For the fifth season we photographed the New York Mets at Spring Training in Port St. Lucie FL for SportsNet NY (SNY), the premier channel for New York sports.  We shoot studio portraits of all the players during picture dayand SNY and the Mets use these for player promo and intros on the air.  Many thanks as always to our client Julie...and Let's Go Mets in 2013!!!

Great to see this mentoring story in print in RBS's (Royal Bank of Scotland's) internal magazine, RBS World!  Really enjoyed working with Arvin, Lynette and Hugh and Beetroot Agency!

If it’s Tuesday afternoon then John Bollash is getting his Zen on, wallpapering to the New Age sounds of WWUH (91.3 FM), the University of Hartford’s college station.

We met John a few years back when he wallpapered our dining room and bathroom.  For the new studio, Shelley, our designer, pitched the idea of papering the ceiling with a big patterned Anthropologie wallpaper.  We almost passed on it…but at the last minute went for it, got John on the phone and he got it done.  So here’s reStore #2:  John of John Bollash Wallpapering in Manchester (phone 860.645.9343).  Thanks John, love the wallpaper!

Great shooting Jayda, Ashley and C. Devone at the L'Oreal Tech Center on 5th Avenue in August for Dark and Lovely, L'Oreal's black women's hair line of relaxers, colorants and more.  Dark and Lovely celebrated their 40th anniversary in October and did a special advertorial page published in Essence and used their images for their website.  The three women aren't models but they were so professional, fun and easy to work with you'd never know!  Jayda is an amazing stylist...see her website here! Ashley is an up and coming actress and C. Devone is a professional DJ.  Also great working with Nicole from Bratskier and Damien of L'Oreal!

Click here to see the original images!

We were in Storrs back in September to photograph Geno Auriemma, Chris Dailey and their super-talented team along with the SNY broadcasting team–which now includes our local friend and former UConn bball player Meghan Culmo, along with UConn star Kara Wolters, Andrew Catalon and Kerith Burke.

The players were so fun to photograph...beauty and strength, with a huge playful side to them.  The photos are being used by our client, SportsNet NY (SNY), and UConn for their websites, press photos, billboards, TV and more.

Here are some photographs from the 2012 UConn Women's Basketball team shoot…go Huskies!!  To see many more photos click here.

Last month we shot for the London-based agency Beetroot.  Their client, RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) owns Providence-based Citizens Bank and their in-house magazine was doing a story on mentoring between Citizens Bank execs and their business clients. We shot at the MGM Grand casino at Foxwoods and were happy to find this simple background.  Great meeting and photographing Arvin, Lynette and Hugh and hearing their story!

 

We had the opportunity to shoot for Walmart World magazine--Walmart's in-house magazine--this summer for a photo of Sarah Sloat, a Walmart associate from their Hanover MA store.  Sarah's the force behind a food pantry at their local church.  Walmart invited her to speak at their annual meeting in Arkansas...and now she's featured in their magazine!  Well deserved Sarah and great meeting you! 

A few months back we had the pleasure to work with the team at Xerox Corporation to photograph Christa Carone, their Chief Marketing Officer.  We were thrilled they were okay to incorporate their new branding into the shoot!  You can read more about Carone and Xerox's rebranding here.

In addition to shooting an environmental portrait of Bond No. 9's Laurice Rahme, we also photographed black and white portraits for the CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) Beauty Awards for Laurice's being named an Honoree for Bond No. 9.  While we needed a shot with her eyes open for the award, here is a favorite intake/outtake that we are so glad Laurice chose too! 

Great meeting Luis Ramirez, CEO of GE Energy!  We were recently hired to shoot several environmental portraits for GE's use.  While we did some traditional office and conference room shots, this internet cafe on the way in struck us as a great setting...with GE Energy's involvement in the electric car chargers it was a great modern alternative.  One of the great things about photography is getting to meet leaders in all areas...great to talk with Luis about his company, Apple and Gloria Estefan!

Looking for a great story this summer…check out the new book, Just Cate, which as co-authors Angela Martin and Noelle Alix note, “is a dual memoir and story of lifelong friendship, of being there for each other through it all.  When Noelle’s daughter Cate was born with Down Syndrome, we unknowingly began our second stage of growing up.  Discovering little by little that it’s the simple things that matter most.  And so life continues, the road behind us and the road ahead of us.  Forever friends, forever changed.”

