Michael Symon Visits Bar Symon at IAD

This past Friday the 13th, Michael Symon visited his newly opened restaurant, Bar Symon, located at Gate D14 at Washington Dulles International Airport.  Passengers and airport employees alike gathered to meet the Iron Chef and have copies of his cookbooks signed, after he flew in from that morning's taping of ABC's television show, The Chew.

Michael Symon is known for hosting The Chew, and regularly appearing on Food Network's shows, Dinner: Impossible, Iron Chef America, and as a judge on The Next Iron Chef.  Michael has published a number of cooking books, many of which are available in his restaurants, in addition to major booksellers.

Upon Michael's arrival, he was swarmed by fans looking for a an autograph, and lots of selfies.  The man is truly a pro at taking selfies.

Finally, it was time to officially open Bar Symon with a ribbon cutting after a few words.

Next, Michael took to the kitchen and bar to run the new restaurant through its paces.

After a bustling event, I had a very brief portrait session with Michael.  With just two minutes before he had to leave to catch his departing flight, I captured a few photos of Michael in front of the newly opened Bar Symon.  I lit this portrait with a single strobe through an Fstoppers Flash Disc.

And of course after a long event, Michael stopped to grab a picture with me before heading home for the weekend.  What an incredibly friendly man, with an infectious laugh, and a natural talent for great American cuisine!

Etihad Airways 787 Dreamliner Inaugural Flight to IAD

This evening marked Etihad Airways' inaugural flight of their new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner beginning service from Abu Dhabi to Washington Dulles International Airport.  Etihad Airways Officials were joined by Dulles Airport Manager Chris Browne to celebrate the arrival of the new, energy efficient aircraft, embarking upon the Dreamliner's longest non-stop flight path.

Rachel and Andrew: Engaged

Rachel and Andrew are a fun couple that loves wine tasting, the outdoors, and their animals; two dogs and two horses.

Not so secretly I've been excited for this shoot for months... it was just a waiting game with Mother Nature.  Finally, after months of bitter cold, the DC area actually got a snowstorm perfect for Rachel and Andrew's snowy engagement session.

As an outgoing couple, naturally it was no surprise a snowball fight quickly broke out.

Even the dogs got in on the action!

While Rachel and Andrew have energy abound, things really got crazy when they brought their horses out to play in the snow.  First was Tori, who is a Section D Welsh Cob.

Next to join the fun was Anakin, Tori's energetic son.  Anakin is a mix of a Section D Welsh Cob and a Section B Welsh Mountain Pony.

Marketing and Product Photography

Recently I shared some of the portraiture I shoot for professional clients and commercial marketing campaigns.  But what about the other half of that equation?  In addition to portraiture and various press events, I photograph a large volume of product and storefront photography for marketing purposes at both Dulles International and Reagan National airports.

Last week on my Facebook Page, I shared a Behind the Scenes photo of a product shoot featuring Spartina 449 handbags.  These product photographs are quite similar to last year's Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company shoot, however this set is intended for use as dustwall graphics for upcoming stores during renovations periods, in addition to regularly ongoing marketing campaigns.

This sort of imagery continues inside many of the retailers; notably, Estée Lauder has an equally bright and modern storefront and display.

Both airports feature luxury brands.  Most have opened in the past year, and my photos are used by both airports for their promotion.

I am not limited to retailers either - restaurants and eateries get just as much attention.

All new concessions and restaurants have ribbon cutting ceremonies; oftentimes the grand opening is a major event, including guest speakers and performances.

Not only are my photos used for promotional campaigns, but at major events, placards summarizing newly opened and soon to open retailers are on display featuring my photos.

An airport wouldn't be an airport without newsstands and book retailers, and I take photos of them as well!

It's just further demonstration of why I love photographing for DC's local airports - everyone who asks me about my airport photography simply assumes all I do is photograph aircraft, but upon explaining the body of work above, they always leave surprised and better informed - it's a side of every airport that few people ever think about, yet is so often taken for granted.

2015 Headshots

A lot of people don't realize it, but I actually take quite a few corporate portraits, either as professional headshots, or for various customer service campaigns.  Customer service campaigns account for the majority of my corporate portraiture at present; these portraits often require lots of dead space to be given in allowance for graphic design (I don't do that ;-) ).  These are often shot in many different locations, but with the same basic formula.

And here is what they look like after the graphic designer does their thing (I don't have a finished version of the most recent images like this to show, so this final with graphic overlay image is from several years ago - full disclosure!).

For you photo geeks, the backgrounds are in no way "Photoshopped;" these photos are simply shot at 85mm f/2.0, with off-camera flash.

Other times a more straightforward picture is necessary.  There are a number of other photos from this set that are for use in not-yet-released projects; you'll just have to stay tuned :-)

Then of course I also shoot your typical professional headshots, which can be used for any number of purposes.

This is MWAA's Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, and Dulles' Airport Manager & an MWAA Vice President.  These photos are currently used as their professional images throughout The Airports Authority, and can be seen hanging at both Dulles and Reagan National Airports.  In shooting these I was updating existing portraits of the governing body, and matching the new photos' lighting and poses to the existing set of images.

I of course can alter the background in many ways to suit different clients' needs; in the case below, I added a touch of color, to match her company's colors (I also include a standard graphite background version in cases like this, just so they have it on hand if needed later).

For the gentleman on the right, I provided a slightly more modern look, with deeper contrast, and a slight hairlight that helps give extra dimension to his head and shoulders.

Headshots are not limited to single color backgrounds either.  In fact, they can be spiced up quite a bit with some slight texture behind the subject.  This last picture is the only headshot in this post that was also shot with natural light alone.

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Observant readers will have noticed that I take a very organic approach to retouching; in general, and unless otherwise requested, I remove imperfections, and leave anything naturally identifiable; in some cases I reduce noticeability, but I don't remove these types of things unless specifically asked to.  My philosophy is to emphasize your best features, without making any unnatural alterations.

To see more headshots from previous years, check out my last post about headshot photography!