The July/August 2010 issue of Digital Photo Pro magazine has a fantastic interview of me by William Sawalich in with a behind the scenes look at my about my Celebrity Portrait Photography for the ‘Art & Soul’ project!
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Celebrity Portrait Photography
And a drumroll please…Six of my Burlesque portraits won in the Celebrity/Editorial Portrait Category of PDN’s Faces 2010 Competition. The July 2010 Photo District News includes photos of Candy Carmelo and Kitten DeVille. The rest of the winning entry includes Dirty Martini, Roxi DLite, April March and the Chicago Starlets. My thanks to the lovely and talented Burlesque dancers. Take a bow ladies!
EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8
Profoto 2400 Acute 2
X-Rite ColorChecker Passport
X-Rite i1 Xtreme
Click here for a Behind-the-Scenes look at one of my burlesque shoots.
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Photographing People with Sony Artisan of Imagery Brian Smith this Saturday, May 15th in Dallas, Texas. Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Smith has been photographing with the famous and infamous faces of celebrities for magazines and advertising for the past 25 years.
Ritz University Special Event
WHERE: Embassy Suites – DFW Airport North
2401 Bass Pro Drive, Grapevine, TX 76051
(972-724-2600)
Space is limited Sign up early!
Cost: $25 Per Person, Per Session
Visit any the Ritz/Wolf Camera & Image to register
No phone registrations – You must register in person.
Session one: Saturday, May 15, 2010 (10:00 AM – 1:00 PM)
THE CELEBRITY PORTRAIT: 15 MINUTES WITH FAME
Smith will share his favorite celebrity portraits and the stories behind them and he will discuss the importance that lighting, styling, hair & make-up and location play in adding production value in producing better environmental portraits that can make your work stand out. Smith will show how photography can give everyone their 15 minutes of fame whether they are famous or infamous globally or just famous in your world.
Session Two: Saturday, May 15, 2010 (3:00 PM – 6:00 PM)
PORTRAITS ON LOCATION: CAPTURING PERSONALITY AND PLACE
Great environmental portraits capture both personality and place. Brian photographs noteworthy and notorious celebrities in the locations where they live, work and play. Smith will show how he photographs subjects on location so that the environment adds another dimension to the shoot citing examples of how he approaches shooting on location whether it’s a large production shoot of a famous subject or simply the someone he runs into on the street while traveling. The seminar will discuss location lighting and tips on selecting the best location to add visual interest to your photographs.
Whether you are a professional photographer or just want to shoot like one, join us for either of both of these informative seminars.
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Thanks to Production Paradise for Spotlighting the Art & Soul Project. It’s been a great project to be able to work with The Creative Coalition and all the artists to show support for funding the arts and arts education. Thanks of all to all the celebrities including Samuel Jackson, Anne Hathaway, Adrian Grenier, Taraji P. Henson, Dule Hill, Tichina Arnold, Tony Bennett, Alyssa Milano, David Hyde Pierce, Tim Daly, Lynn Whitfield, Harry Belafonte, Richard Belzer, Robert Davi and Tamala Jones….for lending their voices to this great cause and their wonderful faces to my camera!
If you have checked out Production Paradise, take a look…they’re the directory and showcase for the visual media industry.
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Heading back from Park City, Utah where we took The Creative Coalition’s ‘Art & Soul’ project to the Sundance Film Festival shooting more celebrity portraits for the arts advocacy project which is the cornerstone of a grassroots campaign to focus national attention on the need to ensure that arts in America thrive and flourish. ‘Art & Soul’ has been used to successfully lobby Congress and the White House for increased funding for the arts and arts education. Thanks to the participation of over 40 celebrities at Sundance we have now photographed 160 celebrities to date as part of one of the greatest projects that I’ve ever been involved with. It’s a great thing for those of us lucky enough to make a living from the arts to have an opportunity to show our support and give back. Here is our story…
DAY 1 – January 22:
We started off our Sundance shoots with Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt and Thomas Ian Nicholas from Please Give. Wonderful air guitar rifts from Thomas who brought his vintage Gibson Sunburst guitar to Sundance. Next the lovely Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza stopped in followed by director Kevin Asch of Holy Rollers, Ryan O’Nan The Dry Land, Jon Prescott from Howl and John Ortiz of Jack Goes Boating, spoke of Al Pacino’s generosity to him as a first film Carlito’s Way.
DAY 2 – January 23:
An amazing start with the lovely Vicky Cristina Barcelona herself Rebecca Hall in town to promote Please Give, Happythankyoumoreplease‘s Kate Mara, Tony Hale and Pablo Schreiber, Noureen DeWulf and Jon Prescott from Howl. The day’s highlight was a very pleasant surprise drop-in by Oscar-winner Adrian Brody – thanks to a big assist from John Ortiz who had such a good time with us the day before he sent his friend our way. I’ve always wanted to meet Adrian – not only because I’m a big fan of his work – but because very early in my career I took a workshop with his mother, renowned photographer Sylvia Plachy.
