Church Hill Photography

XDL Intelectual Property Law

elaine — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:26:00 +0000

XDL is one of the coolest clients I've had the pleasure to work with. The XDL firm is comprised of attorneys with various specialties in my favorite area of law: intellectual property ;-).

When they first called me for a shoot, we focused on full length high-key portraits of each attorney, for the "who we are" page on their website. That was a lot of fun, and I got to know each of the attorneys personally during those sessions.

But the images I like the most are the black and white environmental, available light images you see here.

The attorneys live all over the US, from Seattle to Minneapolis to Richmond, which doesn't poses any apparent obstacles to the ability to litigate effectively on behalf of their clients. When they do get together in one room, it's amazing.

All that brainpower in one location...all focused on protecting intellectual property rights...it's enough to make any creator swoon. Talk of copyright protection, patent and trademark litigation...ooooh, ahhh.

So my client, Amy Smith Pike, Marketing Director for the XDL group, says, "lets get some action shots of these guys all together hashing things out". So I got my trusty monopod, locked in the long lens, and stabilized the camera for some high ISO/low light/no flash/low shutter speed images of the group in one of their bull sessions.

Normally, when I'm asked to shoot meetings, I like to place off-camera strobes in the room to bring up the light level. This enables us to get low ISO, and thus low noise color images.

But something about this meeting was different...perhaps it was the intimacy of the room and the time pressure these folks were under to keep the agenda rolling (half of them had to catch flights home in the afternoon.) I felt it would be too much of a distraction to have strobes popping, plus, the room had so much stuff in it (flip charts, coffee pots, laptops, luggage sodas and snacks) I don't know where I would have found the room for light stands.

When converted to gray-scale, the low light/high noise images looked like good old fashioned grainy T-Max film. Didn't hurt that my client, Amy, used to work in media herself...she's an old news-hound and "gets it" on the photo-journalistic concept for her firm.

In the end, I was surprised at how much I liked the images, and I love how the design firm, Prototype Advertising, used them on the XDL website. Nice to know I have clients in high places, should I ever need to go to court to defend a copyright infringement.
All images Copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Lovers in the garden

elaine — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:46:00 +0000

This is Adam and Susan...to be wed May 10, 2008, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden here in Richmond, VA. They both live and work in Northern Virginia now, but the bride hails from nearby Mechanicsville.

Last week, we went over to the Asian Garden (their reception will be in the Tea House) and walked around with a camera to get a feel for the site. I've photographed several weddings at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, but this will be my first using the Asian Garden as a reception/photography area.

An engagement portrait session with the bride & groom is a great warm up for the wedding day. The couple gets comfy smooching in front of a camera and we usually get lots of romantic images of 'young luv'.

The couple probably won't choose this image of her kissing his nose ...but I absolutely love it! It's the only frame like it, and shows how playful they are. I can't wait for the wedding day.

All images and content Copyright Elaine Odell/Church Hill Photography, LLC, 2008.

Pardon Our Dust...

elaine — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:57:00 +0000

If you've made it to this location on the World Wide Web...forgive us as we overhaul our website this weekend and republish our blog. If you've ever been through this process, you'll understand that things never work the way you anticipate...just gotta keep moving things around on the server till we get it right. Everything should be in order by Monday, March 31, 2008.

My Hero: Sandra Day O'Connor

elaine — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:36:00 +0000

One of the institutions I have the pleasure of working with is the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, VA.

These days, former Supreme Court Associate Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor is the serving as Chancellor for W&M.

She attended the annual Charter Day festivities this year, and I was asked to cover the celebratory, black-tie dinner at the end of the day. This was the second time I'd had the opportunity to photograph her on the college campus. And this time, just like before, I was totally star-struck.

The image above is my favorite picture of her from that night. We have lots of shots of her delivering a speech and doing the formal things on the agenda...but those look as you would expect. At this point, former W&M President, Gene Nichol was at the lectern, and he must have made some jovial remark which made her laugh. Lovely.

She really was the classiest dame in the room...and fell for her. When the event was over, I saw her talking with Harriet Mayor Fulbright (president of the J. William & Harriett Fulbright Center).

Seeing these two amazing women together was really powerful; the Supreme Court Judge and the world peace advocate. I just had to document what appeared to be a warm friendship. With my photojournalist hat on, I followed O'Connor and Fulbright out of the banquet hall, got ahead of them, turned around and walked backwards hoping I wouldn't knock down one of the other guests as I made pictures.

