Heath's Blog

Spring is Here

2011-12-23T11:24:00.006-05:00

We had two more days with BJ's this week for spring shoots. I love creating sets that look real and Verne Cordova is the master of doing just that. Here is a peak at the other two shoots we completed.

We had nearly 3 tons of patio stone and and we still had to move it around to create the shot.

The main shot

Moving the stone for the left side

Another look

and moving it again for the umbrella and the back

The last day was on a porch

It was a little more relaxing without all the stone to move

Except for Verne...

New Space and New Productions

2011-12-20T18:12:00.006-05:00

We really put the new additional space to our studio to good use today. We built a garden patio for BJ's and started building 2 other sets at the same time for shoots over the next 2 days.

I have to say it was really nice to be able to spread out and still go back into the main space where it was still clean and organized...almost like there wasn't a shoot happening. Quite a feat considering we had 2 tons of patio stone, 2 patio sets and enough lumber to build the exterior wall of a house.

and then we began prep for tomorrow and Thursday:

yes, that is my head against the ceiling...

BCAE Class

2011-09-26T15:35:00.005-04:00

Last weekend I taught a class at the Boston Center for Adult Education called Edible Exposure: Photographing Food. Maria Sacasa was with me answering what everyone always wants to know about how food is styled for advertising. It was a great day and I hope educational for all those that attended. Our production assistant Emily Knudsen took the class as well, and provided the following photos.

Polaroids

2011-08-08T15:14:00.005-04:00

There was a time, "way back in the old days" (as my assistants like to say) when I had to shoot polaroids. I always used my assistants as stand-ins while we set up the lighting and there were some really funny and some really weird expressions that I caught. For a while we saved them all and had them tacked up in the studio and then, of course we went digital. Up until recently, All the stand in digital shots were deleted (I didn't think there was storage space for bored, goofy looking assistants in strange environments...). Then, my assistants decided to start posing and I had to start saving some of them.

The Met Back Bay

2011-06-21T12:00:00.007-04:00

Over the years we have shot at all of Kathy Trustman's restaurants . This year has been focused on the Met Back Bay which has a great ham and cheese bar, and a number of cool rooms as well as some fantastic outdoor seating. The following is a sampling of the food there. Try not to drool on your keyboard....

To see the whole menu go to http://metbackbay.com/ If you go ask for Kathy or Stephen and tell them I sent you. I can promise you'll have a great meal!

"How did you do that?"

2011-05-31T09:19:00.012-04:00

Quite often I get the same question from people about some of my bigger lifestyle productions: "How did you do that?" The answer is of course a little more complicated and detailed than I could explain here but I thought I would give a general explanation of one one of my favorite shots.

The thought process:
For years I had this image in my head of a middle school dance. For me that was back in the late 70's and I can always remember the bleachers in the gym, the way the guys held the girls and vice versa, the glow of the exit signs in the dark, and the horrible food and punch. One day when going over some of the wordplays I saw "YeaHRight" and the idea of a geeky guy and beautiful girl came to mind. Right after that the image of the dance came up and I knew I had to make the image.

The pre-production process:
This stage is critical for a smooth production. I never skimp here, to do so invites disaster the day of your shoot.

My first concern is always location. It can make or break a big production. Where is it? How much will it cost? Can it be lit the way I want the shot to appear? Is it available when we need it? Are there any restrictions? When I have only a short period of time and I have no idea where to find it, I hire a good location scout otherwise I go straight to areas I think might have it. In this case, I went straight to our high school in Dover/Sherborn and luckily it was perfect. Had it not been we would have started calling all the schools in the surrounding towns and asking all the questions above. Once I found the location I went back a second time with my assistant to map out our lighting plan and all the equipment we would need.

The second most critical piece is talent. If you need a certain look, or your models to be able to pull off an expression,emotion or some kind of action you have to do a casting. I always try to do my own castings. I like to see the models in front of the camera and I make them do exactly what I will need from them on the actual shoot day. I look for whether they are comfortable or versatile. If they seem awkward, stiff or uncomfortable they dont make the list no matter how gorgeous they may be. Never cast from comp cards!!! The models always look different from their cards. On one shoot that was cast that way the client chose a kid who showed up missing a front tooth and then refused to smile. Ended up taking hours to coax one out of him.

For this shoot not only did I cast but I put them in a similar lighting situation and made them dance together

I was looking for whether as teens, they were comfortable getting close to each other as well as a look that would clearly show the stretch of the pairing.. both of those things might be tough on a 15 year old so I had to seem them do it ahead of time. Why I do the castings personally, is because the casting shots don't always convey the potential of every model as was the case with this shoot.

The final piece of this is picking your crew. Good stylists are so critical for a shoot of this size. We talk in length about style, the overall look of the shoot, do we want it to be over the top with humor? Should it feel 70's or contemporary? What should they wear? Whats in the background and so forth. For this shoot we hired Verne Cordova.

He is a master at props and wardrobe and does both equally as well! He never fails to surprise me with something on every shoot that I hadn't thought about before hand and it usually is a huge contribution to the shot. That's what makes a good stylist, great! Not to mention that he has everyone laughing all day long.

The production process:
For hair we hired Alyssa Vachon and for make up Audrey Berman. Good hair and make up stylists are needed for obvious reason but I always look for ones that can understand the look I am going for.

The final piece is your assistants and producer. Your assistants need to be hard working, fast and organized. In my case they work full time for me and if we hire additional freelancers then my assistants are in charge them on set and tell them exactly what we need. Your producer needs to be organized and everywhere at once. Is the client comfortable? Is lunch arriving on time. Does everyone have directions. Is everything set with the location? The talent? Jenna, is of course, all of this and more. She is the ultimate task master.... right down to making sure I always have a cup of coffee close at hand!

After that I start shooting and I just keep talking with the talent moving things here and there until that image that was in my head shows up on my monitor. The more meticulous you are on the pre-production the faster that happens.For this shot it came rather quickly.

For more production stills of this shoot you can go back to the blog I posted in May of 2010

Bully Boy Distillery

2011-05-24T17:04:00.006-04:00

Small world story: I got featured on Chronicle and Bully Boy Distillers saw it right around the time they were looking for someone to take pictures of their product and distillery. Turns out the 2 owners Will and Dave are the sons of Sally and Dudley Willis who have a farm in Sherborn (where I live) and where I buy all my beef every year... I love it when that happens.

Since I am all about supporting local and their family is both local and provides me with of some of the best beef on the planet, this was a match made in heaven. Ohh, and it didn't hurt that they were very cool people to begin with.

The product. We also shot their Rums and Vodka

The owners

The process

The end result!

Pajama Party

2011-05-10T15:03:00.002-04:00

Remember sleepovers?

