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Shooting Ballet Folklorico in San Diego

Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to shoot Ballet Folklorico in San Diego for AAA, documenting the people and dance. I was traveling around my hometown like a tourist to various locations to see rehearsals and performances both indoor and out. The shoot resulted in three magazine covers for AAA and I'm stoked with how these turned out! This type of dance is a photographer's paradise, utilizing a lot of color and controlled movement in combination. With this type…

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chef portrait

Chef Portraits

Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to shoot quite a few restaurants in and around San Diego and the Inland Empire. Often, my primary assignment is to capture the food but one of my favorite parts is to grab a portrait of the chef or restaurateur. Sometimes its at the request of the client, but often its for my own creative exercise and portfolio. Chefs are generally personable and passionate but they also tend to be…

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Craft Beer Photography

Beer Photography – Lighting Setup and Technique

Product photography, and especially beverage photography involving glass, is a true melding of technical geekery and artistic decision making. Although the challenges of photographing glassware and liquid can be at times frustrating, the rewards are high. It's the feeling of building an image, as if building a piece of furniture. You look at examples, lay out a design, start to assemble the parts, and then you invariably will stray from that design in actual practice which produces something unique. I…

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food photography - granola

Bag Check: Food Photography

One of the nice things about food photography is you don't have to sell your little brother into slavery and mortgage your house to get professional results. Since each photography assignment is a little different and a little special, I decided to do a little "bag check" post today about the equipment I typically use as a professional food photographer. This is my personal kit and is geared mainly toward food magazine work and other in-restaurant types of  photo shoots.…

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white background portrait

White Seamless Studio Setup

  One of the questions I get asked a lot in classes and workshops is how to achieve a pure white background without a lot of Photoshop knockout. Well, the short answer is to simply light your background about one stop brighter than your subject. In this case, my background is  a 9 foot wide roll of white Savage 107X12-1 Seamless Background Paper - Super White. . For the floor, I've used white tile board from The Home Depot which…

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