pacific Grove SoundWorks recording studio with returning DJ client Jason Kushy
I am so grateful that as local DJ and music creator Jason Kushy has more and more success with the new EDM tracks he releases, he continues to choose me as his personal branding photographer. Our first shoot was just back in June, in my just opened photo studio in Pacific Grove, then our second shoot was out on the streets of Pacific Grove in September. Now the third shoot was in a Pacific Grove SoundWorks, a local recording studio. I had met the owner, Jermaine, of the recording studio shortly after he had opened it up about a year ago. He remembered me and was fantastic to work with helping both Jason and I in getting the most creative photos we could at the sound board in his studio. This was a true team effort with open sharing of ideas and resulting in another series of branding photos Jason will use on his Spotify channel and with the record label he newly signed with too! Thank you to Jermaine for a great location in his studio for this photo shoot, and to Jason for continuing to choose me as his photographer on his music journey! —Find Jason Kushy, DJ and producer, on Spotify
DJ Jason Kushy gets signed to a label returns for a second personal branding photo shoot in Pacific Grove California
Even before my photo studio here in Pacific Grove, California was even close to fully setup, local DJ and producer Jason Kushy contacted me about a branding photo shoot to help him launch his first tracks on Spotify and other music streaming platforms. It was a great shoot in studio and out on location. Since that time he has grown greatly in popularity and been able to sign with a label! So he wanted another branding photo shoot to have images to share with the label and this new, exciting phase in his music career. This time the shoot was entirely out on location in downtown Pacific Grove using a couple of spots I had scouted before, and then also improvising with a few more. The result in just an hour shoot was a fantastic variety of backgrounds, styles, and vibes for the photos we made. Big thanks to Felix for assisting with this shoot allowing me to focus on getting as many creative looks for Jason as I could. And of course, a very big thank you to Jason for continuing to choose me as his photographer as his music journey takes off!
Surprise engagement photography at Point Lobos Park in Carmel California
Irving contacted me asking about using Hidden Beach in Point Lobos State Park as the location for a surprise engagement photo shoot. Hidden Beach itself may be hidden, but it’s a very small beach with not really any place for a photographer to hide, but I did my best to keep the element of surprise when Irving arrived with Marissa and the ring came out! After Irving proposed, and Marissa accepted, we did some posed shots using my unique style of off camera lighting. After the beach, we went up on the nearby bluff for a different meadow and ocean background. Thank you Iriving for choosing me as your photographer and congratulations to you and Marissa!
Sassy seagull poses for my camera in Pacific Grove California
I would not normally photograph a seagull. I do not often photograph birds in general as I only have a 70-200mm lens, which is great for my commercial photography work, but not exactly the lens you would use if you are into bird photography. However, this seagull was not far from me, and seemed to be wanting me to make its photograph, so I did! Thank you for the sassy head turn seagull!
There are often weather alerts for “sneaker waves” for the Monterey Bay coast where I live. Pacific Grove is a quiet small town, right on the coast that is often full of drama. Such was the case on a recent afternoon, so I took my camera with 70-200mm lens (medium telephoto) to see what wave splashes I could capture. When I took the above shot, about 100 shots into the time I was shooting, I knew immediately it was the shot I had been looking for, and that was even before I noticed the birds in it, which just added to the shot. I took a few more photos after that, but I knew I had gotten what I envisioned before even leaving the house. This is something very satisfying and recommended for any photographer, envision what photo you want to get before going out, and then when you get it, you will know.