Mine were a little different than this one (picture lots of soda, comics, baseball cards and staying up to watch Saturday Night Live) but we thought it would be fun to shoot a 7th grade sleepover and what girls would be doing these days if they had their choice of activities. Judging by the reaction of my models and my own girls who aspire to be that age, we seem to have nailed it.

Here's my new food and lifestyle imagery for the tweens:

We shot on location at my house

Coco Grace did a fantastic job as usual with the hair & make up

Verne Cordova, did all the props and wardrobe, and he matched the set with his own ensemble

The lovely Maria del Mar Sacasa was in charge of food and the kids were pysched about that one

Particularly my youngest, Trinity, who came home from school and almost fainted from excitement over all the sugar in her kitchen

I think these are hysterical because she barely left my side and I was inundated with the questions about when it would be her turn...

Our models, from Model Club and Dynasty, were fantastic and kept their drool to a minimum

Then there was Jason and our new intern Drew who pretended to do a lot of work but actually sat on my couch all day..

Here are a couple of the final images:

BJ's Party Planning

2011-05-05T14:08:00.006-04:00

We have started to shoot video and I've really been enjoying going from still to motion. Part of why I like shooting both food and lifestyle is that the images I shoot are always changing and going from one specialty to the other keeps everything fresh for me. Shooting video is allowing me to expand that in a whole new way.

At the end of March we were doing a shoot for BJ's for their party planning guide and we did the video at the same time. It was a packed couple of days with 2-3 sets going at the same time.

We started with a few ingredients for the bakery portion...

Verne and Polly discussing the next still shot while we shoot video

Always the life of the party!

Maria had to touch up a cake or two after Jason poked them...

Next up was deli platters and sandwiches

Rest assured no one went hungry, my kids went nuts with the cake I brought home and St. Bridget's Food pantry here in Framingham got enough food to feed half the town!

I'm lovin' it!

2011-05-05T11:19:00.008-04:00

We recently had the pleasure of working with the great team at Arnold Worldwide, Boston shooting the McDonald's account. We had three days and shot 2 separate campaigns slated to appear in outdoor venues in New York and D.C. this summer. Thanks to a fantastic team, it was a really fun three days!

Snow Day

2011-04-04T10:14:00.005-04:00

On the day of that last really big snow storm in February we were scheduled to shoot at Stonehearth Pizza in Needham. It was quite a ride getting there, I think what normally takes 20 mins took over an hour but we made it.

How can you go wrong being snowed in when surrounded by all that great food.

Here are some of the finished shots:

Hannaford Shoots this winter

2011-04-01T12:37:00.010-04:00

We had a fun winter shooting with Hannaford. We even got the special treat of working with Kevin Miller a few times since they were doing a bunch of video of our still shoots and then Carolyn Bowes had her baby a few weeks early! Congratulations to Carolyn and her baby girl Grayling! We're looking forward to shooting with her when she gets back.

Our spring sandwich shoot

Catrine worked very hard that day

and so while Carolyn and I worked...

Catrine and Mike played (they're playing badminton!)

The final spread

Moving on to soups

So serious, what am I thinking about?... I look like I'm mad at the food

Catrine on the other hand...

Coffee, bean juice, black gold, morning thunder, brain juice, the elixer of life, what would we (I) do without it?

I just love playing with the light in my studio as it moves and since Hannaford likes using just natural light I get to do it all day long

Kevin and his adorable (and extremely well behaved) daughter

Emily, she's always smiling

It's infectious....

One of my favorite covers that we shot

Where did the time go?

2011-03-25T14:05:00.006-04:00

Last time I checked it was December. At least according to my blog schedule. Just never seemed to be able to get around to it, but then that's simply an excuse.

Back in January, I had the privilege to be featured on Channel 5's Chronicle program. They covered me shooting for Stop & Shop in the studio as well as on location in The Met Club in Back Bay. It was a little strange to see myself on TV but also a really nice acknowledgment.

Here are some production stills of the shoots as well as a link to the actual program.

Jen Costello styling the roast!

The fabulous Verne Cordova styling our set

I post these pics and wonder what I was saying... the body language here reminds me of my dad. Jenna's expression tells me I must have been talking like him too :)

Jen has now moved on to Austin TX to open a restaurant. We will miss her!!!

A little weird to be on the other side of the camera

and here is the link to the segment that aired:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/26439058/detail.html

Tis' the Season

2010-12-16T15:01:00.007-05:00

Or it least it was.. back in October. That's when we were shooting Holiday stuff. sometimes it's even earlier but this year seemed to be concentrated in October. Here's a look at our shoot for BJ's.

You start with a layout

Add in a few props...

Mix in some coffee and a few laughs

Throw in some food styled by Maria Del Mar Sacasa

This is why you should never photograph someone chewing...

Meanwhile across the studio not a creature is stirring except Sara who is busy styling the gift guide cover

Which is where we moved to after lunch

a little Christmas morning light

and we're good to go

Happy Holidays everyone!

Mario Batali Ad

2010-12-07T12:37:00.004-05:00

I blogged about our trip back in August to NYC to photograph Mario and here is the final ad.

It was an interesting shoot because we had no food for the shot with Mario. So we had to make notes everything we did from angles to lighting and then shoot it later back in the studio. I wanted to make sure the food was lit well but also looked like it was part of the same scene where we shot Mario. BJ's put together the final image.

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Heath Robbins Photography is an award winning Boston food and lifestyle photographer. His clients include those needing advertising photography, corporate photography and editorial photography. His studio, located just outside of Boston is ideal for all types of photography shoots. He is also available to photograph food or lifestyle on location. Call or email his rep Jenna Teeson for more information. http://www.heathrobbins.com

House Progress

2010-11-10T12:42:00.008-05:00

It's getting there... we are almost finished!

Because of our home improvement saga (our contractor has disappeared) and so many others that I've been told about, I took another look at how I run my business in comparison. The two most important things I demand to run my business are integrity and efficiency. I drill that home to my staff so much they think I'm a nut case. I have never gone over on an estimate, ever, and I never will. If I tell you I can do it for that I will. Then I set out not only to make sure that happens but to make sure everyone on my staff ,the clients, and all our support crew are getting what they need and having a good time in the process. I only hire people that are organized and efficient which ensures that every production is smooth thus allowing room for creativity rather than worry. Finally, I make sure everyone knows the number one priority is to make sure our clients are taken care of. It's what I pride myself on it and it's one reason my clients keep coming back.

So now I'm the GC and I'm running this project like I would my business. In the last 2 weeks I hired a carpenter, electrician, plumber, roofer and painter. I got the garage floor poured, the house sealed up, the fireplace finished, the kitchen counters installed, the trim work finished, hired a tile person, the garage is getting insulated and sheet rocked as we speak and the doors installed next week. We should be living in the new space next month.

