Well, it’s been a few weeks since our last post, and the clouds seem to be clearing a bit. Â Lots of shoots to share… Â Here is a shot of an interior we recently shot for Kade Homes and Renovations of a beautiful kitchen remodel they did. Â Have a great Friday!
One of the more interesting, albeit understated, parts of being a photographer, are executive portraits. Â They can be challenging, and most of the time, they push you both from a technical standpoint, and one of time-management. Â In most instances, you will be very limited in the amount of time you have with your subject, and everything should, in a perfect world, go relatively perfectly, in terms of your execution. Â Again, in a perfect world…
I had the opportunity to shoot another local attorney, Bill Dillon, that works in the fabulous Candler Building in downtown Atlanta.  It is one of ATL’s oldest buildings, and had a ton of spectacular architecture and character.  I shot in one of the upper floor offices (here) some time back, and I always wanted to shoot in the lobby also.  We were able to work it out this time, and tried not to make a spectacle of ourselves.
The lobby is relatively grand, especially with it’s ornate marble carved starcases, chandeliers, and, who could forget, the marble gargoyles. Â I always thought that the staircase would make a striking background for a portrait, so we used it this time. Â 
We had shot in one of the offices earlier in the morning, and the lobby shots were going to need to be quick. Â We had requested permission from the building management a day or two before, but, as we found out later, the building manager was on vacation in the Caribbean, so permission wasn’t going to happen. Â Forgiveness over permission was going to have to be the rule of the day. Â Luckily, the ‘stand-in’ for the manager was very nice, and was more curious about the shoot than she was concerned about us shooting there. Â We had about 10 minutes to set up, and I needed every second of it.
This was a 4 light setup (all speedlights) with the key being a 28″ Wescott Appolo with a 1/2CTO, a bare speedlight with a grid for a rim, a bare speedlight in the background camera right to open up the shadows on the stairway landing, and a last bare speedlight in the background camera left to open up the shadows from the landing below.  The room was a mix of tungsten light (from the chandelier, and sconces throughout the room, and a ton of daylight coming in from both sides of the lobby.  I gelled the key with the CTO to bring the subject in line with the room, and left the rim and 2 background lights at 5600K for some color contrast.  I wasn’t going to be able to kill the daylight, and I kinda liked the feel of the more blue ambient in the room.
All in all we had a great time, and the subject really liked the final images. Â Can’t wait to shoot here again!
Here is one taken a while back while shooting some footage near the Perimeter. Â Have a great day!
Here’s a quick image of a Movado watch done some time ago. Â Thanks Luigi for the watch!
While Kim and I were in Kiev, we had the opportunity to photograph a wonderful person named Karen Springs. Â She works for an organization called Orphan’s Promise, and they provide assistance to orphanages throughout Ukraine. Â She’s awesome. Â She is also very knowledgeable about the adoption process there, so she helps families (like us) that are in Kiev to adopt. Â Anyway, because there are so many places to shoot in Kiev, we decided to find some rockin’ streets in the Podol district. Â It’s older, has a ton of character, and seems to be the area where all of the younger generations tends to haunt. Â Here are some images from the shoot. Â And gentlemen….she’s single.
