For architectural interior shots like this cover image for Oregon Home, I often do something I call, “Dropping in the Windows.” During the shoot, I’ll take several brackets that are under my main exposure. Later on in Photoshop, I will pick a darker exposure that I like the look out the windows and overlay it on the main exposure. I then hand cut out the windows using a mask and blend it together a little with the paintbrush. It’s subtle, time consuming, but the look can’t be beat.

The alternative to this is to do and HDR photograph or overlight the room with artificial light. I, personally, never like either of those ways look, so that’s why I do it the hard way.

Here’s time-lapse of the whole process:

Check out this beauty of a cover for Oregon Home. This is definitely one of my favorite classic interior shots I’ve ever taken for a magazine. Jon Taylor Carter’s art direction was really instrumental in pulling off all these great images. I also have to give a lot of credit to the home owners Jay and Diane Speakman for giving us such beautiful home decor to work with. They own an antique store in Canon Beach called Seaseme and Lilies and many of the wonderful things that furnish their home speak to the inventory they carry at their shop. Everything seemed to fit together so well. It seemed like no matter where I placed the camera, a shot could be found.

For you Photoshop geeks out there, click here to see how I retouched the cover shot.

And here are the rest of the tearsheets:

The newest architecture and design magazine to highlight the Pacific Northwest has certainly been generating a lot of buzz. Almost all my clients asked me about GRAY Magazine as soon as it hit their desks. And I can see why. It’s a really well designed magazine that is photo heavy with great articles. It’s also printed on really nice paper for that high end feel.

GRAY is up to issue #3, but I was pretty stoked to have this project I photographed for Jessica Helgerson Interior Design run as the cover story for their second issue. The rest of the tearsheets are below, but if you want to see the photographs on their own, check out the White Brick Mediterranean Home gallery on my archive.

I’ve been a member of Wonderful Machine for several years now. A lot of great things (big and small) have happened by being on their roster. And unlike some other source sites out there, I’ve never felt like I’ve wasted money being on their site.

I frequently get emailed from photographers thinking of joining up. I did a Q&A email exchange with Brian Stevenson a few months ago and thought it might be useful info for anyone else thinking of joining.

BS: Bill Cramer at Wonderful Machine has offered me a place on their roster of shooters and I’d love to hear your perspective on how well their marketing model is working for you. If you have a couple of minutes, would you mind answering a couple of questions for me? I’d really appreciate any insights you can provide.

LB: Sure Brian! Wonderful Machine is great. It’s like a better version of all those find a photographer websites out there. And they’re all really nice people to work with and get advice from. I’ll answer your questions below.

BS: Has Wonderful Machine helped you increase your exposure?

LB: Depends on what you quantify as exposure. They are consistently my top 10 referral to my website. How many of those visitors are potential clients or just other photographers is hard to say. I am of the belief that not one single marketing effort will increase your exposure, rather the more reputable places for a potential client to see your name and your work, the better off your chances are to get hired. I’m also listed on Workbook.com, FoundFolios.com, and CommArts.com, PhotoServe, ASMP, AIAP, and EP; plus all the typical social media stuff. I even do Google AdWords and constantly tweak my SEO. Some of my bigger jobs have come from Google searches.

BS: Do you feel like you’ve been adequately represented in their general marketing campaigns?

LB: I’ve been in a couple of their email campaigns and been on their blog periodically. They have my printed portfolio that they shop it around to appropriate magazines and agencies when they do their showings. My book is one of 20 or more, but it’s still nice they do that. Again, the more your name gets out there, the more likely you are to get work.

BS: Are you able to communicate well with them?

LB: They are always quick to respond when I reach out to them. I usually email, but sometimes I call. They did drop the ball once when I asked them if they wanted to take over my email marketing. They said they would come up with a plan and a cost and then never got back to me. I never followed up and decided to do it myself. I think I’m happier doing it myself and it saves me money. The thing about Wonderful Machine is, the more you put into it the more you get out of it.

BS: Have you had them negotiate any contracts for you and do you feel like they generated more income for you on any jobs than you would have likely generated on your own? Do they respond quickly when you need to put together a bid on short notice?

LB: I asked them to help me on a couple estimates and both time their numbers were way higher than the client wanted to pay. I’m not the best negotiator, so I don’t blame them for not getting those jobs. I have never had them bid a job on my behalf.

BS: Have they generated any work for you in national markets (i.e. outside the NW)?

LB: I’ve shot for mags like Sunset and Parents in the Pacific Northwest, but I can’t say they’ve gotten me work outside of this market (i.e. I haven’t shot outside the area for a lead I got from them). A while back they got an inquiry for a pretty big ad shoot and were pitching me as the photographer. Nothing ever materialized from it, though.

BS: Do you get the sense Wonderful Machine is well regarded by creative directors and editors (I’ve been familiar with Wonderful Machine for a long time and based on their now regular contributions to A Photo Editor, it seems like they are respected)?

LB: Yes, absolultely. Though, there is some confusion because they are not reps in the traditional sense, but some art buyers / photo editors think of them as reps.

BS: Do you think there is any industry bias against this type of representation model?

