Studio Tag

Do you ever get these ideas in your head and all the sudden feel this immediate need to see them through as quickly as possible? This is, like, my every day. There are not many situations in life where I'm not building photo concepts around...

What's the best Facebook message inquiry I've ever received? Easy, that'd be when Troy Nelson shot me a message a couple weeks ago requesting a Breaking Bad themed photo shoot. Um, yes please! I'm always looking for a reason to shoot fresh and conceptual ideas,...

Your attendance would be greatly appreciated January 24th at 8pm at the Matty Photography studio one-year celebration. Yep, that’s right, the new studio has been rocking for over a year now! It’s a night of good food, drink, and fun, as we thank all of...

Often in my line of work, I don't get the opportunity to setup a lighting concept and do a dry run prior to the real deal. It's usually rolling into a shoot and setting it up mostly improv and by feel. This is mostly because...

I want to thank everyone who came to the studio opening night. I know many of you traveled a ways and I really appreciate all the great support. I saw a lot of faces that I hadn't in quite a while, it was so nice catching...

February was a happenin' month here at Matty Photography, like every month I guess. Aside from the usual photographic operations, February was the "month of knowledge," for both workshop students and myself. Two weekends out of the month went to a pair of Matty Workshops, one beginner and one advanced. More new photographers were released into the wild  with a newfound understanding of how to capture light, and a couple experienced photographers left with a larger skill set in off-camera lighting. I'll get around to writing another detailed post about those here soon. The other two weekends were for my own enlightenment, with workshops focused more on the business side of operations, yuck! A lot of good things came out of though, and I'll have a lot of big news for you coming soon on all of that stuff. I thought I'd also share a couple photos that came out of February as well. Pictured above is baby Bruno with his proud parents. A fun little family, we shot a set of photos in the surrounding caverns in which my current studio resides (hint towards future news...), and then we did another quick round inside the studio. The kid shoots always have to go fast, they are a blur of entertaining clients, kids, and shuffling lighting gear. In the end, you hope you managed to capture a couple frames where the kids are looking in your general direction sans the all-too-popular confused face, and the parents are managing to be smiling and not blinking. The second subject you see here is Kayla, a senior in high school. I did roughly the same thing with this shoot - a few in the studio, a few outside the studio. I like to give my clients some variety.

The commercial side of the photog biz has been consuming most of my time for the last few months, but I did find some time to squeak-in some personal portrait sessions. Most of these photos were taken in or around my studio in downtown Tacoma during Oct and Nov. "My studio" is actually the building space in which my studio space is in. I don't mind shooting classic studio photos, but if I get the chance, I take every opportunity to shoot outside of the studio, really try to make something new with each shoot, and the studio isn't exactly conducive to that mission. Especially with personal portrait photography, it's not for a magazine or design, and I think most people will be looking for a little more flavor in the background of their photos. That is where the indoor space around the outside of my studio comes in handy, especially this time of the year, when the last thing you want to do is spend prolonged amounts of time outside in the wet and cold.

postcard-4inx6in-h-front-01 My work is starting to ramp-up with London Couture, one of my large commercial clients. One of the first photo shoots we had was for marketing a fundraising event they are hosting, Strutt For A Mutt (yes, it's intentionally spelled wrong). The owner, a giant dog lover and overall kind person, is holding this event with 100% of proceeds going to the metro animal shelter. This is the second annual for this event, which I was not around for the first one. When the event was brought up in a meeting, we mentioned how ads and marketing were going to made. Prior to my being a part of the team, London Couture was left with scavenging the internet for passable images to use for their graphic design. With me around now, we can take idea from concept, to photo shoot, to graphic design without depending on any other resources. This is the real fun part for me. They showed me last year's logo, which like I said, had a random image off of the internet. The key part of the imagery, a fashionably savvy woman carrying a shopping bad with dog leading her on a leashed (all silhouetted). Bad habits had them going to the internet once again, looking for a "better" image to use for this year's design, and that is where I grabbed the wheel on the operation. "Why not just grab a model, some clothes out of the store, a couple of your dogs, and head down to my studio and do this right," were the words out of my mouth. Not only should we use our photographic resources for the big things, but everything, big or small. All of the suggested items were very easy to reach and doing the shoot ourselves would ensure it's done right, and most importantly, the image is OURS, and we can continue to use it or other work we produce marketing material.

