Such was the case with House of Raaj. In their words: “House of Raaj is the FIRST and ONLY company that offers an online borrowing experience to its members with a large collection of celebrity designer sarees and authentic jewelry in 22kt gold, precious stones & certified diamonds.“

Raj, the owner, asked me to bring in makeup and hair and naturally I thought of Raney O’Keefe, whose work I really admire. It was two long days of shooting images for catalog and a few select shots to use for marketing and advertising placement. It was a pleasure working with Viktoria Pleshakova . . . having an experienced professional model always makes the shoot go smoother and faster.

P.S. As you may have noticed already, the logo on these images is different. It’s a sneak peek at the re-branding and website redesign we’ve been working on behind the scenes. Enjoy . . .

So here’s the cover we shot for the Occasions Magazine Fall 2001 Issue, shot at Foxhall Resort & Sporting Club with Bold American providing florals and decor. There’s more design goodness inside the magazine but we can only show the cover for now…

Looks simple huh?

So this where we started…

There were two big problems with Plan A: the SCREAMING late afternoon sunlight streaming in from the right side; and the general busy-ness of the background.

Solution to problem #1

I call it the wall of light. If you have lights already it costs you next to nothing: it’s just a big white sheet. It does two things… first, it serves as a huge scrim to block the sun (plus, it saves my assistants arms) and second, it becomes a 9 foot softbox when you light it from the other side, i.e. a wall of light. The reason I like the wall of light is because it preserves contrast in the scene (provided your wall of light is bright enough compared to whatever is on the other side) while leaving almost no shadows. In other words, it doesn’t look like you lit it at all. And that is pretty much always my goal.

So here it is: two Alien Bee 400s at roughly 1/4 power each, both firing off a Vagabond Mini Lithium battery, and a big white sheet I stole out of the laundry room at home. Impressive huh?

You’ve seen the wall of light before, here…

…and here…

…and a few other places I’m sure.

Solution to problem #2

So while I was setting up the wall of light, Heather was busy find a new vantage point with a better background, and here it is. What do you notice about these two images below?

The only difference between the two images above is the focal point: the left image is focused on the foreground plate/flower and the right image is focused on the chair. Look at the background. See how big a difference 3 feet can make on the overall “look” of the background?

I’m shooting at f/5 because I know that even at f/16 or f/22 I probably can’t get the entire table in focus (plus, shooting that stopped down will change the entire character of the image in a lot of ways) and at f/2 or f/2.8 my depth of field is so razor thin that it would be a pain to work with in post… so f/5 is a nice compromise.

30 or 40 images later we had the table decor exactly how we wanted it. So I got my tripod set up and took 5 images, each focusing on different elements of the table: the front of the foreground plate, the back of the foreground plate, the wine glass and flowers, the background plate, and the chair. Here they are laid out in Photoshop.

Here’s a little fun fact. Somewhere in the shuffle somebody moved the forks and forgot to put them back. Luckily, I had an earlier image of the forks and I managed to insert them. That is the only difference between the image above and the one below.

Here are images 2, 3, 4 and 5 with the background removed so you can see the pieces I took from each image.

And here’s the final image with a few touchups to the table cloth.

Whew!

Here’s the publisher, Heather Vreeland, laying down some last minute ideas to paper.

Below is one of our models, Taylor, in the makeup chair and the ever-fabulous Raney O’Keefe (AGAIN!) striking a pose. Note to photographers: in both of these shots, I was playing with my new Lensbaby Muse lens with the f/5.6 aperture ring insert thingy. Boy is that thing hard, but FUN! I could have picked up one of the newer versions, but honestly, I kind of enjoy the fight you have to go through the find and grab your focal point. So in case you were wondering, aside from the coloring and contrast bump, these two shots are straight out of the camera. Shot with a Nikon D3, of course.

Here’s a shot from a whole series of images we ended up not using but it was too cute to not show someone!

Taylor showing off her shoes — but nevermind the gorgeous Vera Wang (style: Delaney) she’s wearing! That’s Taylor’s mother, Tina Rowden, who also happens to be a great local photographer. The image on the right is what ended up in the magazine.

