January 2023 Newsletter

For those not on my e-mail list here is a copy of my January 2023 newsletter. Please e-mail me if you'd like to receive my (approximately) quarterly newsletter in your InBox. 

 

Happy New Year! Who is as excited as I am to have left 2022 behind?!

As we all know it is coming up on three years since everything slammed to a halt. While I have already had the pleasure of reconnecting with some people in person, others I look forward to seeing for the first time in a while, in 2023, now that business is back to sort of normal…

 

...Although, for many people the issue of where they'll be working -- in office or at home or both -- is still in flux. This continues to make in-office photo shoots more of a challenge to organize, although I'm thinking in some cases it may make reserving those busy, often previously booked up boardrooms a little easier. Here's hoping!

 

If you work in an office I am curious to know your circumstances and would love to hear from you.

Photographing dogs who help humans: the CAMH Therapy Dog Calendar

Above: Gracie

Our set

In the summer I was thrilled to get the chance to work once again with CAMH's therapy dog program on their annual calendar project. The calendars sold out quickly so hopefully next year's print run will be even bigger, raising more funds for a great cause and bringing more awareness to a fantastic program.   Before working with CAMH I had worked on many a dog photo shoot, but this job had its own particular challenges. By this stage, our fourth go around, we had established once and for all that we needed to shoot inside. This way we wouldn't be worrying about weather, or construction, or squirrels, or any other distractions. However, this year, we definitely wanted the dogs to look as if there were outside (as we did two years ago). So once again I donated a bit of extra time make this happen. Knowing from experience that it can be easier to have a dog stand on a platform to limit their wandering (as long as they are willing to get on it!) we first built a portable barn board table with folding legs. Once I did a preliminary scout for suitable locations I then returned with the table which I dragged around on a wheelie cart to photograph in situ. I didn't actually need the shots of the table; I needed the background behind and around it from a camera angle that would make sense when compositing in the shots of the dogs on the table. Preparing this way made the compositing much easier than it might have been. Yes, people looked at me weirdly. And hilarously, one little park denizen hopped up to eat its breakfast while I was shooting. It loved my table.

 

 

My little photo assistant/model

 

The shots worked out so well I added several of my favourites to my portfolio here: https://hollinrake.com/portfolios/dogs.

 

 

I still love authors!

Dahlia Lithwick's new book Lady Justice available everywhere!

In my previous newsletter I mentioned photographing this particular author prior to her book coming out in the fall. Now that it's out and I've got a copy I have the never-gets-old satisfaction of seeing my work in print while also getting to read a fascinating, informative and inspiring book I may never have known of (by someone I now know personally) had I not been given the opportunity to photograph her. (And holy cow what a nice inscription I found inside the jacket!) I can tell you now I've finished reading it...highly recommend.

As many readers will know I have photographed a number of authors over the years some of whose portraits you can see here.

I am just going to throw this out there: I used to be hired directly by publishers but these days more often than not authors are tasked with finding their own photographers, so if you know any authors or you are one, I'd love to help!

 

30+ Tips on how to prepare for and get the most out of your next professional portrait session

Back in the spring of 2022 I started posting on LinkedIn a weekly series of tips on how to prepare for and get the most out of your next professional portrait session. Over many years of portrait shoots I have seen so many things that compromise both the experience and the product, and that I figured might be easy to fix if people only knew. If you follow me on LinkedIn you may have seen them. I posted the (almost) final one of the series in December.  In case you missed them I plan to share some of my favourites in my newsletter going forward.

 

Update: I have now compiled the whole set of tips into an ebook downloadable here.

Today I am going to share the final ones, Tips #34 and #33 in reverse order, because these are really good ones to start with if you are responsible for organizing a shoot for yourself or for people you support.

Rough example of an ideal space to shoot

Tip #34 How much space do you need for a portrait shoot? Are you ever unsure about what kind of space a photographer needs to do a business portrait shoot? Here is a link to my recommendation (scroll all the way to the bottom of this very long post): http://khollinrakemakemepretty.blogspot.com/2022/04/30-tips-to-help-you-prepare-for-your.html

 

Tip #33 Pick up the phone.

Another important element is communication.

I know that many people responsible for planning (corporate) portrait photo shoots for others or for themselves have a lot on their plates, one small morsel of which may involve, on occasion, hiring a photographer. So I understand the desire for the process from the first outreach to receipt of final files to be simple, quick and painless. I also get that there can be a need for several reasons, to make sure everything is in writing and everyone on the communications team (if there is one) is in the loop and on the same page. This is easily accomplished by copying everyone on the e-mail that is sent after the initial conversation between the main point of contact and the photographer. 

 

What is there to discuss? Once again I'll direct the reader to my blog post to read my thoughts. Please see the link above, and again, scroll almost all the way to the bottom.

And very briefly, a shout out to the PIC (Professional Independent Communicators) special interest group of IABC Toronto (International Association of Business Communicators), of which I am a member, for mentioning my Tips series in the September issue of their monthly online magazine The Buzz . Thank-you PIC! Check it out!

 

 

One more calendar and a little bit of art

Every year for the past bunch of years I have produced a mini desk calendar with the help of my friends Martin Finesilver of Finesilver Design and Mark Smith (formerly of Finesilver) principal at Rhyme Design. It gives me an excuse once a year to play around and make some mini art with a small 'a'. I say mini, because anyone who gets my calendar knows it's a wee little thing measuring less than four inches per side. So the challenge is always to produce a set of six images that read well at this very small scale. This year's theme was wabi-sabi, which has been interpreted and explained in different ways by different people but which for me reflected the idea of the beauty in decay. Using specialized fibre optic macro lighting with macro focus enhancing and extending software I was able to capture sharply focused, precisely and dramatically lit images of small pieces of flora and foliage in a way that portrayed their decomposition as art. Don't ask me why I didn't do this before we went to print, maybe because the printed pictures were going to be so small, but later, I decided to add a subtle, distressed antique texture (from my archive) to some of them, which only enhanced their wabi-sabi-ness. These I uploaded to my website/portfolio at https://hollinrake.com/portfolios/still-lifes. Special Offer: To the first few readers who contact me, if you don't already have one I have a few remaining calendars so please let me know if you'd like one. I will send you one free of charge.

 

Yay Us! Testimonials

 

From another happy client as I wrapped up 2022:

"Thank-you for your amazing work...!"

And I don't recall who said these but in a binder I found a scrap of paper with notes I'd made so I wouldn't forget what people said after one particular shoot, so I thought I'd share:

"That was fun."

"That was painless."

"I have never looked so good."

"Can you follow me around every day and make me feel this good?"

"This is the best picture of me I have ever seen."

Final thought



As always, I'm here to help you plan and problem solve your next photo shoot, whether it’s where to shoot, what your options are, what to wear, etc. I look forward to seeing old clients again as the world gets back into gear, and to meeting new ones! Let me know how I can help, or reach out and I'll let you know how I can help!

Thanks so much for reading!

 

hollinrake.com

kathryn@hollinrake.com