Photography Talk And Q&A
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under News
If you have been wondering what to do with your evening on March 8th, wonder no more. It’s open mic night at Comedy Underground. But if that isn’t your cup of tea, you could go to the Seattle Center hear me talk about my photography and ask me those burning questions you have been wrestling with (photography related of course).
Seating is limited, but admission is free. This will be taking place at:
Studio H, TPS
4th Floor
Center House, Seattle Center
305 Harrison St. Seattle, WA 98109
March 8th is a Monday, and the start time is 7:00. There are still about 25 seats remaining, and you must RSVP (HERE).
As an added bonus, photography consultant Amanda Sosa Stone has been kind enough to donate a couple copies of her book The Photographer’s Survival Guide: How To Build And Grow A Successful Business which I will be giving away through a drawing.
I am going to see about recording the talk, so if you are out of town, or not able to attend, feel free to leave your questions here in the comments and I will do my best to address as much as I can.
I hope to see you there.
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Tags: John Keatley, Photography, photography event, photography Q&A, Seattle photographer
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
Photographer Video Profile: John Keatley
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Press & Interviews
I made a quick stop in New York last November, and while I was there I headed over to Redux to do a video profile shoot. They have been pumping out some great videos of many of the photographers on the roster, and you can see them all at the Redux site as well as the Redux Vimeo page.
This is a pretty cool idea, and hopefully will help art buyers get some insight into how each photographer works. The videos should also make for some good marketing material in the coming year.
I hope everyone had a restful December, and you are looking forward to 2010. I have really enjoyed taking some time off recently. It has given me the opportunity to clear my head, and re-focus for the year to come. I’m learning the importance of slowing down every once in a while, and just taking a rest. With the way things are going these days, it’s easy to think you have to constantly be creating new material to keep up. I suppose it is possible to keep up that kind of pace but it is also exhausting. I want to make sure I am staying balanced so I can create through inspiration, rather than creating because I feel I have to.
Thank you everyone for your continued interest in my work. I am working on some projects right now I am very excited about, and I am looking forward to sharing my photography with you in 2010!
Tags: celebrity photographer, Interview, John Keatley, John Keatley video, photographer profile, photographer video profile, Redux, Redux photographer, Seattle photographer, video, West Coast photographer
One Year Of Blogging With John Waters
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under News
Can you believe it? I sure can’t! Today marks one year exactly since I posted my first blog entry on the John Keatley Blog. I think I had 2 subscribers back then (thanks Mom and Dad) but I have been amazed and encouraged by the steady show of support during this last year. If you are somewhat new here, don’t feel obligated to drop what you are doing and read my first post. It is less than enthralling, and reads much like the screenplay for Gigli. That being said, I guess this is as good a time as any to let you know that John Waters has actually been ghost writing my blog for about 9 months now. Or since whenever it started becoming interesting. Maybe that is why I felt inclined to leave him in the picture.
I was hoping to take a celebratory 1st anniversary portrait of myself to mark this big milestone, but John Waters kept poking his head into the frame. As you can tell, I am less than amused. It was funny the first time, but seriously!
This last year has really been wonderful, and I am very thankful I start blogging when I did. I fought the blog for a while, but since I decided to take the plunge I have come to enjoy writing and it is something I look forward to each week. I should sign off before I become too sentimental, but thank you everyone for your support and for taking the time to read. I am looking forward to the adventures ahead in the next year.
Tags: Celebrity, celebrity photographer, Celebrity Portrait, John Keatley, John Keatley Blog, John Keatley portrait, John Waters, John Waters photo, John Waters portrait, self portrait
AP25 Party
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Awards
Well, it’s back to work now after a fun few days in New York. It was really nice to be there without camera gear or a portfolio to lug around, even though I still had a full schedule. I went to Adhesive on Wednesday and the AP25 Party the next night. It was fun to see see friends, as well as meet some new people. Some of the photographers I met for the first time included Ben Baker, Rudy Archuleta, and Joey L. I also had the chance to catch up with Nick Onken for lunch. First time I had Pho, which was very good by the way.
