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How did you get your start in photography? Did you always know you wanted to shoot for a living?
While filling out applications for an MBA, I realized how much I really wanted to be shooting every day. I figured I'd put off business school for a couple years while I played with photography. That was ten years ago.
The first five years I was in school part time and working in news media at various newspapers. Five years ago when I felt I had a body of work truly my own, I put a portfolio together (light blue ultrasuede!) and started showing my work to local designers, art directors and editors whose work I admired.
What about these days? You're based in Massachusetts?
People work with me because they like that energy. They're looking for something authentic and a bit surprising. We like to talk about that from the beginning stages of planning a shoot. My background is photojournalism and documentary. I'm kind of a decisive-moment junkie.
How do you make that happen?
Really, we're just having fun working very much 'in the moment' and following our hearts. Most of the people I photograph at work have some level or expertise in their field. We tune in and capture that. Someone who works with robots obviously loves robots, so we'll hang out with robots! Or a CFO who works for a gaming company will demonstrate the games for us.
How do you make the colors in your photographs so rich? They almost shimmer.
Sixteen-bit color is really important to me when shooting digital. I didn't make the switch fully from film until Imacon came out with a back for my 503CW body that was a true 16-bit chip. Then Canon brought out the 14-bit chip with the 1DSIII. Those are my two primary bodies.
Color theory was, hands down, my favorite art class. All those color studies with the colored paper? I couldn't get enough of them.
Your portfolio spans a range of subjects. People working, kids playing, portraits... Where do you get your inspiration? I'm a working mom. It's really common for me wake up for a sunrise portrait of a CEO or professor, and still make it back to pick up my kids from school. My memory cards at the end of day are a mix of people at work, a business portrait, a few shots of my kids and their friends, what we eat for dinner, etc. It can make for some interesting pairings. I've always just photographed what I find interesting, and then figured out from there which direction to take things. Street photography lead to photojournalism, which put me in front of intriguing people for portraits. That pushed me into bigger editorial portrait jobs, which took me to new and interesting locations to document, which lead to all the commercial library work. And kids, well, they're everywhere in my life. About two years ago I realized that all these images I take in my day-to-day life are their own body of work.
You could say that. Basically, I just shoot a lot. Working, not working...It's how I organize my world, how I make sense of it. There's this underlying need to record things. On my website, if you look at the "working" portfolio and then the "Hillcrest" portfolio, you can get a pretty good idea of what my life feels like on any given day.
Does your approach vary depending on the subject matter?
What was your favorite job you had that didn't involve photography?
Thanks so much for spending a few minutes with us today. We're thrilled to have you as part of the Altpick family!
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