PDN Faces Opener
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Awards, Editorial, Tear Sheets
The PDN Faces issue is out now, and my portrait of Annie Leibovitz is the opener. I am very excited and honored to say the least. This image was also selected in the American Photography 25 Competition last year. Pretty cool!
*UPDATE* 8/17/2010 – The PDN Faces 2010 Winners Gallery is now online with all of the winning images. There are some great portraits in there, and a nice note about my portrait in the intro on the landing page.
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Tags: Annie Leibovitz, celebrity photographer, Celebrity Portrait, Headshot, John Keatley, PDN Faces, photography contest
John Perkins Book Cover
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Tear Sheets
A guy could really get used to this whole book cover portrait thing. It’s exciting to see your work in full bleed on the cover of a book. No “10 Secrets to Sexy Abs” or “How to Keep The Doughnuts and Loose The Weight” tips plastered all over the cover. This is my most recent book cover photo, and as you can see, the subject is John Perkins. I have already written about John on my blog (here), and I have now had the opportunity to work with him on multiple occasions. Love Is The Final Fight does not come out until August 2010, but the marketing is getting under way now. John is a great man with an amazing story, and although I have not read this book yet, I would recommend it solely based on what I know about John.
I hope 2010 is starting out with a bang for everyone!
Tags: author portrait, book cover, book cover photo, book cover photographer, book cover portrait, book photography, celebrity photographer, Cover Photo, Dr. Perkins, Headshot, John Keatley, John Perkins, John Perkins book, John Perkins book cover photo, Love Is The Final Fight, portrait photographer
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
Bus and Ida May
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Personal Work
Bus and Ida May are good family friends of ours, and they live on a farm near Seattle. Their farm used to be even larger than it is now, but there is now a major highway, several off ramps, businesses and condos where the cows used to graze. Every summer for the past several years, my wife Nichelle and I have enjoyed homemade desserts with them on their back porch made from ingredients picked just several yards away. After spending time with them one evening, I felt compelled to photograph them. To make things as comfortable as possible, I set up in their back yard, while friends and family came over for dinner. A good amount of my studio work is actually done on location like this. Not necessarily on a farm, but in a place that my subject feels most comfortable. In this case, it was a farm. Not to mention, I would choose to work outside on a warm summer evening instead of in a studio any time given the choice.
I have a photography show opening in a few weeks, and the headshots of Bus and Ida May will be two of the 12 or so images on display. I will have more information about the show shortly, and after I wrap up a few large projects, I will be able to get back to a more regular blog schedule. Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you are enjoying what is left of summer.
Tags: farmer and wife, Farmer Headshot, farmer picture, Farmer Portrait, Farmer Portraits, Headshot, Headshots, John Keatley, Keatley personal work, outdoor studio photography, outdoor studio portraits, Portrait, Portrait of a farmer, Portraits, retired farmer portrait, retired farmers, retired workers, Seattle Portrait Photographer, seattle portraits, studio on location, Studio portraits
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
Make It Work, Tim Gunn Style
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity, Editorial
Tim Gunn. The man is like a saint. Everyone loves him. And I have to say, he is one of the nicest people I have ever photographed or met. He was kind, easy to work with, and the only person who has ever said to me, “Are you sure you don’t want more time?” at the end of a shoot. What most people don’t know about this picture is that I actually made his suit out of an old soft box, and the lining from one of my camera bags. ”Find a way to mitigate that center seam” he repeatedly instructed as I tirelessly worked, rushing to finish the garment. ”Make it work!”
Talk about pressure. Thankfully he thought the suit was stunning, and the shoot went great too. While I was packing up, I noticed Tim in the corner of the room tearing up a piece of berber carpet. I gave him a questioning look, and he said, “For our next challenge, you will be designing an outfit for a garden party. You have fifteen minutes to caucus.”
Season 6 of Project Runway, hosted by Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum will be starting soon. To hold you over, (here) is one of my favorite Tim Gunn video clips.
Tags: author portrait, book portrait, Celebrity, celebrity photographer, celebrity photography, Celebrity Portrait, Fashion Design, Headshot, Headshots, Liz Claiborne, Parsons, Portrait, Project Runway, Style, Tim Gunn, Tim Gunn 10 Essentials, Tim Gunn Blog, Tim Gunn Guide To Style, Tim Gunn headshot, Tim Gunn picture, Tim Gunn portrait, Tim Gunn's guide to style, TV host, TV personality
Dr. Marsha Linehan for Time Magazine
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial
Dr. Marsha Linehan is a Psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington. She is one of the world’s leading experts on borderline personality disorder, (BPD).
“Borderline individuals are the psychological equivalent of third-degree-burn patients. They simply have, so to speak, no emotional skin. Even the slightest touch or movement can create immense suffering.” – Dr. Marsha Linehan
“Borderlines are the patients psychologists fear most. As many as 75% hurt themselves, and approximately 10% commit suicide — an extraordinarily high suicide rate (by comparison, the suicide rate for mood disorders is about 6%). Borderline patients seem to have no internal governor; they are capable of deep love and profound rage almost simultaneously. They are powerfully connected to the people close to them and terrified by the possibility of losing them — yet attack those people so unexpectedly that they often ensure the very abandonment they fear. When they want to hold, they claw instead. Many therapists have no clue how to treat borderlines. And yet diagnosis of the condition appears to be on the rise.” – John Cloud, Time
It’s a fascinating article, and you can read it in it’s entirety here at Time.com.
The portraits were taken at Dr. Linehan’s office on the UW campus.
Tags: borderline personality disorder, BPD, dialectical behavioral therapy, Headshot, Headshots, Marsha Linehan, Portrait, Time
