Overcoming challenges as an Albuquerque drone pilot
This luxury real estate property in Sandia Crest, New Mexico, which is in the east mountains of the greater Albuquerque metro area, was a particular challenge to make both drone video and drone aerial photos of because of the tall trees surrounding the house on all sides. Add to that the very high winds (see trees bending in the video), the cold temperature, and the sun facing the property casting a drone shadow on any low shots, this all made for a drone flight that needed an experienced (and certified) drone pilot like myself to produce a video that was still cinematic and representative of what the property looks like. I wanted to highlight the mountains in multiple directions as the setting for the property, while getting what views of the actual house I could. Especially given the conditions, I am very glad with how the drone video came out!
Making the team look like a team with consistent headshots
Teresa has been a long time friend in Albuquerque who I have photographed at networking events and then on a big project to promote domestic violence awareness called One of Many (photos part 1 and part 2). She now works for The New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence and contacted me about making headsets for the entire team. I really believe it is important for the About Us page of an organization’s website to have uniform, consistent, professional looking headshots to show that everyone really is part of the same team. I was glad to have this opportunity for NMCADV. Thank you Teresa for choosing me as your headshot photographer and for helping out with styling (see below) and making sure everyone looked great for her photo!
Like many professional photographers just starting out, I photographed weddings. Dozens and dozens of weddings actually, but after a couple of years I switched, for several reasons, to being a commercial photographer. Now, I still photograph a wedding every now and then, but mostly only for friends or friends of friends, and in this case, a networking friend, Sarah. There was something about this wedding that was a first for me, with a wedding being the surprise conclusion to a renovated event hall at the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque. So my challenge was to be inconspicuous with two large cameras and lenses on my person, in a room full of people who knew each other but not me, so as to not spoil the wedding finale surprise! I am happy to say I did not, and the wedding was a complete surprise to everyone in the hall except me.
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.
Atlas Obscura is a great resource for finding odd places to stop when traveling between places. In this case, we were driving from Sedona, Arizona to Tucson and made a 40 minute detour to see the Domes of Casa Grande. Atlas Obscura describes these domes as being built around the late 1970s for computer manufacturing, but were never actually completed as you can see in the aerial drone photos below. What are the rumors for what happens in the domes and its tunnels now? Nothing less than maybe satanic worship. The area is totally fenced off with no trespassing signs as they have been slated for demolition, but still stood as of January 2020.
For regular readers of this blog, you may recognize both Kawtar and my M3. Kawtar is a networking friend who also was a headshot client 2 months ago. She has a custom of having themed photos of her made every New Year’s. This year she wanted to pose with a convertible, and it just so happened I have a convertible! We decided on a parking garage location for the shoot because it is an appropriate setting for using a car as prop. You would never know how cold and windy it actually was from the photos, but Kawtar was up for any ideas I had, and Jessica was a great assistant making sure all the lighting stayed up in the air as needed.
Many times when I am out on a rural land photography shoot, it is just me and a cactus passing the time waiting for the sun to set for me to get my final shots. Such was the case on a recent shoot in remote northwest Rio Rancho, New Mexico where this cactus kept me company and allowed me to make this photo featuring a sky full of floofy clouds.
