Photos for an Interior Designer

I have a regular client who is an interior designer. I photograph her larger projects for her portfolio and promotional materials. She recently moved to a new home and completed a major renovation, and she wanted to include photos of her personal work with her other projects. In addition, she has plans to conduct a seminar on accessorizing bookshelves, so we paid particular attention to the overall bookshelf shot and details to illustrate her presentation.

The following links will take you to other posts on my photography for this client.
Interior Design Photography
Interior Design Photography, Round 2
Photos for an Interior Design Portfolio
The Open House in Rye, New York

Welcome to Our Tent: A Photographic Study

One winter early in my photographic career, I happened upon the dormant tent city surrounding the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Not knowing much about it, it was a curiosity, and the bare platforms and empty frames afforded an hour or two of interesting photography. The following summer I passed through it in all its glory. The tents were occupied for the season, and they were decked out with furniture, flowers, and lawn ornaments. If you didn’t know the walls were canvas, you would think you were looking at an enclave of miniature Victorian houses.

I had plans to return the next summer to photograph the neighborhood when the tents were occupied by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. I never got around to it, nor did I get around to it the summer after that. This summer I swear I will. To get the momentum flowing, I visited recently to familiarize myself with the area and to judge when the light would be good and from what angles. I was struck by the irony of so many “welcome” signs near so many “no trespassing”signs. The photos you see here are some of the results, and I look forward to returning later and maybe even meeting and photographing some of the occupants.

According to an article in New Jersey Monthly, the 114 tents are occupied each summer by members of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. They come to participate in the Methodist Church’s summer programs of worship and community fellowship.

 

Portrait for Hebrew Free Loan Society’s Spring Fundraising Appeal

For more than 10 years I’ve done the graphic design work for the Hebrew Free Loan Society, creating brochures, annual reports, and fundraising appeals. For the past few years, they’ve asked me to handle the photography as well. I’ve photographed benefit events, executive portraits for the annual reports, and models posing as beneficiaries to accompany profiles of the people they help. Though we’d prefer to use actual beneficiaries, many of them are ultra-orthodox Jews who prefer not to be photographed. This time an actual couple who received interest-free loans for their daughter’s college education offered to pose.

People sometimes ask me if my career as a photographer takes me to exotic locations. Now I can say, “Yes! Staten Island!” But seriously, the drive there was quick. Not knowing what to expect, I brought a ton of lighting equipment and ended up using almost none of it. The couple’s living room was sparsely furnished, the ceiling was low and painted white, as were the walls. I achieved nice lighting simply by bouncing a Speedlite off the walls and ceiling.

In under an hour I had three sets of shots in different poses and from different angles. My client chose the one in the layout on the left, and they will mail it with their spring fundraising appeal.

Photos from the Braking the Cycle Kickoff Party

Braking the Cycle, the 275-mile AIDS ride from Boston to New York, kicked off its 10th year with a party at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. This year’s ride will be the weekend of September 28-30, and the funds raised will support Housing Works. I’ve been involved with the ride for the entire 10 years, as their graphic designer, as well as volunteering on the crew, riding for four years, and photographing the three-day event for the last three years. I look forward to photographing it again in September.

Past and current riders and crew attended the party, as well as prospective new people, many of whom signed up that evening. Speeches by the leaders of the ride and the beneficiary were short but moving, and there was plenty of time before and after for mingling with old and new friends. For more information, visit Braking the Cycle’s website at www.brakingthecycle.org. It’s liberally illustrated with my photos from the 2011 ride.

Photographing DJ’s Delights in Asbury Park

After photographing portraits of 12 real estate agents in Asbury Park, New Jersey, my client and I had lunch at DJ’s Delights. My client is friendly with DJ, and he introduced me as his photographer, and we chatted briefly about how well the photo shoot had gone at the real estate agency. Coincidentally, DJ needed photos of the facade of his deli and restaurant for the new website he was about to launch, and he hired me on the spot. I returned a few days later on Sunday morning when we knew that the architecture would be in open shade and there would be no cars parked in front.

DJ and I worked together to style the environment by removing benches on the sidewalk and to get the best angles in the two shots so they would fit the space available on the website. The shoot went smoothly, and I needed to do only a little retouching on the deli photo to remove cracks in the plaster and hardware from a former awning. On the restaurant photo, I used my polarizing filter to reduce the reflection in the window, but it didn’t help much. Though the facade was in shade, the environment in front of it was brightly lit, and it reflected so much in the window that it was hard to read the restaurant’s logo. So I darkened the window but preserved the brightness of the logo, and the resulting contrast worked well.

