Growing Up 2

This is Luke, 2 years old. His mom and dad brought him to the studio before Thanksgiving for a family portrait session.

What made this special was that it's the 3rd time he's visited the studio which means I'm getting to watch him grow up!

It's funny, but the first two times he came to the studio, he was super easy going and could have made pictures all day. But this time...now that he's mobile and curious...was a different story. He simply didn't want to stay in one place for very long.

I worked hard, and so did his mom and dad. So here he is with the nice train his granddad gave him...you'd think he'd stay there and look cute for a few frames. Not at all. He was more interested in handing us blocks from the train. At least he's looking at the camera in this frame. I do like this image, though. The composition works for me, and I like that the train is a meaningful gift from a family member. It's an action shot...which reminds us that he's 2 and in action all the time.

Election Day, 2008

This is my nephew, Peter with his running mate Hoagie. We made this picture before a client's family portrait session a couple weeks ago. It's a test shot really.

Note the Obama button on Peter's shirt. His mom made that for him.

Now, it's time to stand in the rain at my local precinct. My husband, John Gerner, is serving as an election official for the first time. We joked that his background in theme park ride line management might come in handy today.

I did my patriotic duty and made sandwiches for John to take with him on what will likely be a 16+ hour day. Think I'll try to slip him a couple granola bars when I go vote.

Up on the roof...

I've been waiting to post this image for over two months! We shot this in July, but I had to wait because the magazine that commissioned the shoot has "first publication rights." Now that the October issue of Research Magazine is on the streets, the embargo has been lifted.

This is Peter Kaufman. He lives in here the Richmond area and is a well known writer, lecturer and an all-around marketing guru. These days, he focuses on the financial services sector of the economy (stress, anyone?). But Peter's insight on marketing and communications strategy is wide ranging--you got a question about how to position a product? He's got the answer.

Anyone who knows Peter will agree that he's one of those "glass half-full" kinda guys. Peter and his partner, Heidi Workman, formed the The Hoople Group after Wachovia Securities left town last summer. Like a lot of folks, they really wanted to stay here in Richmond, and not relocate to St. Louis (nice town, just that folks have roots here).

Peter is a frequent contributer to magazines and webzines, and Research was doing a story on him for this month's issue. We needed to shoot Peter in the classic modern "financial district" environment. Since he serves clients throughout the nation, I wanted his portrait to look as if it could have been shot in L.A, Atlanta, or New York. So, that's what we did...found the best darn parking deck roof-top view in Richmond and persuaded (really, we asked very, very nicely and produced a copy of our insurance certificate) the building management to let us up there.

Hassan and Winifred both worked with me on this shoot.

All images and text Copyright Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC, 2008.

Albert Hill Middle School PTA Honored for Earth Day Eco-Fair

This past summer, Parent Teacher Organization Magazine called and asked if we'd photograph leaders of the Albert Hill Middle School PTA. Seems they'd had a really successful Eco-Fair during the in Spring of 2008, around Earth Day, and they were getting national recognition for the event. Click here for the full story.

The magazine photoeditor asked us to do our best to reenact some elements of the event, so parents graciously volunteered to bring a couple of the games they built for the fair.

This was the first shoot in which Hassan Pitts and I worked together. Wow, did I ever do the right thing by hiring him! Hassan is an emerging photographer and professional photo-assistant. He's inventive, enthusisastic and so far, up for any challenge. He's helped me on a lot of shoots this summer and into the fall. Hassan is at VCU, getting his Masters Degree in Fine Art.

The boy on the left hand side of the frame is tossing tennis balls at the targets. One of the things Hassan had to do was run around and collect the balls, returning them for the student to throw. We probably shot 25-30 takes, and we had only 3 balls to work with. Hassan got a little work out that day.

..and he was just a twinkle in his daddy's eye.

This was a portrait session like no other. A SUPER baby at the classic 6-months, doing everything right on schedule.













Ironically, this shoot was close to the mom & dad's 2nd wedding anniversary. I'll always remember that steamy hot day in July '06 when I photographed Monica and Brad's wedding. In spite of the heat, they were a perfectly beautiful couple. Loving families, great friends with a wonderful future ahead.





















