Wednesday, August 27, 2008

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.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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.