Start Your Career with a Professional First Impression
A professional headshot is one of the simplest ways for a recent graduate to look ready for the job market. Instead of using a cropped phone photo, graduation snapshot, or casual social media image, a studio headshot creates a more intentional and professional introduction. Whether you are applying for your first full-time position, looking for internships, entering graduate school, or building your LinkedIn profile, your headshot helps people see you as prepared, approachable, and ready for opportunity.
Family and Friends Came from Near and Far to Celebrate Patricia’s 70th Birthday
Shandra contacted me about photographing her mom’s (Patricia) 70th birthday party event at Wave Street Studios in Monterey, California. It was a short 1.5 mile drive for me, but I quickly learned that many people came from much, much further away to join the celebration! With roots in Seaside, San Antonio, and Atlanta, this was a cross country gathering. Things started with many emotional reunions between generations of family from siblings to spouses to aunts & uncles to nieces and nephews. There was of course cake, but also a Patricia Trivia contest that I thought was a fantastic party idea! Things finished for me photography-wise with a marathon of family portraits as everyone wanted a photo with the Patricia on her 70th birthday. This was definitely one of the more fun events I have ever photographed. Thank you Shandra for choosing me as your photographer for this family event!
I missed seeing Chalk the Block live in action last year, so put it on my calendar this year, to make sure I caught the artists in progress creating their art on the sidewalks of downtown Pacific Grove for the 4th Annual Chalk the Block hosted by Art Abilities. What is Chalk the Block? It’s an event anyone can register for, with kids and adults taking a section of sidewalk and making it into their own work of art. From professional artists, to young kids, a wide range of creativity was on display. For passersby, you could pick up a piece of chalk and add your own little contribution as well!
I could not have been more surprised to learn I was to receive the Paul Harris Fellow recognition from the Pacific Grove Rotary Club. The award, named after Rotary founder Paul Harris, recognizes service and contributions supporting Rotary’s mission of “Service Above Self.” I am very grateful to be part of such a welcoming and community-minded group of people here in Pacific Grove and am very humbled by it. I have not previously felt this desire to serve a community like I have since purposefully moving to Pacific Grove a couple of years ago. I will do what I can for as long as I can for PG.
Thank you to President Dr. Sarah Frahm and the other board members, and to Tracy for wielding my camera for me so I could be in these photos.
Studio Headshots for a Monterey Actor and Theatre Creative
Lloyd Brewer, also known professionally as LJ Brewer, came to my Pacific Grove studio for an actor headshot session. Lloyd is a local actor, performer, creative, and co-owner of Paper Wing Theatre & Supper Club on Cannery Row in Monterey. Lloyd had ideas for his headshots, but we were also very freewheeling in the studio seeing what worked best. For the first time, a client brought their social media consultant to a shoot! So it really was a team effort in creating the look of all these headshots for Lloyd. We set out with a goal of making a series photos that show a range of emotions that can open up Lloyd to roles other than villains, which he said he often plays. His Instagram profile name is even “reluctant_villain.” It was great working with Lloyd and his social media consultant, and very interesting to also see their own process for choosing the final photos from the session which we did in studio at the end of the session. Good luck in New York Lloyd and thank you for choosing me as your headshot photographer!
A Dog Park Grand Opening Video for Del Mesa Carmel
This was my third video shoot for Del Mesa Carmel working with Odeli, and each one has been very different! The first video showed the highlights of a guest room, the next was a drone video showing the entire expansive property, to now this one, of the grand opening of a newly renovated dog park. There were vendors in attendance and food offered to note the new and improved place for the community’s dogs and owners to meet up at and play. As you can see in the video, the dogs seemed to really like it! My goal with the video was to show a number of things, from the vibe of the event itself, to the renovations made to the part showing some of its new, unique features, and of course to capture some wagging tails and dog on the loose activity. I was happy to be invited back to Del Mesa Carmel for making video of this special community event. Thank you to Odeli for helping with the shoot and for continuing to choose me as your videographer, photographer, and drone pilot!
A Complete Business Photo Session for a Local Pacific Grove Accounting Team
I came to know Travis through the Pacific Grove Rotary Club. In talking he expressed an interest in updated team headshots for his accounting team, as well as some “better than stock” candid photos of the team in action. I said I would be very happy to help out with that when you and the team are ready. Well, they survived tax season this year and we scheduled a date for me to bring the mobile studio setup to his office, which is actually only walking distance (if I didn’t have to bring so much photo equipment) from my own photo studio. It took a bit of creative setup to make the best use of the space for headshots, but in the end I was able to figure it out and make the same great headshots I do for all clients whether it is at their location, or at my downtown Pacific Grove photo studio. We moved on to make a couple of group shots, then some candid business portraits, or as I call them, “better than stock” images, which required a little bit of acting on their part which they seemed to enjoy! Thank you so much to Travis for choosing me as your photographer. It is always great to work with a fellow Rotarian too! And thank you to first time photo assistant Theresa, for helping with this multi-faceted shoot and getting that BTS (behind the scenes) photo of me below.
