say hello to my little friend mike

So you may have noticed my fancy new header up top? Well let me introduce you to the man behind the shots- the newest addition to my regular shooting team- Mike Romano! I met Mike through Dominique, my best friend and assistant- he works with her husband. So Mike and I met up to talk shop and as soon as I saw that first off he was a Nikon shooter (he actually has almost an identical gear bag to mine) and secondly he was a Mac guy, it was like- well he must be a terrible photographer because what are the odds? Kidding! He turns out to have a terrific eye and a brain like a sponge, he is constantly soaking up everything that he has been hearing me chatter on about in regards to shooting, work flow, directing your clients, light etc.
So I decided to take Mike in and along with Jean, create a workshop environment where we come up with shooting assignments and goals and then we figure out how to do them. So for this shoot I had Mike join me on a head shot shoot I had on Saturday at Constitution plaza. I wanted him to observe how I do what I do but also had him get some secondary shots as well to get him in second shooter mode.

Once we were done with my shoot I told Mike that he was going to shoot me. I even had him advise me on what to wear, because I do that for my clients too- a lot of times they have no idea and need a little direction. So he said wear a white jacket and I decided to add a splash of color with my pink gloves and scarf.

We then started with natural daylight and shot into the night. It was fun watching him find the light as everything is ambient light, there was no flash for any shots. Things you wouldn't necessarily think of as a main light source were used and other things became great reflectors, like the snow.

One of the highlights was seeing the big difference changing lenses does for a shot. You could be in the best spot but your lens choice could be totally off and not really deliver what you wanted.

Shooting by the big lit tree was a prime example of this- We tried a fish eye 10.5mm 2.8 lens just to show how radically different you can see things- wasn't what we wanted for this shot- everything was too in focus.

Then Mike grabbed the 70-200 2.8 VR lens and stepped way back so that the back ground became all compressed and pretty, much better. It made the lights just blur out nicely in the back and really was a flattering lens.


But the best choice was the 50mm 1.8 opened all the way. It just let in all of that beautiful christmas tree light and the extreme shallow depth of field had such a nice effect on the lights in the back ground.

The shot of the empty martini glasses really illustrated this concept perfectly.


It became like a treasure hunt going from location to location. What did he see here? What did I see here? The best part was being a photographer and being the subject, nerve wracking for sure, but necessary, I like knowing how my clients feel so I am going to be doing this regularly! OK and really if I keep getting such great shots of myself??? why NOT? :)

Keep checking back for more from Mike & Jean's shoots and assignments with me, they should be fun to say the least!