I was bummed when they moved to Staunton, VA. Worried I'd never see them again. But we stayed in touch and low and behold little Everett came into their lives earlier this year. I was so thrilled to meet him, and awesomely honored to be his "baby portrait photographer."





















Now, Monica & Brad have a perfectly beautiful family. I'm sure there will more to add to the story as the years unfold. I can't wait to watch Everett grow up!

All images and text Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell for Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Oh, baby!

Just makes you wanna run right out an get one, doesn't it?
This little bugger is about 6 months old. His grandmother said she wanted some nude pictures of her little sweetie, so we happly obliged.
We have tons more images of "mr. e" thanks to a mom and dad on-set who kept him happy (silly songs, hugs, kisses, bottles, diaper changes, etc). I'll share some more images of him in the next few posts.
All images and content Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell for Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Best Lawyers Shoot

Here's an example of a great team effort with the client, ad agency, subjects and crew.

We shot this over a 2-day period at the studio. Before that, I was involved in the concept development (a rare treat). Amy Smith Pike, Marketing Director for Durrette Bradshaw PLC, got us all on a conference call to toss around some ideas with the "creative ninjas" at Prototype Advertising.

We liked the idea of shooting from a "heroic" angle so the fellows would appear to tower above us mere mortals. After a round of test shots, we settled on cropping just below the hips and keeping the camera just below the knees of the subject.

Each of the attorneys came to the studio separately so we could capture different angles and body positions for each fellow. Stylist, Winifred, got the guys ready for the camera and helped us get relaxed, natural looking poses. Assistant, Hassan Pitts, ran the computer so Amy could keep tabs on what we were capturing thru the camrea.

Following the shoot we posted proofs for the client, subject and art director to select from.

Once folks settled on their favorite images, we uploaded the high resolution files to our server so Keith Poole at Prototype could download and compose the layout. And here's the finished product. From concept to publication within 3 weeks.

The Nubian Queen

This the prettiest expectant mommy I photographed all summer. I love her confidence and beauty. Can you believe she had her baby boy the very next week? This pose was definitely a collaboration with the subject. I was thinking more vertical in composition, and she asked to "recline like a Nubian queen". It's always a joy to improvise like this on a shoot. Kinda like playing jazz.
The other unexpected thing was how much I liked the color images. We had agreed to "think black and white" going into the session, since that's what she was really aiming for: an elegant black and white portrait of her with her 2-year old son. This is image she chose to have us print for her home.





















Image and text Copyright 2008, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC.

The Commishes of VA-ABC

Meet the mighty triumvirate at the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The three commissioners were appointed by Governor Tim Kaine.

I got to photograph them for a beverage industry trade journal that focuses on the "control" states, as they call them in the biz. This image is the cover of the July/Aug issue of the magazine.


This was a fun shoot, and we set it up in the Carytown ABC store. The staff was terrific, and super helpful. The manager was so careful about making sure every bottle was perfectly placed.

One really cool thing about the VA ABC, is that stores will be open on July 4th. And just last week, stores in the Richmond area are now open on Sundays! I'm revving the blender now for the Independence Day 'smoothie with a kick.'


Image and text Copyright 2008, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC.

So in love.

This couple just surprised the hell out of me. Susan and Adam...married at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden last month.

So they show up at the studio last Fall, and are super casual, laid back...no preacher, no plans, thinking about wearing flip-flops to the wedding. Just wanting to get hitched in a beautiful setting.

True to their laid back form, the bride didn't even find her dress till 2 weeks before the wedding! But what a dress it was. Her mom said it came from Franco's...who'd have thought? She looked like a goddess.

But what a treat they were to work with. And who could ask for a more beautiful location for photography? We shot their engagement session in the garden in early March and had lots of fun getting to know each other.

By the time we got to the wedding day, they were steaming up the lens. So passionate, so in love, so beautiful.

See their entire wedding day by clicking here, or go to the proofs/events link on our website and type in "adam" for the password.


