portrait of Jessica Iclisoy

Jessica Iclisoy founder of California Baby photographed on her farm in Central California

This was photographed on assignment for Naturally Danny Seo Magazine. We got to spend the day with Jessica on her farm and went through multiple looks while baking in the hot Central Californian sun. I photographed lot’s of portraits like the one above and a few environmental images of the Calendula. Fun shoot and Jessica couldn’t have been nicer!

Jessica Iclisoy amongst her calendula plants on the California Baby farm.

portrait of mountain biker on snow

Biking Mammoth - and getting a portrait on the snow

A buddy and I took a biking trip to Mammoth and the top of the mountain was still closed for skiing so we rode around the bottom part. But even there we encountered some massive piles of snow. And this was in May. Naturally I took a portrait of my buddy with his bike on the snow. The clouds in the blue sky made the snow sort of blend into the sky, too. Surreal…

portrait in the dunes

Dunes - always a great backdrop

This was shot in the Guadalupe dunes in Central California. There is just something about the clean lines and perfect surfaces of dunes that make them such a fantastic environment for photographing. Especially when you contrast them with a person.

portrait of rice farmer in Sri Lanka

I shot this portrait of a rice farmer during a travel assignment for Naturally Danny Seo Magazine in Sri Lanka. This man was just walking up and I gestured to him that I’d like to take his portrait so he stopped and I snapped this image.

Portrait of Amy Smart

I was on a walk with my wife one day and my phone rang. I usually don’t pick it up in this situation but for some reason here I did. The voice on the other side goes: Hi, this is Amy Smart!

I grew up in Germany and I always loved Amy but of course only knew her from the screen. And here she was on the phone!

I ended up shooting images for a commercial project of her husband and her’s but I built-in a request to take a portrait. So for about 10 minutes in between shots I got her in front of a cream colored backdrop my assistant had put up just outside her garage. It was open shade and soft light. I wanted her to sort of melt with the background with her blonde hair and fair complexion. I also shot color negative film to further this blending effect.

I only shot two rolls of film I think. She kept looking to the side, just off camera and I didn’t quite know if she did it intentionally or not. We were comfortable with each other at this point so I ruled out that she was messing with me and I just went with it. It created these moments that were powerfully clean and yet vulnerable. Then she did this little smirk and I pressed the shutter. That portrait has some vulnerability to it but the smirk and the gaze to the side keep her in control. I was happy and we returned to the job.

Portrait of Kyle Korver

Portrait of Kyle Korver in the outdoor studio

Over the years Kyle and his family had become good friends. I documented a personal challenge that he was part of, stand up paddle boarding across the Santa Barbara channel, a 26 mile adventure. Other adventures and evenings around the dinner table followed.

I photographed him working out in the off season but I had never taken a proper portrait of Kyle. He is rather private and I wanted to respect that. It got to the point though where I just couldn’t hold back so I asked for a short session in my outdoor studio.

For what I had in mind there is only a 20 minute window of the light being right. That window is towards the end of the day, right around sunset. I built the studio to face north and direct light is not really the issue but right within those 20 minutes it just looks right. Anyways, there wasn’t a lot of time since I was also photographing Kyle’s wife.

Kyle is tall. I am not. And shooting with the Hasselblad I lost another couple inches since I was looking down into it. So I was scrambling to gain some height with the help of apple boxes. We are comfortable with each other but he is not an extrovert so I was trying to find the moment, the opening. I chose a wider angle lens so I could get pretty close and gain access just by proximity. It’s hard to disregard something within 2 feet from your face. I also used a diy light panel so I was able to control the light on his face very precisely. I shot a few frames with my Fuji XPRO2 from a little further away and got what I would call a very clean and safe shot. It’s good but then I also added another light to the background that created a very random shape. I went back to the wide lens on the Hasselblad and I got this portrait that wasn’t so safe. Kyle had just come out of the NBA finals arguably bruised and this shot captured his state of mind a lot better. Vulnerable and under scrutiny but strong amongst a chaotic scenario.

Gabby Reece and Laird Hamilton

I photographed Gabby and Laird at their property on Kauai, near Hanalei. I was dealing with great anticipation. Laird had been a person of admiration and mystery for a very long time and I felt nervous. I knew that the only way to get them to open up was to be absolutely real, no bullshit. So I decided to just wear a t-shirt some board shorts and no shoes. Something I would be wearing at home. It was a little bit of a gamble but taking the risk would pay off.

We got to Laird’s hangar-type structure and after a little while he came in from Hanalei Bay and up the path towards us. After initial hellos he made us some of his coffee and we all hung out in the kitchen for a little while. I took some documentary style images of what was happening and we started to warm up.

I didn’t know beforehand how much time we would have together but it quickly became clear that nobody was in any rush. Laird started playing with his foil and we all just sort of hung out in the hangar and chatted. All the while I documented and created little set ups here and there to take more posed portraits of them. I told stories of my family, vacations in Italy and I could tell that both Gabby and Laird took a liking to me, they opened up more and more. As always the old, mechanical Hasselblad was intriguing and raised some eyebrows.

The day progressed and at some point Laird went down towards the boats and cut some fresh coconuts for us. It was a great moment. Here was Laird Hamilton, arguably one of the - if not the most - prolific and inventive surfers of all time and he was cutting coconuts for us in his boardshorts.

As the afternoon neared it’s end Gabby suggested we go out on the boat into the bay. The light was turning magic and we floated on this tiny little nutshell down the river and into Hanalei Bay. Laird pointed out the way the sunrays were filtered through the clouds and created this magical display of light, just spectacular. It was an incredibly personal moment and I felt humbled being there with them.

As we came back in we shot past the house and went upriver for a little bit. All the time their little dog was jumping all around the boat in excitement, sometimes ending up standing on me like I was just a convenient object that allowed him to gain some height. It earned amusement around the boat. Then we came through a spot in the river that was a little tighter than the rest and I took this portrait of Gabby and Laird that perfectly described the day I had just had with them.

light testing

This was a light test of a light panel in the outside portrait studio here in Santa Barbara. The panel can be adjusted in output but it’s not strong so it has to be used late in the day when the light is almost gone. Creates wonderful light for portraits!

Light Panel Test

for dramatic portraits

portrait of Alex Monot at Santa Barbara studio

From a portrait shoot at my outdoor studio here in Santa Barbara. Alex Monot came over to get some new portraits done and here is one of them.

This was lit by daylight. No artificial light. The studio is a corner of dark gray painted walls so positioning the subject at different proximities to the walls creates gradation on the models face.