All the subs are terrific and every day there is a ton of progress. Best of all, come December we will be able to shoot in a brand new location with absolutely gorgeous light... my new kitchen.

Dave Nyren did our stonework. Terrific guy and gorgeous work!

Walter Lane did our cabinets. Another good guy who we were really pleased with!

Selva Stone made our granite counters we picked the slab and he installed them 4 days later.

I called Dan White about my floors and he was pouring them the following day.

This is Howard Peer and his crew... we love them!

You cant imagine how happy it made us just to see switches instead of wires.

Oh yeah, I got the grass re-seeded too...

Breaking Bread

2010-11-04T13:38:00.005-04:00

We shot a great ad for Wellsley Farms bread with BJ's in September. I loved the concept the minute Polly showed it to me and it was a ton of fun to create. Jen Costello was our food stylist and the task was to build a sculpture out of bread loaves. You'd be surprised at what it takes to stack bread... at least the way we did it.

The final ad:

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Heath Robbins Photography is an award winning Boston food and lifestyle photographer. His clients include those needing advertising photography, corporate photography and editorial photography. His studio, located just outside of Boston is ideal for all types of photography shoots. He is also available to photograph food or lifestyle on location. Call or email his rep Jenna Teeson for more information. http://www.heathrobbins.com

Stop & Shop Food Day

2010-10-20T09:03:00.005-04:00

A quick look at our food day for Stop & Shop. Same crew, except Jenn Costello from Team was styling our food and this time around she and Verne had a whole spread to do. It was gorgeous as usual and such a pleasure to work with those two!

Jessica and Jenna

Going over layouts with James

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

If you look closely at this one Verne has said something that has everyone cracking up...

Lindsay working away

Stop & Shop - It's Holiday Season!

2010-10-18T13:50:00.002-04:00

We did a two day shoot for Stop & Shop again last week. For the lifestyle day we shot a time lapse view of the shoot taken from the back of the living room location we were on. It condenses 9 hours into about 2 minutes. I particularly like watching Verne create his magic, the little girls running into the room at lunch, and then Mike at the end. Always a good time....

ArcH Rival

2010-10-18T12:19:00.012-04:00

Shot a new promotion a couple weeks ago. Took months to find the right location. I needed a white picket fence and 2 houses very close to each other. My original idea was to have the fence go right down in between the houses and have a housewife on either side. After six weeks of searching by us, scouts and even some of our clients I became convinced that specific location doesn't exist around here. I could have gone out to Ohio but instead I chose to modify my idea and started looking for a variation on the theme. I actually believe it works better than the original concept in communicating the idea. I finally found it in a new development going up and we used the model home to stage the talent and crew.

As usual we had an incredible crew Verne Cordova, is by all accounts, the master with props and wardrobe and Kathleen Schiffmann did an amazing job on the hair and make up! I couldn't have done this without Amy Harden and Susan Georges from Maggie Inc., two very talented women who nailed the look I wanted and were a ton of fun to work with! Whit our intern took all these great production pictures showing what a great time we had, and he and Mike did a terrific job managing the lighting and location specifics that needed to be moved around.

Our location...

Mapping out the lighting

Kathleen with Amy

Susan in wardrobe

Amy all ready to go

I love the height difference with Kathleen and the models

I didn't do nearly as good a job at looking "sweet and evil"

I gotta bring a step stool for Kathleen on the next one

Only Verne could get away with that move

I love the guys watching from behind me...

Here is the final image:

Fishing in Canada

2010-09-30T11:19:00.006-04:00

This is one of my favorite trips. My cousin Steve has a cabin in the Georgian Bay Islands about 2.5 hrs north of Toronto. Beautiful spot... awesome fishing! We used to go every year when my Dad was around, now with kids and busy work schedules it's an every other year event. It's a 3 day fishing tournament with the biggest prize being the Oh Canada Cup awarded to the man with the most fish over the 3 days. I go with my cousins and brothers and for me it's a perfect long weekend. Great friends, good food and big fish.

The biggest prize, however, is in my opinion, one we all get every day - the shore lunch. We keep the fish we catch in the morning - Northern Pike, and fry them up over a fire along with home fried potatoes and onions. It's a meal that simply can't be beat.

The area is incredibly beautiful...

My cousin Steve with a spectacular Bass

This was a fish I caught the first morning. 8lbs about 36". That's my brother Tom next to me.

This was it for lunch

The shore lunch cooks position: bent over, squinting through smoke

Steve Bogart, really good guy... even better hat

and better still a great fisherman

Despite Steve's prowess, I must confess that I won the Cup once again...only this time despite a sizable lead on the last afternoon my brother Chris came back from a big deficit to tie me. You gotta love it!

Yankee Magazine shoots

2010-09-20T11:00:00.007-04:00

It was a fun summer shooting with Yankee. In addition to the regular editorial shoots we do with them, this summer we shot a "bookazine". It's basically a cookbook in the form of the magazine. The recipes were great and I am told that people are raving about the issue which comes out this fall.
Here's a number of production stills from the process shot by Mike and Whit.

Have a few props...

No assistants... where is everybody?

Probably helping Lori unpack and re-pack all the props

Still no assistants anywhere in sight... Mike are you reading this?

Guess this is what he was so busy doing...

Maya was helping Catrine out

Then it was off to Catrine's house for a shoot inside and outside in her gorgeous garden!

It's a French thing.....

Lunch outside was perfect

This is Caper, Catrine's dog... only Catrine would name her dog after a food

Here are a few of the final shots that are on the newsstands now

Japanese Cookbook

2010-09-13T16:52:00.006-04:00

We shot another cookbook with Deb Samuels recently. Catrine styled and propped it and Deb had a crew of assistants helping her out in the kitchen. It was a very aggressive shooting schedule with 7 days of shooting and multiple set ups each day. Given the number of shots needed we used available light as often as possible and we moved around a lot depending on the dish and the props needed. Inside, outside , front porch, back porch and rotating surfaces and props with every shot. It was fascinating to me to see how particular the Japanese are about certain things, like where the chopsticks must be placed and which direction they point in relative to the dish. Here are some of the production stills shot by our intern Whit Haynes.

This was a "sushi party" scene

For this "how to" shot we had lights outside blasting into the kitchen.

Cutting some ingredients from Deb's garden for one of the dishes

Another "how to" process shot

Deb needed a little realignment of the knife relative to the camera...

There's Elsa- she was always shadowing me with that camera of hers.

One of the best parts of this shoot was that we got to eat everything for lunch...sooo good!

They brought out a cake for my birthday!

I know what Deb was thinking. My question is what was Mike thinking in this picture?

Another book finished...

