David Shulman of The Environmental Tech Center - CP Pro Magazine - July 2012
This shoot was a blast. The Environmental Tech Center, in East Boston, which is featured in this month's CE Pro Magazine cover story, is in an unassuming building, but houses some really cool gadgets and an amazing home. David Shulman, who owns the Environmental Tech Center shares the stage in this article with his beautiful home and workplace.
Business
Commercial Integrator Magazine's May 2012 Issue
Atrion Networking senior VP Paul Cronin, Warwick, R.I.
For the May, 2012 issue of Commercial Integrator Magazine, with its distinctive cover style, I was chosen to photograph Atrion Networking senior VP Paul Cronin, of Warwick, R.I., for the cover story. EH Publishing is a great group to work with.
For more information about editorial photography, corporate photography and location portraits, send me a quick email! http://www.adrienbisson.com/contact/
What Not to Light
If you want to make something more interesting, it's important to know what not to light. I know that a great photographer said something like that, but I cannot remember who that was or what his or her exact words were. It's a phrase that I think about constantly though. One of my new favorite shadow creator combinations is a beauty dish with a grid. Soft, fairly large, but most of all, very constrained. I would say it is easily disciplined.
Here are a couple of my favorites from a shoot that my friend and client Ed and I did earlier this week. Ed is a retired accounting professor and an up-and-coming actor and singer. We created hundreds of actor headshots, but once those were in the can, we worked on some additional dramatic, less traditional shots.
Latest Cover Story - Commercial Integrator Magazine
Adtech CEO David Gormley
I am really happy to be able to share with you my latest cover shoot, for Commercial Integrator magazine, featuring Adtech Systems' CEO David Gormley, all shot on location at their Sudbury, Mass., offices.
If you have any questions or comments about this, or anything else, I encourage you to leave a comment! And if you want to discuss a project, email me here: http://www.adrienbisson.com/contact/
The People Inside the Non-Profit World
Some pics from a recent shoot at a local non-profit. This young woman is someone who the camera just cannot get enough of. You know it's happening on a shoot after just a few frames. You set up the scene, start making pictures, and the magic just takes over. Someday, I hope we can shoot again!
Interesting People in the House
I really love working with people who know what they want from their photoshoot and who are into the whole experience of making photographs. Kimberly Burke, the upright bassist for the Austin, Texas based indie rock band Shearwater, is one of those people. Arriving right on time that evening in late January, she was ready to go. We did some portraits in my studio as well as around the old textile mill building in which my studio is located. Enthusiasm all around!
Kimberly Burke of Shearwater
Kimberly Burke of Shearwater
Sustainable Farming in the Merrimack Valley - Matthew Himmel Interview
In today's blog, I have the distinct pleasure of presenting an interview with Matthew Himmel, the Marketing Manager of World PEAS Cooperative at the New Entry Sustainable Farm Project, here in the Merrimack Valley. The New Entry Sustainable Farm Project's (http://www.nesfp.org/) mission is to assist people with limited resources who have an interest in small-scale commercial agriculture, to begin farming in Massachusetts. World PEAS ("People Enhancing Agricultural Sustainability") Marketing Cooperative primarily sells directly to consumers through a Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA), with additional sales to institutional food services/restaurants, and at farmers’ markets (in partnership with the United Teen Equality Center).
Complicated, I know! That is also why I decided to interview Matthew and get the real scoop, right from the source. So let's get started!
Matthew Himmel Interview 
Matthew Himmel
* You studied biology and environmental studies at Hamilton College. Are you originally from that area of New York, and did you have interests in farming and local agriculture before going to college?
No, I am actually from around here; I grew up in Lexington. When I was growing up we had a vegetable garden, compost pile and great backyard, so I spent a bit of time outdoors, tinkering in the garden. By the time I graduated from High School I was already very interested in agriculture, and took a year off to travel and work on farms in Central America and Europe. I became confident that I wanted to work in agriculture, but not exactly sure how. I studied biology and geology at Hamilton, studied Permaculture in the summers, worked on research at Cornell in Crop and Soil Sciences and Horticulture, and ultimately found a niche that I love, helping farmers access markets and resources they need to succeed. After trying a few different things out, I have concluded that market-base strategies are essential to creating the healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems we all want.
* Did you or your family have a background in farming when you were growing up?
My mother emigrated from a small town in Romania, where everyone was subsistence farmers. While I had a very different upbringing, this heritage has influenced me. I still love hearing the stories from my grandmother about how they made sauerkraut to save for the winter, started seedlings in the warmth of a composting manure pile and so forth.
My dad is from New Jersey. He’s definitely had an influence on me too, but less directly in farming. I think I get my systems thinking from him. He uses Excel spreadsheets to do just about everything. Learning Excel from him, has been enormously helpful coordinating farmers for World PEAS.
* What are the goals of World PEAS, NESFP and of the Lowell CSA, and how do they work together?
NESFP is strengthening our local food system by training new farmers (either new to farming or new to the U.S.) and helping them access the resources they need to successfully establish farm businesses. Helping farmers access markets is critical, since the financial viability of farms is essential to their continued existence. While we encourage farmers to have diverse marketing venues, including farmers’ markets, restaurant accounts, etc., we also coordinate cooperative marketing through the World PEAS Cooperative.
* Is the main objective of NESFP to train farmers, or is it to provide resources for them to get started? Or are some of the farmers very experienced?
New Entry works with farmers with varying levels of experience and resource needs. Many of the immigrant and refugee farmers we work with have decades of experience farming in their homeland, but are less familiar with the local climate and markets, and may also need help accessing land and other key resources. Others come to the program with very little or no farming experience.
