Matthew Coughlin :: Portrait Photographer

Beautiful People for Mobile Bay Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:45:25 +0000

What makes you beautiful? This was the story I was commissioned to shoot back in February for the April issue of Mobile Bay Magazine. The shoot took 2 days over in Mobile at PMT’s offices. It was such an experience to photograph 13 different wonderful subjects and collaborate with the talented and creative minds behind the magazine.

You can check out the story & write up over at Mobile Bay’s website.

click on images to view larger

The setup for this shoot was 3 lights. My keylight was a beauty dish from above, my fill light was a large octabox located camera left and my background light was a standard reflector with a 30 degree grid aimed at the background. The background was white seamless paper. I tethered to my macbook air during the shoot and since we were shooting so many subjects over 3 days, I wanted to make the editing easier on set so I brought my thunderbolt display.

Taylor Sultz for Money Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:03:05 +0000

Back in February I was commissioned by Money Magazine to photograph Taylor Sultz for their March issue. I got the call from Ryan Mesina to meet Taylor at his home in North Pensacola and photograph him on white to match a series of other portraits in the story. Though not used in the magazine, one of my favorite shots was a full body that showed the edges of the paper revealing the large American flag Taylor had draped down the wall in his living room.

And for any of you photo nerds out there who are curious to know how this was lit, here you go. Three light setup.

Zachary’s 100 Portraits

matthewcoughlin — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 02:48:45 +0000

Does anyone remember celebrating the 100th day of school back when they were a kid? I do! Well, my son Zachary was tasked with a first grade project of making a poster board with 100 objects of his choosing. Most kids would go for cheerios, pennies, paper clips, or cotton balls. Nope, not Zach. He wanted 100 pictures of himself. So we setup some lights in the garage with some white seamless and started snapping away. Toward the last 30 frames, I think Zach bumped the light aiming at the background and it turned more towards him. I didn’t notice while shooting because I was just firing away as he goofed off. Bottom line, we had fun and he turned in a cool and unique project.

All 100 pictures in 17 seconds.

These were some of my favorites from the 100 frames we snapped.

And here is a iPhone shot courtesy of my wife (whose feet are featured at the bottom)

Jack Blankenship for ESPN The Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:36:54 +0000

Back in January I was commissioned by ESPN The Magazine to travel to Tuscaloosa, AL to photograph “Alabama Face Guy,” Jack Blankenship.

For those of you reading this that have no idea who this guy is or why he makes this face, I’ll let this clip explain it for you.

My assignment was to photograph Jack doing simple day to day things while making “the face.” The main idea ESPN Senior Photo Editor Stephanie Weed and I discussed was to shoot Jack in a grocery store examining an apple and making “the face.” After many rejecting phone calls to grocery stores (because of corporate policies) in the days leading up to the shoot, the apple idea almost didn’t happen. Since the assignment was on short notice and the fact that it was a small shot, we weren’t going to jump through hoops and try to get approval from corporate grocery store chain offices. However, on the day of the shoot I gave the apple idea one more attempt. After scouting some locations for other ideas, we spotted a Piggly Wiggly in the shopping center where we were going to get some coffee. I walked into the Piggly Wiggly expecting to be rejected again, but it turns out I hit the right store. The Piggly Wiggly local owner, Jay Welborn, was a big sports fan and was excited to let us do the shoot in his store on the spot.

Jack grocery shopping

Jack having ice cream at the park

Jack walking his dog

Jack fishing

Jack knitting with his great aunt

When Jack brought me to his fraternity house, I knew I instantly wanted to shoot one last image. A little off the beaten path of simple every day things, I had an idea for a “sophisticated” shot of him with a coat and pipe. This is what we got.

And a few extras…

Royalty for Mobile Bay Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:39:44 +0000

In December last year, I was contacted by Mobile Bay Magazine to shoot a very fun assignment. The feature is interpretations of what Royalty is today in our own backyards.

To find out more about these “Royal” people, you can read the article on Mobile Bay’s site.

You can also jump to the bottom for a behind the scenes photo and an explanation of some of the lighting.

