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
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
Wexley School For Girls
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Advertising, Editorial
Behold. The Wexley School For Girls. What!? An all girls school run by these guys? Yes. Wexley is a very exclusive all-girls school (Ad Agency) run by these two guys. Cal and Ian. And one of the highlights of my job is working with these fine people.
When I first met Cal and Ian, they didn’t know anything about advertising. They were a lounge singer duo in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. I was hired by BusinessWeek to photograph them for a story about the resurgence of lounge singers in Metropolitan areas. That is how the sexy lounge singer portrait came about. At some point during the shoot, I said, ”This should be great advertising for your act.” And Ian said, “What the hell is advertising?” I laughed, but he wasn’t joking. He had no idea. I told him to look it up, which is exactly what he did. They read everything they could find about advertising, and before long they decided to open up their own ad agency.
The next time I photographed them, they were no longer singing Elton John, but they were making ads. And good ones at that.
In the last year, I have photographed Cal and Ian a few more times, as well as worked with them on a handful of ad campaigns. It’s not every day that an assignment or ad campaign comes around that allows you to work with such creative people who are willing to experiment and have fun. You might look at the quirky Wexley office, and think that it’s all fun and games. But they take what they do very seriously, and they are dang good at it too. Just look at the success the Seattle Sounders FC (a client of Wexley) have enjoyed.
I have a couple of earlier posts about ad campaigns that I have shot with Wexley. (Here) is the post about the Seattle Sounders FC billboard I shot earlier this year, and (here) is the post about the Human Wrecking Balls print campaign from late last year. In just a few short weeks, I will have some new Wexley related content and videos that I will be able to share. In the meantime, (here) is a hilarious video called “Winner Take Steve” written by Wexley, and directed by Jared Hess.
Tags: ad agency, ad agency headshots, Ad campaign, Cal McAllister, funny portraits, Headshots, Ian Cohen, Portraits, school for girls, Seattle ad agency, Seattle advertising, Sounders FC picture, Wexley, Wexley ad, Wexley advertising, Wexley office, Wexley pictures, Wexley School For Girls
Santa on the Street
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Personal Work
* If you are using a blog reader, you may need to visit my actual blog to see the slide show above.
I got a call last October from my friend, Tyler, asking me if I would photograph a Christmas party for street youth in Seattle’s U-District. It’s an annual party, and they usually have a volunteer take candid snapshots that they can give to the youth who attend. After talking for a little while, we both decided that it would be fun to set up a studio in a corner where anyone who was interested could get their portrait taken.
After I finished setting up, Tyler made an announcement about the studio letting people know that it was available. Everyone in the room turned to look at me. I smiled and waved, and then everyone turned back around and continued talking and opening presents. I waited for about 10 minutes, and still nobody came over. There were a lot of glances toward the studio, but that was it. I started walking around the room, and asking if people wanted to have their picture taken.
“No way man. I don’t want my picture taken.”
I knew it would just take one person to get things rolling, and moments later, that person arrived. Actually, he was a rabbit… Although I was excited about photographing a giant rabbit, I could tell that Santa was feeling uneasy and territorial. He took his white gloves off, one finger at a time, and threw them on the ground. ”This is my holiday, Rabbit!” He screamed across the room.
That’s a story for another day, though.
I was able to convince the rabbit to let me photograph him, and shortly after, people began lining up to join in. I took quite a bit of time with the lighting setup for this, and set the lights in a way that would allow for some movement and flexibility with each subject. I made an x on the ground, and asked each person to stand there. But beyond that, I didn’t control their movements. I wanted to let each person be themselves, and capture their personalities. I know that I am not the first person to photograph street youth. But often I feel that a subject like this is an easy way to create a dramatic story without any creativity. Street youth encounter struggles that many of us will never experience, some of them dress a little different, but that alone doesn’t make a great picture. What I loved about how these pictures turned out, was the laughter and humor that came through. I don’t think the pictures would have the same feel if I had taken as much control as I would have with a different subject. I might have asked Santa to look serious, though…Couldn’t resist that one!
