Everyday I’m Hustlin’

It’s been a personally interesting and challenging year, much of it affecting my daily ability to work. I’ve recently continued to forge ahead both personally and professionally, getting back into the groove of things this summer.

Now – when I, like many photographers, present these blogs we tend to show off our sexiest projects – the assignments we know will garner the most attention and praise on social media. As a professional photographer who’s been establishing his business over the past six years, these projects are awesome to show off (below is a sneak preview of what’s to come) but most days I’m hustlin’, working on every day stuff for every day clients. The truth of the matter is the time, dedication, and problem-solving that goes into “ordinary” assignments are exactly the same – if not more – than high-profile projects.

For example this office building located in Richmond, Virginia with renovated interiors probably won’t be winning any design awards anytime soon, but it’s something my client needed captured for multiple reasons –

– or this office building further north in Sterling, Virginia. As a building photographer, my primary task is to best represent what I’m shooting for the sake of my clients – whether as part of an architect, builder, or landowner’s portfolio. Good photography makes a measurable impact on a business’ bottom line – which is to establish identity and reputation, maximize income, and attract more business.

So I’ll bring the same photographic elements of design into spaces such as Duke’s Pepsico Fitness and Health Center in Durham, NC.

Or use mostly photographic lighting to provide light and life inside an otherwise dark builder’s spec home in Wake County, NC.

Even if I don’t personally find the architecture exciting, I’ll figure a way to spice things up such as waiting for right weather conditions. In this Raleigh assisted living center, there’s a ton of empty foreground and background sky sandwiching a one-story building. The architectural client intended to horizontally crop the final photographs for their website. Therefore I recognized a clear, cloudless sky would be too boring and waited for particular conditions to present themselves without overtaking the building.

No matter the rapid changes in technology, the essence of good photography remains using the physical qualities of light, directing and interpreting them in a way that physically and psychologically registers when the image reaches the viewer’s eye. Specific to architectural photography, this applies outside and inside – similar to many houses, interior commercial spaces may need the assistance of photographic lighting to make it pop.

Every year I photograph a certain amount of retail. This is a Wendy’s I photographed for one of my national clients, a glass manufacturer.

– and a national commercial construction company hired me to document this shopping center near Washington DC.

This is my career and I take it seriously, no matter who the client is or what project needs documentation. Just like my design career, I simply enjoy the process of making quality, useful photographs for my clients’ businesses. Much of it I don’t talk about, but trust me I’m still working on it. 🙂 Okay that’s for now, I’ll be bringing sexy back next blog. That should be enough mid-2000’s pop reference for today…

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