Blog

The official photo blog of J. David Buerk Photography.

Marketing and Product Photography

Recently I shared some of the portraiture I shoot for professional clients and commercial marketing campaigns. But what about the other half of that equation? In addition to portraiture and various press events, I photograph a large volume of product and storefront photography for marketing purposes at both Dulles International and Reagan National airports.

Last week on my Facebook Page, I shared a Behind the Scenes photo of a product shoot featuring Spartina 449 handbags. These product photographs are quite similar to last year's Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company shoot, however this set is intended for use as dustwall graphics for upcoming stores during renovations periods, in addition to regularly ongoing marketing campaigns.

This sort of imagery continues inside many of the retailers; notably, Estée Lauder has an equally bright and modern storefront and display.

Both airports feature luxury brands. Most have opened in the past year, and my photos are used by both airports for their promotion.

I am not limited to retailers either - restaurants and eateries get just as much attention.

All new concessions and restaurants have ribbon cutting ceremonies; oftentimes the grand opening is a major event, including guest speakers and performances.

Not only are my photos used for promotional campaigns, but at major events, placards summarizing newly opened and soon to open retailers are on display featuring my photos.

An airport wouldn't be an airport without newsstands and book retailers, and I take photos of them as well!

It's just further demonstration of why I love photographing for DC's local airports - everyone who asks me about my airport photography simply assumes all I do is photograph aircraft, but upon explaining the body of work above, they always leave surprised and better informed - it's a side of every airport that few people ever think about, yet is so often taken for granted.

2015 Headshots

A lot of people don't realize it, but I actually take quite a few corporate portraits, either as professional headshots, or for various customer service campaigns. Customer service campaigns account for the majority of my corporate portraiture at present; these portraits often require lots of dead space to be given in allowance for graphic design (I don't do that ;-) ). These are often shot in many different locations, but with the same basic formula.

And here is what they look like after the graphic designer does their thing (I don't have a finished version of the most recent images like this to show, so this final with graphic overlay image is from several years ago - full disclosure!).

For you photo geeks, the backgrounds are in no way "Photoshopped;" these photos are simply shot at 85mm f/2.0, with off-camera flash.

Other times a more straightforward picture is necessary. There are a number of other photos from this set that are for use in not-yet-released projects; you'll just have to stay tuned :-)

Then of course I also shoot your typical professional headshots, which can be used for any number of purposes.

This is MWAA's Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, and Dulles' Airport Manager & an MWAA Vice President. These photos are currently used as their professional images throughout The Airports Authority, and can be seen hanging at both Dulles and Reagan National Airports. In shooting these I was updating existing portraits of the governing body, and matching the new photos' lighting and poses to the existing set of images.

I of course can alter the background in many ways to suit different clients' needs; in the case below, I added a touch of color, to match her company's colors (I also include a standard graphite background version in cases like this, just so they have it on hand if needed later).

For the gentleman on the right, I provided a slightly more modern look, with deeper contrast, and a slight hairlight that helps give extra dimension to his head and shoulders.

Headshots are not limited to single color backgrounds either. In fact, they can be spiced up quite a bit with some slight texture behind the subject. This last picture is the only headshot in this post that was also shot with natural light alone.

Observant readers will have noticed that I take a very organic approach to retouching; in general, and unless otherwise requested, I remove imperfections, and leave anything naturally identifiable; in some cases I reduce noticeability, but I don't remove these types of things unless specifically asked to. My philosophy is to emphasize your best features, without making any unnatural alterations.

To see more headshots from previous years, check out my last post about headshot photography!

Katie's Cars and Coffee, February 7th, 2015

This weekend's Cars and Coffee was a VERY special one for me. For the first time, I now have a car that is worth bringing to show at Katie's - I finally have a car that gets (some) attention. That's right; this past Saturday was the new car's first car show, and to my surprise, it actually got some looks and photos taken - not nearly as many as the GT-R next spot over, but hey, I'm happy with what I have: a car people notice, and more importantly, with reliability (*knocks wood*) and a warranty!

I just missed it, but the man in this photo was the first person to walk around, look at, and take some photos of the new car... before of course moving on to the GT-R.

I actually didn't shoot any photos of my car beyond these two; I'll definitely be giving it a proper photo sesh on a later date. Here it is with it's more energetic, very distant cousin.

So, I used Katie's the big reveal to a few friends of mine who have known I've desperately needed a new car for quite some time... in fact, a friend of mine *also* brought his new car (a Jaguar XF Portfolio Edition) to the show for the first time - that made two of us sharing our new cars for the first time at a car show; we both decided to do so at Katie's.

But enough of that; I also braved the cold and enjoyed the show's other (obviously more interesting) offerings.

It was a Porsche kind of weekend, but I really enjoyed this VW Rabbit Caddy.