Water

2010-09-09T11:56:00.004-04:00

Had a great weekend in Vermont over Labor Day. The last day in our pond up there and the kids took every advantage of it. Not wanting to miss out on the fun I decided to join them and play with my Canon G10 and the underwater housing.

House Construction June/July

2010-09-08T13:34:00.008-04:00

The house looks like it's in the final stages but there is so much more to go. HVAC isn't in or the finished electrical or plumbing, roof isn't done etc.. etc... but it LOOKS like it's done... and except for the counters the kitchen is pretty much complete as of today!

Here's a look at June and July

The house in early June

The grass started coming in and they started the deck

This was June... it still pretty much looks exactly the same

The front entrance area was finished and looks great!

The sheet rockers came in and they moved very fast. I barely had time to shoot any pictures

Isabella wanted to know when I was going to be done...

The finished sheet rock made us feel like we were getting close

Then Tidi came in to do the floors - great guy and he does beautiful work. Fast work. They laid the floors and stained them in less than 3 days. I went out of town came back and they were done...

This was just after the polyurethane but you can see the color- it's exactly what we wanted

Then in July they started on the kitchen cabinets

Outside they were putting the siding on the garage. It will be treated with bleaching oil and made to look like an old barn attached to the house. The grass, however got washed out in the week of torrential downpours we had and and then burned out in the following 2 weeks of 90+ degree heat. How do you like my crabgrass?

Through all of this the kids were mostly oblivious. Just preoccupied with finding ways to have fun and stay cool. Ohhh to be a kid again...

Catrine Kelty & Hannaford

2010-09-07T10:33:00.005-04:00

One of the food stylists I work with on Hannaford, BJ's and Dancing Deer among others is Catrine Kelty. She is fast, efficient and as good with the food props as she is with the food. Last week while editing a few of the Hannaford jobs I came across a number of images of her which I thought was indicative of how she starts the day and how she ends it... too funny.

Always the professional...

and always an adventure....

House construction: May 2010

2010-09-02T14:13:00.007-04:00

We are still building. Yes, it's true, no joke, they are still building and the new end date is November. Yes.... I said November.

This blog however, is about May and there was a bunch of stuff happening then:

This was our kitchen the day before they broke through to the old part of the house

We let the kids draw on the cabinets which they thought was the best

This is our new kitchen and has been now for 3 months. Gotta love all the counter space

Here is the other side of the kitchen

Then they opened it up again

Which was cool because I liked the new angles to shoot

They also put in all the insulation. They subbed this one out and it took 3 days..very cool.

and they put up the old barn beams in the great room

Last but not least, we graded and seeded the back

June came very, very fast....

Environmentally Friendly

2010-08-16T09:18:00.006-04:00

My studio is located in an old mill building right next to the Sudbury River. It's a beautiful spot and I love the view out the windows. The view, however, has been "muddied" so to speak by people throwing things in the river. We had been looking at this one red bike on the far bank for about a month and finally decided it was time to clean up the river.

So Mike and Whit went down and cleaned up the section from the waterfall down to the bend beyond the mills parking lot. The stuff they found was pretty remarkable: 6 bikes, a grocery cart, one car wheel, half a skateboard, a trash can, dog poop in a bag and even a tool belt and pair of pants.

Thanks for the effort boys!

Shooting Mario Batali

2010-08-06T12:46:00.007-04:00

What a nice guy. BJ's hired us to go down to New York this week and shoot Mario in his restaurant Otto. We had a really great time with Cindi and even with only a short time with Mario we got just the shot we were looking for. He was very gracious and very professional and very easy to shoot. Here's a glimpse of our trip.

Checked in at the Bowery Hotel. Nice spot. Cool keys.

Then Mike and I went for lunch

Found this along the way. Only in NYC

This was the lunch spot: Freemans

Despite the look Mike quite enjoyed his meal

mine was OK....

Then it was back to the hotel to meet Cindi

and a short walk to the restaurant for our scout

Cool place

We needed the right background for an "old world" feel

The next morning at breakfast Cindi was ready

not so sure about Mike....

and like that it was over and time to head back to Boston

It was all good...

Can you say steak?

2010-07-30T15:12:00.002-04:00

Among other very tasty things. We shot at Grill 23 on Wednesday. Haven't been there in quite some time....the food was just as good as I remembered it being. Snacked all afternoon on steak with horseradish sauce served on slices of French bread. That was after the bacon cheeseburgers and fries we had for lunch and just before the caramels and chocolates we shot later in the day. No wonder my workout the next morning was so hard..but ohh so worth it.

No stylists on this one just me, chef and my tweezers

and Mike and Whit of course.

Here are some of the finished shots:

BJ's: Spring 2010

2010-07-27T16:20:00.006-04:00

A glimpse of a few of our shoots with BJ's this spring and summer. They are a fantastic client to work with. Fun, easy going, very creative and we love working with them!

I had my daughter Trinity with me one morning so Catrine got an assistant for a short while

Polly, Catrine and me... having a moment?

There's mischief in those eyes of hers, not sure about the hair...

That's Kerry in the foreground, she just had her baby!!!

Jenna's dog Charlie Brown, how could you resist?

See what I mean about the mischief.

Cindi and I in the prop room

I wonder how many cups I was up to in this shot?

Waiting for approvals is always fun. I'm pretty sure Cindi mopped up the table with me

That's Catrine's daughter Maya on the right helping her out one day

I think I'm being given a lesson in direction

Check out these mug shots:

Whit our intern for the summer. Think he fits in?

The boys fixin' my light!

As long as Polly is happy...

House Construction March/April

2010-07-07T11:54:00.007-04:00

This blogging thing while fun is almost impossible to keep up with when you're busy. Being busy is always a good thing though - I always say "I'd rather be behind my cameras than my desk". In addition to all the client work we've had, we've shot a number of new promo images which hopefully I will get to post here one of these days. By the way, feel free to drop me an email if you keep coming back and there is nothing new here - give me a hard time about it, that usually works..

In the meantime, here's a look at my personal project documenting our house construction during the months of March and April.

Electrical got started...

We're going to need to label the switches there are so many of them...

New kitchen wall

View through closets into the great room

Playroom ceiling

New entrance area and in the back where we will break through to the house

I got bored inside so I went up on the roof looking for some new angles

Siding.. no more listening to the rustling of Tyvek all night

Most exciting, however, was that the dirt pile I called my entrance for 9 months, finally got completed. Louis Raymond designed this beautiful space and Jaimee from EJ Corona did such an awesome job building it- absolutely beautiful stonework!

Stop & Shop - School's Out!

2010-06-02T12:23:00.008-04:00

Kids, kids and more kids! Shooting with Digitas and Stop & Shop recently and we needed 20 extra's all between the age of 6-11 in the background of a "last day of school" shot. Because it was at a school we had to shoot on a Saturday but I didn't mind partly because it was so much fun and partly because my kids and all their friends were the extra's. As is often the case these days, we had to figure out how to come up with 20 extras without breaking the bank. So we offered them small gift cards and and ice cream party at the end. One email and 3 hours later we had 20 kids lined up!

