I have this gig that I’ve shot for the past three years whee I go out to different financial planner’s offices and take their photos.  Sometimes I shoot individuals and sometimes I shoot groups, but I like it best when I have to take photos on just one individual.  The challenge is to find just the right spot in their environment that is a cross between “cool” and “appropriate”.   I really like how this shot turned out.

Pittsburgh Business Portrait

I recently went on a couple of portfolio interviews and needed to update the book.  I almost forgot how much I liked this environmental portrait photo…

Pittsburgh Photography - Environmental Portrait

Here’s another shot going into the people photography portfolio.  Industrial photography is always so interesting because I get to go into environments I usually would know nothing about…

Pittsburgh Industrial Photography

I have a sales call scheduled next week with a potential client for environmental portrait photography, so I’m rounding up images and making prints for the portfolio.  Here’s one I kinda like….

Pittsburgh Photographer - Executive Environmental Portrait

Here’s an ad I shot recently and the client (Dan Brettholle) was nice to send me a copy.  There will be a big series of these photo ads for this company and this is just the beginning.  Dan did a little HDR on the photo and I think he did a great job!

Pittsburgh Portrait - Executive Portrait

I had a shoot yesterday for a magazine cover and a few inside shots too.  I had a great looking subject and a fun place to shoot for the Environmental Portrait, and that’s half the battle…

Notice I left room for the masthead and article headingsI tried to break up the shots between vertical and horizontal. This one might have a little too much smile, but he's a friendly guy! )

I like some of the shots where he's not looking at the camera. Just seems a lot more candid and real.

Here’s a shot from Yesterday’s Pittsburgh Industrial photography shoot.  I got some really nice stuff and had a hard time picking what to show you, bu I decided on this.  And… I learned a little about “sputtering” too!  Maybe I’ll add another photo later, but it’s Saturday and I’m heading home… )

Pittsburgh Industrial Photography - Jan 2012

I spent the morning photographing in a Pittsburgh operating room this morning and got a BUNCH or really dramatic stuff.  I love my job!  One day I’m shooting food, the next day I’m somewhere else.  Life is really good. )

Wow, how things have changed!  Just a few years ago, I was carting around three times this amount of stuff on location, but now, with the new generation of cameras and their low light capabilities, ya just don’t need the amount of lighting equipment you used to.  If you like the location shots on this blog, most of them were done with just this little equipment.  So what does this mean to clients?  It means speed and Efficiency, which translates to more shots per day and a lower per/shot price.

I shoot quite a bit of photography for various healthcare clients in and around Pittsburgh.  So of the photography happens in the hospital, but some happens around in the community.  Testimonials of survivors is a part of that type of Pittsburgh Photography.  Here is a sample of in and out of hospital, healthcare photography…

Pittsburgh Photography - Healthcare

Pittsburgh Photography - Healthcare Environmental Portrait

Here’s photographic portrait I did earlier today of a prominent Pittsburgh, PA chef.  The color of the photograph has been muted a little as an experiment.  I’m not sure that the client will like it that way, but I like to play around a little with my image.   It keeps life interesting…. )

Here’s a portrait I shot recently of a father and daughter that are CEO on President of a large grocery store chain in the area.  I really like the informal nature and the use of natural light for this Pittsburgh Photography and the use of the long horizontal crop that the designer used in the layout of the annual report.

Doing photography in Pittsburgh PA is a great way to make a living.  I’m a generalist by heart and love shooting all kinds of photography.  I love shooting people, food, industrial, and pretty much anything else.  Here are a couple samples photos from today’s photography:

Not too often I get files of the final usage from the photography I produce.  The client was kind enough to give me a jpg from the Doctor billboard the did a few weeks ago.  I never posted any of the photos because they we shot as outlines on a white background, which isn’t all that sexy for the blog… I love being a Pittsburgh photographer.  One day I’m shooting food (today) and yesterday I was shooting more doctors.  Life is still interesting… )

Here’s the billboard shot of all the doctors:

Yesterday, I completed the last of a two day shoot, photographing people for a Pittsburgh client.  As a Pittsburgh Photographer, I get involved with all kinds of shoots where I need to convey the ideas and emotions for the purpose of the particular project I happen to be working on that day.  With this project, the emotion I was trying to capture was varied.  I was photographing the individuals and families of donors and recipients of organ transplants.  Some of the stories were simply amazing, both sad and happy.  I hope I did the subjects justice in communicating the emotions involved.

