One of my own personal favorite photos of all time that I made involved Christmas lights. These shots are quite different from that one, but one thing remains, I like Christmas lights out of focus better than in focus! Strings of lights make are an excellent opportunity to test out the bokeh quality of a lens, and my new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens impressed me with roundness of the light circles due to its 9-blade design. I took the lens mounted on to my Sony a7R IV on a stroll around Old Town Albuquerque during the annual tree lighting event, but the tree itself was not interesting to me to photograph. Much more interesting were these hidden shots I found around small stores and down old alleyways. Scroll down for a top photo tip!
Albuquerque does not get much snow, and especially not nearly 6 inches in November! Thanksgiving morning revealed a city covered in snow so I sent up my drone before cooking to get a couple of quick shots of a rare view of the city.
I was back in Santa Fe to photograph more cars for my best car client, James. You may recall he let me drive his Rolls-Royce Wraith last time I was there doing photography for him. This time it was his 1982 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante to be photographed by my Sony a7R IV. Volante is the word Aston Martin uses for convertible. You may see some similarities in this generation V8 Vantage and the Ford Mustang. I noticed it immediately. In photographing this Aston Matin the green color showed itself or hid nearly entirely based on the angle I photographed it from. In the above photo it is hard to see, but in the aerial drone photo below it is clear.
Get professional headshots for LinkedIn in Albuquerque
More and more people are visiting the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque for headshots for LinkedIn. Sharon is a PhD student who wanted to get a head-start on her career and a great way to do that is with the best value in personal branding, which is a modern, professional headshot. I really like how the black background in this headshot adds depth and professionalism to Sharon’s headshot. It helps she was a natural in front of the lens too! Thank you Sharon for choosing me as your headshot photographer!
Back out on another project for WSP, this time flying my drone over the Rio Bravo Blvd bridge over the Rio Gande River. This was quite a change from the urban area in central Albuquerque for the first project. Surprisingly there were more flying restrictions in this more remote area than in the city. I had to for the first time use a DJI custom unlock request to even be able to launch the drone here. Once up in the air, the views were quite stunning with some color in the trees stills and the Sandia Mountains providing the background and the Rio Grande River the foreground.
Photography is a gift that lasts all year & beyond!
Give a unique gift this holiday season! Jason Collin Photography is offering gift certificates for any of its New Mexico photography services and fine art prints. You will be emailed a PDF gift certificate that can be printed out and wrapped up!
Alexandra contacted me about getting a series of headshots and portfolio shots for her modeling career. Other than needing 3/4 shots, a head to toe shot, and of course a headshot, we had full creative freedom in style and posing. I chose to share this selection of photos converted to various types of black & white. In my constant pursuit to provide better and better images for clients, I have switched to editing photos in Capture One Pro 12 for Sony, and also in this pursuit, I upgraded to the best camera on the market now, the Sony a7R IV mirrorless camera. Capture One has its own collection of black & white conversion presets which I used for all of these photos. In addition this was my first time editing in Luminar 4 using its advanced AI technology for retouching portraits. I thought the results of this AI based retouching were very natural looking and not overdone.
