Matthew Coughlin :: Portrait Photographer http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog Creative Portrait Photography Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:49:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Family Photo Fun: Hanna Lester http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2012/01/01/family-photo-fun-hanna-lester/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2012/01/01/family-photo-fun-hanna-lester/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:10:33 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=985 We took a trip up to Columbus, Ga the week of Christmas to visit with some family. While I was in town, a few of younger cousins that wanted to do a photoshoot with me. We found a pretty nice little area back behind the house in the woods. It was very overcast and rained off and on that day. I brought my softbox with a 430EXII and also used some natural light. We shot for about an hour and got some pretty fun images. This set is of my cousin Hanna. Hollywood better watch out, this girl knows how to strike a pose. Oh, and this 14 year old is a pretty kick @$$ soccer player too.

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I made sure to use some of that nice diffused natural light too.

And you can’t forget the indoor rock star with sunglasses shot :)

 

]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2012/01/01/family-photo-fun-hanna-lester/feed/ 3 Captions http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/11/03/captions/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/11/03/captions/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:54:21 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=959 I was contacted by Stephan Vance, guitar/keys for the band Captions, a few weeks back. They were recently interviewed by Alt Press magazine and were in need of some new shots of their band. After some phone calls and countless text messages back and forth, we worked out a date and locations. These guys were great to shoot with and brought lots of energy and laughs with them.

For you photo nerds out there, all the images were shot using a single light source. If you have followed my work then you probably already guessed it was my favorite light modifier; Large Westcott softbox with 2 Canon 430EXII flashes inside.

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]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/11/03/captions/feed/ 0 Las Vegas Extravaganza http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/20/las-vegas-extravaganza/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/20/las-vegas-extravaganza/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:59:18 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=920 I was recently hired by a production company to shoot a large Las Vegas Variety Show Extravaganza. I got off of the phone today with my client and they were thrilled with the images they received from me. Along with getting paid, hearing their excitement about the photos makes for a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside. The show included an array of amazingly talented people including Recycled Percussion, Chris VanDahl as Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, the mind blowing Damian Brantley as the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, plus many more gifted artists. My client wanted candid shots of all the talent getting ready and rehearsing before the show along with the actual show itself. It was a true honor to be surrounded by such amazing people and personalities. I also had the opportunity to hang with them after the show and they were all such down to earth people. This will be an experience I will always cherish. Below are just some of my favorites from the hundreds of images I delivered to my client.

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Here is a great video clip I found of Damian doing his MJ thing on youtube…

 

]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/20/las-vegas-extravaganza/feed/ 12 Pumpkin Patch 2011 http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/17/pumpkin-patch-2011/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/17/pumpkin-patch-2011/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:53:43 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=905 Every year my wife and I look forward to picking out our Halloween pumpkins with the kids. This year we decided to go the distance and venture out to a real pumpkin patch so the kids can see that pumpkins don’t just pop up in the front of a church, they actually grow on a farm. We headed out to Jay, FL with Jenna’s mom (Mimi as the kids call her) for an afternoon in the country. When I saw the giant sunflowers, I couldn’t resist not using my lights. Enjoy.

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]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/17/pumpkin-patch-2011/feed/ 5 The Groomsmen http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/06/the-groomsmen/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/06/the-groomsmen/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:52:08 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=861 Last weekend I had the honor to be a groomsman in a wedding for one of my best friends, Ryan Williams. As we were waiting around getting ready, Ryan thought it would be a good idea if I setup a “photobooth” to capture all the crazy personalities of his friends and family. It was a beautiful day, a gorgeous wedding and all the groomsmen had tons of laughs getting ready to support Ryan as he married the love of his life. Enjoy the silly photos and feel free to leave comments down at the bottom.

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]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/10/06/the-groomsmen/feed/ 9 Scooter Girl with Amber Rushing http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/30/scooter-girl-with-amber-rushing/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/30/scooter-girl-with-amber-rushing/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:21:46 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=854 A few weeks back after the photoshoot with my old friend Blake Rushing, I met his wife Amber for the first time. Amber and I have talked about doing a photoshoot for the past couple weeks now. We finally made the time and got together for a fun shoot with Amber and her kick ass scooter.

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]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/30/scooter-girl-with-amber-rushing/feed/ 2 Attorney Aaron Watson http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/23/attorney-aaron-watson/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/23/attorney-aaron-watson/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 22:01:07 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=849 When attorney Aaron Watson called to hire me for a photoshoot and design a print brochure for him I jumped right on the opportunity. Aaron is an up and coming lawyer in Pensacola handling personal injury and big pharmaceutical cases with a major national law firm. As we were shooting some portraits, Aaron stopped to take a phone call and I captured this candid image during that moment. This image turned out to be my favorite shot from our session.

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]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/23/attorney-aaron-watson/feed/ 6 King of the Beach: Heavy Lifter Portraits http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/21/king-of-the-beach-heavy-lifter-portraits/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/21/king-of-the-beach-heavy-lifter-portraits/#comments Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:35:58 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=844 View the entire gallery with 20+ portraits and all of the lifters in action here http://matthewcoughlin.com/kingofthebeach.html.

