As we know, the photos we see these days are not as they appear. There is always something  pushed, dropped in, retouched out, pinched in or pulled out. It is really amazing how far the visual arts have progressed in the last ten years.

Below is a great example of the evolution of a photo into a national ad. Originally I took this photo in New York for Belgard’s Catalog and that was just the beginning. It was then transformed by Wray Ward Creative Group into the ad you see now in Architectural Digest, Sunset and other magazines.

It was Wray Ward that came up with the Sunflower concept and once Belgard gave the green light the colossal task of bringing the sunflowers to life began.

Below is the final ad that is running now. Note the color of the house, tree line, oh, and all the sunflowers. Remember whenever you see an ad its all just smoke and mirrors.

While San Diego’s general public either hates it or loves it, I was excited when I got the call about photographing this LEED certified project.

I knew photographing the pier would have its own unique challenges but wow, this one was tricky. First there were many different contractors, electricians, plumbers etc. all trying to finish up their work at the same time and most of them didn’t want to be models for our shoot (imagine that). Second was the heightened security, due to the fact it is a port; you can imagine we had to have all of our ducks lined up in a row. The icing on the cake was the exterior lighting which was control by a computer (which may have been “Hal” from Space Odyssey) that had a NASA inspired control panel. We were up at dawn setting up for our shoot and had been told that all the lights would come on for our shoot automatically but “Hal” had other plans. I guess he wasn’t feeling that photogenic that day.

Running into problems is all part of the job. Ask any professional architectural photographer and they can tell you that coming up with creative solutions to problems you can’t control is definitely in the job description. With a bit of extra time and work we were able to capture all the shots on our list, much to the clients delight.

You may have seen these photos in the current issue of Luxe San Diego. The client is Cover Glass which manufactures a unique frame-less glass door system. As I was preparing for this shoot I knew one of the challenges would be capturing a product that, by design, is almost invisible. While having a frame-less door system is great for showing off the beautiful view, it is not the easiest thing to translate into a 2D photograph.

It was important to show how the door system closes and stacks away so we decided to do three different photos with only the doors changing. This way the viewer can see how the doors function.

The key to capturing these photos was lighting and shooting at the right time of day. Dusk is always a great time of day to shoot almost any project.  The last hour of the day is normally full of deep sexy blues and pinks colors. Add some carefully placed lighting, strong composition, and a bottle of wine to set the mood. Light up that fireplace and bingo, you have a great sexy photo with a warm inviting feel.

It may seem pretty easy but actually it is a bit more work than that.  The client and I were working at this location three hours before dusk cleaning, prepping, and rearranging the furniture. Most people don’t realize how much work goes into a single professional photo but I assure you it is a full time job.