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Caitlin and Anna.

Alright, so they aren’t REALLY sisters, but they did come to me and get some senior portraits done. ALRIGHT, so they aren’t quite seniors yet, but they will be and when that day comes they will get their proper senior pictures done…Sheesh, such a tough crowd here. Can’t get away with anything!

In the meantime, the two divas rocked for a portrait session and I couldn’t be happier with the results. They are 1000x’s better than what you find at the Art Rich, Lifestyles, Walmart blah blah blah cookie cutter studios of today.

No personality, no life, just blank staged backgrounds and the cheesiest smiles that will relegate the photos to be just another thing to collect dust in the attic or to poke fun of the crazy 80′s hair as it contrasts with the ruffled blue fabric and bright star-bursts that somehow are still in use in 2010.

There is no connection with a viewer when you look at a photo that you’ve seen a million times before, just with a different face.

I’ll forever stand by the notion that a portrait is supposed to have a life of it’s own. It’s supposed to connect you with the viewer, let you get a glimpse of who they are. Whether it’s an intense closeup, or a wide angle shot in the environment that suits them the best, the photo should tell even the slimmest of a story. A capture of the story at that particular juncture, that particular chapter and verse in someone’s life.

I had the chance to capture a little time with Caitlin and Anna. They didn’t disappoint. Even better…you’ll see them again in the sequel.

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It must be fun to have a birthday so close to Halloween. Not only do you get to go out a few days before to random neighbor’s houses to get an insane amount of free candy, but then you get the added bonus of being able to throw Halloween themed birthday parties and get even more free candy and presents. It’s almost as good as the near Easter birthday and it totally blows out of the water, the near Christmas birthday. The latter, well, you just get gypped. As you probably have guessed, I did a lot of present maneuvering when I was a child. One year, I went as far as opening all my Christmas presents one night and re-wrapping them before my parents woke up in the morning. I ruined surprises like a champ when I was a kid.

Gianna had some friends and family come out for her 8th birthday party. Cute costumes, cuter kids, fun, games, cake and candy. All the makings of a perfect birthday celebration.

Even better, there was a face-off of the Jasons. I think they decided to rule the horror scene together.

A great session that produce Number 10 on the Top Ten Photos list!

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I had the pleasure of shooting an intimate Halloween Party down in “The Milf” (New Milford, CT) this year. I was picked from a pool of photographers who went after the job and I couldn’t have been happier about being able to shoot an event. Wendy, the hostess, and I went over the details for the night and settled on some ideas for the upcoming shoot.

The night of the party came around and the weather outside couldn’t have been more fitting for a spooky Halloween party. Dark, very stormy, and the nippy October air set the stage perfectly for a night of ghouls and ghosts.

The only drawback for the night was the weather forced many of the planned outdoor shots to be rendered null and void. I learned a very important lesson that night. In all aspects of photography, you’d better have a back up plan!

Luckily, Wendy had a whole spread set up in the house and we made due with keeping everything inside. It’s hard to not love a good Halloween party…

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I’ve never been a very good landscape photographer. I’d like to, really I would. It’s quite possible that I’ve never really been presented with a stunning enough backdrop to take a decent photo, or perhaps it’s my desire to always get a little closer and a little tighter with my shots that keeps me from seeing things properly on the wide end of my lens lineup. Whatever the case may be, there are times when you have to leave your comfort zone a bit and take on the challenge. It doesn’t hurt when you have Niagara Falls as your inspiration.

I took a trip into the Great White North a few months before they instituted the policy that you have to show a passport, license, social security number, birth certificate, high school diploma, your baseball card collection, and triplicate copies of your web browsing history to cross between the U.S. and Canada. I won’t get political, but I enjoyed the ability to walk across a bridge between two countries for about $3 and a little bit of sweat.

Although the trip provided with some photo opportunities outside of the falls, I focused on finally getting some landscapes I could blow up and mount on my almost barren house walls.

I was not disappointed with the end results.

I happened to find a way to mix both the wide angle shots with my own closeup style to create some excellent portrayals of the falls both during the day time and when they throw the lights on at night.

It was a fun trip, a profitable one with some good play at the poker tables at Casino Niagara, and a chance to finally mount my first photo on the wall in my pad.

