I get a lot of questions about how I work with my subjects to make them feel comfortable.  A photographer’s interactions and technique with his or her subject(s) is one of the most important aspects of a photo shoot, next to being prepared.  I have a lot of thoughts and ideas on this subject, but one idea I thought I would share today is a giant cat face.  I don’t think I need to explain why this works, but here is how you can try it out on your own.  Place a giant cat face over your left shoulder so it is facing your subject.  This will generally help your subject feel more at ease.  If they hate cats or giant cat faces, then they may not feel so comfortable, but at least you will still get some interesting expressions.  It’s a win win for you.

Here is how you can approach it.

Subject: “What’s with the giant cat face?”

Photographer: “What giant cat face?” (It’s important to pretend you don’t know what they are talking about.)

Subject: “The one right behind you, staring at me.”

Photographer: Slowly look around the room, and then discover the giant cat face.  ”Oh, that giant cat face.  Don’t worry about him.  Dante is here to help you feel more comfortable.”

There you have it.  Now you know one way to make your subject more comfortable.  Use a giant cat face.

This has been a big year for Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks.  There has been a new company logo, the 40th anniversary of Starbucks, and Howard’s new #1 bestseller book Onward, which I shot the author portrait for as well as some pictures inside the book.  I have been keeping pretty busy photographing Howard over the past few months with everything that is going on.  Some of the images have not been released yet, but one of my favorite assignments which I can show was for The Sunday Times Magazine.  I got some great shots from this one, including this 2-page spread, and the headshot outtake.  You can click on the spread to get a closer look if you are interested.   To get the expression, I sang several songs from The Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach which I think everyone enjoyed quite a bit.  It seemed to be going well at first, but then I got distracted somewhere around Act 2 while trying to adjust my camera focus and my pitch went slightly off.  I will admit it was not my finest moment, and clearly some in the room were not impressed.  Nonetheless, my off key falsetto created a nice expression which went along perfectly with what the magazine was looking for.  Despite the successful outcome, that will most likely be the last time I ever sing at a photo shoot.

Here is my new video interview on Adorama TV, hosted by Mark Wallace.  I was really impressed with Mark’s questions, and I think the video turned out great.   Some of the questions include the gear I use, what it was like photographing Annie Leibovitz, how I approach photographing celebrities who are aligned with hot issues, and much more.  I am going to keep this pretty short because of the video, and there  isn’t really anything I need to add.  Thanks for taking a look, I hope you enjoy it.

Ever played the video game Plants Vs. Zombies?  If so, then these zombies need no introduction.  The man in the middle is John Vechey, co-founder of PopCap Games, one of the most successful casual game companies in the world.  The first game they created is Bejeweled, which has sold more than 50 million copies.  Plants Vs. Zombies is a really addictive game where you grow plants to prevent zombies from reaching your house and eating your brains.  It is surprisingly kid friendly, and one of those games you just have to see to understand.  I won’t say too much about this image because I think it is enjoyed best without explination.

I will say this was my favorite outtake from a recent shoot I did for Inc at the PopCap headquarters.  Nothing like catching a couple of zombies on break at corporate.

Twitter Updates – Follow John’s Twitter feed.
RSS Subscription – Subscribe to John Keatley Blog via RSS in a reader.
Email Updates – Sign up for email updates.

If you haven’t seen the September 2010 issue of Men’s Health yet, pick it up now.  I have 6 full pages featuring my favorite football player, Jake Locker.  This was my second time working with Jake, and he is one of the most kind and down to earth people I have photographed.  Now, I know what you are thinking.  Did he bring his pet coyote to the shoot this time?  No, he didn’t.

So, what’s up with the helmet?  And as big as this kid is, how can there be a helmet that is too big for him?  I think it was a lineman’s helmet.  Before the shoot, I requested a ball and a helmet.  Someone from the university brought us one helmet that happened to be several sizes too big.  It wasn’t until we were shooting that I asked Jake to put it on, and we discovered it wasn’t the right size.  I’m totally fine with mistakes like that, though, because it turned out to be my favorite picture from the shoot.  Fun and unexpected.  Outtakes are the best!

For those of you who don’t know, Jake was recently ranked by ESPN as the number one college player in the country.  These rankings are subject to change, but he has a legitimate shot at the Heisman this year if things continue to go well for him.  As a Husky fan, I hope things go well!

