Commercial Photography

Parkshore Grill Tyson Grant Commercial Photography St. Petersburg

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Chef Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/250th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power on light stand to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/8 power behind subjectThis afternoon I met Chef Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill on 300 Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg for a commercial photography shoot.  As he was changing into a clean white chef's coat I scouted the restaurant for the best spot to make his portrait.  I thought the area behind the bar was the most distinctive background, but I ended up blurring most of it anyway as you can see in the final shot which was tighter than I first envisioned as well.  

Parkshore Grill at 300 Beach Drive St. Petersburg Florida - outdoor cafe style dining is available all along Beach DriveBeach Drive has many restaurants running along its wide sidewalks, most all of which offer outside eating options.  On a pleasant sunny March afternoon like this one, most of the umbrella covered tables were occupied.  The area in front of the Parkshore Grill was very busy and I could not frame a shot to my liking, so I had to cross the street and include some of the surroundings to get a shot I liked of the exterior of the restaurant.

Chef Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill 300 Beach Drive St. PetersburgAnother central feature of the interior of Parkshore Grill was a winding staircase leading to a raised dining area in front of the kitchen.  Chef Grant said he liked this staircase so I setup the above shot having to carefully position both of my strobes so that they were close enough to him to light him up, but not so close that they got into the shot.  Using portrait orientation solved most of that dilemma and allowed the staircase to flow nicely into the foreground.

Thank you to Chef Tyson Grant for his time this afternoon.  It was a fast, but fun and interesting commercial photography shoot for me.  Visit the Parkshore Grill website.

Greater Woodlawn St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography

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St. Petersburg Florida Commercial Real Estate Photography - single exposure f/11 ISO 200 1/125th

I have made a new contact in the real estate business and thus will be potentially doing more real estate photography work in St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas.  A few weeks ago I photographed a large, furnished house (photos) for this client.  This time was a smaller, unfurnished home.  It is definitely more a challenge to photograph an unfurnished home, as many rooms devoid of decoration look just like empty cubes.  

St. Petersburg Florida Commercial Real Estate Photography - single exposure f/11 ISO 200 0.6 sec tripod mounted cable releaseSo for unfurnished homes I try to include more of the walls and outcroppings around the border of the frame in order to provide details and depth to the shots, like in the one above.  However, for example, if you have an empty bedroom that is just a perfect square, especially if it is a bit small, well, for that all you can really do is try and include the ceiling light fixture if there is one, and as much as possible get all the room's windows into the shot just to show its natural light potential. 

Lexus IS F - Tampa Commercial Car Photography

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2008 Lexus IS F in black - 7-bracket HDR in Ybor City, TampaWhen I was contacted by ISG (In Sixth Gear) to photograph a black 2008 Lexus IS F, my third favorite car in the world, it was rather easy to say yes to that job!  In fact it would be harder to have a more fun commercial car photography job in Tampa.  A few days earlier I went to Ybor City to scout locations (photos without car) and found the above brick road by rail road tracks spot, which was what the client had requested.  

2008 Lexus IS F black showing custom carbon fiber front spoiler - Ybor City, TampaThis was the client's own daily driver car.  He had a number of customizations added to it including a very low profile front carbon fiber spoiler, special 20" black wheels and perhaps most noticeable was the throaty prototype exhaust system.  The V8's could be heard rumbling loudly even at idle.  When revved you can hear it two blocks away.

2008 Lexus IS F black - 7-bracket HDR in Ybor City, TampaAll the locations I found in Ybor City were within a few blocks of each other in the same old brick warehouse district.  The client mainly wanted shots composed in a way so they could be used on his website, which meant leaving space on the left side for a vertical menu and space on the bottom of the image for text overlay, as can be seen in the above shot.

2008 Lexus IS F black - single exposure processed in Topaz Adjust 3 - Ybor City, TampaWhile waiting for the sun to go down a bit more, I took a few tight shots of the IS F for the client's own personal use, as well as to use as wallpaper on my own desktops!  The IS F has a unique, angled quad-exhaust system that is at an even sharper angle with this prototype exhaust system than the stock tailpipes.  

2008 Lexus IS F with custom carbon fiber front spoiler - Ybor City, TampaThe client's customized IS F looked especially menacing from the front.  The car overall was lowered with an even lower profile front carbon fiber spoiler.  Needless to say one has to be quite careful going over speedbumps!  

2008 Lexus IS F - 7-bracket HDR - Ybor City, Tampa warehouse districtThe client is actually selling this car and replacing it with a BMW M3.  I hope the photographs help him remember his time with his IS F.

