Blog

The official photo blog of J. David Buerk Photography.

Executive Headshot Portraiture - 2023

In today's digitally driven professional landscape, the significance of maintaining a curated collection of high-quality, publication-ready headshot photographs cannot be overstated for the modern Corporate Executive.

Professional Headshot Portraiture serves as the visual representation of an individual's personal brand, and plays a pivotal role in making a positive first impression across various platforms, including professional publications, websites, and social media platforms like LinkedIn. A selection of well-crafted headshots not only conveys competence and approachability, but also enhances one's professional credibility.

Investing in the skill and experience of a professional photographer is essential to ensure that these portraits effectively capture the individual's unique personality and convey a polished, authentic image. Professionals who leverage the quality of a professional photographer’s work are more likely to present themselves with confidence and professionalism, ultimately contributing to their success in networking, career advancement, and overall professional image.

When planning a headshot portrait session, it’s important to remember one single photo can’t cover all your bases, even as an individual first joining the workplace. While scheduling your portrait session, I consult with you to learn your branding needs, prospective uses, existing portraits and how new ones will compliment or replace them, and discuss with you ways to get the most out of your portrait session.  Based on your needs, I capture and deliver portraits that fit your current requirements, as well as additional crops and variations to fit additional uses, graphic design flexibility, and future-proofing for unforeseen display scenarios.

A comprehensive photoshoot with me will create, or add to your existing, catalogue of variations to select from for different use-case scenarios. A well-rounded portrait library includes multiple options of formal & informal poses, wardrobes, and expressions, and studio-backdropped & environmental locations; consulting with me can cover all of these bases in a single booking.

In 2023 I saw a great uptick in people getting their headshots updated, their portraiture libraries expanded, as well as first-timers capturing their first professional headshots - everyone can tell when you have an iPhone photo, even in “Portrait Mode;” you need the real thing to be taken seriously.

I’m looking forward to capturing and seeing more of you in 2024; click here to start planning and scheduling today.

Sandstone Care: Chantilly, VA Detox Center

Starting off 2023, Sandstone Care opened its latest treatment center in Virginia, the Virginia Detox Center in Chantilly.

The Virginia Detox Center is a medical detox and inpatient treatment facility serving Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, providing care for young adults and adults to overcome substance use, addiction, and co-occurring mental health conditions.  Patients are provided 24/7 medical supervision, daily residential programming and therapy sessions, and forming a pathway to discharge from intake.  The center also provides support for those in transitional living communities, Partial Hospitalization, and Intensive Outpatient Programs.

I captured marketing and promotional images of the new facility for Sandstone Care, which has been widely utilized on their website, social media, and facility directory listings.

NOTE: All individuals pictured are paid talent and are not actual patients.

Kaiser Permanente’s Caton Hill Medical Center: September, 2022

On September 19th, 2022, the Kaiser Permanente Caton Hill Medical Center opened, replacing the Woodbridge Medical Center with a new 245,000-square foot medical center in Prince William County.  Four days before the first day of service, Kaiser Permanente held a ribbon cutting ceremony with addresses from Kaiser Permanente directors and Prince William County leadership.

The new Kaiser Permanente hub includes 24/7 advanced urgent care, an outpatient surgical facility, a full featured radioimagery center, and 30 specialties including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics & gynecology, neurology, oncology, behavioral health, cardiology, pain management, ophthalmology, and optometry.  The complex is LEED Silver certified, and is expected to serve ~40,000 patients and ~320,000 visits each year.

I’m sharing some highlights from covering the event and new facility here.

After the ribbon cutting events, groups of guests were taken on guided tours and allowed the opportunity to explore the new medical campus.

A Dulles Farewell for Dennis Hazell

March 25th, 2022 marked the end of an era.  At least, at Washington Dulles International Airport.  If you’ve spent any significant time working at Dulles, you’ll surely recognize Dennis Hazell, IAD’s Customer Service Manager, and a friend of mine with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with for over a decade now.  I lovingly call Dennis “Captain Airport” among other names, and he always has called me not “David,” but “J. David” - a comfortable and familiar sound when Dennis talking on the phone with Dennis, but still throws me for a loop when it’s called out for my Starbucks order.

Dennis has been the friendly face of Dulles’ customer service program, including initiatives such as the Going the Extra Mile program, working a the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority since 2007, and has been at Dulles since 1997, as Station Manager for American Airlines for 10 years.  It’s hard to imagine Dulles without Dennis, who has been a perpetually extroverted presence and source of fun at the airport for 25 years.  The DC region’s airports have not lost Dennis however, as he moved in his Customer Service Managerial role to Ronald Reagan National Airport, “The Little Airport by the River” as of last week.

