[ residential design ] – A Classic Contemporary
Posted on 6 May 2013 | No responses
This week we have a shift in gears. Kristin at Anne Rae Design recently completed a major interior and exterior redesign at this stunning private residence in Fairbanks Ranch, CA.
[ soma ] – South of Market Health Center
Posted on 26 March 2013 | No responses
I get to shoot a lot of really nice interior design. In fact, it’s my job. Go figure. So when I got a call from my contact at Henry Schein Dental up in the Bay Area, I expected to see some good things.
I was not disappointed. All six of the dental practices I shot on this trip were very nice, very classy. I was surprised though at this one.
You see, this is not your typical private dental practice. It is a free clinic, serving mostly the homeless, in arguably the worst neighborhood for many miles around (it’s basically skid row). So to find something so nice, so bright and fresh, was completely refreshing. You feel like they really care, and want to make a difference. It’s not exactly exotic interior design, but it’s also a free clinic.
At South of Market I felt like somebody actually cares. Dr. Gemma Ferrer clearly cares.
[ fre-be ] – Friends with Benefits, a Kickstarter Campaign
Posted on 30 January 2013 | No responses
Earlier this month, Juan Martinez at Originl Design contacted me about doing a really fun series of marketing images for California Fruit Wines to help launch their new brand label, Fre-Be (pronounced “free-bee”). Now, fruit wine isn’t exactly mainstream yet, but if you’ve ever tried it, it has a very nice alternative appeal to traditional grape wines. The wines carry the character of the fruit of course, and they are becoming very popular with the “in” crowd.
So to capture the attention of the target audience, Juan came up with the idea of branding it “Friends with Benefits”, ‘Fre-Be’ for short, and developed a fun and creative marketing campaign based upon classic advertising styles.
Of course, I can’t show the full set of final images, because that would ruin the surprise. What I can show you are some BTS shots, one final shot (the first one used in publication), and also send you over to their Kickstarter campaign, where you can see the first one in use right now, and their facebook page, where you can see the first three e-cards.
I also did a series of portraits for Juan back at the end of December, one of which graces his front page. But that’s content for another post.
Special thanks to Juan, Ann, Leoni, and the team over at California Fruit Wines for a really fun day.
- Concept & AD: Juan Martinez
- Stylist: Ann DeNicolo
- Photographer: Nathan Padilla Bowen
- Model: Leoni Fischer
[ orignl ] – The Edgy Portrait
Posted on 8 January 2013 | No responses
When Juan Martinez of Orignl Design asked me to shoot a new portrait for his website recently, I was pretty happy to hear that he wanted to do it “edgy”. There’s something fun about pushing light around really hard, and “edgy” by itself can mean a whole lot of different things. In this case it means really tight lighting, deep shadows, and and maybe some ‘crunchiness’ in the final processing. So while he was here, I made sure to get exactly what he wanted, as well as push the light around a bit and get a variety of other edgy looks for my own fun.
[ busy ] – A Six Month Review
Posted on 26 November 2012 | No responses
So I’ve been quiet for a while. Back in June, our new baby girl was born. Itself alone, having a new baby girl is one of the most wonderful, joyful, and lifestyle shocking experiences one can ever have. Cami is truly a joy, every day. We sleep a little, fret a lot, and generally go through all of the ups and downs of new parenthood on a day to day basis.
There are so many things I’ve had to just let go for a while, this blog being one of them. Not to say I haven’t been busy. On the contrary, the last five months have been my busiest ever. So instead of going on about every little thing, I pulled a quick photo selection from the last six months; personal work, new family, interesting projects, friends and clients. There is so much more that I cannot show, it’s boggling. This certainly isn’t supposed to represent a portfolio. It’s just a fun cross section of my recent photographic and personal journey over a short period of time.
There are 91 images in the slides below. Enjoy.
[ coming soon ] – Tiny Ballet Slippers
Posted on 21 May 2012 | 2 responses
It’s funny writing your own blog. The decision whether to post about one thing or another is not always clear. I mean, in the proper marketing sense one is supposed to stick to a very clear message, and limit content to only the most salient of subjects. In reality, those blogs bore me to death. So some days I’ll talk about a recent project for an interesting client, another day a personal project, yet another day it’s just personal aimless ramblings (usually those get deleted before I post).
Today it’s actually about a little, ‘no-big-deal’ photo that I took for fun, that seems to have garnered lots of attention on Jessica’s Facebook page. It started out as a gift we received at her baby shower. Looking at them a couple of days later, an idea popped into my head. Nothing complicated, but certainly fun and a little bit silly.
I took these incredibly cute, tiny pink ballet slippers and put them on a gray seamless paper, in fact the exact roll of paper I use all the time for corporate headshots. I then used a studio flash with a special modifier called a ‘grid’ to create the spotlight effect. Believe it or not, I actually shot it in broad daylight, in the studio. The secret is that the studio flash is so bright, that it almost completely overwhelms the natural room light, thereby creating the effect of being on a dark stage.
