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Posts Tagged ‘VA’

Personal, Photography, Travel | 0 comment

Compositions with Fog

Foggy trees make a minimal composition
Foggy trees make a minimal composition ©TimeLine Media
Foggy trees make a minimal composition ©TimeLine Media

Virginia

Fog can do a photographer a lot of favors. In our part of the world, it is not a common occurrence for us to have foggy days. So if you are looking to get images of familiar places in a new light, adding a bit of fog can be helpful. Sometimes I come upon a scene, and it is not immediately apparent where I should start. Compositions with fog gets me excited since there is a completely different feel right off the bat. I know from the beginning that I am going to get something out of the ordinary, so my creativity neurons start firing when I start looking through the camera.

Pier under a cover of fog ©TimeLine Media
Pier under a cover of fog ©TimeLine Media

Fog acts as a large light diffuser. If there is a sun above it cannot cut through the fog directly affecting your scene. It’s light is spread out across a larger area making the light cast more even. This is the reason why you see studio photographer using large boxes where they place their flashes. A larger light source will make the perceived light softer on your subjects. Fog will automatically do this for landscape scenes.

End of pier over a foggy river ©TimeLine Media
End of pier over a foggy river ©TimeLine Media

Having clear subjects in photos is also a challenge for me. Strong photographs usually have an undeniably clear main subject. With fog it can be easier to isolate a subject for your composition. Clouds in the sky can sometimes make my photos too busy – the fog took care of that problem for me! The stark emptiness adds to the mood while focusing the viewer to what ever is left in the scene. It can give a sense of melancholy, or foreboding, but it does achieve the goal of setting a mood.

Washington, DC

Foggy US Capitol Building and the Capitol Christmas tree ©TimeLine Media
Foggy US Capitol Building and the Capitol Christmas tree ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Headshots, Photography, Portrait | 0 comment

2015 Corporate Staff Portraits

Executive Business Portraits - Tysons Corner Center
2015 Corporate Staff Portraits – Tysons Corner Center

Tysons, Virginia

At the beginning of the new year, updating staff portraits is a popular assignment for me. Maybe getting a new headshot is a popular New Year’s resolution? The feeling of renewal extends to websites as well. I see lots of updates to my frequent stopping points online.

Executive Business Portraits - Tysons Corner Center
2015 Corporate Staff Portraits – Tysons Corner Center

These headshots were made in a conference room. I brought a mobile lighting setup with a white cloth backdrop. One flash through a shoot – through umbrella was the main light, and another light was placed on camera right to light the background with a little kick to the side of the face.

Staff Group Photos

CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center
CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center

This staff photo was a little nerve wracking for me. Not for anything having to do with me or my position for the photo, but for my subjects! The ice rink on the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center was the setting for this updated staff photo for CBRE. They were also the sponsor for the Zamboni machine that keeps this ice smooth. So the idea was to have the Zamboni out in the middle of the rink to provide the branding for the company as well as a focal point for the staff to pose for the photo. Because it was outside, I wanted to make the colors and faces pop from the background, so I set up one large 500 W/S flash to camera left. I did not have any modifiers on the light to ensure I got the most power out of the light that I could. I set it to ¾ power and I made a few frames.

CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center
CBRE staff photo on the Plaza ice rink at Tysons Corner Center

I did not want to have them standing out there for too long since it was cold. Not to mention it was slippery since they were out on the ice! The staff of the ice rink did have some mats to help with the traction, but I still held my breath as they walked out there carefully. I only moved two people from their initial position to make a better composition, but I luckily, the results were great right out of the camera. Whew!

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Event, Headshots, Photography | 0 comment

Blue Raster – GIS Day

Stephen Ansari - Co-Founder of Blue Raster speaking at GIS Day 2014
Blue Raster - staff and high school students at their office for GIS Day 2014
Staff and high school students at the Blue Roster office for GIS Day 2014

Arlington, VA

Last year, I covered the GIS Day activities for Blue Raster in Arlington, VA. GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems. Blue Raster is an advanced mapping technology company that uses satellite imaging, and data to help their clients find solutions. They have applications in health, environmental studies, financial impact, and other needs where mapping data can be useful for visualizing and conveying impacts for wider audiences.

Stephen Ansari - Co-Founder of Blue Raster speaking at GIS Day 2014
Stephen Ansari – Co-Founder of Blue Raster speaking at GIS Day 2014
GIS Day Demonstrations at Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media
GIS Day Demonstrations ©TimeLine Media

Blue Raster GIS Day

On this day, they brought in a group of enthusiastic high school students that are studying GIS as part of their course work. They were able to talk to the developers and staff at Blue Raster to see how they use the mapping data and make it useful for their clients. While we were there, a presentation at the White House used some of their visualizations for a live address!

GIS Day Demonstrations at Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media
Viewing a map application with students ©TimeLine Media

A demonstration of their capabilities was even tried in real time as the students went outside with mobile devices. Outside the offices, they were able to use the Blue Raster software to mark the type of trees in the area. With teams working together, they were able to generate some interesting data very quickly about the vegetation in the area. It was easy to see how this kind of application would be helpful for those wanting to do something similar to study farming, water resourcing, or any other application that would rely on accurate mapped data that could not be found from satellite imaging alone.

Staff Headshots

Michael Lippman - Co-Founder of Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media
Michael Lippman – Co-Founder of Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media
Stephen Ansari - Co-Founder of Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media
Stephen Ansari – Co-Founder of Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media

While I was at their headquarters, I took some time to make some headshots of some of the staff. Luckily, they had some nicely colored blue walls to match with their corporate branding. With some lighting setup it was easy to get a nice consistent look to all of the photos for their website. It would make for a nice cohesive look to their staffing photos.

Headshots on location at Blue Raster ©TimeLine Media
On location headshots in Arlington, Virginia ©TimeLine Media

Thanks to the team at Blue Raster! I really enjoyed learning about the power of GIS data and I received a nice education on how it can be useful for solving larger problems. Viewing maps had been a hobby with mine. My father impressed the importance of reviewing things like maps for trips, and development for new buildings. Since the early internet, satellite imagery starting with the Microsoft Terra Server and onto the newest mapping apps that we have today has been useful not only for my business, but for my own curiosity. What an interesting job the people at Blue Raster have!

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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