I love how we can just go to a park and let people be who they are…run around, chase ducks, throw a football, etc. It gives you a real opportunity to capture something unique that shows maybe the spirit of the person, even if their face is not showing. Years later, they’ll know it was them and maybe think back to the fun they had that day. Or it will remind them of their inner child when they’re much older.

So, instead of the usual pose, I find that this one is my favorite. It may not be his, or his mom’s, but I love it. And yes, there were a couple of other good ones as well, a few shown below.

On these portraits, each brush stroke is painstakingly hand applied to create an heirloom quality piece of art. Each portrait displays my unique style of brush work with special lighting and shadowing arranged within the work for beauty, balance and style. The viewer can actually see and feel the rich texture of paint on special fine art paper.

This one was done in pastels and will be delivered on 17×22 museum-quality fine art paper that will last for generations. I hope all of you (and Mary) enjoy it!

Once a client has identified the base image that they would like to see painted, I take it into Photoshop and do some ‘prep’ work to get it ready for the style of painting that I want to do. Once it looks the way I want it to, I then take the image into Painter and work on it there.

I think everyone who does things like this, develops their own ‘style’ and I’m no exception. After a few days of working on the image, it’s back into Photoshop for any last touch up work and then finally a 17×22 printout onto some fine art paper.

Here’s the final image. What was truly funny, was Kevin’s response ‘looks like I’m running for President!’ I guess it does look a bit like one of those portraits that might be hanging in the  White House one day – why not?

If you are interested in having one of these painted portraits done, make sure to contact me and find out more information about them.

Specs: This is a 17×22 print on fine art watercolor using mostly pastels and a few stronger brush strokes for the hair, beard and mustache.

The Sideline guys shoot was a lot of fun because they’re in Amsterdam NY and they wanted to have a ‘tough guy’ kind of look to it. So, we set up a quick ‘portrait’ area where we shoot their weekly video show and fired away. We got a really good one, then I built the ad around the photo and posted it online to point to their blogs. It’s also been running in the paper to drive traffic to their blog as well. To the left is Mark Robarge, sports reporter, middle is Paul Antonelli, sports editor, and to the right, Adam Shinder. Paul said that when his kids saw the ad they couldn’t stop laughing. Is that a good thing, or bad?

On the reporters photo shoot, I got the idea to set up a kind of ‘old school’ shoot with a typewriter, reporters hat and pad with pencil. Not what any reporter uses these days, but I thought it would be interesting. Then, some dramatic light on the scene and a catchy phrase and the ad came together.

It was a lot of fun to quickly set up a studio in an office, use off camera remotely triggered flash and to grab items that were in plain sight to set the scene. Hopefully, people are enjoying the ads and get just a little bit of a laugh from the expressions and sayings. Keshia Cluckey was the model (and a real reporter) and she was just a joy to work with. And the hat? Well, it’s one of her own.

There was another concept that Deborah and I came up with for yet another blog (and soon to air – podcast), but since I decided to use a stock image of boxing gloves for that one, I can’t take credit for the photo. It came out pretty good though, so I’ve included it in the thumbnail images below.  This way you get to see how the final images were eventually used.

Now, I had always been told that Caddo was the ONLY natural lake in Texas – all the others are man-made. However, I THEN had someone tell me there are TWO natural lakes there. What the other one is, I have no idea. BUT for those of you that think Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes? Well, supposedly, Texas has even more. When you do the math, that is just a LOT of man-made lakes!

I used mostly pastels and chalk in this one, with a little bit of a small camel’s hair brush for the detail in the hat. Every single inch of the portrait is hand painted – there is no ‘computer filter’ that is used to do this. Image is 17×22 and will be printed on a thick fine art paper. Next one I’m working on for my portfolio is one of my Adirondack fall landscapes. Not sure if I want to stick with my standard style, or work on it as an oil painting. We’ll see… Otherwise, there are two wedding portraits that I’m painting that should show up here soon!

Newspapers are very industrial looking places and I wanted to make sure that I captured that. I also wanted to make sure that I was able to show the environment where Kate worked – some of the different sections and to somehow give her something that would be representative of the 18 years she had spent there.

The paper has this HUGE press in the back where they print eight newspapers, special sections, and the like. I have walked past it several times and love the colors, the ‘grittiness’ of the area and the industrial look. One of the photographers I’ve interviewed on LensFlare35 had used colored gels to really give the equipment a different look. So, I planned the shoot and made the filters with the colors that I wanted.

I think Kate was surprised by the amount of setup time that goes into something like this and the amount of equipment that I transported to the newspaper to get the shot. It took about an hour to set up and finally get test shots that I liked before I called her in to pose. This first image is EXACTLY what I had in my head and I’m glad it executed almost perfectly.

In the next image, we wanted to do something that showed the front of the building with the name of the company. Even though it was an overcast day, we were having a heck of a time with her transition lenses getting too dark. And, Kate wears those glasses all the time, so we had to get a little creative. She’s got them off, but they’re still part of the picture. So, today is her last day and I wish her well on her voyage across the country. I think these two images are exactly what we both wanted and that they’ll server as great reminders of her time with the company.

We went to my favorite location, the Old Mill in Dolgeville (which is right across from where Lydia cuts hair). Jan was kind enough to let us roam the facility and shoot wherever we wanted to. It was a bright sunny day and the outside shots were tough. Lydia had never worked as a ‘model’ before, but she did a fantastic job while we messed around with settings on lights, umbrellas, cameras, posing and the rest.

Then, we went inside one of the buildings and Lydia was warming up to being a model. I think the shots of her are incredible and there is no doubt about – she is one beautiful woman! What do you think?

The Details: The one to the left is the original photo that was taken at the family Christmas Party back in December. Lighting was an off camera flash shot through an umbrella to camera left. A white reflector was on the right side pushing just a bit of light into the scene from camera right.

The image on the right, is the final painted version using Painter X. Mostly pastel brushes were used, with a camel’s hair brush for the hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc. It was output to a 17×22 piece of Hahnnemuhle Fine Art Watercolor paper and printed on an Epson 4800 printer.

The distracting detail from around Ava was removed so that all of the focus was on her, and then once all that was finished, I worked on painting in the details.

One of the things that I think is key to a good painted portrait is a descent image that you start with. Then, working on that image until it becomes a REALLY good portrait, and THEN finally working on the painted portion.

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It will make a great Valentine’s Day gift!

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The Details: The one on the right is the original photo that we took in our ‘Adirondack Room’. Lighting was a single 580EX off-camera flash on camera left, shooting through a Zumbrella. A simple white reflector was on the right to add some fill light. The image on the left, is the final painted version using Painter X. Mostly pastel brushes were used, with a camel’s hair brush for the hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc. It was output to a 17×22 piece of Hahnnemuhle Fine Art Watercolor paper and printed on an Epson 4800 printer.