I have a few images in my portfolio that people often think I shot as one photo, which are in fact the result of multiple shots and a lot of highly advanced photoshop work. That’s par for the course these days, and it frees me up to be really creative in circumstances where the cost of doing it in real life would be completely prohibitive. So you might look at a photo like this, and assume I used photoshop to make it. Not so. This is exactly the way the camera saw it. All I did was boost the color a little bit, crop it for the Facebook cover size, and add the text.
Less is almost always more.
And here’s the original:
[ nuleds ] – Interior Lighting Magic
Posted on 7 May 2012 | No responses
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Isaacson, owner of Numinus, and NuLED’s, a custom LED lighting company based here in San Diego county. Lisa is a member of IFDA Southern California and was cool enough to let us use their amazing built-in theater room for my recent photography presentation.
To say that their products are awesome would be a mild understatement. In addition to fully customized built in LED and fiber optic lighting systems, they also make a really cool sky dome that can be individually made to order, including super cool elements like full day/night cycles, shooting stars(!), and astronomically accurate constellations and starfields. You have to see it to believe it. The effect is really breathtaking.
They have some pretty amazing installations around the country and around the world. Lucky for me, this one was close to home. Miguel’s Cocina is the newest restaurant in San Diego County (as of this posting). The food is really good, and the atmosphere is fun, festive, and still sophisticated.
Numinous was responsible for an amazing fully integrated lighting system, controlled wirelessly from an iPad (photos coming!) with full RBG control of the LED bar lights, recessed up-lighting, super cool fully dimmable flush LED downlighting, cabinet lighting, etc. The list goes on.
[ focus ] – …and Bella the Jedi Dog
Posted on 28 April 2012 | 2 responses
We should all be focused on goals. I don’t necessarily mean goals in the BIG way, but also in small ways. It’s amazing where you will find yourself when you accomplish meaningful, bite size things every day (with the big picture in mind). Over time I have discovered that it pays dividends in so many ways, personally, artistically, socially, with my growing family, and in my professional growth.
Today’s goal is a new website. Maybe not so small but really meaningful, and worth the work. After several months of deliberation, and looking at options to code it myself, hire it out, or go with a pre-coded solution, I signed up with A Photo Folio.
I’ve used Zenfolio for quite a while for proofing and delivery, and I like it reasonably well for that purpose. I also tried very hard to like Photoshelter as a complete solution, tried LiveBooks on for size, and never really felt that they hit the mark close enough to warrant the investment. So I built my own main site and WordPress templates from scratch (twice), and kept it up the hard way. Then, earlier this year, I discovered A Photo Folio. A real contender was on the table, just as I was crossing a professional milestone, and coming upon a looming goal: updating my website.
So I will officially be undergoing the big transfer and update over this weekend. I’m thrilled and excited, to say the least. Look here for the new site in a few days!
Oh, and, anyway, the picture.
This is Bella. She was my constant companion on a backyard photo shoot a few weeks ago, and she found the tennis balls that I keep in my gear bag as umbrella shaft bumpers. (That’s another story of course.) She would get one out of the bag, toss it around, lose it in the pool, and stare at it like this until it practically levitated back to her. I swear I’ve never seen so much focus and willpower in my life. Of course, I’ve never had a dog dig into the bottom of my gear bag before either. The tennis balls were at the bottom, buried under a bunch of clamps and other stuff.
So I need to buy more tennis balls. This one is now the property of Bella, the Jedi dog. She got that ball, without getting wet, several times, and she never once looked back at me for help. Now that’s focus.
[ high tech ] – Interior Office Design
Posted on 9 February 2012 | No responses
A few photos a recent photo shoot for Designcorp, a San Diego based high end commercial design firm. This was a cool, clean high tech interior design featuring flush lighting, DIRTT custom modular wall systems, custom Herman Miller furniture, and a uniquely cool perforated metal ceiling by USG.
[ classy corridors ] – Nordahl Medical Center
Posted on 11 January 2012 | 3 responses
Believe it or not, I actually stop and take photos of architecture just because I feel like it. A few days ago I was driving home from a client meeting and took the scenic route (ie. wandering the long way around.) Lo and behold, I discovered a nice looking new building that was clearly unoccupied, and open for new tenants. So I wandered in.
We have come around again in a ten year economic cycle where property owners are sprucing up their buildings to attract higher rents, and they are actively working to show some class. This is the interior main floor lobby area, restroom, and central atrium. The ceiling work is probably the most expensive feature here. Those converging arches are no mean feat.
I still want to go back and get some nice exterior photos too. By the time I left, due to another side track while shooting these, it was dark outside.