I was honored when my good friend, Chip Holston, contacted me to photograph his annual “King of the Beach” weightlifting contest that he hosts on Pensacola Beach, FL. After Chip and I spoke over the phone about the action shots he wanted me to get, I immediately thought “portraits” in the back of my mind. While the event took place, I virtually had no time at all to get portraits but I was determined and I made it happen. There was a 20 minute break between the Bench Press session and the Dead Lift session. In that 20 minutes, I had to setup my backdrop, softbox, background light, determine my exposure, and round up all the heavy lifters I could find. The first lifter to brave my lens was my one test shot and that was all I needed. One by one I sat every lifter down on a stool, had them close their eyes and listen to this very specific instruction I gave them… “Now your eyes are closed. I want you to envision yourself seconds before your last lift in the competition, you are about go in front of this giant crowd and show them all your maximum strength. Put yourself there, do you see it? (Then after about a 5 second pause) Now exhale, open your eyes, and look straight into my lens. Click! They get one shot at lifting that weight, so that is all I gave myself. One true, honest, intimate shot of that mental moment I tried to put them in. I am truly stoked at how these images turned out.

Go to http://matthewcoughlin.com/kingofthebeach.html to see all of the portraits and images from the competition.

If you are a lifter and would like to purchase your photo(s), please contact me at matt@matthewcoughlin.com.

]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/21/king-of-the-beach-heavy-lifter-portraits/feed/ 2 Walter Iooss Jr. and Andy Samberg http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/16/walter-iooss-jr-and-andy-samberg/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/16/walter-iooss-jr-and-andy-samberg/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:49:57 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=842 I wanted to put this post together for a few reasons. First, I love sports. Second, I love comedy. Third, well, it has to do with photography. I stumbled upon this video via the @lonleyislandnew twitter feed. Before I go on, first check out the behind the scenes video with photographer Walter Iooss Jr. for the New York Times Magazine.

After watching the video for the laughs and behind the scenes photo nerd stuff (like how it appeared that there was no flash photography, just continuous lighting), I jumped over to Walter Iooss’ website to look at his portfolio. Little did I know that I have been a fan of his work ever since I was a young boy. As I went through decades of his images, I felt like I was a kid again back in my old room at my parents house. Many of the images in his portfolio were either posters of Michael Jordan I had plastered all over my walls or magazine trimmings hung by my bed of other athletes such as Tiger Woods, Ken Griffey Jr., or Joe Montana to name a few. Discovering this makes me want to brush up on my photography history and discover the other photogs who took my favorite childhood sports pictures. For instance, who shot that famous image of Bo Jackson with the football pads and baseball bat?

It was truly inspiring to see Walter have a timeline of decades with his photographic accomplishments listed on his site. I hope in 40 years from now, I can have a body of work that speaks volumes like his.

New York Times Magazine Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2011/08/28/magazine/index.html

Walter Iooss Website:
http://walteriooss.com/

]]> http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/16/walter-iooss-jr-and-andy-samberg/feed/ 0 Hot Dogs Door-to-Door (Personal Work) http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/14/hot-dogs-door-to-door-personal-work/ http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/2011/09/14/hot-dogs-door-to-door-personal-work/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:57:57 +0000 matthewcoughlin http://www.matthewcoughlin.com/blog/?p=831 Meet Bud Berma, the best Door-to-Door Hot Dog salesman in the business. Bud has been making his own hot dogs out of his basement for the past 9 years. He claims that his secret fresh ingredients and his charm are what sets him apart from his competition. Not to mention his “free samples” bucket. He guarantees quality and satisfaction. Bud says the collapse in the economy here has slowed business dramatically but he is still chasing his dream of sharing his wieners with the world.

After a long day of going door-to-door in the neighborhood, Bud’s spirits were down as no one was biting on his dogs.

This was a fun shoot. I can’t recall how I came up with the idea for this creepy salesman but my friend Danny Kirkland played the role perfectly after quite a few phone conversations over the past couple weeks. Big thanks to my other buddy Ashton Howard for letting us use his porch and nicely landscaped yard for the shoot. My goal was to show the character as larger than life and make people stop and think “What would I do if this guy showed up at my door?”

The shoot took place at noon and the sun was right above. Thankfully, we had some nice puffy white cloud coverage in our favor to help add to the background and also function as a diffuser when the sun would go behind them. So, the help of the cloud coverage put my ambient aperture settings at f/9.0 which was around where I wanted to be (shutter was at max sync speed of 1/200s and ISO was at its lowest setting of 100 on my Canon 7D). My main light source was a 40″ Westcott Softbox with 2 Canon 430EXII’s (both set to full power) and a 24″ Photoflex Softbox with 1 Canon 430EXII (set to full power) for some fill. To get the larger than life feel, I shot with my Sigma lens at 17mm (probably around a 28mm equivalent since the 7D has a crop sensor).

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