I have been working with video a lot more lately.  Some behind the scenes, and also a few photo and video assignments, as well as video only.  I really like how this video turned out, and it should give you a little glimpse into how I work on an assignment like this.

Special thanks goes out to Men’s Health Photo Editor Mark Haddad for this assignment.  I would also like to mention Affix Music which is a great resource for licensing music for slideshows, video’s etc.  Amazing customer service!  They are in the process of rolling out some new license options which will be even more specific in addressing the needs to photographers working with video.

Twitter Updates – Follow John’s Twitter feed.
RSS Subscription – Subscribe to John Keatley Blog via RSS in a reader.
Email Updates – Sign up for email updates.

*UPDATE* 8/20/2010 – The Fall internship position has been filled.  Thank you to everyone who sent in an application and expressed interest in working with us.  Check back often because we may have another opportunity in January 2011.

The office of John Keatley is now accepting applications for a fall internship.  It is unpaid, and it will run from August 31 to November 18, 2010.  The position is two days a week.  We work from a home office in West Seattle, and request that you have your own transportation (mileage will be reimbursed for any business related errands while on the clock.) We are looking for an intern who is passionate about commercial photography and has been actively involved in photography for at least two years.

Applicants must be professional, self-motivated, and have a sense of humor, physical ability to lift heavy equipment, and experience with PCs.  Internship duties will include working as 2nd or 3rd assistant at photo shoots, scheduling, marketing, general office work, work related errands, and assisting in pre-production of photo shoots.

Please submit resume with 3 references and a cover letter to nichelle@keatleyphoto.com.  We will contact you if we wish to arrange an interview; no phone calls, please.

Over the past few months, I have had several assignments featuring everyday people facing big challenges.  It’s a nice change of pace every once in a while, and I appreciate the opportunity to meet and work with people who have completely different stories than myself.  It’s a humbling feeling to photograph someone in their 4 million dollar home one day, and the next day photographing someone out in the sticks who is really excited and impressed by my Hyundai rental car.

This portrait is of an illegal immigrant who has lived and worked in America for the past 20 years.  There were no guarantees the subject would show up, which I guess is understandable considering the risks involved for her (being sent back to Mexico).  I was told I could not photograph her face, only her shadow.  However, after I met her and we talked for a while, she said she would let me photograph her from the back which is what I was hoping for.

I bought some small American flags the night before, and asked her if she would mind holding them.  She said, “No, I don’t mind holding the flags.  I love this country.”

Seattle Met / July 2010
Art Director: Benjamen Purvis

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.

My portrait of Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO, recently came out in Smart Money Magazine.  Although Jeff is well known for his healthy laugh, this is not the reaction that I expected to get when I chucked his personal Kindle over the edge of the balcony.
The Amazon people were pretty antsy to get a Kindle into the pictures.  I had not been instructed to shoot the Kindle by Smart Money, but just to be safe, I did take several frames with it in.  Then, Jeff handed his Kindle to me, and hoping to get a more serious expression, I let it fly.  To my surprise, he just laughed (pictured) and said, “I’ve got a thousand more where that came from.”
Okay, so most of that is not true, including the quote.  But Jeff is a super classy guy, and he probably would have just laughed if I had actually done something that stupid.

I took this portrait of Jonathan Poneman and Megan Jasper for Fortune Small Business last year during the Sub Pop Records 20th anniversary.  Jonathan is the co-founder of Sub Pop (Seattle, WA) and Megan is the VP.  Sub Pop is the original label of Nirvana.  A few other bands who are currently with, or used to be with the label include: Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, The Shins, Flight of the Conchords, The White Stripes and Fleet Foxes.  Thanks for the Fleet Foxes CD by the way!  Great album!

Megan has a pretty funny story about being interviewed by The New York Times back when grunge became popular.  She was asked to define “grunge” words or phrases, and she basically just made everything up.  And they printed it.  On the front page.  There is a video clip about the story (here).

My first assignment with Wired just came out in the December issue. You can see the online article with my pictures of Dan Kaminsky and Paul Vixie here. It’s a great story, and worth a read, even if you aren’t interested in secret meetings at Microsoft, and a big security flaw in the Internet. This was my second time photographing Dan Kaminsky, the hacker who discovered the hole in the Internet. It was fun to work with more familiarity than I usually get with a subject. I also flew down to San Francisco and photographed Paul Vixie at his Redwood City office. Paul is considered to be the “Godfather of DNS”.

*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).