I wasn’t able to get a copy of the AP25 book (hopefully soon), but there is some excellent photography in there. I would recommend buying a copy when you get the chance.
*If you are viewing this in a reader, you may need to visit the John Keatley Blog to see the videos.
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Tags: American Photography, American Photography 25, AP25 Party, John Keatley, Photography, Travel Photography
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.
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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.
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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
Lighting Technique: The Grid Reflector
Posted by John Keatley | Filed under Lighting Technique, Personal Work
My assignment was to create a portrait of writer/director Josh Hornbeck, and our meeting place was an old theater he worked in at the time. There were no constraints or specific requirements, so I was able to “do my thing” and respond to what inspired me. In the theater, I didn’t see anything interesting to me, so I took a look at the lower level of the building. Once downstairs, I walked into a dark dingy room, and I knew right away I was in the the place I wanted to use for the location. The room felt like an interrogation room rather than a theater, but it was perfect. A lamp hung just slightly off to one side, and it seemed to hold a story on it’s own. I was fascinated by it.
Right from the beginning I had an idea of how I would light this picture, and I was pretty sure it would involve two lights. For the sake of time, I set up both lights right away, but I didn’t turn them on yet. I knew I wanted the lamp in the shot, and I also wanted the lamp to be on. For this to happen, the light bulb would dictate the exposure of the picture. If my exposure was not long enough, the lamp could appear to be off, or very dim. If the exposure was too long, the lamp would be blown out and there would be no detail. The image below is my exposure for the light bulb without any strobes. 1/40 at f/10.0 on ISO 100.
Key Light:
For the key light I used a 7” grid reflector with a 10 degree grid. This gives a focused beam of light with very little spread. The narrow grid also helps keep your key light from lighting up unwanted areas of the frame. I experimented with several different positions for the key light until I decided on the one in this image. I love the light falloff from grids. It is like dropping a pebble into a smooth pond. The greatest disturbance is at the point of impact on the water and as the ripples move out in a circle they gradually fade. It is the same with a grid reflector. The light is the brightest at the center, and it fades as it moves away from the center. If you position a grid reflector just right, you can use the light spread (dimmer light away from the center) to light closer objects without blowing them out. For example, the white lamp above Josh. If I were to use just a regular reflector on a strobe without a grid from the same position, the white lamp would be completely blown out on the right side because it is closer to the light source than the subject. The grid allowed me to direct the light at my subjects face so the exact center was on his face. This is the brightest spot of the light, and the light begins to decrease in power quickly as it spreads. Although the lamp is closer to the key light than the subject, they are both getting the same amount of light.
Once the key was set, I had some definition on the lamp, both on the inside from the light bulb, and on the outer right side from the key light. I also had my subject lit, but the shadows were still a little too deep.
Fill Light:
I already created the shadows I wanted with the key light, but I needed to use a fill light to add some detail to some of the shadows. What I did not want to do was add new shadows. The entire left side of the room (camera left, not pictured) was a white wall, just like the background. Because I wanted a soft and subtle fill, I decided to bounce the strobe with a 7 inch reflector off of the white wall. Think of the wall as a large softbox you don’t have to set up or tear down. Depending on how close you place the strobe to the wall, you can increase or decrease the size of the light source. I experimented with the light and tried a few different angles to get the right look. The first few angles I tried caused the left side of the image to be too bright. Eventually I angled the head so it was pointing more behind me than toward the subject. I lost a lot of light by doing this, but it gave me just enough light to gently fill in some of the dark areas not touched by the key.
Here is a list of the equipment I used to create this shot along with links to the product pages:
Camera: Canon DSLR
Lights: Elinchrom Ranger Battery Pack and Head x2
Light Modifiers: Elinchrom 7” grid reflector
10 degree grid
Elinchrom 7” reflector
Thanks for reading! Feel free to start a discussion or ask questions in the comments.
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Tags: grid reflector, how to light a portrait, how to lighting, John Keatley, John Keatley Lighting, John Keatley lighting technique, Keatley lighting technique, learn how to light, Lighting Setup, Lighting Technique, lighting walkthrough, photography lighting, Portrait Lighting, portrait technique, portraits explained, strobe lighting, using strobes
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