One of the fun things about being a Pittsburgh Photographer is that you get to shoot all kinds of different things and people for all kinds of different clients.  I did a job the other day that I just loved.  I photographed a bunch of people, indoors and outdoors, for a library of photos, for later use.  The subjects were either organ donors, the family of deceased organ donors, organ recipients, or the family members of organ recipients, so the emotion I needed to capture ranged from contemplative to down-right happy.  All in all it was a fun shoot and a real challenge, being that all the subjects were “real” people and not professional models.  Some of the subjects wanted to be there and some weren’t so sure that being there was such a good idea. )  Basically, it was a great day to be a Pittsburgh photographer shooting commercial portraits.  It sure beats working for a living!

These are just some of my favorite shots from the day.  I had many more, just as good to choose from, but I didn’t want to post too many…

Pittsburgh Photography – Portraits

While I seldom if ever do photographic portraits for families or individuals, I shoot them all the time for businesses here in Pittsburgh. And because of recent improvements in camera technology, it’s easier, and therefore faster to  to shoot them, allowing us to get more shots in a given time period.  The four shots listed below are from a one-day shoot I recently did for a local healthcare facility here in the city. One that one-day Pittsburgh Photo shoot, we shoot in over 30 different location.   Yes, Pittsburgh Photography is getting easier and faster, but you still need to know how to light, compose. and get the subject to ope up to you.  Those are the keys to great shots.

Pittsburgh Photography Portrait of Doctor in his office. I have a few special techniques for doing these quickly.

The latest in camera technology makes my Pittsburgh Portrait Photography easier and faster.

NOt all the shots from that day were portraits. We also did some interesting "situation" type photos.

Pittsburgh Photography

I have to tell you, I love the Pittsburgh Photography industry and all it’s give to me over the years. Until this point, I’ve simply posted recent images of my work and haven’t taken the time to write much about it, figuring that a Photographer’s images are more important then is words, but I think I’ll be changing that in future posts. From now on, I’ll be making comments and maybe talk a little about the technique and special challenges of the photography assignments that I post here. The main reason for this Pittsburgh Photography blog is to keep viewers up to date on my recent work and maybe the direction of the latest trend regarding the style of my photography.

In case you’re new to my work, I’ll give you a brief history of my business. I’ve been doing this for more years than I care to admit, and over time, my photography interests have evolved to encompass many different types of Photography here in Pittsburgh. I’m considered by many to be a food specialist, and that’s fine, because I love shooting food, but I would go crazy if that’s all I got to shoot. One of the great benefits of being a commercial Pittsburgh photographer is variety. Many photography skills are transferable from one specialty to another, and in my opinion, variety is what makes the world go round…

Currently, I am involved in three types of commercial Pittsburgh Photography. I enjoy the variety of shooting pretty much any commercial assignment, including, industrial photography, environmental portraits, healthcare photography, and even still live photography. To view this portfolio, you can visit http://www.michaelray.com.

Like I mentioned earlier, I love to photograph food and have been doing so for years, both here in Pittsburgh and for clients around the country. To view my food portfolio, please visit http://www.foodportfolio.com.

Probably my most recent photographic interest has been in the direction of shooting model and actor headshots. To be honest, I’m not really sure what brought me to this latest specialty, but for whatever reason, here I am. I think it’s a logical progression from shooting environmental portraits to shooting headshots. Whatever the reason, I’ve learned a lot from shooting headshots and have been able to transfer this knowledge to other types of photography I do here in Pittsburgh. I try not to let shooting headshots interfere with my other types of photography and schedule these headshots two Saturday’s a month. If you’d like to see my Pittsburgh Actor and Model headshot web page, you can visit http://www.pghpeople.com

Well, That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Thanks for taking the time to read and view my Pittsburgh Photography, and keep coming back to see where and what I evolve into…. Take care!

Pittsburgh Photography of a young aspiring actress. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it… )

Here’s an executive portrait I shot this Saturday. As a Pittsburgh Commercial photographer, I usually don’t like to shoot in the weekend, but sometimes it just works out that way. I’ve shot at this location several times now, and it’s fun to try to figure out new angles every time I shoot.