matty_3.19.11_ 078 Meet Kent, an actor/performer out of the Bellingham area. I've actually known Kent for a little over a year prior to this shoot. He's a regular at the Upfront Theater, very entertaining to watch, and just a really great guy overall. The more you talk with him the more you like him. He also runs the Ryan Stiles Golf Tournament fundraising weekend every summer, which he had hired me to shoot. Kent needed to refresh his headshots, as it'd been a couple years, for his talent agency. He was looking for simple, very traditional headshots.  The first thing you'll notice about Kent as he walks closer and closer to you is his size. I'm 6'2'', 200 lbs., and his large 6'4" frame dwarfs mine. He's a guy that you would instantly want to cast into a dominate character role, as he has and edge to him aside from his size. Put a thick goatee on the guy and he's a harley rider who can step into the door of a bar and fill up the whole thing with attitude. Hence the reason why I very much enjoyed taking the photo style of Kent at the top of the page, it just seemed fitting. A little more drama, a little mood. The rest of the image styles are pretty clean, pretty standard, which exactly what Kent was looking for (showing a range from smiling to very serious expressions). We quickly shot a few photos outside, but quickly had to duck into the studio to avoid the cold and wind. Enjoy the photos, a lot more coming down the chute.

matty_3.6.11_ 021 Tomasi, owner and designer of Tiare Floral Design, and I got together the other day to shoot some of his work for publication in a magazine (can't drop the name until it's published). Tomasi was contacted by the magazine and asked if he could design a couple floral arrangements which are made out of common flowers the average family can find at their local stores. Tomasi contact me to shoot the two pieces he created. The topic will run as a little feature article in the magazine. Tomasi's talent in floral design never ceases to amaze me. It's work that delights multiple senses, both sight and scent. The two creations he brought to the studio were simply fun, as he integrated lime and kiwi into the pieces. It was a fairly quick shoot. In less than an hour we shot both pieces from all proximities and angles, and called it good. Enjoy the photos, and look for Tomasi's article in a late Spring or early Summer issue!

matty_2.26.11_ 147 I spent a little time in the studio with Margie, an extremely talented harpist. I can actually attest to that as well, as I've listened to her play at concerts. She is the harpist for the Olympia Symphony Orchestra, pretty cool stuff. The harp is an amazingly complicated instrument, I couldn't imagine the years of learning involved, especially since I'm in the process of learning how to play guitar, which has a measly 6 strings. I get dizzy just looking at the sophistication of the harp. I don't know how many strings, and then there are a number of foot levers at the base to change pitch and who knows what else. The people who makes these things deserve a standing ovation, not to mention a musician who can master it.

IMG_2561 About a month ago, Lindsey was my first barista to photograph in the new Tacoma studio for Smokin' Hot Espresso. Working as the company's staff photographer, I am making sure we get a couple shoots in a month, including additional shoots which we call "punch card shoots." Smokin' Hot Espresso gives regular customers punch cards, which after purchasing 10 drinks, they get one for free. Each girl who works for the business gets their own personalized punch card with their photo on it to hand out to customers. So as new employees come onboard, they get to come down to my studio for a photo shoot so that we have photographic content for their card as well as any additional marketing material we may put together down the road. We've been doing the personalized punch cards ever since I started doing all of the photography for them about a year and a half ago.

matty_1.30.11_ 096 Say what?! Senior pictures... this time of year? Yep. About a week ago, I captured, what I can safely say, will be my last senior picture session for the graduating class of 2011. Emily, a senior this year, works on the yearbook staff (I guess a perk is that you can submit your photo SUPER late - I tease, Emily), and with great responsibility comes... great procrastination? I don't know, and didn't care, cause all it means is that I got to have another fun senior photo shoot. We shot in and around my Tacoma studio. Speaking of perks, one of the major perks of my studio location is being a part of a large group of work spaces located inside of a large antique mall. Three floors of really cool, old "stuff." (Ok, not trying to hijack my own blog post here, but I'm in a coffee shop writing this right now and a 50 year old dude just walked in, and he is rockin' a seriously large mullet. What's the deal with that? People, come on. Joe Dirt called, he wants his mullet back, and even he said that mullets are out right now. Ok, sorry, I'll focus, back to the post). Anyways, the studio and the surrounding space is filled with all kinds of shooting possibilities, and a huge reason why I selected this as my studio location. Not to mention it is right in the middle of downtown Tacoma, so walking outside the doors puts you in some serious metro shooting locations, including a graffiti garage I frequent, all within walking distance.

matty_11.7.10 081 Yep, that's right. My photo studio in Bellingham is up and running, ready to shoot any day, any time. I bought a couple great props for the space, including this badass lounge you see in Myrriah's set here. I came across this lounge, never seen anything like it, had to buy it. I'm guessing it'll be a popular request for many shoots to come. I asked good friend and model, Myrriah if I could steal a couple hours of her time to help me break-in the studio with the first shoot. I've used Myrriah in quite a few shoots. I know that she'll give me what I need in order to accomplish the visual concepts that are floating around in my head. Plus having that long working relationship together, things just come together real easily, and we pump out some good stuff. This time around I simply said "so for this I want sexy with a pinch of attitude."