Mat's Photography Blog

 

Retro Headshots

Making the routine a little different

With so much competition at the auditions and tight requirements for a clean, well lit headshot, there are few ways to make your picture stand out. Well here's one thing we shot recently to meet the photographic requirements and yet still leave a lasting impression. It's a "Saturday Night Live" retro look.

 

Still Life

Photographs as art pieces

As an artist I love the immediacy of photography. I also like being able to take that photograph and turn it into something else. With Photoshop, the possibilities are endless. Typically I use it for color correcting photographs, removing pimples, and airbrushing out imperfections. So when I do have free time and have some inspiration, I love pushing the envelope a little and creating a piece of photographic art that can stand in a gallery amongst other fine pieces of work.

 

Dance Recital Photographs

Sharon's Studio of Dance - recital photographs

This weekend was recital weekend at Sharon's Studio of Dance in Whippany. The recital was held at Whippany Park High School. The shows were absolutely fantastic. Everybody did a really great job and had a blast. I was lucky enough to manage to get an impromptu back stage photo shoot with the teachers. I quickly set up 3 strobes. Left and right with purple and yellow gels and a front strobe for fill. For a five-minute shoot we got some really great photos and had a lot of fun.

 

Keeping it Fresh

Breaking the habit

The one thing I love about photography is that every photo shoot is different. Different people, different locations, different light, different goal and a different end result. But with all that variability there's still a tendency for “us photographers” to stick to what we know works. So it's nice once in a while to throw away everything you learned and just try something different. Most photographers start out with natural light photography as it's cheap and simple, and then move over time towards elaborate studio flash setups controlling every aspect of the light. The really tricky jump is to mix the two and control color, tone, exposure, shadows and details without making it look artificial. That's why photography and photographers evolve.

 

In the Gunks

At one with nature

Had a fabulous weekend away up at “The Gunks” in upstate New York which gave me plenty of opportunity to take some candid photographs of the family and also the climbing fraternity in their natural setting.

 

Mrs. Morris County

Mrs. USA Pageant Contest Photographs

I was recently privileged to take portraits of the current Mrs. Morris County as part of her bid to become Mrs. New Jersey and then on to the Mrs. USA pageant later this year. Just like photo journalists, there are strict rules about how the photographs can be edited. Other than converting to black and white in post the photograph has to be original straight out of the camera with no retouching.

 

Spring Flowers

Photographs on Patriot's Path, Morristown

In between photo assignments I managed to squeeze in a nice walk with the family along the Patriot's Path in Morristown. Despite all the heavy rain recently there were still quite a lot of blossoms on the trees. Beautiful.

 

First Communion Photographs

St. Mary's Church, Denville

First Communion is a very special event in a young persons life and I was lucky enough to help capture those precious moments at St. Mary's in Denville. We had to photograph quickly as there wasn't much time before the next communion service. Despite the time constraints we had a fabulous photo shoot.

 

The Photography of Art ???

The art of photography

I recently had a very interesting project, to photograph a piece of art for inclusion in a book that's going to be published in France. It wasn't a difficult assignment, but definitely unusual. The most interesting thing about the painting was that it belongs to a series of pictures all painted on French bread bags. The trick was photographing in such a way that the texture of the bags was revealed without obscuring the painting and the colors remained accurate. To make it more difficult, the painting also had reflective gold leaf on it that would show as white if lit badly.

 

Precious Moments

Family portrait session full of memories

I love the spring. Everything seems so fresh as the world starts to wake up. So I was really pleased when my friends called me up and asked me to do a family portrait session with them and their 10  month old. We did a set of studio shots in their living room. Some candid indoor shots and then moved outside to take advantage of the really nice evening.

 

Church Directory Photographs

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Church photo directories provide a fabulous opportunity for church members to get to know each other. And if you're anything like me, and can't remember peoples names , they're a great way to jog your memory. I always start out a church photography session by taking scenic shots and photographs of the small details that can be found in and around the buildings. These are used to suppliment the main directory and tell a bit of the story of the church. Head shots and family portraits round out the session.

 

Photography as Art

Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary

What I love about my job is that I often see the end result of my photographs in my head as I'm taking the pictures. This was true of a recent photo shoot of two lovely girls who just wouldn't sit still for 5 seconds. Despite the high energy and high paced photo shoot, my head kept filling with really cool art.

 

Scouts Blue n' Gold Dinner

Photography fundraiser for Denville Pack 99

This was a fun evening celebrating the cub scouts moving up to boy scouts. It's a big day and we helped raise funds for the pack by providing our services to take formal portraits.

 

Commercial Photo Shoot

Fitness for fun with Donna

Donna is a personal fitness trainer with a lively attitude. She recently opened a fitness studio in Pompton Plains and needed a set of photographs to help market her business through her website and in other printed materials. She is the focus of the business so even though we were photographing her studio it was just as important that she be featured prominently in each photograph.

 

Commercial Photo Shoot

Verizon's latest indestructible ruggedized phone

I had the opportunity to photograph one of Verizon's latest little toys. It's a virtually indestructible phone that can really take a beating, is waterproof and on top of all that, looks fantastic. A high tech product that calls for high tech photography.

 

Council Woman Heidi Harrison Chain

Environmental portraits of Heidi for her New York City council election campaign

Heidi needed some environmental portraits in unmistakable venues in and around the borough where she is running for election. Unfortunately the lighting was terrible. Mid-day, full sunshine with not a single ounce of foliage in sight for shade. We were also shooting in public locations so needed to be quick. To top it off, it was freezing cold and blowing like crazy.

 

Fashion Shoot on the Farm

The fun of Photography

Being a photographer there's a lot of pressure to take great photographs so it was really nice to do a fun and relaxing photo shoot with the missus on a Long Island farm. No pressure and plenty of time to experiment with different lighting techniques.

 

Commercial Photo Shoot

Rockin Robin Belts

As a commercial photographer I get to photograph a wide variety of objects, and it's my job to show those products in their best light.So when somebody sends you a box of belts, what do you do with them? You photograph them of course. Lots of lights, lots of glitz and lots of glamor to match the bling of these dazzlers. These belts are part of a unique children's collection designed by Rockin Robin Belts.