All images and text Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell for Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Crazy Cool House

Last week, we photographed an unusual home (unusual for Richmond, that is). My assistant called it a "Brady Bunch house, just way cooler". But the owners, Andy and Greg, call the home "Riversong".

This is the living room looking out toward the Newfound Falls River in Hanover County.

What I liked about the home is that it had this mod-Los Angeles/Miami look, yet it's in the Virginia countryside. We heard the rushing sound of the water falls whenever we stepped outside, and in the early morning, we heard cows mooing in the distance.

The current owners really made the most of the floor to ceiling windows. Each room is oriented toward the view. And they embraced the modern architecture with goovy interior decorating choices.

As we set up each shot, I imagined the first floor full of beautiful people in chic attire sipping martinis--this seemed like the perfect house for a glamorous event.

But my favorite room was the master bedroom. I just wanted to lie down and take a nap...open the glass doors and fall asleep to the sound of birds singing and water rushing.

What's amazing about the house is the consistency of interior design and decorating throughout. Also, the level of comfort in the furnishings impressed me. I'm a latecomer to the discovery that modern design and furnishings don't have to be hard-edged or rigid. Even the kitchen table chairs were soft and inviting. And no matter where you were in the house, there was always a good view out the window into the soft spring-green trees.

Carter Ritchie has the listing on this home, which is going on the market soon. You can reach him via http://www.carterritchie.com

XDL Intellectual Property Law

XDL is one of the coolest clients I've had the pleasure to work with. The XDL firm is comprised of attorneys with various specialties in my favorite area of law: intellectual property ;-).

When they first called me for a shoot, we focused on full length high-key portraits of each attorney, for the "who we are" page on their website. That was a lot of fun, and I got to know each of the attorneys personally during those sessions.

But the images I like the most are the black and white environmental, available light images you see here.

The attorneys live all over the US, from Seattle to Minneapolis to Richmond, which doesn't poses any apparent obstacles to the ability to litigate effectively on behalf of their clients. When they do get together in one room, it's amazing.


All that brainpower in one location...all focused on protecting intellectual property rights...it's enough to make any creator swoon. Talk of copyright protection, patent and trademark litigation...ooooh, ahhh.

So my client, Amy Smith Pike, Marketing Director for the XDL group, says, "lets get some action shots of these guys all together hashing things out". So I got my trusty monopod, locked in the long lens, and stabilized the camera for some high ISO/low light/no flash/low shutter speed images of the group in one of their bull sessions.


Normally, when I'm asked to shoot meetings, I like to place off-camera strobes in the room to bring up the light level. This enables us to get low ISO, and thus low noise color images.

But something about this meeting was different...perhaps it was the intimacy of the room and the time pressure these folks were under to keep the agenda rolling (half of them had to catch flights home in the afternoon.) I felt it would be too much of a distraction to have strobes popping, plus, the room had so much stuff in it (flip charts, coffee pots, laptops, luggage sodas and snacks) I don't know where I would have found the room for light stands.

When converted to gray-scale, the low light/high noise images looked like good old fashioned grainy T-Max film. Didn't hurt that my client, Amy, used to work in media herself...she's an old news-hound and "gets it" on the photo-journalistic concept for her firm.

In the end, I was surprised at how much I liked the images, and I love how the design firm, Prototype Advertising, used them on the XDL website. Nice to know I have clients in high places, should I ever need to go to court to defend a copyright infringement.
All images Copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Lovers in the garden

This is Adam and Susan...to be wed May 10, 2008, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden here in Richmond, VA. They both live and work in Northern Virginia now, but the bride hails from nearby Mechanicsville.

Last week, we went over to the Asian Garden (their reception will be in the Tea House) and walked around with a camera to get a feel for the site. I've photographed several weddings at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, but this will be my first using the Asian Garden as a reception/photography area.

An engagement portrait session with the bride & groom is a great warm up for the wedding day. The couple gets comfy smooching in front of a camera and we usually get lots of romantic images of 'young luv'.
















The couple probably won't choose this image of her kissing his nose ...but I absolutely love it! It's the only frame like it, and shows how playful they are. I can't wait for the wedding day.

All images and content Copyright Elaine Odell/Church Hill Photography, LLC, 2008.

