NYC Senior Portrait Photographer: Battery Park Friend Session

This was a really fun shoot for me. These two girls, M and M, were my students six years ago, when I was teaching sixth grade English out in Queens. Both of these girls were smart (one was a little sassier than the other!) and I liked them a lot. They each got into top New York high schools (Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech!) and became/remained good friends. So this session was the first time I’d really seen them since they were in middle school. We got to catch up and I had so much fun talking with them (about books, boys, college, careers). They are still sharp, smart, thoughtful interesting young women and I could not be prouder of them. Enjoy these shots of these two great senior girls who are graduating next week!

New York City Family Photography: Baby Julian

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing an adorable family on Roosevelt Island. Julian is six months old, and full of joy! Look at him–he had just woken from a nap with nary a peep, and  within a minute was smiling all over the place!

Parents J and D have a side book business, so we made sure to pose him carefully with a big pile of books. (Don’t you love those chubby hands and arms??)

Seriously happy baby!

All three of them are a really sweet family.

They live on Roosevelt Island, and their building has a beautiful roof deck with an amazing view of Manhattan.

Don’t you just love them!

NYC Newborn Photographer

After two weekends on a non-photography business trip, it was fun to get back to the hospital for more baby time!

This family was so cute–I was totally charmed by all of them.

Little lady was so prim and proper, and very calm.

Big brother was so excited.

Look how happy and adorable they all are! Love them!

Congratulations!

NYC Newborn Photography

Yesterday I shot such a sweet family at the hospital. I love when parents are so happy and excited about their new baby. The timing of this shoot went perfectly too–the little one was sleepy for awhile and then she slowly woke up and showed such personality!

 

 

NYC Portrait Photographer: Felicity-style

Last week, I met up with Catherine, a young stage performer. She’s putting on a one-woman show next month, and was looking for publicity photos in the style of the Felicity credits–black and white, very New York, personal and pensive. We wandered around the Meatpacking district and the Highline, for a variety of places and textures. I had a great time with the shoot and I love the photos–check out a few of my favorites below!

 

Irene: Outside, Inside

Well, Tropical Storm Irene “hit” New  York City and didn’t do too much in Brooklyn. We went out for a walk this afternoon (and saw plenty of others) to survey the “damage.”

Most stores and restaurants were closed. I guess the owners ran out of this cafe without getting all their trash.

This grocery store was closed and all the produce shelves were empty, except for these forsaken squash.

Not sure if this place wants to be open despite the weather, or if the sign got knocked down from somewhere else.

Bar Tabac is a famous French bistro. Sad to see it closed for the day.

Inside One Girl Cookies (with street debris to the left and my green sweater reflection to the right).

We found this coffee shop open on Smith Street.

Same place from the inside.

I noticed a lot more of the signage on all the closed shops.

No idea what these are; they kind of look like strawberries but clearly fell from a tree.

 

We saw a lot of leaves and smaller branches, but this was biggest tree piece that was down.

Hope that everyone in the major hit zones in staying safe and dry! For those who lost power, hope it gets back on soon.

New York City Portrait Photographer: Before and After

 

Meet my friend L!

She moved abroad last year, but is back in New York for the summer, which is great! Since she’s staying with us for a bit, the other night I made her model for me. I hadn’t done anything with my umbrella lately, so I set that up on one side of the coffee table and she was on the other side. It faced her directly, but I told her to angle this way. Below is the original, unedited image. I thought it was pretty good! The light hit her evenly, it’s a genuine smile–all in all I was pretty happy with it.

 

But of course, I knew I had to take it to Photoshop to clone out the wall sconce. First I used the content-aware fill, but I still had to do some major cloning and patching to get rid of the unevenness.

My flash unit (sb800) had been on TTL; it was still a bit dark. I brightened the whole image with an adjustment layer, which made it look even better. Then I remembered a new “toy” I just got on sale–Perfect Skin from Jen’s Fabulous Stuff. This was the first time I used it, and it did a great job! I also did a bit of teeth brightening.

Wow, much better! However, I figured I should tidy up the edges, so I cloned out the stray hairs. Et voila, here once again is the final image!

 

Gay Pride Parade 2011

I stopped by the Pride Parade today! What a perfect day for it–everyone was so thrilled that New Yorkers finally have equal marriage rights!

 

 

NYC Author Photographer: Bob

Bob was referred to me by Keith. Bob is also a former teacher and filmmaker–he’s finishing up his vampire flick, which he wrote, directed and produced! He wanted author photos for his website, and specifically wanted very serious, almost intimidating shots. I think we definitely got that!

He suggested we meet in a spot he used in a few scenes of the movie, the Carroll Street Bridge in Brooklyn. It was a great spot for portraits–tons of different colors, textures, and scenes.

Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot!

I *love* this one–he looks like Clint Eastwood about to kick some punk ass!

Isn’t this a great evil little smirk??

I couldn’t help grab a laughing shot too, just in case!

NYC Headshot Photographer: Stefan

Stefan is a young actor just getting started and wanted a new set of headshots, so we met up in Central Park last month for a portrait session. I loved so many of the shots we did; here are just a few of my favorites!