Jessica Gwozdz Photography - Chicago maternity, newborn, child, and family photographer » glenview senior portraits

Highlights from Off Camera Flash Workshop

Jes — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:58:42 +0000

I feel so fortunate to have been able to participate in an off-camera flash workshop this week, sponsored by CPPA and taught by Bob Harrington from Focus in Close in Connecticut. I am the vice-president of CPPA this year, so I was heavily involved in the planning of this event. I am grateful to my awesome niece and two of her friends from high school for being willing to model for the workshop. Honestly, we could not have hired better models from an agency! Look at how gorgeous these girls are, plus the great wardrobes they brought along with them were just perfect. They all had awesome attitudes and were really patient as the photographers tried the different lighting techniques we were learning.

It ended up being a bit rainy that day, so we didn’t get to do as much open outdoor shooting as I had hoped. I think the biggest thing I leaned at this workshop is to think outside of the box. The bulk of the images you see here were shot in a parking garage. This is not a location I would normally consider shooting it, but I am stunned at the amazing results. This location might not be the best idea for photographing small kids, but for high school seniors I think it’s absolutely perfect.

All of the images you see here were shot with either one or two speedlights (SB800′s in this case) on stands or somehow otherwise supported or balanced off the camera.

Thanks to Bob Harrington, my fellow photographers who participated in the workshop, and of course our fantastic models. I enjoyed spending the day with all of you, and now I have a brand new set of creative tools to add to my lineup.

Mark’s Senior Portraits

Jes — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:50:32 +0000

(Click large image, and hold your mouse over the right side to scroll to next image)

notre-dame-high-school-niles northbrook-senior-photographer park-ridge-senior-photographer chicago-senior-portraits niles-senior-portraits chicago-senior-photography chicago-senior-photographer glenview-senior-photography

I had so much fun photographing Mark earlier this week. When his mom first called me, she told me about a couple of more traditional poses she’d like to emulate that would be similar to portraits she had ordered of Mark’s older brother. She said that once we got those shots out of the way, Mark was open to do whatever I wanted. I asked his mom about his personality, his interests and hobbies, etc. I explained that if he played baseball, for example, we could do something totally wacky like having him throw a flaming baseball. It turns out that Mark is indeed a pitcher for his high school baseball team and during the session his mother was joking about how Mark can “throw fire.” Hence the flaming baseball shot was born!

After we did some studio shots, we went over to Notre Dame High School. That was really fun because I went to an all-girls high school (no longer open), and Notre Dame is an all-boys school that was one of the brother schools to my school. My own brother and my husband went to Notre Dame as did several of my friends, so it was neat to be back there for this shoot.

Mark, it was a pleasure meeting you! I appreciate your easy-going attitude and willingness to go along with some of my silly ideas. I hope you like your sneak peek. Your full proof gallery will be ready soon!