maginei inter|act blog

Looking back at my various band photographs, you may notice many are at the same location, a local venue called Don Quixote’s. It’s not the greatest lighting, it’s not the greatest stage, but I just love this place and their support of live music, and it’s always a pleasure to go photograph there. This weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing Hovering Breadcat and Forrest Day there. Here are a few of my favorite images; you can check out the full set at: http://maginei.com/photos/20110812/

Chris Zanardi

Derek Bodkin

This series of women was created for my final class assignment of exploring the works of a photographer and working within their style as a form of homage and learning – for my series, I chose Richard Avedon, who has been a great influence on my personal portrait style.

I chose women in particular to extend the exploration that I began last semester with my series Women in Red. And with this, school’s out for the summer!

The weather finally turned beautiful, and I took the opportunity to photograph Niall Wall, General Manager of Symantec’s SwapDrive business, outdoors on their lovely campus.

While the art director for the CIO Digest magazine likes to stay away from greenery in their executive portraits, the lines of the buildings create some great visual patterns which I wanted to highlight, in addition to that great natural ambient light.

Niall Wall, Symantec

Sometimes background can be a real challenge, especially when you’re photographing multiple sessions in the same location. In this session with Sanjay Saraf and Lenny Alugas (VPs, Symantec’s eBusiness Services Group), it was the opposite problem where this building was going to be closed shortly, and I discovered all kinds of great locations. It was tough to choose the final image, but the art director went with this shot in the lobby, showcasing the great rounded lines of the building.

Another highlight of this session was the two delightful gentlemen – they were great fun to work with, humored my fanciful direction (including a Blues-brother-esque pose) and we came out with some great results in the end.

Here are some shots from a recent session that I did at my favorite beach spot. One of the things that I love about this location is how versatile it is, to be able to get the mood for family portraits, edgy romance and yes, even promo shots for musicians!

I was testing some new portable strobe kit, and was thrilled with the results. In this series, I’m working with main light 400w/s with umbrella, sunlight, and a fill. You can see the lightstand in a couple of the proofs below.

I noted that I had the chance to photograph Carine Clark, Symantec CMO for the Confident SMB magazine. Well, the edition’s out and here’s the tearsheet!
Note: bottom image from maginei.

This weekend we had one of the very unusual Santa Cruz warm weekends, no wind, and clear skies at the beach. I had the opportunity to photograph in one of my favorite locations, and in this case, I’d photographed the family at this location before. It’s so fun to see the kids growing up in the same place.

TODAY SHOTS

CIRCA 2008

It’s been a hectic few months, and I really have not kept up with my blog very well. So, in one giant post, I’ll bring you up to date on the highlights of recent maginei activity.

Family Time
I’ve had the pleasure of photographing a number of families both in the studio and on location. Here are some of my favorite images from these family photo shoots:

Rob and Yolanda Look Forward to Baby

Rob and Yolanda

Mikey, Laurel and Quinn at the Beach

Quinn Discovers the Ocean

Mikey and Quinn Warm Up

Mark, April and Reyna

Reyna Moves Fast – Keep Up Folks!

Mark and Reyna – Quiet Time
Snack Time
Food photography is an entirely different beast from people, and I’m not sure which is more complicated. The technical detail needed to make meat and other food items look realistic and appetizing is quite the challenge!

Godiva Chocolates

Hoffman’s Bakery – Beef On Pastry

Hoffman’s Bakery – Crab Cakes

Hoffman’s Bakery – Fruit Tarte

Hoffman’s Bakery – Dessert Selection

Party Time
The following images were taken on location at the Catalyst, Santa Cruz, where the band Five Eyed Hand played on Dec. 8th.

Five Eyed Hand – Catalyst

Drummer/Singer Derek Bodkin, Five Eyed Hand

Chris and Jeb Rockin’, Five Eyed Hand