Dan and his son, Wally, were growing beards this summer before Wally heads off to college. But Dan is planning to shave his soon. We figured that it could be useful if he had a headshot with the beard, just in case it might come in handy someday.
These two are my faves for showcasing a certain “look” with the beard.
We were thinking of this shoot as sort of a practice session, since Dan doesn’t usually wear a beard. (Note to Julie: next time, move so the sidewalk isn’t a distracting element in the background of this otherwise awesome shot!)
Professor Dan
He doesn’t think so, but he’s really good at posing for still photographs. (Dan is a great actor!)
See what I mean?
Love it!
Dan has such a nice smile.
He was talking to Grex, my “VAL” (voice activated lightstand).
He’s a natural in front of the camera.
Before Dan shaves, we thought it would be fun to get some father/son shots of the competing beards…
Here’s Wally. (I think we woke him up too early.)
So, who do you think won the beard contest?
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:42 am
Here are a few of my faves from Justin’s headshot session…
I like the one above the best because his smile is perfectly natural.
Justin is running for Borough Council (obviously) and needed new pictures.
I was having a really hard time picking a favorite. But honestly, my TRUE fave is the one I posted as a preview — the “Justin is always working” shot. You can see that one here.
Huge gray/brown rock walls make great backdrops, especially when completely covered by the Metuchen train bridge, thus offering overall shade and light coming from opposing directions.
This one is slightly more traditional, yet still conveys a sense of Justin’s Metuchen home in the downtown backdrop.
Have a great summer, Justin!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 3:22 pm
I’m on jury duty and I don’t have a laptop or a smart phone, so I won’t have access to my email on Friday.
Meanwhile, Justin hinted that he’d love a sneak peek at his headshots, so just for fun, I’m putting up my favorite of the “Justin is always working” shots. More later, court willing.
Happy Friday everyone! PLEASE pray that I don’t get picked for a trial. I already need 48 more hours in every day as it is!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 5:45 am
This was the last picture from Father’s Day. Isn’t that a sweet picture of Gregory, Mike and Bradley? It was a very long time in the making! Took me ALL DAY to get this shot!
This was the first one of the day, in Mike’s favorite (salad and breadsticks) restaurant, Olive Garden. Gregory was an unwilling participant in the pictures, saying, “I don’t know how to smile.” Yeah right. I have no problem getting natural smiles out of YOUR child, but mine, well, that’s another story.
He doesn’t know how to smile at my camera, the true child of a mamarazzi.
We were working on new headshots for Mike. Isn’t he cute!?
Here’s an outtake. (I’m a dead person for posting this.)
I love this one!
Here’s another outtake. Love it!!! (Lips tend to get dry during an intensive photoshoot, so occasionally I might say something like, “wet your lips.” But to my own husband, it might come out more like, “your lips look flat.” Hence, a really cute pucker and a major tummy smile from behind the camera!
Bradley was my photo assistant. His job was to hold the reflector. He did not enjoy this job at all. I think he was jealous of the fact that somebody else was the center of my camera attention, so when I turned the camera on him (after an hour or so of shooting his dad), he actually gave me a half-smile! Yay!
By the end of the shoot, Bradley was beat.
But being the mamarazzi that I am, I couldn’t resist trying to get a nice shot of all three of my men. Unfortunately, Gregory was not cooperating, and Bradley was too tired. (Reflectors are so heavy, you know.)
Mike was trying to get Gregory to smile. Meanwhile, Bradley was getting more and more bored.
Come ON, Gregory! If we get this done we can all go home!
Nope. (Focus, Bradley, just a minute longer…)
Nope. I love Bradley’s sequence of expressions in these — SO typical of his personality. But, as I said under the first picture, I did finally get the shot of my dreams, soon to be displayed on a desk near me! Yay!
Here’s Mike’s headshot. Thanks for your help Bradley, and for your patience, Gregory!
Here’s the second headshot. Always a good idea to have a couple of options. Isn’t he so handsome?