Just after I got this shot, O'Connor said "That's quite enough now." Her words were like a laser beam: delivered with a smile and complete seriousness. It was a little taste of what it might have been like to argue a case before her.

Instantly, I stopped shooting, and scooted back into the ballroom to photograph the other guests.

Eat In Kitchen

elaine — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:07:00 +0000

Here's another one of Perry DesJardins' killer kitchens. This was shot during a day and half of image capture at a custom-built DesJardin home in Goochland County, VA.

Deciding what to leave in was the challenge in this shot. The home owner, like most of us, had all sorts of tchotchkes around the kitchen (with all that counter space, wouldn't you?)

But since I was shooting for the builder, we needed minimal distractions. The marble counter tops, custom cabinets, tile back splashes, lighting, etc., needed to be the stars of the show.

So I set up the tripod, framed the shot, and asked my assistant, Karin, to start removing items one by one. The challenge was for her to remove the cookbooks, decorative plates, potted plants, etc., and stow them in such a way that she could put them back just as she found them, so the homeowner would find the kitchen just as she left it.

The lighting is a combination of window light (provided by floor to ceiling french doors) in the out-of-the-frame family room to the right of the camera, and the tungsten lighting within the kitchen. Several bracketed exposures were sandwiched together in post-production to achieve this final image.

We're pleased with the final result...there are just enough decorative details in this kitchen to make it pretty, without being distracting to the overall design.

All images & text copyright 2008 Elaine Odell/Church Hill Photography, LLC.

Protesting High Gas Prices

elaine — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:39:00 +0000

Last week, while driving through rural Nelson County, we blew past this gas station on Rt. 664 in the hamlet of Beech Grove, a few miles down the mountain from the Wintergreen Resort.

We turned around and went back to photograph this sign. According to the manager on duty, the owner of Hickman's Exxon has gotten fed up with rapidly escalating gas prices and the all too frequent climb to change the numbers on this sign (about 20-25 feet up).

This was shot on Thursday March 6, 2008, when a gallon of regular was $3.34. Below, is the wide shot of Andy Hickman's gas station, which is just a short drive from the Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

The Artist's Space

elaine — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:30:00 +0000

Jennifer Young's Vibrant Landscapes are favorites among fine art collectors, interior designers and decorators. Although she creates a lot of work in the plein air mode, Jennifer's indoor space is where she finishes the canvases (varnishing, touchups, framing, etc,) and does indoor painting when the weather doesn't cooperate.

Jennifer moved to a gorgeous gallery/studio in Downtown Richmond over a year ago, and we'd yet to create a portrait of the artist in her gallery. Finally, on a rainy, cold January afternoon, we did it. Luckily, the sunny yellow walls in the interior gallery more than made up for the miserable weather outdoors.

What I really like about Jennifer's gallery is that it feels like a real home, instead of a sterile white-walled gallery. The row house has a large front room with lots of natural window light (easy to imagine as your home living/family room) as well as an interior room with decorator lighting (like your dining room). You see the paintings displayed this way and can envision them hanging on your own walls.

This shoot is a good example of collaboration and give-and-take with the client. Jennifer was more interested in showing the gallery expanse and the paintings on display. While she realized she needed to be in the picture, she wasn't really interested in being the central focus. Like most artists, she prefers that her art be the "hero".

Well, I saw things a little differently...I was more interested in creating a portrait of the artist, with the work & the environment accompanying her, telling her story.

So, to achieve both our goals, we set up a wide shot and placed paintings strategically within the camera's view. Stylist Winifred Halliday was very instrumental in helping set up this portrait.

One benefit of shooting wide and seeing a tighter crop within it, is the flexibility it gives graphic designers. It's especially helpful for magazine or newspaper folks who often don't know the layout of a page till the last minute because images and text blocks are coming from multiple sources. If you're a client submitting an image with a press release, having an image that crops easily as a horizontal or a vertical makes designers really happy, and increases your chances of prominent page placement.