The last shoot we did was just to tie up loose ends for the content we needed for the issue.

Some of you may not know this, but Heather is actually a pretty incredible photographer. She has an amazing eye for composition so whenever we shoot I always (well, sometimes anyway) let her shoot a little bit with a “big boy camera.” I think if gives her a sense of power and world domination. Just a guess.

Here are a few of my favorites featuring one of our models, Kristi Ryczek…

Here are a few behind the scenes images:

Chelsea is so fun to shoot with because she’s always playing jokes (you may remember Chelsea as the cover model for the Summer 2010 Issue of Occasions Magazine) … and you can always count on Raney for a pose!

But let me back up a little bit. When I think of the beautiful, historic Swan House, this is what I see in my head:

I think of the rich history and all the stories this building could tell if it could talk.

Remember what I said above about photo shoots? The image above and the next two didn’t even make the first round of cuts. Yet, fast forward a couple months and there it sits… a big, beautiful two-page spread to open up the fashion feature. This is quite easily my favorite image from the entire shoot.

And now I’m going show you something to make your jaw drop. I say that in complete humility because it really has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with our stunning model Madison Olson and the fabulous makeup by Raney O’Keefe. This image is basically straight out of the camera. No photoshop actions. No retouching. No fixing. No nothing.

I took the image out of the camera in RAW format, adjusted my color and exposure in Lightroom, and exported it. In fact, I didn’t retouch Madison in a single image in the entire magazine feature. Just amazing.

Remember what I said above about photo shoots? We had a little bit of free time (by “free time” I mean that we had 7 minutes and 35 seconds) and I said “Madison, let’s play.” So I grabbed Heather Vreeland’s new 50mm f/1.4 lens because I was really curious how the lens would perform and I wanted to play with it. In fact, a number of the images in the magazine were shot with that little 50mm lens she carries around with her in the camera bag she got from Target. So Madison and I ran around in the grass and came up with Heather’s favorite series of images from the shoot. This is just two of them…

Have you been paying attention to the beautiful floral headpieces Danny created for us?

Yes, she is IN the fountain. By this time, it was pretty much dark and we had to get creative with the lighting sources.

Here’s Danny with one of the props he brought along for the shoot — ya know, just in case — and Raney doing a little touch up work.

One more behind the scene’s shot, complete with my assistant hard at work in the background. He was probably tweeting about how hard I was working him.

Let’s face it, I’m a photographer because I love being the outsider looking in and experiencing the lives of others through the lens. I adore the idea that I can immortalize a moment and at the same time create a work of art. It’s just amazing that I can do that and at the same time remain relatively invisible. I like being invisible. I like it when people to look at me and see my work. Not me.

And that, my friends, is the problem. I don’t much like promoting “me” because I’m afraid I’ll come off like an attention grabbing narcissist. See, marketing in the photographic industry, with the help of the social media sphere, has rather swiftly morphed into the race to be the most liked, have the most fans and create the most buzz… and relatively little of that has anything to do with your work. In fact, a few of the photographer rockstars (the term “rockstar” is used in a derogatory way as much as it’s used in a complimentary way these days) have been to more workshops than they have shot weddings. Unfortunately the average bride would never know that.

So all that blabbering above is the reason I sometimes don’t like posting about my personal life and how great I am for shooting Usher, or Brian Littrell from the Back Street Boys and his wife, or this or that photoshoot. I love doing what I do and in the end I just want you to see the work. But I promise that I’ll try to do a little better in 2011.

All that said, this falls into the “stuff I never blogged” category…

Back in November we were featured on the Elizabeth Anne Designs blog for a photoshoot we did with a number of other vendors, all coordinated by Jeannine Kennedy with FAVOR Events. The shoot was at a private residence north of Atlanta and the blog featured a bunch of the images from the shoot…

In addition to a few larger images of ones that she featured on the blog, here are a number of my favorites they didn’t blog:

Here is a list of vendors that participated in the shoot:

Event design/styling: FAVOR Events
Florals: Tulip
Venue: Privately owned farm in North Georgia
Linens: BBJ Linens
Rentals: Classic Party Rentals
Invitations: Southern Fete
Jewelry: Anthropologie
Gowns: Chaviano Couture
Model: Angela Wolff with CLICK Models

I’ll be posting a bunch of images from the shoot in a few days, but for now take a look at the images Heather Vreeland chose for the magazine:

While you’re at it, check out the Catering spread starting on page 26 and Hayden’s birthday party photos they featured on page 130. Oh… and check out our back cover advertisement for Ben Vigil Photographers featuring Erika & Leroy atop the one an only Ventana’s rooftop venue styled/coordinated by Eliana from ellyB Events…

How cool is that!!!