Last year I photographed Cate in her blue robe holding her favorite fruit for the cover shot of Just Cate and it’s been great getting to know their families!  I love how the cover came out with it's beautiful design from Liz Panke.

You can order Just Cate at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble or direct from their website: justcate.com.

Go Mets!  It’s been a great opening week for the New York Mets at Citi Field (and Santana’s back on the mound!) and we can now show you the portraits we took in March in Port St. Lucie FL at Spring Training.  As always it’s great working with our client at SportsNet NY (SNY) and The Mets which use the photos during game broadcasts for player intros, etc.  This is our fourth year shooting the Mets at Spring Training, where we set up a studio in the visiting team’s locker room and shoot all the players at 7am on “Picture Day” in 90 minutes.

Our assignment is to capture a different side of the players from straight sports photography–this year SNY’s art director asked for a split-face shot for their on-screen use.  Click here to see photos of David Wright, Johan Santana, Ike Davis, Manny Acosta, Daniel Murphy, R.A. Dickey, Mike Pelfrey, Ruben Tejada, Miguel Batista, former ’86 Met and 3rd base coach Tim Teufel…and others. Take a look and root for the Mets in their 50th season…Let’s Go Mets!!

This past winter, I had the pleasure of photographing New Britain High School’s Principal Michael Foran, who was awarded the MetLife / NASSP Principal of the Year award, for the cover and a feature article in Principal Leadership magazine.  I love the people side of this business and love spending a day in other people lives.  It was really interesting walking the halls for a few hours with Mr. Foran, seeing firsthand all the creativity and energy of the students.  Mr. Foran’s got a great passion for teaching and leading New Britain High and improving the skills and future of all his students–congratulations on his well deserved award!  Great to see our local Connecticut schools getting this kind of national recognition!

We were in Westport CT a few weeks back shooting a fun assignment for Forbes Magazine to photograph Anne and Tony Greenberg and their modern art.  Among their collection are colorful children-sized plastic sculptures by the former graffiti artist KAWS and a beautiful anime-style painting by the Thai painter Sung.  Loved their fun-loving nature as well as their Asian-inspired home.  Here's the online article which also appeared in the Dec. 5th print version. Hit /Read more to see my favorite outtake.

 

This is the third shoot in my personal project "Reinvention", highlighting women who reinvent themselves.  Meet Sharon...former CPA and now one of the top interior designers in New England and owner of Sharon McCormick Design.  In 2002 Sharon left accountancy to attend Paier College of Art where she won the Outstanding Achievement in Design Award.  She's also been voted "Best of Hartford" for interior designer.  And I was thrilled to learn after we met that she created my favorite room in the latest Junior League of Hartford show house!

According to Sharon, "When we moved to Connecticut, we bought a 1730's house in Durham's historic district. Every room needed to be totally redecorated. Every night I would take magazines into the bath tub with me and dream about what I could do with my house. Eventually it became an obsession. One day a BIG lightbulb went off! I could actually make a living doing what I loved! I went back to college for design because I had high aspirations, and felt that I needed a formal education so that I would be able to communicate with architects and builders. There were many challenges along the way, but I stuck it out and am so happy I did!"

When I read Sharon's story, I knew I wanted to incorporate the bathtub into the images.  A big thank you to Sharon for being open to getting naked in her bathtub with those magazines one more time!  Also, a big thank you to Sharon's client who allowed us to use her beautiful home for the blue dining room shoot...one of Sharon's favorite rooms she designed.  Click /Read more below to see more images.

Excited to see our Maya Moore image in the August issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.  We shot Maya last summer at UConn before she became the #1 WNBA draft pick and is now a forward for the Minnesota Lynx...go Maya!

 

Some commercial news from earlier this year…we were thrilled when the London office of our client Swarovski called asking to publish our photos of Cascade–a striking multi-story Swarovski crystal chandelier hanging in the stairway of a Gramercy Park NYC residence–in their Swarovski Crystal Palace book.  A true coffee table book–this is a huge and very cool book.  Here are a few images of the book & photos…

Happy Opening Day!  Wonderful to be working with the New York Mets again for the third year...and this time in color!  The images are shot early morning on Photo Day during Spring Training in Port St. Lucie.  We're the last stop on the players' photo tour of all the media outlets and have a studio set up in the visiting team's locker room.  The players are warm, friendly, and fun to shoot!  It's a fast shoot with 1-2 minutes per player.  The first shot was at 7:45 am and the last at 9:30, so an hour and 15 minutes to shoot 60 players...definitely an adrenaline rush!  This year we went for a more serious set of photos but I can't help snapping when the players crack a smile!  SportsNet NY integrates these images into their television video clips among other uses by them and the Mets.