Katie's Cars and Coffee, January 17th, 2015

It's a new year, and it's been a while since I've visited Katie's. After over a year of being publicly promoted, Katie's has become something of a zoo during warm months. The last Cars and Coffee I attended, I was checking out St. Louis' car scene. Unlike St. Louis' Cars and Coffee, Katie's takes place year-round, even braving bitter cold like this morning. Even though I lost feeling in my thumb gripping my camera lens this morning, I much prefer Katie's in Winter, because although the show has exploded in Summer, Katie's in Winter is still just as small and intimate (and easy to enjoy) as always.

As I shoot Katie's for fun as somewhat of a break from hired shoots, I often use the weekly event as a practice run for different lenses or techniques, since it's a medium-scale but predictable event with an even mix of people and stationary subjects (the cars!). This time was my first use of my Mamiya 100mm f/2.8 medium format lens, freelensed with my 1D X. To most people, shooting this way looks outright silly. "What's wrong with your lens; why isn't it it on the camera?" Well, secretly, I haven't yet received the adapter someone is fabricating for me... but actually it's because I love how analog you can get with a digital camera.

Freelensing is a technique I commonly use with my converted Lubitel medium format lens (which I've also shot at Katie's)... but seeing how much larger the 100mm lens is, and knowing it has a larger image circle, I wanted to see how easily it would handle freelens shooting in direct sunlight. It worked great - easy to line up, compose, focus, and shoot, with a lot more flexibility for any tilt-shifting. And my favorite part, the light leaks; organic, naturally occurring light leaks. In a time where digitally faked light leaks are popular, I am getting the real thing in-camera. And it's beautiful.

This blog post has been republished by J. David Buerk. For the full set of photos, view the album at his Facebook Page and his Client Site. All photography is by J. David Buerk, and is copyrighted All Rights Reserved.

Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company

It's not secret that I am a wine enthusiast. Red, white, I love it all (but mostly drys, if we're being frank...). With global warming changing vineyards' playing fields, and living in the midst of what has been hailed as "the East Coast Napa," it's a very interesting time to be a wine lover in Northern Virginia.

Today, however, I won't be sharing my latest Loudoun wine discovery, or newest Page County vineyard adventure - I've already Met Virginia. No; today is about California... San Francisco, California, and a band you may have heard on the radio singing about Jupiter and Angels and Crappy Purple Scions. Yes, today is about The Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co... colloquially known as Train Wine.

(Do This - Trust me, just do it! Click here and just let it play in the background while you read this post. JUST DO IT!)

The first time I heard about a band putting out a wine was ACDC and their "Highway to Hell" Cabernet, "Hells Bells" Suvignon Blanc, along with a few other varietals. My first thought when I heard about it, and saw it for sale not long after? "What a damn gimmick." Let's get that mindset out of here before we go any further: The Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co. is NO gimmick - it's the real deal. Jimmy Stafford and his bandmates came up with the wine company while touring; the various wines while on the road as their inspiration (and of course, the wine had to be from California). This is wine you can appreciate even if you don't appreciate the namesake music... but you will surely grin a little wider when you read the wines' names.

There are currently six wines in the lineup, however there were only five when I shot these photos - you'll notice that the newest addition, "Bulletproof Picasso" Sauvignon Blanc is missing. Even as I write this, I unfortunately still do not possess a bottle of it. Observant drinkers will also note that the labels have since been refined as well.

Wines currently on the roster include:

While I've tried most of the wines over the past two years, I haven't tried all of them just yet; pictured is the only bottle of "Soul Sister" I have, and I still need to get my hands on "Bulletproof Picasso." I was both pleased and frustrated when this was announced; pleased because Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite wine varietal, and frustrated because I had already shot the pictures, and it meant I have to wait to have my "Train Wine Tasting" party I've been plotting for a while now. That's right - gather friends, hold a tasting with all six Train wines, and enjoy a little picnic (perhaps with Train chocolate too - yup, Train chocolate), all while jamming out to Train's discography. What better way to celebrate my birthday?

For these reasons, I am not writing any kind of wine review or tasting notes. For now, I will say that overall, Train's wines all have very bold flavors.

You can also now enjoy Save Me, San Francisco wines at any Train concert (although at concert pricing: one glass for the cost of a retail bottle - yikes!!!). Train is always a great concert, by the way.

Hopefully for my birthday in a few months I will have a bottle or two of "Bulletproof Picasso," and can report back with an actual review / tasting notes on all of these bold, colorful wines. Until then, I will simply leave you with...

Burberry Bonus

While I had this lighting set up, I also had some fun with a few other products; here is one of them. In the coming days I will have to share highlights of some of the marketing and product photography I have been shooting for the past year at both Dulles International and Reagan National airports, as they both change their restaurants, and add luxury concessions such as Tumi, Esteé Lauder, and Burberry.