 

Real Estate Agency Photography in Asbury Park

Vail Realty in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is a successful new real estate agency that needed to project a more professional look through the agent photos on their website and in their print advertisements. Previously, each agent provided his or her own photo, and there was a mix of professional head shots and homemade snapshots, all with different wardrobe styles, lighting, and backgrounds. I presented the job I did for the Metropolitan New York Library Council, where I set up a studio in their office and made consistent portraits of the staff (click here to read that post). They liked the idea, and we discussed using a neutral gray background that wouldn’t clash with their bright green identity color.

Half of the large, ground-floor office was a huge open space that made an ideal studio. The other half, where the agents worked, had floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. The natural light that flooded in was perfect for the group portrait above. Below is a sample of the 12 agents I photographed that day. And below that is an example of the retouching I did to make the agents look their best.

Ghosts Appear on Lost Film Developed after 60 Years in the Camera

Every time I visited my parents in Florida, my father showed me an old camera that he said had exposed film in it that could be more than 60 years old. He had no idea what images could be on the film, if any even remained after so long. I finally convinced him to let me take it to a lab to develop it, hoping I could find one in New York City before the last one went out of business. I contacted a friend who has been a photographer since the film days, and I knew he could refer me to a lab. He asked me lots of questions about the film, but all I could tell him is that “Kodak” and “Verichrome” were printed on the roll. That was enough for him to recommend Kelton Labs. They specialize in processing and printing black-and-white photographs.

I dropped the film off, and the man I dealt with studied it intently, possibly because it was so old that he had never seen a roll like it. I had to make a choice. Film as old as this tends to fog up. The lab could develop it as-is, fog and all, or they could do a clip test which sacrifices half a frame to develop it first to see how much defogging agent to apply to the remainder. I chose to risk that half frame for the best possible results with the remaining frames.

About two weeks later, I returned to the lab to pick up the developed negatives and contact sheets. There were four photographs, two with never-before-seen images of my grandparents in a rowboat, one with my grandmother and her best friend in lounge chairs, and one that appears to be a motel parking lot. The story that emerges seems to be of a resort vacation. If anyone can date these photos based on the cars in the motel lot, please let me know.

I scanned the contact sheets and shared them with my family. My father was especially moved, commenting that they appeared to him as ghosts of his parents, with the effect heightened by the faded images and the strong vignette. My brothers and I were amazed at how much my father now looks like his father then. My grandfather died before I was born, and seeing these photos makes me wonder more about what he was like.

Manuel and Eric’s Wedding Photos

I had the pleasure to photograph the wedding of a couple who was finally able to tie the knot after being together for 10 years. The ceremony was held in the spectacular St. Bart’s Church, followed by an intimate reception in the church’s cafe next door. One of the grooms is passionate about classical music, and he carefully programmed selections for the choir and organ. I wish I could convey the beauty of the music along with the visual splendor of the space. I arrived an hour early with lightstands, strobes, and umbrellas to photograph formal group portraits at the alter. Then I switched to my fastest lenses to cover the ceremony without flash. The church administration had strict limits on where I could be so as not to disturb the holiness of the ceremony. The situation wasn’t ideal, but I did the best I could within the limits.

Click here to see all the photos from the portraits, ceremony, and reception.

The Number One Reason I Love Being a Photographer

A good friend recently lost her father after his three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Until his death, he lived in the Brooklyn home where she grew up, and she visited often. Now she will never return to her childhood home, and facing this reality is depressing for her.

A few years ago, my photo, “Dream Cone,” taken in Coney Island, returned unsold from an exhibition in Trenton, New Jersey. It has hung in my home ever since. When she first saw it, my friend admired it, commenting that it reminded her of her childhood visits to Coney Island, which was not far from her home. Her father’s passing coincided with her birthday, and I decided to make a gift of the photograph.

She studied the image and thanked me warmly. Then she followed up with an email saying, “You lifted my spirits in such a wonderful way. I am falling in love with the photo all over again.”

And the number one reason I love being a photographer: I love to bring joy into people’s lives by sharing my photos.

Alan Makes Portraits for a Couple Celebrating Their 30th Wedding Anniversary

I was working with a client on a graphic design project, and during some casual conversation, she mentioned her upcoming 30th wedding anniversary. I suggested she and her husband commemorate it with a portrait, and they agreed. I thought an environmental portrait would be nice. I had been to their home before, and I remembered how proud they were of their art collection. I hoped I could capture their spirit as collectors by picturing them among their art.

We chose to do it in the morning when they suggested the window light would be good in the living room. The day was sunny and the light was excellent, so all I had to do was fill in the light on the side opposite the window with a small strobe. I had hoped to include more art, but unfortunately, it was hung high and the sofa was really low.

I found it a nice compliment that my clients chose two photos. While they’re similar, the first one engages the viewer by their looking into the camera, and the second captures a genuine moment between the couple.