“I have said democracy and freedom do not work too well if you are hungry, if you are starving.” -Pete Domenici

I tagged along with a group of students as they went on a seven day mission trip to Los Angeles, CA. The students spent each day at a different ministry/non-profit helping distribute food to the hungry. They mainly focused on distributing food, but also sorted donated goods, cooked meals, played with kids, and loved on people. The group of students were from Rockford, Illinois, part of a gap year discipleship program called Focus One.

As a high school student back in 2003 I took a similar trip to LA, and to wrap it in a simple cliche, it changed my life. Growing up in a home where food was available, I took it for granted. I could come home and make a snack before doing homework. My belly was full and I didn’t know any other reality.

Being back in South Central LA was almost deja vu, watching hungry kids play in the street just as they had done when I was there nearly ten years ago. The children hadn’t really changed, they acted and looked the same in 2012 as they did in 2003. They had soccer balls, scuffed knees, big smiles, and grabbed at the yogurt cups we handed out. When they saw us bringing food they streamed out of apartments and duplexes, knowing what our arrival meant for their bellies that next week.

Hungry people aren’t just homeless either – an assumption that I have to stop myself from making. This was evident in LA. People drive cars, have houses, and go to bed hungry.

They rely on food banks to make ends meet, especially when unexpected bills or other priorities get ahead of food. An unexpected layoff may land desperate and determined parents in a line at the local food bank. I’ve met the parents, I’ve heard their stories. They are humbled and appreciative-the food bank allows a family to pay for electricity and water instead of groceries. Those are the decisions they hate to make.

I’m not pushing any one charity/food bank/ non-profit, but if you’re looking for a meaningful place to donate money I would recommend finding a local food bank. By putting food on the table for a family you offer so much more. With food in their bellies, kids can focus on school instead of hunger, play in the park without worrying about dinner, and parent’s can sleep better at night knowing their children are well-fed.

I could tell a handful of stories from the student’s trip in LA, but instead I’ll post photos. I think the faces tell more than my words could. I will say this: even with hunger in their stomachs, people are still hopeful. People that are hungry still smile. Kids still play. Hunger can’t replace the resilience to keep moving forward-the children and families I met in South Central LA prove it.

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I’ll be honest up front: I’m not a head shot photographer by trade.

I’ve been learning more about what makes a good head shot ever since I started shooting them a few years ago. Every time I shoot a head shot session I learn new tricks to getting a fantastic image. I spent a few weeks casting for America’s Got Talent back in 2007, and I watched Casting Directors toss away so many head shots for the silliest reasons. I’m not a Casting Director, but I’ve worked with actors in the past, and I’ve seen my fair share of head shots, good and bad. That being said, art is about breaking the rules sometimes. There’s always a good reason to break the rules, and at times the advice below may not apply/work.

So, in an attempt to spread my lessons learned, I’m going to give away a few of my secrets/tricks. If you’re an actor/actress and you’re looking for some advice, you’ll find a few pointers below as well!

FOR THE CLIENT

Emerson said, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” My biggest piece of advice to a client: be yourself, be confident, and realize that your charm will be most visible when your are comfortable with who you are.

1. Get along with your photographer (photographers all have personal styles). The session needs to be as relaxed as possible. If your photographer drives you crazy, you’ll wear that emotion on your sleeve and ruin your photos. Photographers – don’t drive people crazy. Be calm.
2. Photographer and client – arrive early. If you’re a late person make it a point to arrive early. Being late stresses people out, and your face will wear the stress of being late.
3. Clients needs to wear solid colors/no patterns. Avoid blood red, bright white clothes. Stay away from distracting jewelry (I suggest no jewelry at all to my clients). The emphasis is on the face, not the clothes or jewelry, that only distracts. Avoid heavy makeup. Avoid hair styles that hide the shape of your face.
4. Client should bring clothes they are most comfortable in. Don’t go buy a new outfit for your photo shoot (we really won’t see your shoes or pants anyway). If you do want an excuse to buy new clothes, wear them a few times before coming to your photo session. The goal is to be comfortable, so you need to wear clothes that you feel relaxed and attractive in.
5. Think about what kind of role you would play based on your personality. A head shot is often all that will get you an audition or a foot in the door. Your face needs to exude your personality, and a Casting Director needs to see that personality to imagine what kind of character you might play. In other words, be yourself, and let your personality be photographed through your face.
6. Bring a friend that will make you laugh. Don’t bring a bossy person. Don’t bring someone that stresses you out. Bring someone you won’t be nervous around!
7. Smile with your eyes. It’s called smizing – I think Tyra Banks came up with the term. Imagine what it would look like to smile with your eyes. Go for it, try it right now in front of your computer. It may be a goofy thing, but it really does help to widen your eyes, lift your upper cheek bones, and give the appearance that you’re focused, energetic, and confident.
8. Find a photographer who can touch up in Photoshop (and not your average I-used-it-once-in-high-school” user). A good photographer is also a good photoshop artist. There’s a lot of disagreement among photogs here, but here’s my line: I touch up the things that are impermanent. This would include acne, bruises, and hair touch up. I don’t fix things that are permanent: scars, moles, acne scars, or cow-licks. A Casting Director needs to see the permanent features of your face – you need to be the same person. Yet still, a good color correction and touch-up in Photoshop can do wonders.

FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER (OR THE HOODWINKED AMATEUR WITH A DSLR)

1. Advise your client on some of the points above. They’ll help, I promise.
2. Photographers be on time too. If you stress out your client you’ve created an uphill battle. If your client is late, calm them down, even if it causes you stress. If you get frustrated, hide that too. You need to be calm and collected.
3. Shoot head shots outside, and in color. That’s the trend. It may change. But for right now, you can’t recreate natural light indoors. Use even lighting. Low-key lighting is more appropriate for theatre, but I would still discourage anyone from shooting low-key head shots. Casting Directors need to see the true outline of your client’s face, and high-contrast photos don’t allow that.
4. Chose a fun location. Make sure that wherever you do it, you avoid a lot of people. I like shooting at botanical gardens, but sometimes you have to deal with random people walking into your photo. Instead of throwing rocks at people in the background to scare them away, choose a spot with less traffic.
5. Have clients stand up. People act more natural when they’re standing. Some people argue that this creates more energy flow to the face, but that sounds a little hippy to me. I just think people act more natural and breath easier.
6. Shoot with a longer lens. I prefer anywhere from 50mm to 100mm. 100mm starts to feel a little too compressed to me, but it still works. I like a shallow depth of field look for head shots. Lots of bokeh. Sometimes it can get too shallow though. Make sure your depth of field covers from the tip of the nose to the back of the head. If the majority of a client’s hair is out of focus, reevaluate your f-stop and ISO – increase ISO and compensate with aperture (f-stop/f-number). The smaller the aperture, the more depth of field an image will have. For example, an image of f1.2 / ISO 200 would have less depth than an image of say f12 / ISO 800. The more glass you shoot through (120mm vs. 50mm) also affects your image. Try shooting with a shorter lens for more depth of field if you have to.
7. Bring a reflector and an assistant. Sometimes a reflector can be used as a backlight, fill, or even diffuse the overhead sun. The uses in the field are immense. After buying a nice camera, a reflector needs to be next on the list. Well, maybe after a good tripod.
8. Shoot with the sun to your client’s back and expose for the face. This creates a natural back light and evenly lights the face. Sometimes this can create too strong of a hair light, but often works out okay if you’re in partial sun. Maybe you could use the reflector to give them more light on the face?
9. The best photos are always the ones at the end of the session. Don’t blow off the beginning, but aim to make the client comfortable. Joke a little, talk, get them relaxed around you and the camera. By the end of the session the pattern of behavior has been established, the client thinks less, and becomes more themselves. Aim to get to this sweet spot in a session (I find it’s after the first hour).
10. Touch up in post. A good photographer is also a good photoshop artist. Make sure this is included in your skill-set, or find someone who can do it for you. There are a ton of good tutorials on Youtube if you want to start learning the ropes.
11. Make your client sign a contract and give them a print release. Lots of printers (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens) won’t print professional photos without a print release. Make sure you give this to your client and avoid a phone call and having to FedEx a print release.
12. If you know the shoot is for head shots, crop your photos 8×10. That’s industry standard for head shots. When you do it, you choose the framing, which can be easier than walking a client through doing this in an email or over the phone.
13. Give hi-res and low-res copies. These days, actors/actresses/models have to email their head shots occasionally. By giving a client a low-res, email friendly version you are communicating your ability to anticipate industry trends. For those who might want to streamline this, create a custom workflow to achieve this quickly (Automator, PS Actions).
14. Oh, and last thing, don’t put any goofy filters or color correction on your photos. Don’t make the eyes look super bright and high contrast (aka weird). That was cool for about two months in 2005.

Alright, there it is. Just a few tips and tricks. If you’re looking for a good head shot photographer in Richmond or Virginia Beach, VA please look me up. Don’t ask your friend with a snap and click. A professional head shot can make a big difference, and good actors and actresses know it. Feel free to get in touch with me using the Contact Page if you want to chat about scheduling a shoot!