DAY 3 – January 24
Started with Michael Shannon of The Runaways then a a visit from our sponsor Silvercup Studios head Stuart Match Suna, followed by Emma Bell of Frozen, Justin Bartha of Holy Rollers, Ellen Hollman Skateland, Bellamy Young, model Emme, Nathaniel Parker A Perfect Host, 3 Backyards’ Danai Gurira and Kathryn Erbe – one of my favorite actresses for her work in Oz and Law & Order: Criminal Intent and finally High SchooI‘s Adhir Kalyan who was marvelous in Youth in Revolt and Nip/Tuck.
DAY 4 – January 25:
Our day began rapid fire with Sam Jackson, Jimmy Smits and Josh Radnor and ended with ended with Adrian Grenier. Along the way we ran into lovely Kerry Washington who lobbied Capitol Hill for increased funding for the Arts with me last May. Next was Rikki Lake, High School Musical’s KayCee Stroh, Haley Ramm, of Skateland. After that, we entertained director Joel Schumacher with stories about burlesque legends Tempest Storm and Satan’s Angel. Still laughing from a wonderful laugh-filled shoot of Laura Silverman. High School‘s Nadine Crocker showed up leather-clad and looking like the perfect addition to the cast of Sons of Anarchy. Chris Ashworth of The Wire who showed up with Russian bombshell Natalie Gal, Frozen director Adam Green and Drones Amber Benson, Adam Busch, Samm Levine and Tangi Miller. Before dinner at the The Creative Coalition’s Spotlight Initiative Awards we added Melissa Leo of Welcome to the Rileys, Treat Williams of Howl, Malin Akerman of Happythankyoumoreplease, snapped ‘Art & Soul’ participant Jason Ritter again, Christopher McDonald and Entourage’s own ‘Vinne Chase’ Adrian Grenier picking up his award for Teenage Paparazzo. Then chatted up Creative Coalition President and friend Tim Daly and had dinner with Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla showing off the next BIG thing, the Square, and yes..I tweeted about it…
CREDITS:
As always, my BIGGEST THANKS goes to my lovely wife Fazia who makes sure everyone always looks great! Returning the thanks to The Creative Coalition executive director Robin Bronk for the kind words at The Creative Coalition’s Spotlight Initiative Awards and to Barbara Horvath, Briana Mulherin, Liviya Kraemer, Dennis St. Rose and Gabrielle Young of TCC and assistance from BYU student Bethany Davis. David Manning of A-List Communications and his staff for put together a great lounge at Sky Lodge. Special thanks to Stuart Match Suna, head of Silvercup Studios for their sponsorship of our shoot and to Sony Artisans of Imagery director Kayla Lindquist for dropping this wonderful project on me and for finding a way to get me to Utah.
EQUIPMENT:
Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 Zoom
Sony Zeiss 85/1.4
Sony 100/2.8 Macro
Sony Zeiss 135/1.8
Profoto Acute 2 – 2400 Packs
Profoto Acute 2 Heads
Generous support provided by:
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I’m headed to Park City, Utah to the Sundance Film Festival from January 22-25th to shoot more celebrity portraits for The Creative Coalition’s ‘Art & Soul’ project. The arts advocacy project is the cornerstone of a grassroots campaign to focus national attention on the need to ensure that arts in America thrive and flourish. It has been used to successfully lobby Congress and the White House for increased funding for the arts and arts education. Over 120 celebrities have been photographed to date. This has been one of the greatest projects that I’ve ever been involved with. It’s a great thing for those of us lucky enough to make a living from the arts to have an opportunity to show our support and give back.
Best of all, I get to hang out with my friends from The Creative Coalition, Robin Bronk, Barbara Horvath, Briana Mulherin and co-presidents Tim Daly and Dana Delany. The Creative Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community. Founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community, The Creative Coalition is dedicated to educating its members on issues of public importance.
11:00am – 4:00pm Daily: Friday, January 22, 2010 – Monday, January 25, 2010
Art & Soul Center: The Sky Lodge Penthouse, 201 Heber Avenue, Park City, Utah
Generous support provided by:
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I’ve always a big fan of Brittany Murphy’s work and I became an even bigger fan after a photo shoot with her early in her career. We photographed Brittany following her breakout performance in “Clueless.” After photographing Brittany with her mom in her Soho loft, we decided to head off for a walk in her neighborhood. We lost a bright and shining talent far too soon…
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