What do you think about the slide show? Comments please. I have been posting pictures individually, but it seemed like there were too many for that this time. I’d love to hear what you think.
Tags: Headshots, Santa Clause, Santa Picture, Seattle photographer, Seattle Street Youth, Street Youth, Street Youth Headshots, Studio portraits, U-District, Volunteer Work
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
Portrait of Annie Leibovitz
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Celebrity, Editorial
In the course of a conversation this past summer, it was mentioned that Annie Leibovitz was going to be in Seattle that November. As soon as I heard this, I was gone. Blank stare. Absent from the conversation. I was thinking, “What would it be like to photograph Annie Leibovitz? Would she let someone else take her portrait? I don’t think so. She is one of the greatest photographers ever. The only pictures I have ever seen of her were self portraits. How nervous would I be if I got to take her portrait?” A couple of months later, I received an email from a photo editor at Seattle Metropolitan; “Do you want to photograph Annie Leibovitz?”
I thought a lot about how I would photograph her. But after dreaming about some grand and sizable production ideas, I decided not to try to do too much. I would just do what I do best, and keep it simple. We were scheduled to shoot in a private meeting room in a downtown Seattle hotel, with no chance of moving to a different location. Because of her full schedule that day, I knew she would be tired. An interview with Steve Scher on NPR (listen here) right before the shoot, and speaking at Benaroya Hall for ‘Seattle Arts & Lectures‘ right after. I had a small window of time to work with her.
When Annie came into the room, she looked around at the lighting setup, and said, “Wow, this looks scary.” My thoughts exactly, but it wasn’t the lights I was thinking about. We talked a few minutes about photography and cameras before she sat down. Then I told her about my idea for the portrait, and asked if she would mind taking off her glasses. She said that was fine, and I started to shoot. It was a balancing act trying to find the line between being in control to get what I wanted, and not being pushy. I could tell that she was not comfortable being photographed. She moved around a lot while I shot, and I decided to be flexible rather than push too much to hold a certain pose. Things don’t always go exactly to plan, and sometimes this can be a pleasant surprise. It felt like the shoot ended up being a collaboration in making the pictures. It’s not often that I work with someone who is so willing to be expressive and experiment as she was. Shortly after we started, the shoot came to an end, and I knew that I had the shot. I thanked her for her time, and she said, “You did good.” I’ll take it! What a compliment.
The article that was published in Seattle Metropolitan, and written by Steve Wieking can be read here.
*Update* – My portrait of Annie Leibovitz was selected in the American Photography 25 Competition (AP25) and will be published in November 2009. This is a huge honor for me! The link will take you to a post with more about the award.
Tags: Annie Leibovitz, Annie Leibovitz portrait, best photographer, Celebrity, Celebrity Portrait, famous Leibovitz picture, famous Leibovitz portrait, famous photographer, greatest photographer, Headshot, Headshots, John Keatley, John Keatley photography, Keatley, Keatley Photo, Keatley portrait technique, Leibovitz portrait, Lighting Setup, photographer, photographic process, photographing a celebrity, Photography, Portrait, Portrait Lighting, Portrait of Annie Leibovitz, Seattle Metropolitan, Seattle photographer
Technology Review – Dan Kaminsky
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Editorial, Tear Sheets
Technology Review, November 2008. This was my first shoot with Dan Kaminsky. He is a hacker who discovered and helped fix a huge security hole in the Internet. Read more about his story in the Wired Magazine post (here).
*Update* David Hobby at Strobist interviewed me about my lighting technique for this assignment and my other shoot with Dan. He wrote a really nice article, and you can read it (here).
Tags: Dan Kaminsky, Editorial, Hacker, Headshot, Headshots, Internet Flaw, Internet Security, Tearsheet, Technology Review