LB: I don’t really know. Honestly, I think a majority of the WM photographers are at the emerging stage of their career. So, you’re in that pool and associated with that level of photographer. Definitely some talent in the ranks, but I don’t think it has the same clout as Workbook.com or more exclusive source sites like LeBook. Some photographers are so popular and in demand that they don’t even have websites. How’s that for cocky?

Again, WM is a great way to get traffic to your site. Then it’s up to you to sell yourself and get the work.

BS: Are there any downsides to signing with them (other than the cost) and has the membership been a good value for you?

LB: I’m paying a $100 a month. I’ve definitely gotten enough work each from them to justify the expense. Stats wise, I had 645 visitors from WM last year and they were my #1 source site referral and #3 overall. If half of them were qualified leads, that’s $3.75 per click. About what you would spend on a Google AdWords.

There’s a really cool independent magazine that just came out called Offscreen which focuses on the “human side of websites and apps.” For their premier issue, publisher Kai Brach contacted me about licensing a shot from Parliament’s World Headquarters in Portland, OR. It certainly seemed like a perfect fit for the spirit of the magazine and with my web designer routes, I was happy to work out a deal for him. (If you haven’t seen the shoot I did for Parliament, then you need to read this blog post.) I got my copy of the magazine a few weeks ago and it came out awesome. I highly recommend picking one up if you’re into the the whole website and app development game. It’s quite inspiring.

Busy week! I’ve got some cool blog posts in the works, but for now enjoy this twirling wonder of Parisian Architecture. This spiral staircase is located at Panthéon and leads down to the crypt that is the final resting place of many French artists, politicians, scientists, and military heros. It’s a pretty amazing place. That spiral goes up about 8 stories and is only about 6 inches in diameter.

Here’s another shoot that I’ve been holding on to for a while now. Last summer, Portland based jewelry and craft store, Twist, hired me to shoot a lifestyle inspired look book for the landing pages of their new website redesign. Twist was drawn to my clean, natural, technical style of photography and felt I was a good fit for what they were looking for. Since the shots were to be focused on the jewelry, I shot a majority of them with a macro lens. I was shooting pretty shallow and nailing the focus was super critical. It’s tricky to do with live models, but that’s why you shoot a lot (over 2000 RAW files in a day).

To make a shoot like this come off fun and easy looking, it takes more than technique, models, stylists, and props. You actually have to put a lot of your own positive energy into it. As the photographer, you’re leading the vibe and if you’re in a great mode, then everyone else is. You have to be mentally in it all day long and treat it almost like it’s a performance. End of the day, it simply makes the job easier to be positive and I think that gets you better shots. It also helped that I had super talented people to work with and great clients who really contributed in the creative process.

I’m really happy how they shots came out and think they look awesome on their new website which went live this month. Here are some screen shots.

And here are some outtakes that I really liked and wanted to share. Looking forward to refreshing my lifestyle portfolio with some of these shots.

Credits:

Models – Tanisha Payne, Kelsey Dunn, & Brandi Hicks – Option Model and Media
Hair & Makeup – Katherine Ross
Wardrobe – Peggi Jeung

I’ve been looking at these two photos for a while now and thought I would post them separately. They are some of my favorite shots from our trip to London last fall. I  was trying to decide which one I liked better and kept flipping back and forth between the two. Then I put them side by side and that’s when it hit me that they worked great together as a diptych. I’m not a master at diptychs, but I really like them. I don’t usually put black & white shots side by side with color, but I like the context of the two. Reminds me of our time traveling through Europe.

If you click on the image, it will enlarge to fill your screen.

One thing that is nice about shooting film, (Kodak Portra 400 in this instance) is that it is what it is. With digital, especially RAW files, you have to always tweak something. Add a little contrast, desaturate the reds, add clarity, etc. etc. True, you can tweak film scans, but the basic color and tonal range is more there than a RAW file is right out the camera. Plus, shooting with that little Lomo, it just does magical things with the focus.

I shot this a week or so at the Portland Japanese Garden. Amazing place… highly recommend it if you’re visiting or haven’t gone before. Spring time is coming up and the blooms are quite beautiful here.

I had a hard time coming up with the right anecdote about this shoot featured in Martha Stewart Living. There are so many ways to describe it. It was the smallest house I’ve ever shot featured in the biggest magazine I’ve ever been in. It’s funny how the simplest shots take the longest time. Jessica Helgerson is an amazing interior designer! The house was so small, that for one shot I had to shoot from a window outside. I used strobes, daylight, hot lights, and incandescent lights. I retouched the shots to make them look more natural. I shot this almost a year ago and had to wait till now to show them off. It just goes on and on.

I say this a lot, but I’m very proud of this project, how the photos turned out, and that it was published in a great magazine that really highlights photography. But, I certainly can’t take all the credit.  Without Jessica Helgerson’s design talent and eye for styling, these shots would just be okay. Collaborating with her brings the work to a whole new level and I am thrilled we’re both receiving recognition on a national level. She definitely deserves it and I feel very grateful that I get to photograph her projects. Here are the rest of the pages and the shots on their own. Enjoy.