Articles from Aaron Brown

Lindsey Villatoro is an event and portrait photographer based in Menifee, California. She’s a wife and a mother of three girls who loves taking photos of babies, children, destination weddings and families – what she considers to be a “photographer of life.” But she also offers another unique photography service: “Forever Loved” sessions. These are portraits that a family wants of their loved ones who have either recently recovered from an illness, are incurably terminal or (in the case of this particular story) have recently died. I reached out to Lindsey to give us a look at one of her most recent clients’ story.

Don’t believe everything you see or read on the internet, guys. Case in point, "We Still Coming." There has recently been a photograph allegedly supported by a text message screen-capture making the rounds online. It alludes to a wedding barbecue being crashed by a group of strangers because the bride-to-be sent out an invitation to the wrong number. Although the final communication shown, “We still coming,” is hilarious when viewed next to a photograph of a white wedding party surrounded by a group of young African-American men in casual attire. The thing is... the whole story is a lie - sort of!

One of our loyal readers, Rogier van Bakel, recently contacted us with an article suggestion that we decided to share with you. Rogier is a wedding photographer based near Bar Harbor, Maine and he has a custom tip on how to gel Profoto B1 or Profoto D1 monolights without the use of any tape, rubber bands, or Velcro. His method allows the lights use of modifiers since they're free of obstruction and keeps them looking good too, as tape and Velcro have a tendency to scratch at surfaces and leave unnecessary residues behind.

New York portrait and event photographer Kristina Hill never planned for one of her images to be stolen and used without her permission. Unfortunately, copyright infringement is a concern photographers often need to be more mindful of. Many of us have had our images used inappropriately or even edited without our permission, but having a client’s loving engagement photo twisted and manipulated into a bigoted political attack ad is something altogether different.

Photographer Markus Berger from The Cooperative of Photography put together a quick two and a half minute video demonstrating some really cool photography tips using everyday household objects. From a simple beer coozy to a flaming aerosol can, Markus points out some creative ways to step up your photography game.

Phoenix based model and photographer Shantia Veney took some time to make a quick three and a half minute video demonstrating how a constant, fluid, motion of dance-like movement looked in front of the camera. She explained on Facebook that the video was to simply show how to move gracefully from one pose to another and reminded her followers that different photographers may require different actions and pauses between poses.

Clark Little captures the unique beauty inside of and looking through powerful Hawaiian shorebreak waves. In 2007 he told his wife not to bother buying a picture of the local shorebreak she brought home. He instead went out to create one himself. Being a surfer, he was already confident getting out in the thick of it.

"For the last four years this has been true: the top three search terms that clients are using on Getty Images are woman, family and business in that order." - Pamela Grossman, Director of Visual Trends at Getty Images. This is very powerful information for strategic business marketing, but it means even more on a societal level. Pamela and Jessica Bennett, Contributing Editor for Lean In, recently discussed how visual media has often portrayed women at this year's Cannes Lions Festival.

I've been shooting professionally for just over four years now – “professional” as in starting a legitimate business where I charge money to take photographs of my clients. We could wax poetic on the distinctions between “amateur” and “professional” that don’t involve the exchange of money, but the area that I want to focus on has to do with the responsibilities and perceptions that come along with people hiring you as a business.

Frozen, The Hobbit, Toy Story, Wall-E, Jurassic Park... these are just a handful of the blockbuster movies over the years that have utilized Pixar's award-winning VFX software, RenderMan. In fact, RenderMan has been around since 1984 - used to render computer graphics in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Now you have the chance to own the software yourself - for free! You read that right - FREE!

Benjamin Lowy, a photographer represented by Reportage by Getty Images, met Scott Sutton, a man panhandling, outside the Union Square movie theater in New York last November. Scott was holding a sign that read "Give selflessly and you will reap endlessly," and Benjamin walked over.

The whole idea of what a camera strap should look like and how it should perform changed when the MoneyMaker hit the scene just a few years back. Gone were the days of tactical black nylon. A new era of stylish form and function began when Tulsa, Oklahoma based wedding photographer turned entrepreneur Matthew Swaggart founded HoldFast – a luxury line of leather camera gear and accessories.

You might someday find yourself working within the overall vision of someone else – like an editor, an art director or, in this case, a director of photography – when shooting on assignment for publications as big as Sports Illustrated. Limited time with your subject and being asked for simple lighting against a simple background isn’t uncommon in this industry. So how would you go about getting the type of photographs your employer wants plus creating a dramatically lit and colored set for yourself?

“Make me look skinnier” is one of the more frequent requests I get from my clients. Although those kinds of requests are usually accompanied by some laughter as more of a joke than anything, there is some bashful truth there that we, as photographers, need to be aware of. Of course, you have probably heard the old adage “the camera adds ten pounds,” but do you know why and how to combat it?

Intelligent Details is the new ad / documentary that Bentley Motors commissioned. It was filmed throughout New York and highlights what inspires Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley's Director of Design, and SangYup Lee, Head of Exterior Design. At around the 3:16 mark, you'll be treated to a behind-the-scenes look at how the film was created. Their YouTube channel explains, "Intelligent Details was filmed, assembled and edited using the in-car connectivity and entertainment platform."

Tom Atwood, a photographer and professor of broadcast journalism at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, went about taking photographs of models for a project he described as a series of “industrial landscape portraits” near the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. His shoot put him up against resistance and alleged serious threats.

Photographer Sam Hurd is sharing yet another one of his artistic photography techniques with his followers. He mastered The Brenizer Method, he basically had all of Amazon on backorder for Prisming, he ripped the lens mount right off his 50mm for Freelensing, and then he did some convex Lens Chimping. This time around, Sam attached an old anamorphic movie lens to his 85mm in order to shoot a very cinematic wide field of view. Take a look at how it works!