Facing My Brother

My brother is starting a new job this summer, and he need to get a "professional photo" for the company facebook.  I don't know if he was joking or not, but he said that he was going to go to a mall or something with a friend and have it done.  Naturally, I got a bit perturbed, and told him to bring a suit home with him last weekend.

Our mom wasn't so pleased when I took over the garage to setup a makeshift studio, but I think I did a little better than Sears.

It's weird photographing your family for something serious.  Maybe I just can't resist being a goof and wanting to make goofy pictures of my brother.  I hope I restrained myself enough... well, I did get a couple cheesy ones...

-Sam

Sweeney Todd Promo Shoot

For the past few years I have been shooting some photos for Actors' Theatre Company.  This year, I photographed the promotional photos for their upcoming production of "Sweeney Todd."

You can find out more about their show at their website.

The shoot was pretty fun, with some interesting twists thrown in for good measure.  We shot it in the basement of the building that they rehearse in, which was totally perfect.  Dirty brick walls and floors, and full of that perfect grime that fits the show.  Conveniently (and I say that with much sarcasm), there was no power.  I was really pleased that I had carried my big studio lights with me, I needed the exercise.  Actually, I was very pleased that I've been learning as much as I can from strobist.com, and that I've been acquiring small flashes and other doodads like candy lately.  The scenes were lit with two brolly boxes overhead and two lights with snoots for some side accent light.  Way fun stuff.

-Sam

More Emilie!

I'm a sucker for my best friend Josh's baby girl, Emilie.  I posted some photos of her a while back, but she was up for the weekend in Chicago for her big Passover debut!  Three months old, and she's adorable, a master of complex facial expressions, and full of personality.  ;)

-Sam

Georgia on my mind

Last weekend I went to visit my sister in Athens, GA, where she's getting her masters in Landscape Architecture.

My brother joined me on this visit, and while I had planned that we would both arrive at the Atlanta airport at roughly the same time, American Airlines had different plans.  They scrapped my original flight, but I was lucky enough to get on one seven hours earlier.  So I had lunch and decided to check out the Atlanta Botanic Garden.

Apparently the tree frogs on exhibit there were also killing time...  Well, two of them were, and the other two were trying to be polite.

Jittery Joe's!  I was super-excited to go to this coffee shop.  Long story, and I'll spare you, but I've been looking forward to going and having a cup there for about six years.

My sister, Emily, shows off one of her projects to my brother, Aaron.

Emily cracks me up.  Everyone else in her program has their scale people in their renderings stand, sit, walk stiffly.  Emily has hippies playing guitar in the park...

Or sunbathing while holding hands.

Go Bulldogs?

UGA is a really pretty campus.

One night we went to an art opening near some old mill thingie.  So I stood in the tracks to get this shot.  ;)

And back to NY!

Thanks for your kind attention, as always.

-Sam

Flying Safe....

Means leaving your snow globes AT HOME!

-Sam

Some More Chicago Photos

Architecture!

Hello all!

This past weekend, I was back in Chicago (big surprise there!) photographing a condo (well, three actually) for some clients who own some condos in Chicago and rent them out like hotel rooms. They just purchased a brownstone, and I took the promo shots for it.

You can find out more at http://www.vrbo.com/177026

Shooting interiors is always a challenge, but it's fun. There's a lot of little details to pay attention to, and a lot of gear that you need to bring with, and even though I brought in eight lights and all sorts of other goodies, I could have used more. And more time. I had Nadia helping me out, and it took us twelve hours to shoot all three units. It was a lot of work, but I think it paid off!

The condos were spectacular, and reasonably priced, and I wish I someday have a reason to stay there.

Well, enjoy!

-Sam