So here is the wide shot. It tells you more about the gallery space and lets your eye move about the frame. The artist is still central to the image...if a newspaper is writing a story about galleries, then this image would likely get used in publication because of the extra visual information.
All images and text Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Pet Doctors

elaine — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:08:00 +0000

This is Dr. Key. She works at Lakeside Animal Hospital in Richmond, VA. Earlier last month, we spent the morning working with the staff to create images for their new website redesign. It was a fast paced few hours with great teamwork on the part of staff and their pets.

The cool thing about Lakeside Animal Hospital is that they work with birds and reptiles, too. Below is Dr. Gonzales, with one of the pet birds who lives at the animal hospital. Photographing someone with a bird was new to me. I was a little concerned. I've done lots of shoots with people and their dogs. But a parrot? I didn't know how he'd like the flash. We placed the strobe head behind the bird so the vet would be looking into the light, the bird would have his back to it. I think that helped, because it was a small exam room and we were flashing away. But what probably made the most impact on keeping the bird relaxed was the comfort and attention from Dr. Gonzales. The parrot and her are old friends. The two of them just chatted and cooed the whole time we were shooting.

All images and text Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Other U2 Guys

elaine — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:53:00 +0000

Remember the U2 spy plane incident? In 1960 Russia shot down super top secret CIA spy pilot Francis Gary Powers. He was held prisoner by the Soviets for nearly 2 years...and eventually was released in a spy swap.

Well, this is his son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr. He's the founder of the traveling Cold War Museum. They have a neat website.
Gary travels the US, speaking to groups interested in the Cold War. He's also raising funds for a museum home base outside of Washington, D.C.

The day of this shoot, we decided to do two set-ups: one outdoors with a model of his dad's spy plane, and another in his study. The first shot would show the playful side of his personality: the big kid in love with aviation and history. The second shot would show the business side of Gary's directorship of the museum.

We set up in Gary's office and this is one of the frames from that sequence. Your basic business guy/professional portrait that just happens to have the U2 model plane in the foreground.

Now here is the funny thing about this shoot. While writing this entry, I just happened to go to the Wikipedia entry for Gary's dad.

Twilight zone time...I swear I never saw this old black and white news photograph till now. Wow. Like father like son.

Above color images Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

New Year's Ride to Church Hill

elaine — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:04:00 +0000

Every year, on New Year's Day, a bunch of local riding clubs get together and trek 35 miles from Charles City County to Church Hill. The ride always ends a Jefferson Park, overlooking Downtown Richmond, the State Capitol, and I-95, just at sunset. Today, as the horses came clattering down the street (gotta love the sound of horse shoes on pavement) I grabbed my point-n-shoot along with some apples and carrots. This year, the weather was great. And lots of little city kids got to pet a horsey. Once the light faded, I knelt down and captured the silhouette image above. The the lights of Downtown Richmond and Riverfront Towers are in the background.

These are just a few of the snaps from Jefferson Park; to see the rest of the images, click here.

Here is a link to the website for one of the clubs in case you want to find out more: http://unitedhorsemen.org

All images Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

All I Want for Christmas...

elaine — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:33:00 +0000

Yes, they really were missing their two front teeth! No retouching required. Peter and Kennedi are first graders at Fisher Elementary School in Richmond. We shot this back in October, around Halloween. Now, they both have their two front teeth and are enjoying Christmas candy.

Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Bellydancer Beauty

elaine — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:28:00 +0000

Before leaving for Egypt with my husband (that's why I haven't posted in so long) I got in the mood for the trip with a portrait session of the lovely Christi. She's a local bellydancer and as you can see, is stunning. Photographing dancers is always something I've enjoyed doing. It's a challenge because you want to show movement and allow them to express themselves as artists. Soon, I'll post more images with her veil and even more movement. With this shoot, Christi showed me the classic bellydance postures, and I asked her to make some minor adjustments for the camera. She's also the first person to be photographed with my new blue-to-black backdrop. It seemed the obvious choice with her costume. Look for her dancing in the Richmond area along with the ever-growing population of bellydancers worldwide!

Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Before the wedding starts...

elaine — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:32:00 +0000

We've been working on Kim and Paul's wedding album, Finally, all the prints are off at our bindery, Art Leather. This is one of my favorite images from the wedding day. We were in a quiet hallway just outside the sanctuary as Kim and her dad waited to walk down the aisle. My heart was pounding (like it always does when the church is full and everyone is looking over their shoulder to get a glimpse of the bride.) Kim had the calmness of a saint. She just took a breath and bowed her head. I don't know if she was praying or just collecting her thoughts. Regardless of what she was thinking, I thought she was supremely beautiful and was glad to be there with a camera.

Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Senior Portrait

elaine — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:53:00 +0000

This handsome young fellow is Will Patterson, a senior at Richmond Christian School. His mom and dad asked me if our studio did Senior Portraits, and I said, "of course!" Call me old fashioned, but I wish kids would dress like this more often. It's his dad's tuxedo jacket. He certainly is dressed to impress.

Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Halloween At the Office

elaine — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:36:00 +0000

On a quite Sunday, we went to Richmond's financial district with our model, Beauregard Marie. I worked in NYC for years and wanted to find a location that reminded me of the marble office plazas in mid-town Manhattan. I also wanted to replicate how the early morning/afternoon sun hits at such a strong angle this time of year.

I had Beau walk back an forth, and up and down those steps a lot. We tried various camera angles and lots of different hand positions with the jack-o-lantern. Getting the swing of the pumpkin and the briefcase with just the right stride took us a while to figure out. Beau did a great job, and was very patient.

For lighting, we supplemented the natural open shade of the office plaza with a battery powered off camera flash, creating a "kicker light" from the right side (notice how the main light reflecting onto the subject at a right angle--not what you'd naturally see at noontime in open shade). We added a few orange gels to warm the light to give it that early am glow. In all those years on Madison Avenue, I never actually saw anyone walking to work with a candy-filled pumpkin. But if I had, I'd have smiled like a jack-o-lantern.

Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Dream Home

elaine — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:04:00 +0000

Architectural photography is something we love to do. This home was designed by Perry DesJardins, a creator of extrordinary residences throughout Central Virginia. Infact, if you go to Perry's website, you can see the front of this house on his home page. This image was created by layering a number of different exposures within the image file. We set up the camera before sundown, and left it in place till dark. We added some stobe lighting there and there to open up the shadows. My assistant that day, Karin Sabine, hand held the strobe and walked along the set popping the flash at different areas. Some of the later exposures were as long as 8 seconds. The goal was to let the structural lighting appear as it does to the human eye. Nice digs.
Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

A Country Wedding

elaine — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:53:00 +0000

The Powhatan County homestead known as West Wind (rolling hills and a turn of the century farmhouse restored by the bride and groom) was the site of a super-fun wedding on September 15, 2007. From the git-go, the couple (Colleen McGary and Al Kupeski) told us they wanted to focus on enjoying the company of their family and friends. The last thing they wanted to do was pose for a lot of pictures and be kept away from enjoying their wedding celebration with guests. So, with the couple's permission, we captured the day in a photojournalist style. Between me and photo assistant, Beth Furgeson, we captured over 300o images that day. It wasn't till the very end of the day, with the sun gloriously setting and giving us the hallowed "golden hour", that we were able to get the newlyweds to settle down and make their official "wedding portrait". Luckily for us, the groom has a spiffy John Deere that doubled as the perfect loveseat and bouquet-tossing platform for the bride. See the whole shoot at http://www.churchhillphoto.com/al.
Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Engagement Portrait

elaine — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:41:00 +0000

Recently we had the pleasure of meeting Leigh and Matt. They commissioned our studio for their engagement portrait. What really works about this image is the relaxed pose. We always try to have couples close together and touching...just like they do in real life. After the shoot, we posted the couple's proofs online. This is the image they chose for their announcement. We find that online proofing helps clients share the images with friends and family. In this case, it was especially helpful since she lives out of town, as do her parents. To see what our online proofing system looks like, you can view this couple's shoot at www.churchhillphoto.com/leighmathew.
Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Mother and Child

elaine — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 03:25:00 +0000

This story has a happy ending. Once upon a time, a Union Hill neighbor MaryBeth, brought her 5-month old daughter, Rigby to the portrait studio. Now Rigby, being an exceedingly intelligent child, was not to be fooled by the usual photographer's tricks. No funny face, nor silly sound could get her to smile or laugh. The harder the photographer worked at being crazy and wacky, the more she looked simply perplexed. Understandably, Rigby's mom and dad wanted happy baby images to choose from. But Rigby would have none of it. So the photographer got the good sense to ask MaryBeth to hold her daughter. Well, that did the trick. Nothing makes a baby smile like a mother's caress. Now everyone lives happily ever after.
Image Copyright 2007 Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Guys in Ties

elaine — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:11:00 +0000

One of the things we do alot (and I did this shoot with photographer/assistant Beth Furgeson) is go into workplaces and make environmental portraits. Last week, Brady Communications asked us to visit one of their long-term clients, Quad-C Equity Management. Two new analysts had just joined the firm and needed their images on the company website.