Published in 2011 Metropolis Japan Calendar

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I became more serious about photography in August 2008.  I already had plans to leave Japan in February 2009.  In that six month period I had a goal of getting a photograph published in the "Photo of the Week" section of Metropolis, the #1 English magazine in Japan.  To my great surprise I reached that goal on October the 24th.  Though no money was involved, for a few minutes it felt like I had won the lottery.  

Then almost two years out of Japan, Metropolis contacted me for permission to have one of my photographs considered for their 2011 calendar.  I had originally submitted it in January 2009.  I said, "sure."  I was then told it was selected for the month of January and the copies they mailed to me across the sea arrived this afternoon.  I was also happy to find out I was sharing space with two other old Japan photographer friends, Vladimir and Alfie.  I was with Vladimir when I made the above photograph, and really only went out shooting that day because of his invitation.  So I guess I have him to thank most!  The photograph is in fact, one of my own top five all-time personal favorites, and a shot I am rather proud of.

Getting a photograph published in Metropolis I feel is still a sort of right of passage for a photographer in Japan, and perhaps Tokyo especially.  It results in a sort of Who's Who of photographers.  A small, but nice honor.

This got me to thinking this afternoon about where my photographer career would be if I had stayed in Japan.  Alfie is a true professional photographer with many connections and he was starting to appreciate my work.  Could I have gone on to be more of a photojournalist like he is?  Would I still have pursued lifestyle photography in Tokyo as well?  I can imagine wedding shots with Mt. Fuji as the background, or family portraits taken under the cherry blossom trees in full bloom.  Who knows . . .

Tropical Shores St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography

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Not HDR - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 1/4th tripod mounted with cable releaseReal estate photography, for me, is an especially internal process.  Since the subject being photographed cannot respond to verbal commands, nor non-verbal for that matter, I can work in complete silence and those have absolute, unbroken concentration.  Add to that I use a tripod and cable release for this type of work, freeing my hands, real estate photography is almost a sort of meditation.  To an outside observer, it would appear I was doing nothing, though if they could read my mind they would see a constant stream of calculations and measurements and penetrating glances.  That is how I operate when doing real estate photography.

This first room has come to be known as a "man cave," a term I despise.  I have, as of yet, no great alternative because I think the old term "rec room" still seems pretty good to me.  Regardless of label, this is no ordinary room of this type as the walls, as you can see, are lined with artwork.  In fact most of the walls in the whole house looked thusly.

Not HDR - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 1/2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI wonder why granite countertops have become all the rage the past few years?  Was this type of countertop not invented in the 1970s?  It seems now any type of countertop material that is not granite is looked upon with scorn and in need of "updating."  

5-bracket HDR - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 tripod mounted with cable releasePersonally, the master bedroom could be the smallest room in the house and I would be fine.  As long as a queen size bed can fit and I do not bump into the night stand, that would suit me.  I see so many house hunters on TV wanting a huge master.  I do not understand the benefit.

Not HDR, but digitally altered - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/160th tripod & cable releaseThe owner/seller of the house was quite an interesting person.  He was a builder by profession (now retired).  He built this, his own house, to withstand winds of 300mph using a concrete pouring process I was not able to remember since I was concentrating on photography.  Where may you ask is better than living in Florida for a retiree?  Well, he is on his way to Italy to an area that has good beaches also, while being just a stone's throw from ski slopes.  

Canvas Gallery Wrap Prints for St. Petersburg Tampa Clearwater Photography

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Pug Puppy Photo found on flickr published in First Magazine for Women

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flickr pays! -- Published on page 94 of First for Women Magazine January 2011If you think posting photos to flickr is a waste of time, and paying the $24 annual fee for a pro membership to flickr is especially a waste of money, well, my pro membership for the next six years has been paid for by selling this one shot.  A person from First (for women) Magazine contacted me by e-mail asking to use the above pug puppy photo in an upcoming issue.  I replied, "possibly, depending on the price."  The person replied promptly with a price list that was acceptable to me, and I made the easiest money in photography I ever had before.  They mailed me the print issue this week (scans above).  

I posted the pug puppy photo to flickr on February 11, 2010, not so recently.  I do not really post photos to flickr with the thought that the ever might sell.  I use flickr to post my favorite shots of the moment, or shots I am not that sure about, and use the feedback I get on the shot to improve my photography skills.  I always find it interesting to see which shots get the most views/comments as compared to others.  The results are not always what I expect.  

So, making the effort to properly publish your photo to flickr, and by properly I mean giving your image an appropriate title, tagging the image with appropriate and creative key words, and writing a full description of the image with exif data and how to contact you for more images/information, if you do this, the results can be one day a nice little windfall comes in the mail for photography work you have long already done.