Who would have thought Canada would have given me Picture #4 on my favorite shot list?

I don’t get to go out to as many concerts as I would like to these days. Between the price of tickets and the cost of drinks and what not, going to a concert ends up being a financial improbability most of the time. Luckily for me I have some talented friends who are musicians and while they may not be selling out stadiums, they hardly leave me regretting coming out for one of their shows.

I’ve know John, the scruffy looking bassist in photo #3, for quite some time. We worked together for a few years before I headed up to the great white north and he took over my job. He was a groomsmen at my wedding…wayyyyy back in the day. I used to borrow his beat up “vintage” Chrysler LeBaron convertible for a joy ride now and again. (That thing was such a shit box… hahaha) We would go down to Quinnipiac Park in Cheshire on Sunday mornings for pick up roller hockey games. An all around good friend and good guy. On top of that, he plays a mean guitar.

I caught one of his shows with a revolving band lineup that he plays with every once in a while. He was rocking Johhny B’s, 1457 Meriden Road, Wolcott, CT, on this particular night. Sadly, he didn’t bite the head off a bat, or stage dive into the bar, but it was a good show none the less.

A few shots from the show.

Fstopdown Photography Connecticut Band Photo Shoot Fstopdown Photography Connecticut Band Photo Shoot Fstopdown Photography Connecticut Band Photo Shoot Fstopdown Photography Connecticut Band Photo Shoot

It’s a shame all senior high schoolers aren’t made alike. Tyler was one of the few that had the idea that the standard portraits the school handed out just didn’t cut it. I’ll spare my usual rant about cookie cutter portrait studios for another day.

Tyler contacted me looking for some different photos than the boring blue backdrop ones he received in the mail a few months before graduation. I went through some ideas with him before the shoot and we settled on some standard portrait type looks and also some storytelling shots that would capture some of his long time interests.

He was stoked about the previews I sent him and even more happy with the final results of the whole album I presented.

Here’s a few of my personal faves from the day.

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I used to have a substitute teacher in elementary school, who to give the students a little slice of history, would whip out his cane which had some original Dr. Seuss characters carved into it. Most of the kids thought it was just a mass produced item, but it turns out the guy really was good friends of the Doctor and the cane has since been donated to a collection of Seussical memorabilia.

Having a long time love affair of many of the Seuss works, Green Eggs and Ham being one of my favorites, I decided to take in a local performance of the musical, Seussical, at St Mary’s School in Waterbury, CT. The musical mixes a few different Seuss stories into a decent representation of the doctor’s zany world. I definitely would recommend taking the time to see a showing if you happen across a free evening.

One of the more difficult aspects of shooting plays, concerts, fashion shows, sports is the fact that you aren’t in full control of the elements that help a photographer take a good, usable picture. Most of the time you aren’t allowed to move around to different spots or angles, the lighting is usually very harsh, ever changing and positioned in ways that make it very difficult to adjust in a timely manner, and the subjects are engaged in their own activities and finding just the right moments to hit the shutter is certainly a challenge. For many “event” shooters, it takes a very good eye and very good reflexes to keep up with the action and come away with images that help tell the story within the story.

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I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with Abraham today. He’s trying to break into the modeling scene and needed a few shots for his portfolio. I was happy to oblige.

I found the location in Naugatuck, CT at the ruins of what looked to be an old factory. The scenery created a nice grungy backdrop for some “lifestyle” portrait photography.

Abe was top notch. Taking direction well, good posing, and he’s got a good look about him. Hopefully there will be big things in his future.

Enjoy.

Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe

Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe

Fstopdown Photography Portrait Shoot - Abe

I’ve gotten a few complaints of late on my ever growing promise of finally putting some actual photo updates up on my site.

Well, I’ve juuuusssttt finished writing out the blogs for all of the material that was on the previous version of the site. I’m just going over all the minor details before I post them up, but there will be a flourish of about 20 new posts coming after it is all completed. After that, it’s nothing but unseen new content from here on out.

I’ve got some great sessions that I’m really excited about posting. Everything is really starting to come together and I can’t wait to share what I’ve been up to photographically the past few months.

Stay tuned! It only gets better.