After women, flowers are the most divine creations.
–Christian Dior
I could tell by Andrea’s subtle reaction that she thought I was a bit crazy when I suggested placing that ginormous flower on her head as a hat. Happily, because you are seeing it here means it was one of her favorite images. I was inspired by the famous photograph by Patrick Demarchelier of Christy Turlington. This image was captured with natural light available from the Bay window.
The flower wall has been a studio staple since May 2019. It consumes a lot of space and every couple of months I toy with the idea of dismantling it or rolling it up and stowing it in the garage for awhile so I can clear space for a new backdrop. But every time I go to break it down, a client requests to add it to their photoshoot set list. So it remains. Admittedly the flower wall brings a bit of whimsy and good cheer to the studio no matter the season.
Chrisie is looking fabulous lying on the flower backdrop. Chrisie visited the studio to participate in the Wise Women: The 50 over 50 Project. This portrait is captured with natural light coming through a big Bay window. The Bay window is frequently used as a backdrop for photoshoots. A behind the scenes glimpse of capturing Chrisie’s flower portrait in natural light. A big thank you to Gayle Petrillo for capturing the action. Coral is a gifted dancer. Swan Lake was my inspiration for the styling of this image. A studio strobe provided the light which added some lighting drama. As you can see, the flower wall is quite large. It was assembled by placing thousands of flowers by hand through chicken fencing. The creation of the wall was made possible by Michael’s 70% off floral sales and blooms purchased at the Dollar store.Many expectant mother’s love to include a set of images with the flower wall in their portfolio of maternity images.Behind the scenes maternity photoshoot with Julianne. Abby was the first to be photographed in the “field of flowers” look. While she looks like she was photographed in natural light, this photograph was captured with studio strobes.A moodier field of flowers portrait of Abby.
Interested in learning more about what the studio has to offer? Click on the following links to jump to the studio’s portfolio of images, and download a digital copy of the studio’s Magazine and Style Guide to learn how to prepare for your photoshoot:
Color is a power which directly influences the soul.
-Wassily Kandinsky
Andrea photographed in natural light, towards the end of the day, when the sun was turning the evening light golden and a light breeze made the fabrics sway in the wind.
A 10′ x 10′ pop up canopy is an ideal structure to create an outdoor room. It’s tall enough to set-up a backdrop under the canopy to replicate a studio environment. The white fabric roof acts as a large softbox that diffuses the sun and softens sun light. One or more studio lights can be added to give direction to the light and provides an extra bounce of brightness to the eyes.
One of my favorite uses for the canopy’s frame is to hang sheer fabrics that catch the wind and reflect the rays of the sun making for a pretty and feminine backdrop to capture creative portraits.
Devi is ready for her picture to be taken for the group photo (see below).
In the late summer I was commissioned to photograph the outgoing Committee Chairs for the Marana Chamber of Commerce. Every year the Chamber has a group photo and the Chamber’s leadership team was concerned that it wasn’t going to happen this year due to COVID-19. Fortunately, I was able to photograph each person separately and then combine all the individual photos into one composited image. #missionaccomplished
Each person was photographed separately in the outdoor canopy to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Afterwards the ten images were combined in Photoshop to create a group photo.
My next venture with the tent will be to swap the white fabric for black. I am inspired by the work of Peter Lindbergh, and in particular, his “sun bounce cage”. The famous fashion photographer set-up three sided black tent to capture memorable monochromatic photographs of famous models and actresses.
One more of Andrea in the “outdoor” room.
Interested in learning more about what the studio has to offer? Click on the following links to jump to the studio’s portfolio of images, and download a digital copy of the studio’s Magazine and Style Guide to learn how to prepare for your photoshoot:
