Things that I Like

My thing is People Photography. I think I give that impression anyway. I'm not a marketing professional, but I read and can follow directions. So, since I love to photograph people, that's what I emphasize. Any good photographer though, can do many things. Not necessarily all things. I don't do weddings, sports, I really dislike grip-and-grin shoots... I could go on. I do enjoy making photographs that please me though. I have found that those are most often subjects that I am attracted to in the first place. Here are some. (Make sure you click on some of the captions. They have links)

I like to eat. Slowly. Small portions that taste. Heaping piles of stuff annoy me.

Here are some dishes that are decidedly not in that category.

This, and the previous shot are of some dishes by Chef Carolyn Grieco, of Haverhill, MA

Rainy days make great shots in the summer. So green. This organization and the fields owner deserve a lot of credit!

There's a rumor that I had some work published in a special Home edition of a local magazine...

The beautiful new interior of Lowell's Merrimack Rep (MRT)

Speaking of Lowell, Massachusetts...

Vendor preparing for Lowell's City of Lights parade

The New Studio

It has taken me a while to get my new photography studio into shape, but after having moved in a little over a month ago, and having done a number of shoots here already, I am finally able to show it off. Thanksgiving week is always a reliably slow week and therefore makes a great time to catch up on things that had been impossible for months. I needed to move in to the studio over a weekend because the following Monday I had two shoots, back to back, but I never had the chance to really organize it or hang work on the wall. I am almost there!

Western Avenue Studios, Suite A405

So there won't be any misunderstanding, I am still at Western Avenue Studios, in Lowell, Massachusetts! I have simply moved to a larger, brighter space, two floors up. The new space is on the 4th floor in what is known as the A-Mill; studio A405. This floor itself is much brighter and more welcoming even as you come off the elevator. Restrooms conveniently located just to your left as you get off the elevator, and my studio only several doors down the hall.

The Green Doors - I have mentioned the green doors before, but most people are not aware of their size until they actually enter the studio. These are what must have been loading dock doors years ago through which raw materials and finish products were moved. Today they are sealed, and make a really cool background. Here are some shots done in front of the doors. In fact, these are from my first author portrait photo shoot in the studio; the one done that Monday morning after moving in.

Chipping Away - The Video

As part of my project to tell United Teen Equality Center's story I wanted to create a short film. As it turned out, I ended up creating two. This first one is the 4 minute version in which I tried to let some of the young people tell their stories in their own words, in a way that gets right to the heart of the matter.

See it on YouTube:  http://youtu.be/6dSvTAZt-vc

United Teen Equality Center - Chipping Away

After more that 6 months, I am thrilled to finally unveil my personal project, United Teen Equality Center - Chipping Away. Since May of this year, I have had the privilege to work with Lowell, Massachusetts' United Teen Equality Center to create portraits of the young people and to document the invaluable work that is done there, in the form of a photographic body of work and a short film.

The work will be on display beginning with the center's Grand Opening event, and will remain on display in the common areas of the new building into the future.

Please click HERE to visit my project page, to read more about the project and to see all of the work.

The Scott Grimes Cover that Almost Didn't Happen

Back in August, Masschusetts native, actor and musician Scott Grimes, of ER and Band of Brothers fame, came home to do a benefit concert at Lowell's Memorial Auditorium. Merrimack Valley Magazine loves a hometown success story, so Scott was a perfect fit for the cover. It was all arranged. We were to meet Scott back stage before his concert and do the cover shoot. Nothing highly produced, just a series of portraits of him sitting, singing, enacting a voiceover session in a theatrical setting. Dramatic lighting, minimalist background... you get the idea.

I had the lights all set up. Everything was ready to go. I did some test shots with the publisher sitting in for the star. He loves that (ha!). In walked someone in charge. 'Scott won't be able to come down. It's too close to showtime.' I looked at the publisher and the creative director as they went completely pale. I blurted out: 'can he just give us five minutes?' The guy paused and said, ok, I'll check. He walked away and the aforementioned magazine honchos shot me a look. A glare really... I said, 'I am all set up. If he comes down here for 5 he will be here for 15.' I may have even said 'trust me'... I really need a manager; someone to stop me before I say 'yes' again!

Scott came down to the set and was incredibly personable, helpful, ready for a photo shoot, and seemed to be in no rush to leave. Happy to accommodate. We shot the cover in a little less than 10 minutes and followed that up with several relaxed, informal posed shots of him, his band and our writer, Beth Daigle. It had turned out to be a good night all around. But someone really needs to stop me next time.

And please don't miss this issue to check out Creative Director Steve Pennimpede's great vision and Photoshop work on the cover concept!

Merrimack Valley Magazine - November/December 2012

A Happy Team - Merrimack Valley Magazine's owner, editor & publisher, Glenn Prezzano, writer for the Scott Grimes story, Beth Daigle, and creative director Stephen Pennimpede

Nadia and the Green Doors

I haven't made much noise about my new studio space yet, mostly because I haven't had an opportunity to make it presentable. I have a big blank wall and a stack of prints that are waiting to be hung. I will definitely get to it! But, along with more space and better window light, I have these great (in both senses of the word) green doors at one end of the studio. The old mill building apparently used to have a mechanism to load or unload large items to or from the upper floors through large, wooden barn doors. They are currently a rich dark green and are closed for good. I am holding out hope that the landlord refrains from covering them from the inside as they are a real feature in my space.

I recently photographed Nadia Clifford (http://www.nadiaclifford.com), a local writer, in front of the doors. She and I are pretty happy with the results.

Everyone Loves a Dog on the Cover

Before the premier of the Home issue of the Merrimack Valley Magazine is gone from the shelves, I thought I would post of few of my images from the pages of the magazine. Among other things, it features an extreme makeover in Andover, decorating ideas ranging from antiques to framing, beautiful lofts in Lawrence and a really inspiring Habitat for Humanity project. Oh, did I mention that these shoots were mine?

Goals and a Vision for your Head-Shot

A potential client contacted me a few weeks ago inquiring about having an actor's head-shot done. She was very specific about what she wanted and seemed to like what she had seen of my work. I forwarded her some information about the way that I work, the fee and my deliverables. We then set up an appointment and she asked if I would mind if she sent me her ideas about the shoot. I love when a client is personally invested in this process, so I naturally said, yes, please do! She then sent along a Word document listing her goals for the shoot, what she thought the head-shot should be or entail, as well as a list of questions.

To a portrait photographer, this is what a great shoot looks like. That isn't to say that everyone needs to do this! In fact, most subjects are actually rather unsure of what is going to happen when they arrive at my studio or I at their location. When possible, I prefer to have a pre-shoot conference, either in a separate sit-down, or if that's not possible, immediately before the shoot. My objective is to explain the process, answer any questions and to solicit any input that the subject would like to contribute. I cannot speak for other head-shot photographers, but I really appreciate input from my client. The great thing about the actress to whom I was referring was that once we started, she wasn't into micro-managing the session. She had shared her vision with me before we met and my job was to make her vision reality. I hope the work speaks for itself.

I work with all kinds of clients, creating actor head-shots as well as corporate head-shots, although I prefer to call the latter, corporate portraits. Irrespective of the client though, having a vision and goals in mind before the shoot begins is key.

Locally Grown - One More Time

Just as I have done the past two years, I spent some time this summer visiting small local farms and farm-related training events, mostly for the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. This year I got to revisit a few of the farmers that I had met in previous years, this time at their new, larger farms. You may recognize a few people from both my portfolio and some of my previous blogs. One couple that I met in Dracut, Massachusetts, last year now has a farm in Groton, as well as a new addition to their family! Congratulations!

By way of showing how the food progresses from the farm to the table, I also visited the new packing station for the Lowell CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture project. Clearly a growing and well-run organization.

For more information visit these sites:

http://www.nesfp.org/
http://nesfp.nutrition.tufts.edu/worldpeas/csa.html

A New Beginning

I love summer. But summer can be a challenge if you are trying to keep the ball rolling on your business. Clients go on vacation. Projects are sometimes put on the slow track until autumn. So even though I love the long, warm days of summer, I do look forward to the fall when things start rolling again.

This fall I decided to take my online presence and branding up a notch. Beginning today, with this blog, I am featuring my newly designed web site and logo. For the techies out there, it utilizes HTML5 to customize itself to whatever browser it happens to be running on. It also features really large images that scale to the size of the browser window. So make sure you maximize the window!

Because I have been working on this project for a while I have quite a bit of photography work in the can to show you. I will be doing that over the next several months along with a couple of surprises, including one personal project that I will be rolling out in November. Please watch for that!

To get things started I thought I would share some shots from a photo session that I had with the excellent guitarist, Alex Prezzano. He rented the world-famous Methuen Memorial Music Hall for the shoot, which features an amazing pipe organ that occupies the entire front of the hall. I hope you enjoy the shots and check Alex out! Please feel free to leave a comment too!