Publicis Photography Show Recap
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under News
Use the arrows to manually scroll through, or click the play button to start the slideshow.
If you are viewing this in a reader, you may need to visit the blog to see the video and slideshow.
I would like to start by thanking everyone who was able to stop by my show earlier this month, and also everyone who was not able to make it, or just didn’t want to. You are reading my blog now, so I thank you for that. Also a very big thank you to Publicis for hosting! Especially Wade, Carrie, and Lauren. I had a great time.
It’s an exciting thing to see your own work printed large, or at least larger than a portfolio. I felt like I was seeing the images for the first time in a way. Since the show is no longer open to the public, I thought I would share some pictures and a video from the party (above). Below are the images that are on display, along with the titles and descriptions. Email me at john@keatleyphoto.com if you are interested in purchasing a print. I am also selling prints in different sizes than the ones at the show.
Hopefully this will be the first of many shows to come.
Albert And The Eggplant – 18×24
Personal Work, 2004. An afternoon with Albert is like no other afternoon you could imagine. Albert has a unique way of doing just about everything, including cooking an eggplant. It involves making a big mess and cleaning up with a spoon and a bowl.
Albert In The Basement – 24×36
Personal Work, 2004. Albert lives in Bellevue with his wife, and he marches to his own drum beat.
Rolloff Twins – 18×24
Zach and Jeremy Roloff are twins, although not identical. I have been photographing the Roloff family for The Discovery Channel for the past couple of years. They are the family on the TV show Little People Big World.
Street Youth: The Christmas Bunny – 18×24
In 2008 I set up a studio at a Christmas party for street youth in Seattle’s University District. Not a Halloween, or costume party, but a regular Christmas party. This guy arrived wearing a small bunny costume, and it very well could have been everyday outfit for all I know.
Street Youth: Fuzzy Hood – 18×24
Portraits are a luxury for street youth, and I know it meant a lot to them to be photographed.
The Writer – 24×36
Every once in a while, when I am least expecting it, things just seem to fall into place and something exciting presents itself. That was what happened when I photographed Josh Hornbeck in 2007.
Greg Lundgren – 24×36
Greg Lundgren is a business owner and a prank artist. This is a portrait of Greg conducting business.
The Nun – 18×24
Personal Work, 2009. Inspired by actual events which never happened and a love for classic paintings.
Annie Leibovitz – 18×24
This is my portrait of Annie Leibovitz, recently selected for the American Photography 25 contest which is one of the greatest honors in photography.
Dr. John Perkins – 18×24
I felt compelled to photograph Dr. John Perkins after hearing him speak in 2007. His life story and message of love and redemption struck a chord with me. John is the author of several books, including “Let Justice Roll Down”.
Buster Brown – 18×24
Personal Work, 2007. Bus is a close family friend and a farmer who lives in Woodinville with his wife Ida May. This portrait was taken on their property just before fresh strawberries and ice cream was served.
Ida May Brown – 18×24
Personal Work, 2007. Ida May is the wife of Bus. They live in Woodinville where they still have many acres of land.
Jeff and Karl – 24×32
Personal Work, 2009. The first in a series of many yet to be completed works.
RSS Subscription – Click to subscribe to John Keatley Blog via RSS in a reader.
Email Updates – Click to sign up for email updates.
Twitter Updates – Click to follow John’s Twitter feed.
Facebook Updates – Click to follow John on Facebook.
Tags: John Keatley, Photography Show, Publicis, Publicis photography show, slideshow, Video
Braving The Elements
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial, Tear Sheets
Clouds I can handle, but it’s the rain that drives me crazy when I am supposed to be shooting outside. Thankfully I was photographing weather experts for this assignment, and it turns out they know a thing or two about predicting the weather.
As I was packing up to head out for what I knew would be a long day at “the office” I began to feel a little nervous about the dark clouds hanging over Seattle. After checking weather.com, my nervousness began to change into a good case of anxiety because they were predicting rain by 9:30am, and that was just two hours away. Maybe I could beat the rain and get in at least one outside portrait. The problem was I had to photograph one subject in the morning, and the second one in the afternoon. At the very best it looked like I would only get one of the subjects outside, but the show must go on. I headed over to the University of Washington where I would meet up with my first subject, Cliff Mass. My assignment was to photograph Cliff and Brad Coleman in studio for the opener, and get an environmental portrait of each of them individually. The thing that made this all really interesting was I could not get them both in studio at the same time or place. I had to set up a studio at UW in the morning, then tear it down, and set it up again, exactly the same at NOAA to photograph Brad. I had been planning this shoot for a couple of weeks including some minor styling and location scouting. This was an assignment I was really looking forward to, and I would have been really bummed if the rain forced us inside for the environmental shots.
To give you a little background on the men in the photographs. Cliff Mass was mentored by Carl Sagan while in undergrad at Cornell University. He is the author of “The Weather of the Pacific Northwest”, he runs a very popular blog, Cliff Mass Weather Blog, he is a weekly guest on KUOW radio, and he is a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington. To quote a UW press release, “He has published dozens of articles on Northwest weather and leads the regional development of advanced weather prediction tools.” Many people in the Pacific Northwest plan their weekends around Cliff’s predictions.
Brad Colman is the meteorologist-in-charge of the Seattle Weather Forecast Office. “A meteorologist-in-charge is the front line officer carrying out the National Weather Service’s mission of serving the American public by helping protect lives and property,” said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. ”NOAA’s National Weather Service is the official source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. The National Weather Service operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast systems in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the national economy.”
