• Hudson Valley
• Photographer
• Hudson Valley Photographer
• Portrét
• Portrait Photographer Hudson Valley
• commercial
• Editorial
• Food
• triathlete

I had an awesome chance to work with one of the best triathlete/chef combos here in Hudson Valley.  I was super excited to be able to shoot for another magazine that you could actually pick off the shelf, and I was stoked when they picked me for this shoot.  Seeing as how I wanted to make sure that this shoot went well I actually went in advance to the venue to scope out some locations for the shoot.  Which gave me a great chance to meet and talk to who I was going to be shooting for the portrait.  David Dawson is both an instructor at Johnson and Wales, as well as being a triathlete.  Something that I was certainly impressed by.  What was great about this guy w

as his personality.  Not to sound weird, but this guy is the kind of guy that you almost wish was your dad.  He’s not afraid to curse, has lived an interesting life, and is happy about what he’s doing.  I love working with these kinds of subjects, because you know you’re going to get a great portrait out of them.

For this shoot the magazine wanted something simple, along with a great food shot.  I ended up giving them a simple portrait, but I also wanted to give them something with a bit of a different look.  Now they ended up going with the simple natural light portrait, but I love knowing what I know about lighting, and being able to deliver something extra with any shoot like this.  I love being able to stand out in a very crowded photography segment with my personal touch, and I love going a bit above what’s being asked.

For the first shot I decided to go with a bit more of a moody backdrop, along with a studio light that I set up.  This is what I love about doing editorial photography, you really have the chance to tell a story.  I wanted something that looked a bit like a hero shot from a comic book, because I really thought he deserved a great hero shot.

For the next shot I wanted to give the magazine exactly what they expected with a nice clean head shot.  I took him out to the parking lot where I knew I would get enough space to have plenty of seperation from the backgroud, still have some nice rear light, and also be able to shoot at f/4.  I wanted the portraits to be nice and sharp.  When you’re shooting for a magazine, and print work, it needs to look really crisp.

Last up was the food shot, for this we setup natural light, and then I went in and setup a nice big reflector to fill in all the shadows.  I also shot a few without the reflector, but the editor and I both agreed that this was the shot that looked the best.  He cooked some amazing chicken and quinoa that was really great looking on the plate.  There was also fennel salad, and nice fresh ripe tomatoes.

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All in all this is why I got into photography, to shoot people.  I love the interaction of meeting new people, and trying to capture a sense of them on film.