TEDxTysons held Concrete Jungle – another salon event at WeWork – Tysons last month. By comparison, this had an intimate feeling – a smaller room with the audience in closer contact. The salon was setup as an event for presentation on developments in our growing urban area. For this reason, horticulturists and landscape designers were the main presenters.
In contrast to the enormous auditoriums of their previous events, the audience was really shoulder to shoulder this evening. It had the feeling of a dinner party compared to a corporate convention. In short, it was what I had preconceived what a salon would be.
The WeWork in Tysons was the venue on this occasion. Seeing that they had a space filled with natural light from the large windows with natural surfaces on their walls, it set the scene nicely.
This JB Branding session was a referral from Nam Nguyen. JB is one of his clients, and she was looking to upgrade her personal images. Seeing that these would be used for different purposes, the shoot involved different looks. When I arrived, Nam was finishing with her makeup. For the first setup, we went out to the garden. Since this was one of her passions, she wanted to have action photos of her working there. Due to the beautiful but large tree in her backyard, I brought out a large flash to light up her face. Balancing the flash with the tones of her plants, we had a natural look to these images that don’t look too artificial.
After changing out of her gardening clothes, she put on a solid top. Whenever I do a portrait shoot, I take time for a simple headshot. Because they are useful for many situations, I do this with every subject given that they have the time.
Similar to the gardening photos outside, we made some photos of her arranging flowers inside. In order to make sure she popped out of a very colorful frame, we chose a dark blue top. This color really complimented the colorful flowers!
During a free weekend, we visited the 2016 Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Butterflies LIVE! was open in a special collection, so we made the trip to Richmond. Given that this was our first visit to this garden, we were really impressed! My uncle is an excellent gardener so he was excited about looking at their displays in particular the irises.
Flower photography compared to other genres of photography is both difficult and easy. Why? Your subject does not move. In order to get different angles, you can move yourself and work the scene. Second, this subject has great colors to work with! Similarly to a model with colorful dresses, flowers have many combinations to work with. On the other hand, it can be difficult to master flower photography. Since it is easy to see the beauty in a flower, and because they are plentiful, there are so many examples out there! To standout, you would have to have many factors come together to make a flower photo stand out. Sine this was just a family trip to the gardens, I do not think any of these are anything to write home about. I did have some ideas for future visits – hopefully I’ll get some before the flowers go this season!
This weekend, there were butterflies on display in a section of the garden. Given that this was the first time I have been in an indoor butterfly garden, it was a bit unnerving for me! Once I got used to the very thin, flying creatures in the room, I was able to attempt some photos. Even though these are not as prevalent as flower photos, I still did not get anything that notable. I did enjoy the day with the family, and that was goal for the day anyway!
