Making lawyer photographs that are not stereotypical in ABQ
How to make a photograph of lawyers not looking like the typical photo of lawyers? My first thought was to have the lawyers in different positions, as in not all of them standing with arms crossed, not looking sternly into the lens. I wanted movement in the photo. I wanted personality in the photo. The result was the above photo. Using the lobby in their office building in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I thought the available bench with a glass and plant background could work. Thanks to my assistant Jessica for the tip to move the bench out away from the wall to position the standing lawyer better. I have since learned this was the lawyers’ favorite shot from the photo session as well!
People are starting to find me specifically looking for headshots for LinkedIn. The more headshots I make and the more I write blog posts about how important it is to standout with a modern headshot, the more I find clients wanting a new headshot for LinkedIn specifically I get. When I make a new connection on LinkedIn and am then offered other people I may want to connect with, I scroll down looking at who has a professional looking headshot, and who has some casual photo taking with a cell phone with a busy background. What kind of impression do you want to make with potential employers, clients, and customers? Shannon definitely wanted to make the best impression she could on LinkedIn regarding the visual impact a modern headshot presents to anyone browsing her profile, looking to make a connection, and even thinking about hiring her.
While visiting San Diego between Christmas and New Year’s, to my surprise touring on the waterfront among aircraft carriers and other ships, stands a statue representation of the famous sailor kissing woman photo. It stands 25 feet tall and attracts quite a crowd, even on a weekday morning. Recently the man in the photo/statue passed away. The woman passed away in 2016. One’s feelings about the action captured in the photo, and the statue itself, can no doubt vary widely. One thing for sure though, it delights a lot of people visiting San Diego’s downtown waterfront.
In the past few months I have made several trips to rural Belen, New Mexico for rural land real estate photo shoots, but only photos. This time the client, Hemingway Land Company, also wanted drone video of this 5-acre property. This area does not have a lot of interest topographically, so the challenge was to fly cinematically over mostly desolate land. At the end I found an arroyo to fly over in one of my most complex flights yet. Then I finished with finding a few trees before the final sunset shot.
Are you still using a headshot from years ago? From over a decade ago? Yes, I have clients come to me getting their first new headshot sometimes in over 10 years! Photography has changed a lot since then, and a lot in just the past few years. Modern, creative lighting can now make for a whole new generation of headshot that is no longer the stuffy rectangle on a swirly gray background. If your headshot does not look as modern, as professional, as appealing as the one above, I would very much like to have a headshot session with you at the JCP Home Studio or right in your home or office so you show yourself to clients and customers as the modern professional you are!
Right on time to the weather forecast, snow began falling at 5pm on a Friday. By midnight it was a frozen landscape like I have never seen in Albuquerque, New Mexico before. There was not just snow cover, it was as if the trees and ground themselves had become snow leaving only dark ponds to contrast with all that white. I went out with my tripod to make these long exposure (5, 15, 30 second exposures) in black & white around my own apartment complex grounds.
Over the course of seven days staying in the Ocean Beach community in San Diego, California I went to visit the Ocean Beach Pier several times. It looked and felt different each time. I was there for a brilliant sunset. I was there as a storm approached. I was there when the pier was nearly completely empty, and when it was filled with people. I met a pelican. I walked it, and I rode a Bird (electric scooter) down it. I listened to the stories the ocean whispered as it passed under and around the pier.