Last month I was asked to do double duty for the Cobb Energy Center for the Performing Arts and for Occasions Magazine. Some guy named Usher (a.k.a. @UsherRaymondIV) was in town with Usher’s New Look, a youth mentoring program he founded, for the 1st Annual 2010 World Leadership Awards and they both needed it covered.

I spent the afternoon shooting decor and all the details that went into the VIP reception and the evening covering the red carpet, the VIP-only Reception, and finally Usher’s performance to cap the evening. During some downtime in the middle of the day I was able to get some of my favorite images during Usher’s rehearsal with Ciara…

Later in the evening Usher spent the better part of 45 minutes on the red carpet talking to every single media outlet there.

But in the end you probably came here to see Usher, and Ciara and Justin Bieber performing… there was a fair amount of media there and we all had our designated spots to shoot from. I managed to get mine changed at the last minute for a better vantage point. You’ll notice that there aren’t any images of Bieber below. As he was getting ready to perform we were told that no pictures of him were allowed to be taken whatsoever. In fact, I had a PR guard behind me during his entire performance to ensure I didn’t take any pictures. Sorry all you Justin fans!

But here are a bunch of Usher…

Here’s Ciara looking MUCH more dashing…

Did I mention that former President Clinton was on hand to receive an award?

A couple weeks ago she posted a quick behind the scene’s post followed by a preview of the covers she selected for the next issue of the magazine. Here they are…

I can’t wait to show off the images we published as well as many more from the shoot and from behind the scenes over the next few weeks.

Today she posted a sneak peak from my friends Danny and David over at Optimum Productions, a quick behind the scenes video teaser… I can’t wait to see the entire behind the scene’s video!

I was excited to shoot the cover for the May issue of Date Night Magazine featuring 24 year old Corrie Adamson, one of the women on the most recent season of The Bachelor on ABC. We shot the cover in the swank bar of the fabulous new Loews Hotel in Atlanta which had just opened a couple weeks earlier. You can read the interview with Corrie on the online magazine’s website.

Here’s the cover:

Here are two more of my favorite images… this one was used in the article:

After meeting and getting to know Corrie just a little bit, I have to conclude that Jake isn’t so bright. Corrie (twitter) owns her own wardrobe consulting and personal shopper business called Dandy, and became known as the only contestant on Bachelor that wanted to save herself for marriage, which is always a commendable endeavor in face of an increasingly incredulous society. Props for that!

I’ve started to get in the habit of capturing (or having my assistants capture) behind the scenes imagery, not just for myself, but we often get some really great images. Here’s the rather small crew of folks onsite to make the shoot happen. Getting ready to roll…

Here is Corrie hamming it up as our two stylists, Kelli Cunningham and Meghan “Riley” Baumann from Bob Steele Salon, put some final touches on her while we were shooting at the bar.

The illustrious me pretending to know what I’m doing as I explain the “look” we are going after…

I just HAD to include this image of Jaime Luckey, the Editor of Date Night Magazine (follow on twitter). Given the subject of our shoot, and that she was recently in the running for Jezebel Magazine’s Most Eligible Atlantans for 2010, I thought this image was particularly appropriate. Hope she doesn’t kill me.

The whole gang:

(L-R) Meghan “Riley” Baumann and Kelli Cunningham from Bob Steele Salon, me, Corrie Adamson, Kelly Ducray, Jaime Luckey, Matthew Thomas our “Bachelor”.

Not pictured above is the fabulous Raney O’Keefe, who did Corrie’s makeup before I arrived on site. As you can tell from the images above she did an amazing job as she always does!!