Over the years Dennis and I have worked together in both organizing and documenting some of Dulles’ most memorable events, including the first ever Discover Dulles: NASA SCA 747 and Space Shuttles Discovery and Enterprise, which will have its 10 year anniversary in two weeks.  Many of the events Dennis spearheaded or was otherwise involved in are among my fondest and most memorable, and the earliest ones such as the numerous events involving NASA and the Air and Space Museum were unquestionably formative and influential to my own career as a commercial event photographer.

On his final day at Dulles, a large group gathered to speak about Dennis’ time at the airport and the memories they had with him, and present commemorative gifts and awards to mark his time and impact on the Dulles Airport family.  It was an emotional event for everyone, but most of all Dennis, who was somewhat overcome by the memories and kind words shared with those in attendance, and had to pause a few moments while giving his farewell remarks.

Dennis will be truly missed, but at least we won’t have to go far to still walk through the Terminal with him and need to stop every 50 feet because someone else runs up to say hi; all you have to do is step over to DCA and I’m sure the same thing will be happening there on his first day.

If you’d like to see the full set of images, head over to the gallery here, which includes downloadable group photos from the receiving line after the ceremonies.

Dennis at Dulles

I’m including a handful of my favorite moments with Dennis; this includes my portrait of him on the airfield that is one of my first-ever published photographs, Dennis presenting Swiss Solar Impulse pilot Captain Bertrand Piccard with a box of Dunkin Donuts on live television, my earliest photo of Dennis I’ve since coined “Airport Jesus” (he hates this picture, but I still enjoy it to this day), me sitting at Dennis’ desk holding his fathead, juggling phones as usual, and Dennis and I standing on the airfield in front of the freshly landed SCA 747 and Space Shuttle Discovery, still in awe that everything that day had gone completely to plan.

Best of 2019

2019 was quite an odd year. Its unusual helter-skelter pace sometimes made me doubt my photographic skills, but the year continually provided new opportunities to refresh my creative energies, whether that meant braving sub-zero wind chills in unfamiliar cities, or trying new lighting and editing techniques while on commercial assignments. This annual year-in-review wrap-up helps to fuel my creative energies for 2020, and a new decade of capturing the world around me. I’m all set for the new year - let’s capture 2020 together.

As the Earth transits its Moon, a crescent shape is left illuminated prior to the total lunar eclipse during a “supermoon,” January 20th, 2019.

The newly released mirrorless full-frame Canon EOS R in the snow, with a Lubitel 2 75mm f/4.5 lens modified to EF mount.

2019’s first snowfall; a light dusting in the DC region.

Milwaukee River one week after a “polar vortex” brought record low temperatures of -21ºF with a windchill of -40º. The temperature at time of this picture was 13ºF with a wind chill of -7º. The extreme cold snap claimed 22 lives.

In downtown Milwaukee, a cheese mart offers rotating samples of hundreds of local cheeses.

The bottling and packaging equipment line at Lakefront Brewery, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Mew, the mythical 151st Pokémon, straps in for a flight in Economy Plus.

Above Chicago, icebergs on Lake Michigan are visible for miles one week after a “polar vortex” brought record low temperatures of -23ºF with a windchill of -52º to the city. A maximum temperature of -10ºF set a record for lowest daily high temperature. The extreme cold snap claimed 22 lives.

A nuclear power station vents steam and creates a shadow onto the eastern waters of Lake Michigan.

In stark contrast to the mid-west’s severe Winter, the DC region experiences unusually warm February weather. A woman walks by a Fredericksburg brewery’s mural in the premature Spring temperatures.

Details of a two-year-old orchid at the end of peak bloom.

Aerial view of Soldier Field at sunset.

Aerial view of Soldier Field at sunset.

“The Sky's The Limit“ by Michael Hayden, 1987; neon lights and colored panels choreographed to music by composer William Kraft adorn the pedestrian talkback tunnel connecting United Terminals B and C at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport.

Between Terminals at O'Hare International Airport, globes illuminate the way for passengers at night.

International arrivals queue through the line in O'Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5 before clearing customs. Disembarking passengers pass by ad space displaying a campaign for a Japanese courier logistics service. J. David Buerk - Photography documents marketing campaign activations in major markets across the United States.

In downtown Chicago, an Uber driver cuts through the city to avoid traffic on I-90.

