Sounders FC Goalkeeper Kasey Keller
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial
It’s almost time for my two favorite professional sports. Lawn darts, and baseball. Just kidding! Soccer and baseball. Although we may be watching lawn darts if MLS and the union don’t come to an agreement soon. Aside from that, it is pretty exciting to be a soccer fan in the Pacific Northwest right now with how the Sounders have taken the country by storm. The first game of the 2010 season will be played here against Philadelphia, the newest expansion team to MLS. And don’t even get me started about next year when the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Portland Timbers will join MLS. Those rivalries will be amazing!
This is a picture I recently took of Kasey Keller. Kasey is the goalkeeper and captain of the Seattle Sounders FC. From my time with him, he seems like a laid back fun loving guy who doesn’t take life too seriously. While we were talking on set, he said “I get to play a game and catch a ball for a living.” It was fun to see that side of him, but going into the shoot, I wanted to capture some of his competitive spirit. One of the Sounders games I was at last season I spent some time on the grass right behind the goal. Qwest Field is known for being a loud stadium and the fans can carry on with the best of them. But as loud as it was in the stadium, I could hear Kasey screaming instructions to his teammates over the crowd. With that in mind, I asked Kasey if he would yell at me for a few pictures. I half expected to be rejected, but he said sure and started yelling. I won’t repeat what he yelled, but it was pretty funny.
Go Sounders!
(Here) is a post with video and pictures from the Sounders billboard I shot last season.
Tags: athlete portrait, Celebrity, celebrity headshot, Celebrity Portrait, Kasey Keller, Kasey Keller portrait, Kasey Keller screaming, MLS, Portrait, portrait photographer, screaming athlete, Seattle photographer, Seattle Sounders, Seattle Sounders FC, Soccer, soccer player, soccer portrait, Sounders, Sounders goalkeeper
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.
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Jake Locker
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity
Many people think the animal on the dock with Jake is a husky because that is the UW mascot, but it is not a husky. It’s a coyote.
When Jake Locker first started playing football for UW, I heard a story that sounded too wild to be true. It was the kind of story that someone makes up, and as time goes on it becomes wilder and wilder, yet more and more true to the people who tell it. The story goes like this. While Jake was a junior at Ferndale High, a crazed coyote wandered onto campus. Some students thought it was a dog from the neighborhood and tried to pet it. As they approached the animal they realized something was wrong, but it was too late. The coyote attacked the students and began a rampage throughout campus. The entire school was frantic and people were scrambling to hide in the nearest classroom. There were 5 students who were not lucky enough to find shelter in a classroom. They were walking through the quad and walked right into the coyote. They were trapped, with nowhere to go. Several teachers were watching through the office window, and all they could do was scream. The students slowly backed up until they were against a wall. The coyote inched closer and closer, snarling and showing its teeth.
This is where the story gets a little confusing because I have heard several versions of what happened next, but I will stick to the version I heard from Jake. Jake was in the gym during the attack, but he heard the screams of the students who were trapped in the quad. Without hesitating, he took off his football pads, and ran out of the gym toward the sounds of the screaming. As he entered the quad he walked directly up to the coyote with his arm held out in front of him holding his palm up as if motioning to stop. He said a single word, although no one remembers what he said, and instantly the coyote relaxed and allowed Jake to pick it up. He tucked the animal under his arm and walked out of the quad. Since that day, the coyote has never left Jake’s side.
I wasn’t quite sure if I believed this story when I first heard it, but I decided to bring it up on the phone with Jake before our shoot. I asked him if the story was true, and if he would bring the coyote with him for a few pictures. He said that wouldn’t be a problem, and I was able to shoot a few frames with Jake and his coyote.
College football starts this weekend. Go Huskies!!! And go Jake Locker!!! I’m a big fan.
I also posted a number of outtakes from this shoot on my Facebook page if you would like to see more. (Here) is the link to the album.
Tags: Celebrity, celebrity headshot, Celebrity Portrait, college football, college quarterback, football picture, Headshot, Huskies, Husky football, Husky quarterback, Jake Locker, Jake Locker picture, Jake Locker portrait, sports pictures, University of Washington, UW, UW Huskies, UW Husky, UW quarterback
Dennis Haysbert
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity
It has always been a dream of mine to photograph the President of The United States, and now I can cross that off my list of things to do. David Palmer is the first African American president in US history. Well, in TV history I should say. Dennis Haysbert played President David Palmer on Fox’s 24, and he talked about playing the president at our shoot, “A lot of people considered me to be the first black president - which is ridiculous, but that’s the power of TV.”
Speaking of the influence of TV. I am seriously considering switching my auto insurance to Allstate.
I photographed Dennis while he was in Seattle working on an upcoming movie called “The Details“. Toby Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, and Laura Linney are also in the film. It is being labeled as a dark comedy, and there are rumors that the plot revolves around a married couple dealing with a raccoon problem. That might just be a rumor though. Dennis said that you could get 30 different answers as to what the film is about depending on who you ask. We will see… (Here) is an interesting story about the home the movie is being filmed in. Sounds like the project hit some rough spots, but they are back on track now.
Conan recently ran a pretty funny sketch on The Tonight Show called Twitter Tracker. The sketch quoted several celebrity tweets in an attempt to convince viewers of the value of Twitter. The grand finale was a tweet by Dennis Haysbert. ”Just saw the new Star Trek movie. Wow, really good.” I was hoping to go to his Twitter page after our shoot and read about how he just worked with the most amazing photographer. It turns out the whole skit was made up, and Dennis doesn’t even use Twitter. Can you believe that? Conan, making stuff up?
Tags: 24, actor headshot, actor portrait, Allstate Insurance, Allstate spokesman, CBS, Celebrity, celebrity actor, celebrity headshot, celebrity photography, Celebrity Portrait, David Palmer, Dennis Haysbert, First African American President, Fox, Headshot, John Keatley, Keatley, movie, movie filmed in Seattle, President Palmer, Seattle movie, The Details, The Details movie, The Unit, The Wire, Toby Maguire
