Tag Archives: black and white

James Bristow is a New York City based actor and model with a drive to succeed unlike anyone I’ve met in quite some time. I first met James when I photographed his roommate and long time friend Tavish O’Keefe (see Tavish’s photos here). We had some time to talk about what he has been working on since his move to NYC from Alaska and what he would like to accomplish in his career in 2012. Bristow knew that his head shots and creative portraits were not exactly “good quality” and wanted to schedule a shoot with me after seeing my work. A few weeks after first meeting James, I had him in front of my camera and the following portraits were created for him. We decided to shoot a variety of looks for his modeling portfolio and his website.

Our shoot started in James’ friend’s Brooklyn apartment. The light that poured into that room was simply beautiful, so I decided to only shoot available light with a little help from a silver reflector held by my assistant Dan. The portraits that were created in the apartment were to show natural and relaxed moments.

Our art director for James’ shoot kept an eye on us the entire shoot. Although she had four legs and drank water from a small bowl, she was proving to be hard to impress.

After our art director left the shoot to chase her toy around for a while, we decided it was time to head out to the back patio of the apartment. I really enjoyed shooting out there mainly because of the simple concrete and metal shapes the fencing created along with the buildings in the background. I asked James to bring along his coffee so that he can keep warm and also bring an extra element to his portraits. While I photographed James, Dan held the Elinchrom 39″ deep octabank just out of frame to get some light on James’ face.

In the portrait above, the light is being held over my head and in front of James’ face.

We then headed out to the streets of Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn for some more environmental portraits. Although it was very cold out, I’m quite happy with the above photo. I love the movement in the portrait with James trying to close his coat along with the smile and expression in his eyes. It’s simple and strong at the same time.

We spent about an hour or so outdoors, walking around Williamsburg in the freezing cold. Eventually we came across a small coffee shop and immediately headed in to warm up. This final portrait was captured just before we left the shop. I was getting ready to leave but saw some great reflections in the window of the shop. I simply asked James to sit near the window and I’ll take care of the rest.

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Help Portrait

The holiday season brings many of us great memories, family experiences and giving gifts to those we love. Many of us even document these times with photographs so that we can look back and remember the good times that we had. Christmas 2011 was a very special year for me both personally and photographically. This year I decided that I would participate in a charity event called Help Portrait. This event has been going on every year for three years straight all over the world. The idea is very simple. Shoot a portrait – Print the portrait – Give the portrait. As simple as this sounds, the results are amazing. The event that I participated in was held at El Puente in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. Families from this community who can’t afford to have their family portraits created came to the event and were given the gift of a photograph. I can’t tell you how many families I saw leave the building with enormous smiles on their face. One family that I photographed (the one you’ll see me shooting in the video) was particularly special to me because the mother pulled me to the side to let me know how grateful she was. That hit me hard. I’ve never participated in any kind of charity event before. To hear just how important this family portrait was to her and her family really made a strong impression on me. I am really looking forward to participating in next year’s Help Portrait.

To see the video that ABC World News with Diane Sawyer  filmed at Help Portrait, go to THIS LINK. You have to sit through a quick commercial but I promise it is worth it.

Old Friends Give The Gift Of A Portrait

I also had an opportunity to work with some old friends of mine for a Christmas gift to their father. My old next door neighbors, who I haven’t seen in close to a decade, got in touch with me through Facebook and asked that I photograph portraits of them. I’ve known these two girls for basically their entire lives. Although we didn’t stay in touch with each other after I moved from my old home, we did keep up with each other’s lives through Facebook. So when they asked to have me photograph them for their father’s Christmas gift, I was very happy (and honored) I knew that I would create something special for them. I wanted to keep their portrait simple and minimal in composition so that the complete focus is on the two sisters. I referenced a bunch of photos of The Olsen Twins and other celebrity sisters to come up with some ideas for this shoot. The reference photos were presented to the girls and they loved the direction that I decided to go in for their shoot. The basic idea was simple fashion and fun interaction between the two girls. My good friend Erica Flamm Pennant handled hair and makeup styling for this shoot.

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Bernie Lippman is a NYC based actor who, in a relatively short acting career of 8 years, has put together an impressive resume of performances. Lippman has been on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Dave Chappelle Show, The David Letterman Show, Guiding Light and Rescue Me. His career has also brought him to many theaters, acting in plays like Enter Laughing, Twelve Angry Men, and Waiting For Lefty. Finally, Bernie has also played roles in many films such as Inside Man, Super Ex-Girlfriend, and Sick Day, among many others. I knew of Bernie’s impressive resume going into this portrait session and was honored to be allowed into his home for our shoot. Mr. Lippman proved to be a highly intelligent man while explaining how he brings out different personalities and individual qualities of the characters he plays. He spoke a lot about his loving family and when I asked him to simply “think of love”, he told me he immediately thought of his grandchildren. That portrait is below.


I had Bernie move around his apartment to get different looks and show a little more of who he is at home. While he was sitting in his living room, I noticed that he was deep in thought while staring into his dining area. I asked what was going through his mind at that moment and he pointed out the interesting scene he saw in the dining room and I had to agree. I asked Bernie to take a seat at the table and simple stare at the empty wall in front of him. I loved that his wife’s vase of flowers was on the table and used that to show a lonely kind of feeling in the portrait below. It is almost as if he lives alone and is looking for his companion at dinner time. Kind of sad, actually. Bernie’s wife Christine is very much still here with him and she was an absolute delight to spend some time with as well.


While sitting at the dining room table I decided to shoot a few tight head shots. There was no way that I was letting this session go without one of these. Bernie’s face tells a story that I can’t help but wonder what else he can tell me about from his life.


As our conversations went on and I learned more about Bernie’s life, he told me of his career as a salesman for a major publishing company. His love for books definitely made this job interesting for him and as you can see from the portrait below, he has no shortage of reading material for a long time. While Bernie was sitting at the desk in his bedroom, his wife Christine had walked in to watch us work together. Bernie’s face immediately lightened up with a smile that can only be brought by a loving wife. They’re a cute couple.


As with almost all of my shoots, I break out the old Polaroid camera and shoot a few portraits. Here is Bernie’s Polaroid at the dining room table, lit by only the chandelier hanging above the table. Definitely one of my favorite photos from my time with Bernie.

 

 

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