Because of the time of day and the angle of the school entrance we ended up lighting everyone to fill in all the shadows. We set up a small studio in the back of my truck on the street so we could see the images, as I shot, on a cover overlay. Verne Cordova and Michelle McGrath did such a great job with the kids inside the school lunch room which with 22 models is no easy task. Then it was positioning the kids in the right spot with the right action and then getting them to run at camera over and over and over! They were such troopers!

Setting up

Michelle making Celeste look perfect

a little direction

James and I checking the images in my makeshift sudio

meanwhile in the lunchroom...

a little more direction during a break

waiting for the sun to come back out

ready, set, go!

Verne was very pleased

and then it was time for ice cream!!

with a little help from mom's, dad's and Jessica!

What could be better?

BJ's: Matching Layouts

2010-05-13T16:50:00.002-04:00

Had a great time shooting with Cindy today. Had to match two of her layouts that involved small pieces of paper and post it notes. How did we do it? Cut, paste, move, repeat... a couple hundred times. We used an overlay of the layout over the image to match it to. It was actually fun and Sara Mills-Broffman did a great job getting it perfect.

High School Prom

2010-05-06T14:23:00.009-04:00

As part of our ongoing HR promotions we recently shot another fun image. I've been wanting to make this picture for some time now and it was so satisfying to complete the image that's been living in my head. The crew was spectacular and I couldn't have done it without them. Verne Cordova was our prop and wardrobe stylist and he never ceases to amaze me with his talent. From the powder blue tux to the disco ball, he really made this shot look fantastic. We had Audrey Berman doing the make up and Alyssa Vachon was our hair stylist and everyone looked like they were headed out on prom night. Mike and I had done a lighting test in the studio the week before when we cast this so we had a diagram to work from in setting everything up. The biggest challenge, of course, was the 30ft ceiling... but Mike loves that kind of challenge.

Arrival and set up begins

I love how they packed the disco ball

Love this one, Mike 30ft up and the guy reading the paper below

Alyssa and Emilee

This was too funny

But this was even funnier, what does Jenna think she's going to do if the ladder starts to fall?

The rig on the disco ball wasn't the strongest so Mike did his best McGyver

Audrey working some magic on Ariella

Noah, Emilee and Ariel

I think Mike's brain started to hurt

Verne with some final touches

The parent peanut gallery...

The kids during a break

The whole crew!!

I really have to hand it to Keenan Cochrane and Ariella Darvish they really nailed the expression and moment I was looking for in this final image:

BJ's Journal

2010-04-16T12:32:00.003-04:00

Had a great day with Polly yesterday. There was much seriousness in the morning, I must have only been on my first cup of coffee. But as I moved into my second and third I started to be my normal self....

and look what we had here today...mommies Jenna and Kerry due June and July!

Slowly but surely

2010-04-01T10:58:00.005-04:00

January and February. A few delays but made some progress. Can actually see a little light at the end of the tunnel. They are doing beautiful work but it's is moving very, very slowly and that's really not my speed in life: picture type A individual tapping his foot as he watches the progress.

Olivia's Organics

2010-03-25T14:30:00.006-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of working with Rachel Greenstein at Warner Communications shooting Olivia's Organic's. They have various lettuce mixes and we needed to shoot their product on the shelf in-store as well as plated in salads back at the studio.

They wanted everything to feel real and natural so I opted for using natural light for the salads and even went that route in the store. I mention it, because I hear a lot of people asking whether using natural light is easier and I find it's just the opposite. You have to constantly move as the light moves, deal with clouds and color temperature changes, highlights, shadows and use tons of reflectors to achieve the look you like. Don't get me wrong I love using natural light and do it quite often but it's very different than setting up lights so that nothing changes as you shoot... perhaps that's why I like it.

We shot natural light in the store because we pretty much didn't have any other option. The store was open, there wasn't much room (or much time) and given all the plastic on the product the highlights were going to be an issue. They also wanted to see the lettuce in the packaging so given these constraints we used the set up below. We decided to cut down the light instead of adding it. Mike drew up a diagram so you could see where we were:

It was really funny because we had at least half a dozen women who were shopping, come over and try to take the packages as we were setting them up on the shelves (The store had actually sold out the night before so we used all the product Rachel brought for the salads). This was particularly comical because they had to squeeze their way in as we were setting up.

This was what we ended up with:

Then it was back to the studio where Catrine was waiting to style. We used all the surfaces we had in the studio that had an earthy natural feel. Here are some of the shots we took:

Framing Part 2 - Jan/Feb

2010-03-19T14:05:00.007-04:00

Like I said...it started to snow. the house was far from weather tight. we could have built snowmen indoors. But they kept building in frigid temperatures and a fair amount of snow over December and January. They even started the fireplace which for us was very exciting to see something new being built.

Our dining room table is supposed to be in that spot

At least the workers had a sense of humor about it

The roof over the master bath still didn't work so we brought in Bob Escher...if you ever need an architect call us - he's very talented and a pleasure to work with.

They sealed everything they could up

They had to reframe around the fireplace as they were building it

yeah, that looks safe....

Loved the mason's old tools

This will now get covered in fieldstone, one of these days...

French's a little differently

2010-03-05T11:11:00.003-05:00

Here's a closer look at our shoot with Source Marketing for French's. Many thanks to Kelly Upson for her fantastic food styling and Verne Cordova for his always perfect wardrobe and prop selections!

French's Shoot

2010-03-03T10:14:00.002-05:00

We had a two day shoot with Source Marketing for French's last week. On one of the afternoons our second assistant Chris set up the Nikon to record the afternoon. It was pretty cool and fun to see what everyone did throughout the day in front of the camera.

Finally Framing....

2010-03-02T15:44:00.007-05:00

Start, stop, wait, change, you can't, go, hold it, I need a check.... people ask how it's going and all I can say is I hope I live through the process (I do laugh, when I say that). On track, off track I just want to be finished and that I'm serious about. Part of it is my own patience level which has never been very high (I was ready for them to be finished before the project started). Part of it is my obsession with being neat and organized which as you can imagine has been slightly impacted by this project. The rest is, well, you know....it's construction!

It's interesting to me because I approached our home construction project the same way I would any of my own assignments. As a partnership, and a creative partnership at that since we were building something. I also figured that just like in our business this partnership would be based on good communication and lots of give and take. For me it's always about the partnership and I make sure every single day that the people who hire me not only get what they ask for but walk away feeling like they got way more.

I forgot, however, that in this project my partners carried tools that were just as capable of demolition as they were of creating... and by the way they weren't real talkers....

