Artist Self Portrait Update

I always find myself preaching to everyone to update their portraits, yet here I am needing one! So here’s to my artist self portrait update.

Deep down I’ve been itching for a little pop of color for a backdrop and I just adore the color pink. So I walked down to Webb Cam around the corner and purchased this coral colored seamless background. It wasn’t very heavy, so I walked back with it, climbed up my ladder, and positioned myself to pose.

I used my favorite camera, the Nikon D3X, also Joe Chielli’s favorite go to camera, and held onto my work horse camera, the Nikon D850 with a 105mm lens. Lately I’ve been attached to my prime lenses and not so much my zoom lenses. However on the Nikon D3X I mounted my 24-70mm so I could also capture the whole room and in tight. The 24-70 mm is a great zoom lens for events too. I don’t photograph many events these days but when I did I loved this lens.

The ladder in the shot is something I use often in studio. Most don’t realize the value of a ladder in studio unless they are in my line of work. I also included my Profoto light, light stand on wheels, and beauty dish, as I used this set up often for headshots and beauty portraits. My main light I used a large white umbrella at a 95 degree angle, simple yet effective.

Maybe this is obvious but I mounted my Nikon D3X on a tripod and used my timer to take the shots. I suppose this is what happens when you are all by yourself and have no assistants around – you improvise. Besides without Joe Chielli alive and here to capture me, I don’t really know any other photographers to do the job, so timer it was.

I hope you enjoyed this series of portraits. -If you didn’t notice already, I also featured the cover shot on the homepage.

Cheers