Pardon Our Dust...

If you've made it to this location on the World Wide Web...forgive us as we overhaul our website this weekend and republish our blog. If you've ever been through this process, you'll understand that things never work the way you anticipate...just gotta keep moving things around on the server till we get it right. Everything should be in order by Monday, March 31, 2008.

My Hero: Sandra Day O'Connor

One of the institutions I have the pleasure of working with is the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, VA.

These days, former Supreme Court Associate Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor is the serving as Chancellor for W&M.

She attended the annual Charter Day festivities this year, and I was asked to cover the celebratory, black-tie dinner at the end of the day. This was the second time I'd had the opportunity to photograph her on the college campus. And this time, just like before, I was totally star-struck.

The image above is my favorite picture of her from that night. We have lots of shots of her delivering a speech and doing the formal things on the agenda...but those look as you would expect. At this point, former W&M President, Gene Nichol was at the lectern, and he must have made some jovial remark which made her laugh. Lovely.

She really was the classiest dame in the room...and fell for her. When the event was over, I saw her talking with Harriet Mayor Fulbright (president of the J. William & Harriett Fulbright Center).

Seeing these two amazing women together was really powerful; the Supreme Court Judge and the world peace advocate. I just had to document what appeared to be a warm friendship. With my photojournalist hat on, I followed O'Connor and Fulbright out of the banquet hall, got ahead of them, turned around and walked backwards hoping I wouldn't knock down one of the other guests as I made pictures.

Just after I got this shot, O'Connor said "That's quite enough now." Her words were like a laser beam: delivered with a smile and complete seriousness. It was a little taste of what it might have been like to argue a case before her.

Instantly, I stopped shooting, and scooted back into the ballroom to photograph the other guests.

Eat In Kitchen

Here's another one of Perry DesJardins' killer kitchens. This was shot during a day and half of image capture at a custom-built DesJardin home in Goochland County, VA.

Deciding what to leave in was the challenge in this shot. The home owner, like most of us, had all sorts of tchotchkes around the kitchen (with all that counter space, wouldn't you?)

But since I was shooting for the builder, we needed minimal distractions. The marble counter tops, custom cabinets, tile back splashes, lighting, etc., needed to be the stars of the show.

So I set up the tripod, framed the shot, and asked my assistant, Karin, to start removing items one by one. The challenge was for her to remove the cookbooks, decorative plates, potted plants, etc., and stow them in such a way that she could put them back just as she found them, so the homeowner would find the kitchen just as she left it.

The lighting is a combination of window light (provided by floor to ceiling french doors) in the out-of-the-frame family room to the right of the camera, and the tungsten lighting within the kitchen. Several bracketed exposures were sandwiched together in post-production to achieve this final image.

We're pleased with the final result...there are just enough decorative details in this kitchen to make it pretty, without being distracting to the overall design.

All images & text copyright 2008 Elaine Odell/Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Protesting High Gas Prices

Last week, while driving through rural Nelson County, we blew past this gas station on Rt. 664 in the hamlet of Beech Grove, a few miles down the mountain from the Wintergreen Resort.

We turned around and went back to photograph this sign. According to the manager on duty, the owner of Hickman's Exxon has gotten fed up with rapidly escalating gas prices and the all too frequent climb to change the numbers on this sign (about 20-25 feet up).











This was shot on Thursday March 6, 2008, when a gallon of regular was $3.34. Below, is the wide shot of Andy Hickman's gas station, which is just a short drive from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

The Artist's Space

Jennifer Young's Vibrant Landscapes are favorites among fine art collectors, interior designers and decorators. Although she creates a lot of work in the plein air mode, Jennifer's indoor space is where she finishes the canvases (varnishing, touchups, framing, etc,) and does indoor painting when the weather doesn't cooperate.

Jennifer moved to a gorgeous gallery/studio in Downtown Richmond over a year ago, and we'd yet to create a portrait of the artist in her gallery. Finally, on a rainy, cold January afternoon, we did it. Luckily, the sunny yellow walls in the interior gallery more than made up for the miserable weather outdoors.

