House Boat

Its Friday! I'm finally back at home after a very, very busy work week. I can't be the only one who's looking forward to the weekend, right?

Assisted on a cool gig with Alex Hayden, on a 2 day Houseboat project for This Old House magazine!!! The resident's identity will be kept under wraps for the homeowner's protection. The houseboat value is upward in the million(s), I guestimate the size about 1000 sqft.

No need to mow the lawn...my favorite part of the houseboat was the plexiglass hole in the floorboard. That yellow spot is actually a log, part of the floating foundation of the house.Its a neat 'glass bottom' view.

Mr. Important!

A Hasselblad film body with a digital Leaf back, it produces super huge file sizes perfect for magazines, large ads and billboards. Food & Prop Stylist Molly unpacks her props into the kitchen. I love observing how stylists turn the average house and into a masterpiece! National magazines demand perfection down to the smallest detail.
A little Pacific Northwest eye-candy.

Alex specializes in food, interiors, and product photography, he has a signature 'white wash' look. His work is clean, airy, fresh, and pretty. Feels like a breezy summer day. Don't know how else to explain it! Here you can see a screen shot of the interior photo from his computer screen.

He uses grids, levelers and all sorts of tools to ensure the lines for interiors, tangents and general aestetics are 100% correct. Setting up the shot takes a few hours. As a portrait photographer shooting fleeting moments, I WISH I had the time to set up shots. Would be a cinch! Life would be easy!

Remarkably, commercial photogs say they wouldn't want to do what I do: perform under fire. But I hear the same story from wedding photogs: they lack patience to set up and deal with magazines and Art Directors. Every so often there's a person who can manage both, but for the most part photographers are better off specializing in specific genre. Last snap of the day here's Alex using a spot metering for a sunset exposure of the house.

Assisting commercially + doing production + casting models is way satisfying in addition to shooting weddings. Anything that keeps me in close contact with the best photography professionals is invaluable! I love that Alex, Chris, Remy, and Greg don't view me as competition and openly share their experiences with me, good and bad. Not everyone agrees that I should be assisting in a different field than my specialty; some photogs think I need to hyper-focus on weddings. IMO by learning about others, you explore the evolution of your business model.