Thanks again to Julie, the SNY producer, who's been a great on- and off-set partner in creating these images and took a chance on us three years ago as non-sports photographers!

To see more images from this shoot and the previous years', click here.

I love mixing photojournalism with a studio set-up so shooting Hannah Fluet and Alejandro Bobadilla, two of the Hartford City Ballet dancers, in action was a real treat.

Click here to see more of Hannah and Alejandro in "the latest".

Given this winter it was especially nice to be back in Port St. Lucie, Florida last week for our 3rd annual photo shoot with the New York Mets at Spring Training for our client SNY (SportsNet NY), the “Online Home of All Things NY Sports.” It’s a really enjoyable assignment and we thought we’d give some insight into how we shoot it.

These aren’t sports shots or even outdoor photos; instead, what we’re going for is intimate studio photos of the players, some straight on and others with pitching or batting action.  Last Wednesday we set up a studio in the visitor’s locker room at Digital Domain Park using our Profoto lights with a softbox and umbrella and a pop-up black background.   Mike and I flew with all the equipment...I have a big suitcase I check for stands and non-breakable gear, the two Profoto monolight heads go in a Tenba backpack, and we couldn't live with out our Thinktank Airport International roller bag for bringing all our cameras on the plane.  The bags always get hand-checked, but I've never had a problem.  After the set-up and lighting tests, we met with SNY’s Supervising Producer to strategize the shoot and then had our own meeting by the pool : }.

On Thursday–aka Photo Day, we arrive onsite about 6:30am.  After the baseball card shots and other promo shots are taken upstairs on the field, the Mets players make the rounds into our locker room “studio” starting at 730am…we’re the last stop on the photo circuit.  We shot the 54 players with the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens.  It’s a very fast shoot, 1-3 minutes with each player and the shoot was over by 9:30am  The Mets players are great to work with–loose and natural in front of the camera.

We can’t post the 2011 photos until Opening Day in April, but here shots of David Wright and Angel Pagan from our shoot in 2010.  Check back on our blog and Facebook page on April 1 for the 2011 photos of the Mets.  We'll also send out announcements on Twitter.

It was a pleasure meeting Ernie and Christian Trefz last month for a Connecticut Magazine photoshoot on their living the American Dream.  The Trefzes own more than 25 McDonalds stores in Connecticut, having gotten into the business back in the 60s (they worked closely with Ray Kroc).

A great entreprenurial story...and it was fun sharing a McRib and shake after the shoot to hear firsthand about their successful business!

As promised…here are some more photos of UConn’s superstar Maya Moore from this past summer.   I love to shoot a portrait but just as much I love to shoot what happens before and after in a photojournalistic way.  This make-up shot is probably my favorite from the shoot for that reason. Click on "read more" to see more shots from the shoot that weren't selected for the magazine.

Maya Moore this past Sunday became the highest scoring women’s basketball player in UConn history–congrats Maya..and go Huskies!!  Coinciding with this…our photoshoot of Maya for December’s Connecticut Magazine hit the news stands as well.  We visited Storrs last summer for the shoot where NYC photographer Brian Finke also photographed Maya for Glamour Magazine's Top 10 College Women of 2010.   Here’s the article…we’ll post more pics from the shoot soon.

Several months ago Mike and I ventured to Vermont with a wonderful writer from EcoHome Magazine to photograph the recipient of the 2010 Hanley Award, Alex Wilson, for the cover and an interior feature of EcoHome Magazine.  Alex is the CEO and founder of Building Green LLC, a company which helps the building industry use environmentally friendly practices.  We are thrilled to see the cover and feature in print!  Congratulations Alex!

Click "Read More" to see the full feature.

We had a great time getting to know Stewart at our executive portrait shoot last month.  Lange Brand + Design hired us to deliver a range of emotion and to show the different aspects of Stewart's personality against a simple background.  This was shot using our portable studio with Profoto lighting and a Canon 5D Mark II.