Back at UW, it seemed like it would start raining any minute, so I asked Cliff if we could change the schedule a little and shoot the environmental portrait right away because I was nervous about the rain. Embarrassed as I am to admit, it never occurred to me that I was working with one of the top experts in weather. When I told Cliff we should try to shoot outside while it is still dry, he promptly responded, “It’s not going to rain.” “It’s not?” I asked. “No. The cloud cover will begin to burn off at 10:30, and by 11:30 we will have clear skies.” And he was right. Take that weather.com! Once we finished at UW with Cliff, it was off to NOAA to photograph Brad. By the time we got there, the skies were opening up, and it looked quite different than just a few hours before, as you can tell in the pictures.
From this point on, I will include a weatherman on all of my bids. First assistant, second assistant, makeup artist, stylist, and a weatherman. Oh, and a falconer. I recently learned about the benefits of having a falconer on set. If nothing else it can be very entertaining, but that’s a story for another time.
A fun fact I learned on this assignment is Houston, New York, Miami and Boston all get more average annual rainfall than Seattle. We win the prize for most cloudy days though… Bummer.
Special thanks goes out to Robyn and Seattle North Face for the clothes. And also to Mandy for painting some amazing clouds which were not used in the final.
This is a video of Cliff explaining some weather basics. I like how he explains things in terms anyone can understand. Plus he has soothing voice.
Tags: Atmospheric Sciences, Brad Colman, Cliff Mass, editorial portrait photography, Environmental Portrait, Headshot, John Keatley, Pacific Northwest weather, portrait photographer, Portraits, Seattle photographer, Seattle weather, Studio Portrait
Sarah Palin Portrait – “Going Rogue”
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity, Commercial, Tear Sheets
I am pleased to announce I was hired by Harper Collins to photograph Sarah Palin for the cover of her new book “Going Rogue“. If you watched even just a few minutes of TV this week, or used the Internet, I am sure you have already seen the book cover. ”Going Rogue” has not even been printed, and it is already the #1 best seller. It still feels a little surreal to me that my portrait of Sarah Palin is on the cover of her book. Just about every television network in the country has been airing the book cover and analyzing what it means. Why the clouds, why the smile… My favorite reference so far was on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, but only because he mentioned me… kind of. He talked about the portrait of her on the book cover, and then quoted “the photographer”. It was a fake quote of course, and he didn’t actually say my name, but that is pretty close to being on The Tonight Show… (Here) is a link to the video. It’s in the first 3 minutes of the episode.
The photo shoot only happened three weeks ago, so this is all still very new and exciting for me. After much planning and scheduling, I put together a crew and flew up to Alaska for six days to photograph the former governor. It was supposed to rain the entire week we were there, but we ended up getting blue skies and puffy white clouds the entire time. After a few days of scouting and prepping, I shot for three days straight. The last day we went to Hatcher Pass which holds a lot of meaning for Governor Palin. I had already scouted the pass a few different times, and I knew exactly where we were going to shoot. Every last detail was in place. After shooting at the base of the pass near a river, we caravaned up to the top of the pass where we were planning to shoot the final location. Half way up, I noticed the beautiful light that was sweeping across the valley, and the clouds that were developing on the horizon. I told the driver to stop, we had to change our plans. This last minute change ended up being the final setup we would do with her, and it also ended up being the cover image.
I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on this project. It is not very often that an assignment comes along to photograph one of the most polarizing figures in our country. Let alone the chance to photograph that person for her book cover. I would like to thank Harper Collins and Sarah Palin for working with me. This was a really big opportunity for me professionally, and I enjoyed it immensely. I am excited to see what happens next.
RSS Subscription – Click to subscribe to John Keatley Blog via RSS in a reader.
Email Updates – Click to sign up for email updates.
Twitter Updates – Click to follow John’s Twitter feed.
Facebook Updates – Click to follow John on Facebook.
Tags: book cover by John Keatley, book cover photo, book cover photographer, Celebrity, celebrity headshot, celebrity photographer, celebrity photography, Celebrity Portrait, Going Rogue, Going Rogue book cover, Going Rogue photo shoot, Going Rogue picture, Governor of Alaska, John Keatley, Palin photo, photo shoot with Sarah Palin, picture of Sarah Palin, political photographer, political photography, political portrait, portrait of Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin at home, Sarah Palin book cover, Sarah Palin cover portrait, Sarah Palin Going Rogue, Sarah Palin in Wasilla, Sarah Palin photo shoot, Sarah Palin photographer, Sarah Palin picture, Sarah Palin portrait, Sarah Palin portraits, Seattle photographer, Wasilla AK
Goodbye Greg Nickels
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial, Tear Sheets
The end of the Greg Nickels era is near. Seattle mayor Greg Nickels has run this town for the past 8 years, but recently he removed himself from the Seattle mayors race, leaving two new guys to duke it out. I have photographed Mayor Nickels several times over the past few years, and he has provided me with some good imagery. I am going to miss photographing his intensity, but maybe the new mayor will prove to be a good subject also. It’s not like this is good bye though, since we are neighbors with the Nickels family. I could always walk down the street and borrow a cup of sugar.
(Here) is a link to the Seattle Met article in the tearsheet above. You can also click the tearsheet to view it larger, but the article is longer than the image shown here.
Tags: Conference of Mayors President, Corporate headshot, Greg Nickels, Headshots, Joe Malahan, Mayor Nickels, mayor picture, mayor portrait, mayors portrait, Mike McGinn, political headshot, political portrait, portrait of Greg Nickels, portrait of the mayor, Seattle headshot, Seattle Mayor, Seattle mayor picture, Seattle mayor portrait, the green mayor