We have recently seen a rise in the number of American-born applicants looking to get into farming for the first time. They may need more help with production skills and land access, but are often more familiar with trends in the local market, through their observations at farmers’ markets, supermarkets, etc.
* How many share holders did the CSA have this past summer, and how did it compare to previous years?
Last year, the World PEAS Community Supported Agriculture (aka CSA or farm share) program, which is our largest market, provided weekly boxes of fresh produce to 425 households throughout the greater Lowell and Boston areas.
The CSA and World PEAS in general have been growing rapidly over the past couple of years. When I started in 2008 we had 100 shares. We’ve been adding about 100 every year since, as well as additional markets.
* Is the CSA self-sustaining? Do the farmers all make a profit?
As of 2010, the World PEAS Cooperative achieved financial solvency. We are really proud of this achievement, and feel that our success demonstrates the efficacy of this model to other farmer groups and organizations.
We cover our costs by charging a commission on sales, a little over 20%. This still leaves farmers with much higher prices than they would receive through most other markets, because it is a pretty direct and efficient value chain. Unlike traditional channels, produce doesn’t change hands several times, and there are no expensive warehouses and supermarkets to maintain and power. Farmers can still get better prices selling directly to customers at Farmers’ Markets, and many do. But many of the farmers in the program have other jobs, don’t speak English very efficiently, or have volume that are too small to justify going to a market on their own. World PEAS provides another market.
* Is the land generally lent or leased, and to NESFP or to the individual farmers?
New Entry manages a three incubator farm sites in Dracut where farmers can rent land and equipment. We have various arrangements in each case. Our Farmland Matching Service typically helps arrange direct leases with farmers.
Having achieved many of the goals we set several years ago, we are in the midst of another round of strategic planning. Having built up a suite of successful programs New Entry is well poised to expand in a variety of directions. It will be exciting to see how things develop.
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Registration for the World PEAS CSA is now open. For more information, visit http://www.worldpeascsa.org/.
If you have questions about World PEAS or for further information about the Training Program, please call the office at 978-654-6745.
Professional Portraits vs. Happy Accidents - We're Making Photographs, not Taking Them
There's a term that applies to a certain type of photograph that you may be familiar with. The term is "happy accident". It's generally a pretty loaded term. It can be an insult directed at a photographer who may have created an image that is good, or even great, but the person wielding the phrase feels that the good image is an exception rather than the rule, based on that person's perception of the artist's work. It can also be used by a photographer to describe his or her own photograph, implying, not so subtly, that the image in question was acquired by luck, clean living, or some other reason not directly related to skill or artistry.
As a professional portrait photographer, your goal is to 'create a photograph'. I really prefer that phrase to 'taking a photograph'. The difference is one of mindset. Am I showing up, putting up some lights so that the subject won't be in the dark and then snapping away, hoping for some kind of intervention? Not a chance! You need to walk into the studio or onto a location with a frame of mind totally focused on making a great photograph. You are creating a work of art, no matter how mundane or commercial the assignment might be. The location is sized up. A series of shot options is internalized, discussed with assistants and possibly the subject, any lighting that is necessary is set up, furniture is almost always moved(*). Then, photographs are made.
There are so many things to take in and consider when you are about to create photographs at a professional commercial level: how subjects or models will be portrayed, composition, lighting, style, props, distractions, etc.. You can't just walk in and start shooting, hoping for some happy accidents. You need a concept, and an ability to execute it. Once things are starting to fire on all cylinders in a given context, the shooting can commence in earnest. I make a lot of shots when I am creating portraits. But the activity is 
Just Some Photos that I Like!
When I blog, I like to write something that readers will hopefully find interesting and will compel them to read and look further. It's often a challenge, as I don't feel like a writer. As photographers, we communicate with our images. Ultimately, that's what I hope will draw people in. I know it won't be my words, but I hope that my words will serve as an introduction to my work.
This time, I only have my images. As a commercial photographer, I spend a lot of time creating photographs that are not strictly artistic. While artistry is involved, their role in life is largely utilitarian. That is true in a business sense, but the discerning client knows that they are more than that; they serve to evoke an emotion in the viewer. The esthetic value may be subtle, but it's there. That's why I can only shake my head in disbelief when I see a cell phone self portrait or a red cup party shot used as a business headshot. People! Potential clients are judging you, possibly unfairly, based on an initial impression. You've heard this rant before, I'm sure.
So since I have nothing to say today ;-), I thought I would post some business portraits and some actor headshots that I did recently and that I really like.
The first bunch of shots are of a young actress and dancer.
I also had the privilege of photographing this Boston attorney, who also does legal commentary on a TV network. She really understands the value of good images!
Not Just Academic Marketing
I spent most of this summer working with the excellent web team at the University of Massachusetts Lowell on their web site redesign project. As a location portrait photographer I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to create environmental portraits of a wide spectrum of administration, faculty members and students for the web site's many profiles. Here is one of several : http://www.uml.edu/Profile/Donna-Lannan.aspx
Academic marketing has changed quite a bit since the days when you would request a catalogue in the mail that would contain five or ten year old generic photos of happy students. The landscape today is very competitive and the UML team members take their jobs very seriously.
Here are a few of my favorite shots from this summer.
UMass Lowell
I spent most of this summer working with the excellent web team at the University of Massachusetts Lowell on their web site redesign project. As a location portrait photographer I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to create environmental portraits of a wide spectrum of administration, faculty members and students for the web site's many profiles. Here are a few of my favorites.