Visitors to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry view “The Great Train Story,” a 3,500 sq.ft. model train installation displaying 20 trains on 1,400 feet of track representing 2,200 miles of railway between Chicago and Seattle.

Aboard the German Submarine U-505, red alarm lights shine dimly while being depth charged. The submarine was captured by the US Navy in 1944 in efforts to capture an Enigma code machine used by Nazi forces during WWII. The U-505 is the only U-boat in North America.

A recently hatched baby chick photobombs its siblings in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Fast Forward & Genetics exhibit.

In Chicago’s Hyde Park, English Ivy is allowed to overgrow on a row house, blooming green in warm months, and exposing delightfully spooky vines on the brick facade in Winter.

Bandmembers of Tommy McCracken playing electric guitar at Buddy Guy’s Legends blues nightclub.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame blues legend Buddy Guy takes the stage at his Chicago nightclub to sing relationship advice to audience members.

Nellie Travis sings a soulful rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago” with audience participation at Buddy Guy’s Legends blues nightclub.

Promotional photo of Wolfgang’s Meatloaf at The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck.

Promotional photo of Lamb Lollipops with Hummus and Flatbread at Bracket Room.

Margaret and Bayard kiss with champagne on the lawn of Belle Haven Country Club after their wedding ceremony.

Margaret and Bayard’s wedding rings on a bouquet of flowers.

Planespotters click away from Washington Dulles International Airport’s (IAD) T/L K as Alitalia touches down to begin non-stop service between Washington, DC and Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO).

After remarks at the gate, Fabio Lazzerini, Alitalia CBO, and Armando Varricchio, Italy’s ambassador to the United States cut cake to celebrate Alitalia’s non-stop service between Washington, DC and Rome.

Models showcase every uniform worn by Alitalia cabin crew since the airline’s inception in 1946 during a cocktail recaption at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC.

During Alitalia’s cocktail recaption at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC, the Cognac Jazz Band’s singer solos on the trumpet during a cover of the main title theme from “Game of Thrones.”

New 7000 Series trains cross the Washington Metro’s bridge between Arlington and Washington, DC, in front of the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument.

Bridesmaids button up the lacy back of Tiffany’s wedding dress in her Arlington hotel room.

David and Tiffany hold hands in front of a fountain in Arlington as the wind blows during a first-look.

David and Tiffany’s wedding rings in a pink rose at their wedding reception.

Lexus LC 500s await drivers to hot-lap them Lexus Experience Amazing Drive Event.

Crowds fill the streets and tour the shops in Old Town during the Taste Leesburg wine and food festival.

Storm clouds move in over St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

A moth lands on a hiker’s arm to feed on salt in the hiker’s sweat.

Atop the Maryland Heights Trail in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, Patrick poses for a contemplative portrait.

An image from August 24th, 2019, showing the section of the rail bridge that gave way following the derailment of empty CSX grain cars into the Potomac River at 4AM, December 21st, 2019. The Goodloe Byron Memorial Footbridge alongside the bridge's train line provided pedestrian access from Harper's Ferry to the locally-famous Maryland Heights Trail, and is part of the Appalachian Trail. Information about the incident, including indefinite closure of footbridge access, can be found on the NPS website.

Hina places “HOME” decorative blocks on the mantle immediately after closing on Imran and Hina’s first home.

Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, DC is closed and filled with attendees of the Snallygaster beer festival.

Lisa Marie’s 2017 “LOVE” mural in Blagden Alley’s DC Alley Museum.

Farewell text on the exit way doors inside Tiger Fork, a Michelin Guide ranked Chinese restaurant in Northwest, Washington, DC.

Exterior facade of Tiger Fork, a Michelin Guide ranked Chinese restaurant in Northwest, Washington, DC.

A mother and child view “Migrants’ Perilous Journey,” by Reuters Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Adrees Latif on the Newseum’s final weekend open to the public.

Crowds fill every floor of the Newseum on its final weekend open to the public before permanently closing December 31st, 2019. Outside, people wrapped around two corners of the building in the rain waiting to gain entry.

The end of an era. Opened on April 18th, 1997, the Newseum permanently closed on December 31st, 2019. The media and journalism museum was originally located in Rosslyn, Arlington, Virginia, and moved to its ultimate location on Pennsylvania Avenue NW on April 11th, 2008. In January, 2019, The Freedom Forum announced sale of the purpose-built Newseum building to The Johns Hopkins University for $372.5M, where it will house graduate programs. As of this writing, the Newseum is currently searching for a new location to house its exhibits.