What follows is the Sept/Oct/Nov series of pictures of the framing.

Yeah..the lumber finally arrives.

Can't tell you the satisfaction of seeing wood on the foundation

closing up the old basement

Cutting a door into a foundation wall

So then we left for South Africa for 2 weeks and came home to this

It was pretty cool seeing it half way up

Inch by inch it kept going up and up

So here it was in late November early December, and then it started to snow...

BJ's Bread shoot

2010-02-03T12:00:00.004-05:00

Moved from summer food's into bread. I was actually really impressed with all the great breads BJ's carries. We of course, had way more than we needed and so at the end of the day delivered a very large box of breads, croissants, pastries, etc. to the Pathways homeless shelter in Framingham. I hope they had a great meal last night!

Reviewing the layouts for the day

After which Catrine broke out in song

It was a little much for me first thing in the morning

Giving Mike my best side....

Catrine likes living on the edge

Pathways here we come.

BJ's Summer Food

2010-02-02T16:58:00.005-05:00

Cant believe we are already shooting for issues coming out in summer.Particularly since it started snowing while we were shooting...

First it was burgers stuffed with cheese. You can't imagine how good the studio smelled and it was only 9:30am

Catrine's table

Then it was on to salads

Polly working on the bread layout for the next shoot

Catrine and I talking via bread phone and antenna's, it didnt work so well I still couldn't understand her. Must be the accent.

Here comes summer....

Burgers and Fries

2010-01-19T13:44:00.006-05:00

Who doesn't love a good burger and fries (unless, of course, you're a vegetarian like Jenna). I myself couldn't live without them. The bigger, thicker, and juicier the better. Oh, and piled high with everything you can think of. Then of course, you absolutely must have fries to go with it, nothing else will do. Which was what we decided to shoot this week... as usual it was an all work and no play day....

Catrine our fabulous food stylist

One of my favorite tools that she uses

Catrine's tool kit

Food level

Jenna looking for a handout

Mike having some wide angle fun...

On to the fries

She finally got the handout

No one ever told Catrine not to play with her food

We shot 2 versions of both the burger and the fries. If you're so inclined, I'll number them and you tell me which makes you hungrier.

# 1

# 2

# 3

#4

South Africa

2010-01-11T14:40:00.003-05:00

A look at my last travel adventure in October. Took a 2 week trip to South Africa with my wife Lisa. A week on Safari and a week in Cape Town. It was fantastic, just the 2 weeks away by ourselves was amazing. Held a slide show party at the studio in November after we got back, South African wines and cheese to go with the images. I can't supply the wine and cheese here but I can give you a little taste of what the trip was like.

Welch's FSI

2010-01-08T14:44:00.007-05:00

I could eat PB&J's everyday, although the ones I make don't look like these did. Shot Welches last month with the Marketing Drive crew who we absolutely love shooting with. Had to shoot a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the new Welch's bottle on a wood surface with some Concord grapes and light it to match a stock shot they were using for the background.

Stephanie, Mathew and me on set with our sandwiches styled by Mary Jane Sawyer from Ennis.

Waiting for client approval...they were in a meeting when we sent it to them....

This is what they do while Mike and I shoot

a small adjustment, and a little more waiting. Mathew didnt seem to mind.

and the finished piece. I just need to practice my pool skills now so I can at least challenge Mathew on the next one.

BJ's Studio Shoot

2009-12-17T15:25:00.004-05:00

Fun day on Monday... Two sets going at the same time. An office set up which we built some extra walls for last week, and a couple with a stroller walking in a park. Couldnt shoot the park shot outside due to snow and frigid temps (and it's supposed to be Spring) but our stylist Courtney Kilmartin did a great job with her crew finding sod (and everything else) at this late date. The nursery thought she was a little nuts but we didn't... Kathleen Schiffman also did a great job with the hair and make up- wait till you see this little boy Charlie!

Construction: Foundation Phase

2009-12-10T13:47:00.006-05:00

Been awhile since I blogged about our house construction. It's gone through many phases some better than others. Not to lump all contractors together but if we all did business the way they do our country would become a third world nation in a year...

Here was the foundation part of it. The guys actually creating the forms and pouring the cement were really nice guys and very efficient.

The finished foundation:

Stop and Shop

2009-12-07T12:26:00.006-05:00

Shooting for Stop and Shop with Digitas and the Kingfish Media. We've been shooting for their new publication Small Victories as well as for their entertaining guide over the last few months.

Discussing layouts with Jessica Morel from Stop and Shop Laura McFadden and Jen O'Donnel from Kingfish Media and standing with his head cut off...James Love from Digitas:

Verne Cordova with the wardrobe and models:

Mike cleaning the windows:

and Verne, covering the windows:

Gathering by the monitor:

The talent: Kimberly Thomas-O'Loughlin with ImageMakers, Lilly David from Dynasty and Julian Henry from the Cameo Agency:

Lily was really enjoying herself:

On set with Heidi Wells from Ennis who did a great job with all the hair and makeup:

Reviewing some shots:

The finished shot:

WordPlay Promotion

2009-11-16T15:18:00.006-05:00

So here it is the wordplay winner smasHRecord! We'd hoped to get this out sooner but it's been a very busy Fall and our clients come first.

That said, I can't tell you how much fun we had shooting this. We did the food at the studio in late August and then shot the contest at my house in late September. Casting and props were critical in this one so we held a casting a couple of weeks before and then Verne did an absolutely incredible job pulling props together to achieve what I was looking for.

You can click on the image here to make it bigger or go back to the website www.heathrobbins.com

We started early in the day setting up. The stage needed to be leveled and the background set up along with a number of strobes. I wanted it to feel like a state fair atmosphere so it had to feel like midday but I needed the strobes to fix all the deep shadows on everyone. Then we had the models come for hair and make up including my assistant Mike and rep Jenna who were both in the shot. By the time everyone was ready it was close to 3 in the afternoon and I had all my crew, my kids and the construction crew all watching the shot unfold. Believe it or not this image is the 3rd take and the only retouching we did was to adjust the windmill in the little girl's hand so it would be straight.

Here's some production stills from the lifestyle day:

My backyard as we were getting set up

Verne!

a little farther along in our staging

Verne cracking us up again

Cherstin

Me and Tim

Mike getting some make up

Love the shirt Mike!

Sarah

The competitors Tim, Ted and Curtis resting in the shade

Our number girls Cherstin, Sarah, Ashely and Ariane

Almost ready

a few hot dogs from Catrine

Final touches before we shot

Many thanks to our stylists Verne Cordova (props and staging), Kathleen Schiffman (H&MU), Catrine Kelty (food for liefestyle shot) and Heidi Wells (food styling for hot dog shot) as well as all the models they made this production as easy as it was fun!

