The unplanned nude

I received a call in 2006 for a gentleman to have head shots taken as he wished to become a model for a local University’s art department. We agreed upon a price and a date.

At this time my studio was located in an apartment over the garage on our property and I did most of my shooting during school hours and therefore was alone much of the time. So, in many ways this is a cautionary tale, as this particular situation did not pose a threat but in many ways was a dangerous situation. My client arrived that day as all my other clients do, he was an older man in his fifties and normal looking. I had set up that day for headshots; however, when my client arrived he also indicated he would like some full length shots. My wider lens was over at the house, and he stated that he would change while I went to get it. When I got back to the studio, I had a gentleman without attire waiting patiently for me to return. Nothing….not a stitch.

I (calling on every ounce of professionalism I could muster), kept a straight face and asked him if there was a mistake? Because… he hadn’t mentioned wanting to do a nude session and those are…well (whats 5 times….), yes… more money …. He agreed to pay the difference. I pulled myself together, focused on lights, and posing – keeping to the classical lighting techniques taught by Clay Blackmore, full face, 2/3^rd’s, profile, ect. All the time keeping a straight face and doing a good job.

After he left, I slowing sat down on the floor, wiping the tears from my eyes, laughed myself silly. And for years after this I have often been asked how I could ignore the ‘elephant in the room’, I reply…. “it was NO elephant.”

Lesson Learned – We developed a portrait session contract much like our wedding contract to be certain we have covered all bases with our clients as far as the session expectations. This has helped so much!

Maternity Photography

The Optimal time for maternity photography is between 30 and 36 weeks. If you miss this stage it’s gone forever. Before the magic becomes a memory.

A popular question is ‘Do we use natural light?’ Professional studio lighting is used a great deal in my work. However; we will use natural light to our best advantage. When we set up in the comfort and privacy of your home, studio lighting not only removes the unpredictable nature of the weather & natural light, it affords me the opportunity to spend more time with my clients, helping each woman accentuate her natural movements and expressions, imparting her own unique personality and emotion on each photograph. From a visual standpoint, I expertly controls the shadows and highlights within each maternity photographs to create visually stunning silhouettes of unmatched tonal range and beauty, elevating the unique lines of each pregnant woman’s body into an intimately timeless work of photographic art.

After your shoot, I will choose a selection of the best images from each session to go through a detailed editing process. Chosen from many hundreds of raw photographs, the selected pictures will be custom cropped to enhance composition, expertly adjusted for tonal range and completely edited to ensure flawless presentation. This time intensive (and far too often neglected) process, is just part of what separates Hope Haven Photography’s maternity photographs from other photographers work and enables our prints to be rightfully called, Fine Art.

Many of the most famous, renowned and accomplished photographers in the world today have enthusiastically embraced digital photography for its exceptional image quality, archival characteristics and nearly limitless creative flexibility. Professional level equipment and state of the art editing techniques enable a new breed of maternity photographer to stand on the shoulders of yesterday’s finest film photographers to create unique photographs that quite simply could only have be imagined just a few short years ago.

Custom printed on the finest quality cotton fiber papers from White House Custom Colour. Our Fine Art Maternity Prints exhibit a tonal depth and sheer beauty that must be seen in person to fully appreciate. Archival quality pigment inks are used exclusively to ensure you’re photos will last for generations. In fact, when properly displayed or stored, these amazing prints will last for well over 150 years!

Graphi Studio Album Deadline for Christmas

We are up against a Christmas deadline with Graphi Studios and will be sending this same notice out to all brides and grooms. I will need your photo list by Oct 31 to allow time for design work in order to expect Albums by Christmas. Otherwise, they will be available next year.

If you can't visualize this e-mail click here
Dear Valued Customer,We would like to remind you that the Holliday Eve is fast approaching and we want to take this opportunity to communicate our deadlines to ensure your Print & Bind orders are received by Christmas:
P&B orders must be sent by November 9th, 2008
If you are going to place "full service design orders" please note that they must be sent by November 2nd 2008.Thank you for your attention to this notice.Best regards,
Graphistudio
Warning:in order for graphistudio to complete your orders by Christmas, all orders must be submitted with a completed order form, PDF's must be approved promptly, and payments must be authorized without complications.