On location headshot photography at its best in ABQ
Very rarely do I get to make headshots out on location, so when local KRQE meteorologist Connor Lewis asked for a shoot in downtown Albuquerque, I was very excited for it. As it turns out, this was one of my best every photo shoots of any kind. Being used to shooting headshots in studio with a solid white, black, or gray background, having a changing palette in the form of the downtown streets added a new creative element to every headshot I made for Connor. The traffic lights chasing from green to red made a difference, a car stopping with its lights on added to the background, and then in the next shot it moved on and was gone. This was fascinating to me. All through the shoot Connor was the one constant, always being ready for when I framed the shot and needed to get it in what could be my only chance.
My third commercial photography shoot at the San Mateo Inn in Albuquerque, New Mexico was just for interiors shots of the updated rooms. The first shoot I had with owner Yvette was a comprehensive interior exterior shoot, and the second was a night time shoot where I captured lightning! No weather issues of course with these interior photos, just looking for the best angles to showcase the variety of rooms the hotel has to offer. I really appreciate everyone at the San Mateo Inn continuing to choose me as their go to photographer for all the great changes they are making to their hotel. It is pet friendly too!
Revisiting photos I took at the Santa Fe Ski Resort as part of a car show with the BMW Car Club from the last day of summer last year, I found this landscape photo I had not yet shared. This area is where the ski lift would drop you off at in snowier times, but I hiked up to this viewpoint in the pleasant afternoon sunshine. Would you think this was a photo taken in a mostly desert state? Santa Fe is its own island world in New Mexico.
In part two of my professional product photography shoot for JoAnna (check out part 1 jewelry), I feature the photos I made of her wearables, in this case, scarves that she is already featuring on her Etsy store and Facebook page. Like the jewelry, these scarves were a challenge in their own way to make great product photographs of because maintaining color accuracy was very important. Getting the white background to expose enough that in editing it could be made pure white, while still lighting the scarves well enough to show the details took some fine tuning in camera and with lighting. As you can see in the screenshot of JoAnna’s Etsy store banner below, everything came out perfectly to help show her wearables and jewelry in a modern and creative way that will help her sell her unique items faster.
It was my pleasure to return to one of my favorite places in New Mexico this week, El Morro. I was on another assignment for Hemingway Land which took me past El Morro National Monument itself, to a very remote area 6+ miles down dirt roads. I chased clouds with my Sony a7R IV as soon as I arrived. By sunset time, only a very few lingered for me to frame for the final shots of the day. El Morro is a very special place I recommend visiting if you have never been before.
I really appreciate returning clients, and Giddens + Gatton Law are now two time returning clients no less! Plus, almost exactly one year to the day, I first visited their law firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico to make commercial portraits and headshots for them. Now that they have added a fourth attorney to their team, they wanted updated group photos featuring the new attorney as well as a few more groupings of the lawyers in general. We had the shoot in the lobby of the office building where their firm is located, just like before. Not wanting to simply repeat the shots I made for them previously, we used a different area of the lobby and I switched up lenses (and apertures) to create an entirely new look for these group photos for what I had done for them before.
Standout from other interns looking for jobs in Albuquerque
Networking friend Brian of Noventum Custom Software recommended that his intern Junchao get a professional headshot rather than just using his cell phone to take one. I am thankful for Brian’s referral and very glad that Junchao decided to make the best investment in personal branding by getting a modern, professional headshot. Look how he stands out on the team page and will stand out on LinkedIn and everywhere else he competes in a visual way with others for future jobs. Would your headshot compete with his if you are trying to catch the eye of a new employer? Think about it, would you decide to first contact someone representing themselves in a professional, modern way, or someone who made a minimal effort?