Kathryn Morgan, as the title character in Mobile Ballet’s upcoming production “Snow White”

Willie Foster, owner of The Biscuit King Cafe

Carolyn Mathers, owner of Queen G’s Café

Kathryn Morgan, as the title character in Mobile Ballet’s upcoming production “Snow White”

Ashlyn Hudson, winner of Loxley’s 2012 Little Miss Strawberry pageant

Trisha Keller, actress in the role of Guinevere in the Chickasaw Civic Theatre’s original production of “Camelot”

Mike Box, who portrayed King Arthur in the Chickasaw Civic Theatre’s original production of “Camelot”

For any photo geeks or enthusiasts who are curios about the lighting, I will break it down for you. For most of the shots, the example below is where the lighting started. It was a simple 3 light setup. I started off with my fill to my right using a 47″ Octabox. I used a fill light to bring out details that would be left in dark shadow had I not used one. I then dialed in my accent light which was a standard reflector with 30 degree grid spot aimed on background behind subject and finally my key light was a beauty dish with a sock.

Kristen West for Stock Women’s Health

matthewcoughlin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:48:23 +0000

Had a request come in seeking images of a mom with a surfboard and children on the beach for a women’s health magazine. My family met up with our good friends, the West Family, to shoot some fresh images. In case anyone was wondering, yes this is the same woman who was pregnant on the stand up paddle board from one of my previous shoots in 2011.

Big thanks to the West family (Kristen, Stuart, Elah & Sailor) and my family (Jenna, Zachary, Madison & Mackenzie). The sun was out and shining but it was pretty breezy and cold out there.

(click on images to view larger)

Dominick Ficarino for Business Alabama Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:36:00 +0000

Late last year I was commissioned by Business Alabama Magazine to photograph the reality star and crew of The History Channel show, “Big Shrimpin.” Dominick Ficarino owns and operates Dominick’s Seafood out of Bayou La Batre, Alabama. We had the chance to tour the facilities where the massive shrimp boats, which can be out to sea for a over month at a time, come in and unload their catch. It was an eye opening experience to get to see the process of what goes into getting the shrimp from the boat to the bags that you buy in the grocery store.

You can read the article on Business Alabama’s Website.

Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte for the ABA Journal

matthewcoughlin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:31:22 +0000

In November last year, I was contacted by the ABA Journal for a shoot at Florida State University. My subject was Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, former president of the American Bar Association and former Dean of Florida State University College of Law. Sandy is now representing one of his past students, an illegal immigrant, in a case for bar admission. You can read the ABA Journal story here.

Sandy was such a pleasure to work with and photograph. Thank you very much to Debra Clark at the ABA Journal for this assignment.

John McInnis for Business Alabama Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:00:16 +0000

Have fun with what you do and get paid to do it? That is what we all want right? Well, meet John McInnis III, the CEO of the Florabama. I had the pleasure of getting to hangout with him for a day while he worked with a giant smile on his face the entire time. Oh, we took some photos too.

You can read the article here on Business Alabama’s website.

Mad Men & Women for Mobile Bay Magazine

matthewcoughlin — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:32:50 +0000

Hands down, one of the coolest shoots I have been a part of to date. Head over the Mobile Bay Magazine’s site and READ THE ARTICLE.

The subjects featured here are among the best advertising creatives Mobile has to offer and it was such an experience to get to photograph all of them:

Elena Freed and Rich Sullivan, of Red Square Agency; Ellen Wingard and Puffer Thompson, of Lewis Communications; Johnny Gwin, of Hummingbird Ideas; Stacy Wellborn, of Wellborn Ideas; Joe Brown, of Joseph Brown & Associates; and Jason Thomas, of J Thomas Inc.

(click on images to view larger)

Special thanks to Patrick Coughlin (1st assistant), Andrew McDonough (styling), Julie Toifel-Rhames (hair), Natalie Nelson Hall & Jessica Sheffield (makeup) and the awesome team over at PMT Publishing; Lawren Largue, Kelan Mercer, Marie Katz, Ellis Metz & Mallory Boykin