On April 4th tornadoes touched down in several places around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Within hours I was on a plane headed to Dallas. As part of a rapid response team, I was sent to make damage assessments to determine if a full deployment would be necessary. Driving around parts of South Dallas, namely Lancaster, we saw heavy damage inflicted on brick structures: something we look for. Below are some of the photos from my first few days in Lancaster.

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It was an absolutely crazy idea, but it could be done.

My father-in-law had done it before, and he was the one that convinced my dad and I to do it with him and a friend. A four man team, crossing the Grand Canyon, North Rim to South Rim in one day. It would be like walking a marathon, but through the Grand Canyon. I trained for a few months before, running stairs and preparing my knees. Physically I knew I would be fine, but I was trying to figure out the photo aspect of it. You can’t cross the Grand Canyon and not take photos (especially when you’re a professional photographer).

I decided to walk all 24ish miles with my Canon 5D strapped around my neck, with a lightweight 50mm 1.8 lens. That’s it. It was first and foremost a hike, and we had to keep walking. I didn’t want to slow down the group to take photos, so I shot mostly from the hip while moving. I wish I had my L glass, sure, but it would have been too heavy. One day I’ll take some nicer glass through the canyon, take my time, and shoot. Until then, I’ll have these photos as a memento.

John Wesley Powell said, “The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.” Powell was certainly right; words fall short in describing the Grand Canyon. Looking back, carrying that darn camera 24 miles (especially the last two, brutal miles) was so worth it.

I made a photo book that tells the story chronologically (we had a little drama along the way which makes it interesting). If you want a blow by blow account of how the hike went you can read/order the book by clicking HERE. Feel free to email me or comment on this post if you want advice on planning the hike, especially from a photographer’s point of view.

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Sláinte!

My wife and I have been fascinated by Ireland for years. Luckily her ancestors are from Ireland, which makes me an honorary Irishman… I think. We were married this last August and decided to go to Ireland for our honeymoon. The trip wasn’t intended to be a photo adventure, but we couldn’t help but treat it like one. Driving on the wrong side of the road, exploring quaint towns and rolling green hills, we snapped some 2000 photos in only seven days.

I could go on describing some of the sights, but the pictures do it way more justice than words ever could.  There’s a gaelic saying in Ireland, “An té a bhíónn siúlach, bíonn scéalach.” It translates roughly into “he who travels has stories to tell.” This was certainly true of our honeymoon on the Emerald Isle.  Instead of telling those stories with words, I’ll let the photos do the rest!

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A long, long time ago a fourteen year old version of myself found my dad’s old Canon AE-1.

It sat in a box, taped up, with old cords and other junk. It was gathering dust, which made no sense to teenage me because, well, it looked so damn cool. I was surprised to find the camera in good working condition, whirling to life and flashing green and red numbers through the viewfinder. I had no clue how to use it, but I sure tried. Through clever Ebay bidding in college I collected old FD lenses for it (the mount Canon used back in the 80s). Now they sit on a shelf next to my bed, collecting dust looking more like antiques than tools.

Eventually I made the jump to digital and now I shoot with a Canon 5D MK II. My camera bag is filled with L series glass. But those old FD lenses always caught my eye. What would happen if I threw those on the 5D? Was there a way? Would it even be worth it? What would happen and how much would an adapter cost? Well, I found out.

Fotodiox sells a FD to EOS converter for around $40. It seemed to good to be true. The adapter has a piece of circular glass in the middle of two mounts, one an EOS mount and the other a FD mount. It looks simple enough. It took about 30 seconds to stick an old Tamron lens to the adapter and start shooting. I’ve posted photos below, untouched. The adapter feels solid, no lens wiggle, and feels secure against the body of my 5D. The old Tamron lens I used is a 1:3.8 1:4.5/250, 75-250mm CF Tele Macro.

What I did notice was how difficult it was to get a sharp focus. I’m sure that’s a combination of using an old lens with the adapter, but getting a sharp macro shot was challenging. I also noticed the natural vignetting at 200-250mm, which I assume was the edge of the glass in the adapter creating dark rings around the image as it stretched through the long lens. Obviously all auto-shooting capabilities go out the window (focus and aperture), but I focus most of my shots in slow environments anyway. The nice thing about the price: buy a few adapters and leave them on your favorite, old FD lenses. Overall, the photos were fun, and it was nice to dust off an old lens. I wouldn’t take it on a pro-shoot anytime soon though, unless I had time and patience to spare. I suppose every tool has its use though. As for video, I shot a little and it looked fine, if anything a little soft (think Greta Garbo and Schneider Classic Soft).

I would say go for it, especially at its price point. It’s worth it for nothing more than turning an antique into an artistic tool!