Maya & Mary Claire

Maya & Mary Claire are pair of sisters who I've been making portraits of since they were born.  It's fun to see them growing into sweet beautiful little girls.

MATC Student Success Awards Banquet

  

Every spring Madison Area Technical College's Executive Leadership Team presents several awards to students, advisors, clubs and organizations recognizing their success and contribution.   The awards are presented at a luncheon banquet put on by the student life department.   I was fortunate to be called at the last minute come and photograph the recipients after receiving their awards.   It was familiar territory given the couple of years I worked for a graduation/sports team photography company in the early 2000's.   I always enjoy doing gigs at educational institutions and though some would say it's not so exciting or creative work, I kind of like it.  It's a useful service to both the client and the award recipient, and it gives me the opportunity to meet interesting people doing interesting things.

Food Photography - Happy Grill Isthmus Restaurant Review

I like doing the food photography for restaurant reviews. Not only is it a challenge as I'm usually doing it on location and on a tight schedule, but it often comes with the reward of getting to eat what I photograph. I did this last minute shoot of theese Enchiladas Verde dish for an Isthmus review of the new Mexican restaurant in Madison by the name of Happy Grill. The atmosphere needs a little help, but the enchiladas where quite tasty.

When I got the assignment and read the name, I automatically assumed it was Chinese and not Mexican food, but it all made sense when I arrived to find the co-owner Li He, is Asian. She greeted me at the door with suspicion when I attempted to explain my purpose there. After finally convincing her that the review and my photography was "free", she brought me out the enchiladas. This kind of food with sauces can be difficult to photograph. I set up in a corner where there was plenty of natural light coming in from the large pane windows, set up a speedlite with a Lumiquest Softbox II camera left behind the dish. It was an relatively easy set-up which allowed me to quickly get the shot before the cheese melted down and losing the nice texture on top of the Enchiladas.

This type of work isn't extremely exciting, but I like it. It gives me the opportunity to visit different restaurants, occasionally meet interesting folks in the community and most of all...a complimentary meal to boot. The full review of the Happy Grill can be found here.