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 3:35 pm
I posted one of Kate’s headshots the other day. Here’s a few more from the series.
Beautiful light in Kate’s home for portraits! And no special attention was paid to de-cluttering because it wasn’t needed. This would be contrary to the de-clutter frenzy I hear about for most of my family sessions. I love hearing the de-clutter stories because then I know that people will love me whether or not they love their pictures because they got a clean house out of the deal!
I still can’t decide whether I like the white shirt best, or the red turtle, or the blue v-neck. They all work on different levels. Which one do you like best?
Kate’s cat is a champion portrait poser!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 8:10 pm
Click the picture
— or click here —
and turn up the sound for a little slide show from my winter daytrip to the beach with Steve.
What is it about sunflare that I love so much?
Steve is a writer.
Check out his Web site here.
What I love about this one is the use of the off-camera light to evenly light the outside of this old abandoned building and Steve on the inside as well.
I love the depth in this picture. Can you name the location? Bradley knew it instantly, remembering hordes of mosquitoes the last time he was there in summer. No mosquitoes now. That’s ice by the tracks. Brrrr.
Little tree growing on the beach.
Little tree gets a close up too. I have no idea what kind of tree that is.
But that tree in the background of Steve’s smiley headshot is an easy one. Know what it is? One of my favorites for winter interest because of that splotchy bark. Lots of blog praise for the correct answer.
Thanks again, Steve! You pick the coolest locations for your pictures!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:53 pm
If I had to pick a “best” season for headshots, it’s NOW. Why? Well, let’s take a moment to reflect on Kate’s cat, above.
She is perfectly happy sitting in the sun for her headshot. If it were summer, she’d be too hot. December? Too busy buying cat treats for kitty friends. Spring? Too many new little critters to chase around in the pale green leaves (which cast an icky reflection on human skin. Ew). Fall is good too, but second to fall, NOW is a great time!
If it were summer, do you think I’d be able to get Kate to wear that GREAT red sweater?
Plus, since I come to you for headshots, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home (read: full access to your wardrobe). AND, I can’t help capturing the animals while I’m there. Check out the pets portfolio on my main web site. I LOVE shooting animals!
Wait. That didn’t come out right.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 1:01 pm
One of my loyal blog readers booked me for a photo shoot at a private beach club on the Jersey Shore with her sisters and all their boys. This is my favorite picture from the whole bunch, and that wasn’t an easy choice, since there are so many beautiful ones. But the reason I like this one so much is because of those beautiful, natural smiles.
Easy to see why those moms are so smiley.
They have six handsome boys between them. Here’s one.
Two.
Three.
(And a dad, or maybe an uncle.I was so confused about who belonged to whom. It was hard to tell becasue they’re all so close.)
Four.
Five.
Six.
That makes one big gorgeous family. (That’s the girls’ mom on the left. Hi mom!)
We started the day at the first soccer practice of the fall season.
First soccer practice of all time for two of our boys.
The day marked the end of summer — the beach club owner was battening down for the winter, for one thing, and hardly anybody was there.
But that just made it easier to get unposed shots (without a crowd in the background) in my “unportrait” style. I love how you can see the adults standing around in the background in this one. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow at a photo shoot that involves six boys under the age of 7!
Most of my pictures are candid, but there are a few “tell me when you see the shutter move” shots.
If this were me in the picture with my son, I’d print it, frame it, and put it on my dresser to stay forever. I love this shot.
Love this one too! I have too many faves!
I love their slide show, but this one’s private so if you want to see it, please email one of the sisters. And THANK YOU ALL for booking me to document this summer in the lives of those sweet little boys. I had a great time! You’re the BEST!
We’ll be seeing one of these families again in a few weeks because, as a loyal blog reader, she and her husband won my June contest for a free family shoot! And it’s only a few weeks away! Speaking of contests, no one has won this one yet!
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 10:42 am
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 3:56 pm
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 11:01 pm