September 11

2009-09-11T14:36:00.004-04:00

In my family we think of Sept 11, 2001 often because we lost my brother-in-law Robert who was a NYC fireman and because my other brother-in-law Doug, is still (thankfully) in the NYFD. Today, I remembered a letter I had written to family and friends not long after the event. I haven't looked at it since I wrote it, but today seemed like a good day to share it again:

Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 5:50 PM
Subject: ground zero

I was scheduled to go with my brother in law Doug and Squad 252 down to "the pile" last night and help out and if possible shoot some pictures of the scene. Doug got rescheduled...

so I went myself... determined to see what has forever changed our lives.

Dressed in an official NYFD shirt and cap and a pass around my neck and in my windshield identifying me as a fireman (provided by Doug) I drove through the barricade of Policeman, Military police and State troopers at the corner of Canal Street and Broadway. I was honest about my intentions and who I was lest I be arrested for impersonating a fireman. They all spoke to me as if I were one of their own. Down Broadway I drove in in total darkness except for the flashing orange and red sirens. It was unbelievably eerie and quiet until the light from the pile started to glow and all the vehicles working began to get larger and larger.

Parked my truck across the street from the side streets leading to the trade center and walked through another barricade of Military guys with automatic rifles. I wasn't present to the street names as I usually am in NYC they all blend in at ground zero all seeming to draw you towards the same place. Policeman are everywhere as are the volunteers and workers but it's strangely quiet except for the sound of the generators for the lights and equipment.

As I rounded the corner to ground zero or "the pile" my jaw dropped. the TV crews who are blocks and blocks away cant give you an accurate picture of the devastation. I was standing in a war zone.

All the buildings left standing have no windows and look like someone shot them up with a barrage of missiles. Cloth, glass and concrete hangs from the open gashes everywhere, they are burned out hulks and debris is all over the ground. there is a major pile of debris south of building number 5 that is 6 stories high still smoking with crews in cherry pickers spraying water. It's like midday down there even then at 7:30pm. there is another pile that was the north tower that fell across West street, you cant see down the street because of the size of this "dam" of debris and it would take 5 minutes to climb up it. To the right of that is the remainder of the North tower going up, up, up probably a good ten stories... its pure dirt and is being dug away by a huge crane that looks like a matchbox car sitting on it. That pile extends an entire city block down the avenue and is being worked on from the other side as well. Words cant really describe this scene it's too big and evil for me to describe it accurately.

I stared for a good 20 minutes unable to even then grasp the enormity of the destruction except for the fact that above me was only open space, no towers, it was really sad. It took me some time to reach for my cameras unsure of how to portray this scene. When I did a policeman came over and "suggested" I put it away.

Having been right there has made this whole event a little more real, but it is so mind boggling that I can't seem hold on to it for long. The magnitude alone makes it seem like a bad dream. As I stared at was once a marvelous landscape I also couldn't help but think of Robert as the building came down all around him... and I know he was still trying to save people even as it was collapsing.

Thank you all for your support through this difficult period. Remember to always love your family and friends every single day you are alive.

Love,

Heath

HR Wordplay Production Status

2009-08-24T12:05:00.003-04:00

We are in the midst of producing imagery for the HR wordplay winner smasHRecord. We went through a number of concepts, narrowed it to two, and are producing one of those. We have shot the food portion already but the lifestyle shot is a very large production. We're gathering the crew and props as I write this blog entry! It has to be done outside, with an entire set so it is weather dependent, but I have to shoot it before I leave for South Africa in October. The promo will be complete and emailed by then.

The one we are not producing (but I still may shoot down the road, because I love the idea) was a shot of a boxer in a ring, one of those old classic dingy gyms. One large light overhead and lots of shadow all around the ring. The focus is on one boxer down and out for the count on the mat with a big black eye and his opponent in the background out of focus gloating/celebrating. The food shot was to be a raw steak. Classic.

By the way anyone know of a good place to rent a cotton candy concession trailer in New England.....?

"That's a really, really, big hole!"

2009-07-31T15:32:00.008-04:00

That's what my son said looking at the foundation hole being dug. That was two days ago and they were digging again all day today.

It's been really great watching this project start to gain momentum after a year and a half of planning. They are moving really quickly now and our contractor says we should have foundation walls by the end of day on Wednesday.

I'm having a ball shooting this every morning and night. Not sure what I'm going to do when the excavator leaves, pounding nails just isn't the same thing....

House Addition: Getting Ready

2009-07-24T13:11:00.008-04:00

The day has come. We knew it would happen. Stuff happens, a lot. A lot of stuff happens. Particularly with three kids and a dog... and it accumulates. Before you know it there is stuff in the attic, stuff in the basement, then the garage and then one day you simply have no more room and you either move or add on. We knew this was coming when we bought the house - we bought it more for the land than the house and knew we would be adding on...one day... in the future...when we needed to.

That time has arrived.

This was the largest tree on our property a huge white pine

It wasn't my favorite tree anyway, but I love this picture of Dick Stoner up in the tree after he toppled it

It broke our hearts, however, to take down this Maple tree but we couldn't figure out how to keep it. Lisa did a small Feng Shui ceremony and promised plant more.

Our garage: too small for both of our cars, had carpenter ants throughout, and so many holes in the roof it literally rained inside

Our barn: I called it the bird house because there were at least 3 different nests and you almost had to cover your ears when you went in because the chirping was so loud

Since it was coming down anyway, we did what comes naturally to all boys...

I loved our lilac bushes...

I really wanted to play on the excavator but the contractor wouldn't let me...probably a smart move on his part

This image evoked such a sadness given the dreary weather and the posture of the kids. Funny thing was no one was sorry to see it go. FYI those are not all my kids....

That's just so cool....

and there you have it... like it never existed, it took a day and a half. Now we have to dig a really, really big hole.

Spencer, Sports and Assumptions

2009-07-15T13:04:00.011-04:00

My son Spencer is 9 and quite an athlete, which makes me extremely proud and yet at the same time it sometimes surprises me as I watch his skill level excel past many of his friends (except his best friend Cam, of course, who was born to be a professional athlete). It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, I guess, because I'm an athlete as are both of my brothers and we grew up as a family always doing sports or something that required physical exercise and some skill. We all became and still are exercise junkies.

It's a surprise, to me, because I never came into my own in team sports until probably high school and college. As a kid his age I was just not aggressive enough. In fact, in sports like baseball I was downright timid (I was small and got hit 14 times at the plate my first year of little league). So when I watched some of the ways he did and approached things when he was very little, I just assumed he was going to be the same way. .... because Spencer is in many, many ways just like me.

Except in sports. Particularly baseball.