Our goal was, with as little disruption as possible, to make a nice portrait of each fella in their current workspace. Since these guys are financial/business analysts, there was paper everywhere, lots of binders, books, spreadsheets, you name it. They have loads of information to keep track of.

As the photographer, my job is often to decide what not to include in the image frame. Both guys asked "do we need to clean up our desks?" I said the same think I always do, "no". Some how we always find a flattering angle and create lighting that eliminates the distracting junk that is in everyone's office. It didn't hurt that both these guys are youthful and handsome. They look professional and approachable.

All images and text copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.

A "Northern Neck" Morning

elaine — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:29:00 +0000

Here's another shot from our day with Candidate for Virginia State Senate, Richard Stuart. We started out at the farm of Woody Hynson (who's also serves on the Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors.) Woody's farm is picturesque with shady fishin' banks along the Rappahannock River. He was planting soy beans that morning and needed a hand with the 50lb bags of seed. That's Richard in the blue shirt helping out. The body of water behind the men is a creek that runs into the river just a few hundred yards away. Wood's retriever puppy, George, is quite a jumper, and managed to get his muddy paws on all of us, including Richard. Fortunately, we had another shirt handy and got this shot of George the waiting for Richard to toss the stick into the river. Oh, if you're not familiar with the term "Northern Neck", it's the peninsula that is bounded by the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers as they flow in to the Chesapeake Bay.

All images and text copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.

Summer Reading

elaine — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:04:00 +0000

Earlier this summer, my assistant Beth and I followed candidate for Virginia State Sentate, Richard Stuart. We photographed him talking with voters and visiting all kinds of folks throughout the 28th district. At the end of day-one, we stopped by his home to meet the family. Our job was to capture relaxed, everyday images of dad just hanging out with the kids. This image, with his eldest daughter, Katie, is one of my favorites. We just asked them to sit on the porch and read one of her favorite books. After a few poems, a tickle-giggle fest ensued and well, that's when the really fun pictures happened. Special thanks to all the folks we met those two days in Westmoreland and Stafford Counties...and vote for Richard!

All images and text copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.

Beautiful Baby Boy

elaine — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:29:00 +0000

This little guy came ready to have fun (mom & dad get all the credit). We made this image between wardrobe changes (he had some cute grandma-given outfits that got drooled on.) He's about 6 months old, so sitting up is still new to him...but as you can see, he's proud of his new "stature". This stage of a child's development can yield particularly rewarding photographs. Most babies are reacting well to parents (just to my left, so the infant can focus on his/her two favorite people in the world.) Also, babies this age are strong enough to sit up, but not quite ready to crawl away from the set. Perfect timing for our subject. This was our first shoot with the new "Desert Sands" backdrop, it has flesh tones, pinks and blues. Nice for youngsters.

All images and text copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.

Virginia GrandDriver Location Photoshoot

elaine — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:25:00 +0000

Last week we got lucky with the weather and had a wonderful time with these three spokeswomen for the Virginia Department for the Aging program known as GrandDriver http://www.granddriver.net
This is an unretouched image from the shoot. What makes this shot work for me is the lighting...and of course the energy of our talented subjects. Sunset shoots are thrilling because of the quality of light known as "the golden hour". That day, I worked with two terrific assistants: Danny Spry and Beth Furgeson. They're both young photographers and together we made a nice team. Look for this image (or a similar shot) in media later this spring and summer.

All images and text copyright 2007, Elaine Odell, Church Hill Photography, LLC. All rights reserved.

Richmond Canal Cruise Wedding

elaine — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:49:00 +0000

Get married on a boat? Why not? On Saturday, April 7, 2007, Kori and Valdez took their vows standing in the bow of canal boat. Before and after, they toured Richmond's historic downtown canal just off the James River. It was a chilly, breezy day, but as you can see, they were oh-so happy. I love this picture of them, captured right after they said "I do".