Category: Portrait Photography

15 Mar

Miss Gainesville Scholarship Pageant 2018

 

This past Saturday, February 24th 2018, I had the pleasure of documenting the Miss Gainesville Scholarship Pageant. Titles were awarded for Miss Gainesville, Miss Lake City, Miss Gainesville Outstanding Teen and Miss Lake City Outstanding Teen.  This was my 3rd year shooting it and I was grateful to once again be chosen. Here are some of my favorite shots from the evening.

Beauty Pageant
Miss Gainesville Scholarship Pageant 2018

This past Saturday, February 24th 2018, I had the pleasure of documenting the Miss Gainesville Scholarship Pageant. Titles were awarded for Miss Gainesville, Miss Lake City, Miss Gainesville Outstanding Teen and Miss Lake City Outstanding Teen.  This was my 3rd year shooting it and I was grateful to once again be chosen. Here are some of my favorite shots from the evening.

 

 

28 Apr

Gainesville Family Portrait Shoot

On location family portraits.
Portraits, family photos.

The crew and I had a great time capturing the Amendola family on this shoot. As you’ll see there was a lot of energy in this young family! We photographed them in some beautiful locations in the Alachua County area and the weather was absolutely perfect! Its good to get in a fun shoot like this before that North Central Florida Heat waves begin.

Don’t let the heat discourage you from getting a shoot in though. Early evening mini-sessions turn out great.

Family Portrait Shoot
On location Portrait shoot
01 Apr

An All Women Run Private Airport

All Woman run Airport Series

This shoot was particularly exciting because I’ve had this idea for a couple of years: an all women run private airport.

This concept was a “departure” from the ordinary shoots I’ve seen where subjects are shot as passenger roles. We included this concept as well, but as the secondary part. Each model posed in both roles – passenger and airport staff. The passengers portrayed were varied as would be on a plane, from the busy female executive, pregnant mother, and so on.

All Woman run Airport Series

For the styling, I wanted a uniform look without the uniform. I knew that I wanted the look of a blazer, but I needed particular styles of blazers and more unifying factors. To help complete the look, I brainstormed with the help of my two stylist friends, Lea Guediri and Jen Bass. They came up with the idea of tying the blazers in with the scarf, a single braid and a bold lip.

Shooting University Air Center wouldn’t have been successful without the work of many other talented individuals. Shooting this concept of an all women run private airport wouldn’t have been successful without the work of many other talented individuals. Chiquita Campbell of Triple C Beauty executed the makeup for the shoot. NYC-based Simon Snogles helped photograph with me, and Tom Snogles brought the idea together with the relationship with the airport. Joe Mota also assisted and shot behind the scenes.

We are so pleased with the results of this shoot and hope everyone enjoys the photos as much as we do.

 

 

10 Feb

A Romantic Engagement Photo Session

Portrait Photography. Engagement Photo Session.

I had the great privilege of photographing this lovely couple for their engagement photos.  This took place on a private estate at the tail end of the holiday season.  During an engagement photo session, my goal is to communicate the romance between the lovers. I immediately aim to break the ice and will often give the couple some time to walk the premises and talk amongst each other and to share some quiet and tender moments.

I always  look forward to the engagement photo sessions like these.

 

03 Feb

Flashback Friday: Gainesville Today Magazine, Editorial Photography

This was a cover shoot I did for Gainesville Today Magazine. Cover shoots are really stylized portraits when you really consider it. The issue came about as it was the beginning of gala season in Gainesville. So, there was a lot of fantastic black tie and charity-driven events. This issue was to serve as a guide to the Gala Season! I was the photo editor and chief photographer for the magazine at the time of this shoot and I often got a chance to go to these events and take a lot of portraits of people. The creative director and I came up with the concept to have a male model represent this issue for this season. We always aimed to make the magazine the fashion magazine in Gainesville. Every cover was fashion-driven. A lot of thought and planning went into these stylized portrait shoots(Cover Shoots). From the theme of the magazine that month, to the model, to the clothing, the makeup,the setting and design. We used to have great creative collisions within the creative team, and sometimes we’d add unique elements. We were able to have our model suited by The Mens Wearhouse. of Course that promotion was good for them as well as they would have many guys in town renting tuxes from them for all of these gala events.

There was cool added element to this shoot, as I brought in my friends at Gainesville Lighting. They were able to add another dimension to our lighting set up for it. I knew I wanted to have a night time or a party/festive feel to this particular shoot. They were able to add a little blue and red that i used as gels for this portrait.

The one way to get people to pick up the magazine is to have dynamic images. Dynamic images intrigue people. If people are intrigued then there’s a good chance they’ll stop to take a look and even pick the magazine up and take it with them.

From Cover shoots, to stylized portraits, I can help to conceptualize a dynamic shoot that’ll produce dynamic images.

18 Jan

Santa in Paradise

This project started as a dream, as many of my projects do.

 

In this particular dream, I was having cocktails and shooting the breeze with Santa and Mrs. Claus. We were all at a resort, poolside, while they gave me the rundown on what their holiday is really like. They said they love what they do, but they really like vacationing, too.

 

As silly as it sounds, I decided to make my dream a photo shoot reality. I know people named Tony and Penny who play Mr. and Mrs. Claus in real life. They were so gracious and willing to help me transform my dream into photos.

Capturing Mr. & Mrs. Clause

 

Photographing Santa
Cheer to the World!

 

02 Jun

Family Photography

It’s finally June, which means Father’s Day is quickly approaching. Now is a good time to start considering family photos. Recently, I did a family photo shoot with the McLeavy family. Here are some of the client’s thoughts:

“Phillip, just a quick note to say how happy we are with our family photos. Thanks for making us feel at ease during our photography session. You have an excellent manner about you, and thanks for taking such a personal interest in our family. Your talent for photography and your patience when dealing with the little ones made this process simple, and more importantly, fun for us all. We especially loved the variety of photos you took. The location of or shoot was spot-on and captured not just our family, but also the area in which our children have grown up. They will be proud to share these photos with their own families in the future. Thank you for sharing your time talent and patience with our family.

Being a Dad is by far the greatest accomplishment a man can wish for. There is no better feeling than seeing your children grown and develop into their own person both physically and intellectually. My favorite times as they are young are those “look how fast I can run in my new shoes” moments and the “look how high I can jump” experiences. As those moments evolve, suddenly it is not about how fast they can run or jump but how good they can look while doing it. As my oldest nears adulthood I look forward to seeing just how far he runs or how high he will jump. I know that my “Dad” shoes keep me running fast and jumping for joy each and every day. Dads are awesome.”

– Chuck McLeavy