Atlanta's beautiful spring weather means a chance to get outdoors for some fun family photos. We had a great time shooting this beautiful family and even got in a workout chasing their two energetic boys. Morgan Falls Park in Sandy Springs is one of my family's favorite hangouts and a great photoshoot location. We loved mom's red cape idea and it was the perfect strategy to help entertain the kids while getting some great, natural light shots - that's one smart mom!
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The result of a shoot at an amazing new local business concept in Atlanta called Brother Moto, a place that supplies the "motocurious" with the necessary tools, environment and knowledge to work on their own bikes. This Atlanta business is more than just a shop, it's a community dedicated to the love of motorcycles old and new. It's a great place to hang out, get access to great tools, like specialty wrenches, or simply get a cup of coffee. Owners, Bobby and Jared are some of the nicest people I've had the pleasure to shoot and totally passionate about their business.
In just under 24 hours a series of Wells Fargo social posts went from concept to reality. Got to work with a great team of advertising creatives in Atlanta on location scouting, talent selection, props and execution. Social posts were a hit on Facebook!
As with our pregnancy announcement photo, the standard social media post of a grainy ultrasound picture wouldn’t cut it. The same went for our baby’s gender reveal. I wanted to create a fun and attractive image to share this exciting news with friends and family. On top of that, my wife was so thrilled with the pregnancy announcement that she wanted a gorgeous photo to capture each milestone of the pregnancy.
After a lot of brainstorming that included soccer balls, clotheslines of socks and anything blue, I thought – let’s just keep it clean and simple. Using quintessential boy toys, we created a shot that went well with our original announcement and paired it with a fun hand-drawn message. The photo was a big hit with family and friends and many are already asking about the next set in the series. My wife can’t wait until the photos are framed and on the wall.
My latest photography subject is fresh out of Officer Training School and brought a steeled focus to the shoot. Used to standing at attention for long periods of time, this guy was a breeze to photograph, as you can see from the photo below and in Launchpad’s portrait gallery.
For this portrait I wanted to convey a dark, dramatic ambiance. The background is black seamless and the lighting consists of two gelled rim lights and a large, feathered key light that rakes across the subject. During post I worked my basic retouching and color grading for a movie feel.
While shooting, Johnny recounted adventures from training and how rough military life can be. He had an MRE or meal, ready-to-eat in his duffle and was happy to let us have a sample. This one-day ration had a powdered sports drink that you mix in a bag, cinnamon roll, garlic toast, cheese spread, chicken pesto and patriotic cookies. I can tell you the cookies were exact replicas (minus the Hamburgler shape) of the cookies that were put in 1980s McDonald’s Happy Meals. The other cool thing about the MRE was a nitrogen-based heating unit. Just one drop of water will get the pack piping hot to heat up the chicken pesto. I also had a laugh when I learned every MRE comes with a laxative. While MREs are packed with a day’s worth of protein and other nutrients, it seems like the formula could still use some tweaking.
On the Launchpad blog, we typically share the latest updates on our photography projects and this entry is no different, except that this time it is a little more personal because my wife is expecting! We wanted to create a fun image to share the good news and found inspiration in the “Three Bears.” A pair of newborn sneakers stands in for baby Buccianti until he or she is here to fill those shoes.
Propped up on a few pregnancy books, I remotely triggered my Nikon, focusing the lens on Elizabeth and the baby’s shoes before stepping into the frame. The picture alone turned out very nice, but we felt that adding a few hand drawn illustrations would turn the cuteness factor up a notch. Elizabeth provided several pages of hand drawn banners, doodles and words for me to choose from and in the end we decided to keep it simple by just naming the three bears along with our birth year.
Family and friends loved the photo and we even ordered postcards so that our relatives can have a printed copy. Have you ever made a creative announcement with a photo? We would love to hear about it in the comments!
If only every photo shoot came with delicious food! We recently had the pleasure of taking portraits of Rusty Bowers owner of Pine Street Market in Avondale Estates, GA.
Rusty is a natural for creating the tastiest meat cuts you’ve ever had and his passion for his work comes across on the camera. We chose the shop’s iconic chalkboard as the backdrop and used a human-sized setup very similar to the recent pet photo shoot. The space was a little tight for all of our gear and at one point we had to actually put one of the light boxes outside an open window, which would have been fine if it hadn’t been for the pouring rain. Luckily our light box wears a poncho well.
We had a great time taking photos of Rusty and sure didn’t mind all the samples we got to try – like the most amazing soppressata and prosciutto. Really had a hard time keeping Elizabeth focused on holding a reflector while Rusty sliced 18 month aged prosciutto for one of the shots.
Make sure to check out the rest of the photos on www.LaunchpadPhoto.com. If you haven’t already visited Pine Street Market, you need to go because bacon jam will change your life!
Along with the website launch, Launchpad Photo recently debuted its logo and I wanted to share a little background on the process. After a lot of brainstorming and research, I envisioned a simple and elegant look that had a retro feel while still being contemporary.
That kind of unique look and specificity meant only one thing – custom typography. The great thing about a logo with custom lettering is that you won’t find the font pre-loaded on a computer. It’s completely original and the name itself becomes the visual symbol of the business.
Typography is an art that requires meticulous attention to detail. While my background is in design and advertising, hand lettering is not my forte so I turned to a fellow designer and friend, Jennifer Howard. We talked about the name Launchpad and what I had in mind for the logo. I gave her a few directions to explore and in what seemed like no time at all, she created the backbone for what would serve as Launchpad’s logo.
With a rough draft in hand, I needed a typography expert to perfect the design and make sure that the curve, height, thickness, width, etc. of every letter was not only precise, but flowed together in harmony. Joseph Calvo was the force that poured over every detail of the logo. After hand drawing the word Launchpad, he traced it in Adobe Illustrator to create a digital and completely polished final rendition.
We see logos every day but don’t often get to hear about the process and how they’re made. I personally love custom type and admire those that have the talent and patience to create custom lettering. I couldn’t be happier with Launchpad’s logo.
It’s not every day that you get to announce a lifelong dream and for me, the start of Launchpad Photo is the beginning of that journey. From the second I picked up a Nikon DSLR I was hooked. While already on my way to a successful advertising career, I spent most of my free time learning photography. Family and pets sat for countless portraits and my camera never left my side. Weekends became an opportunity for new photo adventures.
As my skills progressed I was able to incorporate photography into my advertising work. I set up client photo shoots instead of sifting through thousands of generic stock images and soon was asked to do photo work for bigger names like NAPA Auto Parts and The Home Depot. I was also accepted as a Getty Images contributing photographer.
I have an almost obsessive attention to detail that makes for a clean and unique style my clients love. I fully understand the business of advertising, marketing, and public relations; I’m able to deliver photos that are not only visually appealing but that can also carry out an underlying strategy or message.
I couldn’t be that person who looks back on life with regrets or always wondered if he could have made it. This is my dream, this is what I’m meant to do in life, and all the hard work is transforming into a rewarding opportunity.
Thanks for checking out Launchpad Photo and the new blog. I hope you’ll stick around as we post our photo shoots, behind the scenes peeks, and other exciting developments. You’ll also hear from my wife and business partner, Elizabeth. She’s a public relations veteran and handles the business end of Launchpad. She works with clients to make sure everything runs smoothly so we can focus on getting great shots.
We look forward to sharing our adventures with you!
- Felipe