I love playing baseball now particularly with Spencer. What I love even more though is when I'm watching Spencer play with his team, I'm reminded not to assume you know things about people, even those you think you know really well.

Because while just like me, Spencer is also one of those kids that intimidated me when I was 9.

One of his coaches calls him "wheels"

welcome to the bench... I spent some time here in little league

Here's Spencer's friend Cam. He also knows more sports statistics than your average bookie.

Then there's lacrosse... I wish we had had this sport in my town growing up

Spencer is in the blue #10

I love this shot of Spencer and Cam: focused and 9

BJ's Journal

2009-06-23T10:42:00.006-04:00

Last month we shot a cover for BJ's Wholesale Club Journal. The cover was for the Fall issue, however, and it was May. Where oh where do you find pumpkins in May? You don't, you can't. They dont exist according to all the stylists. Instead you get funkins... yes that's right funkins. We shot it in my backyard in Sherborn since the fields in the back had not been cut yet and the yellow grass and leaves by the fences there helped create the fall look we wanted.

Mike and John running power out from the barn

Jenna came out with her little boy Chase

My golden retriever - Bogey was loving having all these people around.

A couple of the shots we took. Can you tell the difference from a real pumkin?

Backtracking in time...

2009-06-22T16:19:00.007-04:00

With everything going on with our commercial shoots and the wordplay contest I never posted any of the family photos I have been shooting. Some are just for the sake of memories but some are also a little more experimental since I tend to get a little bored shooting my kids doing the same thing over and over. For instance while in Florida this year I didn't shoot a ton but did have some fun shooting from bike to bike while we were riding around the neighborhood.

They seemed to love it too....

Swimming lessons - no floaties allowed this year

They didnt seem to mind that rule...

Instead of jet boats we oped for a more peaceful excursion

Osprey

The manatees were very playful and loved to be scratched by both your hands and your kayak

As usual Florida was full of smiles

ToucHReward Winner

2009-06-16T12:42:00.003-04:00

and the winner is...smasHRecord by Amy Vischio: Creative Director at Moffly Media.

Congratulations Amy! We had over 500 really great really fun entries and I can assure you we will be shooting a number of them. I really want to thank the judges Chris Sheldon at Arnold Worldwide, Tracy Maidment at Mullen and Dan Stewart of Noble. I think they had as much fun judging these as you all did submitting them. Here are the runners up and their entries:

2. pincHRunner by Mike Stillman: VP/Associate Creative Director at Draft FCB, Chicago
3. wortHReapeating by Timothy Cory: VP/Associate Creative Director RetailFirst
4. fisHRun by Jimmy Bonner: Group Art Director at The Richards Group
5. batHRadio by Maari Thrall: Art Director at McKinney
6. searcHResult by Brandy Gill: Creative Director at Fletcher Martin
7. casHReward by Brian Spain: Associate Creative director at Noble
8. healtHRemedy by Megan MacCutcheon: Art Producer at Arnold Worldwide

A note for all the participants: some of the entries were entered by more than one person and in each of those cases the first entry recieved was the one acknowledged.

There are so many I love and hopefully will have time to shoot! If I do get to them I will will definitely be calling the author!

Thanks for playing everyone. We were excited to see some comments with the entries which le us know what they thought of the contest. Until the next one... here's a few of those comments:

"Had fun playing!" - Timothy Corey, VP/Associate Creative Director RetailFirst

"This has been fun Jenna, but now I'm constantly looking at words and trying to create H/R's"
- Mark Mantegna, Art Director Family Fun Magazine

"Thanks for the fun" - Stephanie Caruso, Art Director, Marketing Drive

"Heath, This was a blast" - Collen Neutra, Neutra Design

High Ball

2009-06-08T12:23:00.005-04:00

We shot another promotion piece the other day. See if you can guess which other piece it will go with and what the phrase will be. Some out there have had so much practice with this it should be a piece of cake for them!

I got to work with Alanna Leonard on this shoot who I found to be very talented and very fun to work with. It's amazing what a simple straight forward task of finding a great pair of legs will land you with... Kelly McDermott, of course, had the perfect outfit for her, again. She never ceases to amaze me with the number of great wardrobe choices she brings and her efficiency at keeping the budget to a bare minimum - if anything at all. We used real ice on this one instead of fake and Travis did a nice job with that.

My goal here was to highlight the high ball drink against the black while making the image very sexy with light and shadow on Alanna. The goal, however, was to make the drink the focus not the model so lighting was everything. Take one look at Alanna and you can see that wasn't going to be easy.

I started with a strobe with a grid on the drink from behind Alanna. Even with the grid it was hitting her shoulder and making her arm to blown out so I added a scrim to cut down on her arm. I then added another grid from the right side to give some light to Alanna while just grazing the glass. Finally I put a softbox off to the other side to light her figure and hit the glass as well. You can see where everything was in some of the production stills here.

The Finished shot:

This was a test, not a paid job and so everyone here was working for the picture. No one got paid, I paid for the expenses but all anyone gets in a test is pictures for their portfolio. Given that in this shot you cant see Alanna's face it's not all that useful to her - although she is a fantastic hand model. Kelly also wanted pictures of the wardrobe including the shoes for her book. For any of you who test on a regular basis I highly recommend you take care of everyone you're playing with. Not only is it good business, it's the right thing to do and it's usually a lot of fun.

Here I got to play fashion shooter, which I don't regularly do, so we could get the shots Kelly and Alanna wanted. I could very easily get used to this....

Think she'll get any work?....

Wordplay Judging

2009-06-04T14:41:00.002-04:00

The Wordplay Judges: Chris Sheldon- Senior Art Director at Arnold Worldwide, Tracy Maidment- VP Director of Art Buying at Mullen, and Dan Stewart- Executive Creative Director at Noble have let us know that the winner of the contest will be chosen by June 15th and announced on June 16th.

We will post the top choices they made from the over 500 entries here, and then personally notify the winner. After that we'll set out to produce and shoot the wordplay which, of course we will blog about through the whole process.

Oh yeah, and we'll ship the ipod touch.... good luck!

Wordplay!!

2009-05-29T15:10:00.001-04:00

All the entries are in! We got over 500 fantastic wordplays, some I never would have thought of...ever! They are all so creative. Thanks to everyone who played it sounded like all of you had a lot of fun with it, which, of course is the whole point.

We will be giving them to the judges next week and will keep you updated on their progress in selecting the winner. While there will only be one itouch winner (this time), I can assure you we will probably shoot a bunch of these... There's no way I could resist.

-Heath

More Wordplay Entries

2009-05-06T17:23:00.003-04:00

More great entries this week. I'm glad I don't have to choose the winner. Here are just a few:

yeaH Right
harsH Reality
trasH Recycle
lusH Rain
sleigH Ride
higH Risk
twentietH Reunion