What I really like about Jennifer's gallery is that it feels like a real home, instead of a sterile white-walled gallery. The row house has a large front room with lots of natural window light (easy to imagine as your home living/family room) as well as an interior room with decorator lighting (like your dining room). You see the paintings displayed this way and can envision them hanging on your own walls.

This shoot is a good example of collaboration and give-and-take with the client. Jennifer was more interested in showing the gallery expanse and the paintings on display. While she realized she needed to be in the picture, she wasn't really interested in being the central focus. Like most artists, she prefers that her art be the "hero".

Well, I saw things a little differently...I was more interested in creating a portrait of the artist, with the work & the environment accompanying her, telling her story.

So, to achieve both our goals, we set up a wide shot and placed paintings strategically within the camera's view. Stylist Winifred Halliday was very instrumental in helping set up this portrait.

One benefit of shooting wide and seeing a tighter crop within it, is the flexibility it gives graphic designers. It's especially helpful for magazine or newspaper folks who often don't know the layout of a page till the last minute because images and text blocks are coming from multiple sources. If you're a client submitting an image with a press release, having an image that crops easily as a horizontal or a vertical makes designers really happy, and increases your chances of prominent page placement.

So here is the wide shot. It tells you more about the gallery space and lets your eye move about the frame. The artist is still central to the image...if a newspaper is writing a story about galleries, then this image would likely get used in publication because of the extra visual information.
All images and text Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Pet Doctors

This is Dr. Key. She works at Lakeside Animal Hospital in Richmond, VA. Earlier last month, we spent the morning working with the staff to create images for their new website redesign. It was a fast paced few hours with great teamwork on the part of staff and their pets.

The cool thing about Lakeside Animal Hospital is that they work with birds and reptiles, too. Below is Dr. Gonzales, with one of the pet birds who lives at the animal hospital. Photographing someone with a bird was new to me. I was a little concerned. I've done lots of shoots with people and their dogs. But a parrot? I didn't know how he'd like the flash. We placed the strobe head behind the bird so the vet would be looking into the light, the bird would have his back to it. I think that helped, because it was a small exam room and we were flashing away. But what probably made the most impact on keeping the bird relaxed was the comfort and attention from Dr. Gonzales. The parrot and her are old friends. The two of them just chatted and cooed the whole time we were shooting.

All images and text Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Other U2 Guys

Remember the U2 spy plane incident? In 1960 Russia shot down super top secret CIA spy pilot Francis Gary Powers. He was held prisoner by the Soviets for nearly 2 years...and eventually was released in a spy swap.

Well, this is his son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr. He's the founder of the traveling Cold War Museum. They have a neat website.
Gary travels the US, speaking to groups interested in the Cold War. He's also raising funds for a museum home base outside of Washington, D.C.

The day of this shoot, we decided to do two set-ups: one outdoors with a model of his dad's spy plane, and another in his study. The first shot would show the playful side of his personality: the big kid in love with aviation and history. The second shot would show the business side of Gary's directorship of the museum.

We set up in Gary's office and this is one of the frames from that sequence. Your basic business guy/professional portrait that just happens to have the U2 model plane in the foreground.

Now here is the funny thing about this shoot. While writing this entry, I just happened to go to the Wikipedia entry for Gary's dad.















Twilight zone time...I swear I never saw this old black and white news photograph till now. Wow. Like father like son.

Above color images Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

New Year's Ride to Church Hill

Every year, on New Year's Day, a bunch of local riding clubs get together and trek 35 miles from Charles City County to Church Hill. The ride always ends a Jefferson Park, overlooking Downtown Richmond, the State Capitol, and I-95, just at sunset. Today, as the horses came clattering down the street (gotta love the sound of horse shoes on pavement) I grabbed my point-n-shoot along with some apples and carrots. This year, the weather was great. And lots of little city kids got to pet a horsey. Once the light faded, I knelt down and captured the silhouette image above. The the lights of Downtown Richmond and Riverfront Towers are in the background.

These are just a few of the snaps from Jefferson Park; to see the rest of the images, click here.

Here is a link to the website for one of the clubs in case you want to find out more: http://unitedhorsemen.org

All images Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.