Political Campaign photography with real voters in Albuquerque
Making candid photos is one of my favorite things to do as a photographer, so when past client Athena Christodoulou contacted me about meeting her at a Bosque political event to make candid photos of her talking with voters, I thought this is a great chance to use the natural environment without walls to make some truly unique images for her campaign. Athena was able to talk with a variety of people, even someone with a dog (always a photography win), with several different backgrounds. She also changed jackets to add variety to the candid shots. Thank you Athena for continuing to choose me as your photographer!
Speech all about water and drought by U.S. Congresswoman Stansbury
I had the opportunity to photograph a speech and press conference by U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury right on the Bosque itself in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Drought has been a big topic for many parts of the country, and it is certainly an issue in New Mexico as well. Water was the topic of the morning by all those that spoke. I definitely think about every drop of water I use in my daily life here in New Mexico.
Secretary of Energy Granholm is all over Albuquerque
Not one, but two events on one day photographing Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico was how I spent a recent Wednesday. These were the first real events I photographed since the pandemic started. The first event was hosted by SWEEP and took place near a residential building in SE ABQ. The spectral lighting made it tough to get good looking photos from a photography perspective, but as you can see from the photo below, my camera was not the only one there dealing with that challenge! The next event was at Kairos Power, which is a new client of mine I did a lot of headshots for just the prior week. This time they invited me back to photograph Secretary Granholm on a tour of the facility. Many of those photos can be used in house only because of the propriety content in them, but I am able to share a few of the tour photos, ending with a creative shot of the Secretary ending a long day in ABQ!
Longtime and one of my favorite photography clients, Jalene, asked if I could make some candid portraits of her and other board members of Save New Mexico. If you have followed the blog of Jason Collin Photography for some time, you will see I photograph people, organizations, and events from across the political spectrum. This was a very fun shoot where Jalene’s abundance of personality made it easy to get fun candids of the group, and we also made headshots for everyone on location too. I even recorded some B-roll video that was used on the website! Thank you Jalene for continuing to choose me as your photographer for everything from theatre performances to headshots!
New Mexico State Senate Candidate on location photo shoot
I always really, really appreciate returning clients to Jason Collin Photography, and especially when the photos I make for them are as important as they are for New Mexico State Senate candidate Athena Christodoulou. Our first photo shoot was here at the JCP Home Studio for headshots. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic social distancing is a must, and for this on location shoot we were always more than 6 feet from each other and no one else was around. Jessica and I both wore masks during the entire shoot as well. It was a fun challenge to shoot in these conditions! Thank you fo Jessica for climbing a wall to get the diffuser in just the right place and to Athena for continuing to choose me as the photographer for her campaign.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in candids and speaking
I have lost track of how many times I have had the opportunity to photograph Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, which goes back to when she was a congresswoman in 2018, but every time is always fun as she is a very animated and energetic speaker. This also makes it a challenge to photograph her while speaking becausse many of the photos freeze her in a not so flattering pose. Knowing this, for the event I photographed at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, I knew I had to take more shots than I usually would of someone speaking and time my shots just right waiting for her to pause after a sentence to have the best chance at getting a good photo. The governor helped me out this time by not standing behind a podium while she was speaking allowing for some head to toe photos as well.
This was my second photo shoot with Alexis Johnson, who is running for U.S. Congress for District 3 of Santa Fe, New Mexico. For our first shoot we a little pressed for time, so I was very glad she had more time for this shoot done right in Cathedral Park in the heart of Santa Fe. This extra time allowed me to really find the best backgrounds in the park, which were still important to get right even though as you can see they are out of focus in both shots. The bokeh (out of focus background) quality is still very much dependent on what is being made out of focus. So purposefully choosing where Alexis stood for the above photo with a tree being hit by the sun resulted in that great, bright bokeh behind her.
