Andrea contacted me over the summer inquiring about having a 1950s theme photo shoot including a classic Chevy Bel-Air car they were going to rent when the visited the area in October. I thought this sounded great and over the next few months we exchanged ideas for locations and the style of the shoot. She wanted it to be a free flowing and candid photo shoot, so no off camera lighting used, just my trusty Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM lens and the sunny skies of Big Sur. They were a very fun couple to photograph, making my job easy! Thank you Andrea for choosing me as your photographer and for sharing all your great ideas (that I will use for future clients) for candid portraits!
It was kind of unusual that my very first photo shoot since moving to California was an engagement shoot in Big Sur, something I do not specialize in and have not done in a long time. However, Prasanna contacted me and said he liked my work and even though I told him I am not an engagement or wedding photography specialist, he still wanted me as his photographer. I was flattered by that! The weather just worked out, as well as the timing, for getting these candid engagement shots. I now have a go to location for this type of shoot if clients do not have their own preference! Thank you Prasanna for choosing me as your engagement photographer and congratulations!
Candid and Personal Event Photography in Albuquerque
This was a truly unique event for me to photograph in many ways. The Nexus Fellowship rented a residential house here in Albuquerque to host a week long event. It was only attended by about 30 people, and mostly in one room. I spent 21 hours over three days photographing these people sharing the most personal stories of challenges they faced and how they overcame them. How was I able to do this and not be totally conspicuous? First, thankfully the main room had three points of entry and an outside hallway system leading to all of them. So I could go around unseen to each of those three different photography vantage points. Then I had my camera in silent shooting mode, so when I took a photo, the camera was completely silent. It was by far the most personal, intimate event I ever photographed. It definitely had an impact on me and I will carry things I heard and learned during those 21 hours with me going forward. Thank you to Inaam and the entire Equity Lab team for choosing me as your event photographer!
Political Campaign photography with real voters in Albuquerque
Making candid photos is one of my favorite things to do as a photographer, so when past client Athena Christodoulou contacted me about meeting her at a Bosque political event to make candid photos of her talking with voters, I thought this is a great chance to use the natural environment without walls to make some truly unique images for her campaign. Athena was able to talk with a variety of people, even someone with a dog (always a photography win), with several different backgrounds. She also changed jackets to add variety to the candid shots. Thank you Athena for continuing to choose me as your photographer!
Event photography inside the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
I have been photographing various events for NAPAC 2022 around Albuquerque this week, one of which was an evening event at The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History which I had never been to before. NAPAC stands for North American Particle Accelerator Conference so the attendees have knowledge of nuclear science and thus it was a great idea to host part of the conference at the nuclear museum! Once the long time tour guides (they go by a different title actually) announced the choice of going with one about a certain topic and the other for another topic, I had the chance to get some candids of the NAPAC 2022 attendees in the museum itself, and also in setting sunlight, out on the grounds with various airplanes as the background. The photo above is my favorite of the event, as it seems to really have a story behind it. That gentleman in the photo was by himself the entire time wandering the interior and then exterior of the museum keeping to himself with his own thoughts.
A Return to Candid Event Photography at UNM for CSA in 2022
Now that events are happening once more in Albuquerque after the pandemic put a long stop to them, it was great to return to UNM for the Computer Science Alliance Event and to work with Paige and Yolanda again. It was a long 3 years in between this recent event and the last one I photographed for them back in June of 2019. For this event, teachers in STEM come from around the state to learn and share teaching techniques. They sounded so interesting in fact, it almost made me miss being back in school! Almost. I would not pass up a chance to build a rocket one more time though! Thank you to Paige and Yolanda for continuing to choose me as the photographer for CSA and for putting on a great event at UNM.
Professional event photography at an awards event at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya
Event photography is really starting to return in 2022 as I went to the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa for a multi-day conference for employees of PayneWest. I actually made 30 headshots to start out the event, then returned the next day to photograph the awards ceremony seen here. While I still have reservations about being in a room full of hundreds of people who just flew in from all over the country, and I still wore my N95 mask during the entire event, it was also nice to feel the energy of a live event with everyone extra excited to see each other after a long time apart. Thank you to the team at PayneWest for choosing me as both your event and headshot photographer!
