Noir Portraits

 

Background Info

Most couples (my wife Keturah and I are one of these couples) have great photos of them from their wedding. Or maybe they also have an engagement photo which they hired a photographer for. Other than that, the only pictures they have together are from family holidays or from asking a passer-by to take a picture of them in front of Trevi Fountain or the Statue of Liberty. Keturah and I also have an extensive collection of photos taken of us when we are out hiking or at the beach ...where you can see my arm extending outward to point the camera back at us.

It doesn't have to be this way.

You can get have a photo of yourselves that you can be really proud of for the rest of your life. Its easy.

How I can help with this.

I'll spend a couple hours with you on a Friday or Saturday night out in your favorite San Francisco neighborhood. We'll walk around, I'll shoot some candids of you in your favorite places, even stick you in a few poses that I think will look good, and then you'll end up with a killer photo of the two of you that you'll love and want to hang on the wall of every place you live in for the rest of your life.

Why?

Because when it comes to photography, I love the black & white night urban style and I like candids. So this attempts to combine all that. And yeah...im ultimately looking to somehow fund this expensive photography habit.

Interested? Here's how you get started.

Pick a scene
Got a favorite neighborhood? A part of the city with cool street scenes, corners, and alleyways that you love? Let me know what that is. We'll be canvassing that neighborhood shooting photos of you.

Schedule it
We find a night that we're available to meet in your favorite city neighborhood. We'll want a couple hours after the sun has gone down. My general availability can be seen here. http://www.jjtoothman.net/go/calendar/

Contact J.J.
For pricing information and scheduling details, contact J.J. Toothman by sending email to jjt@solidether.com or by calling 415.449.1583

On the night of the shoot.

Dress it up
You'll want to wear clothes you want to be photographed in, obviously. This doesn't have to be your best stuff, but clothes that capture the essence of being you (or who you want to be). Feel free to be as creative as you like and maybe even bring along some accessories (like a funky hat or furry scarf) to try out different combinations.

The meet up
Let's find a bar or café where we can meet, have a cocktail, and do some final brainstorming on the night's shoot. Figure about 30 minutes for this.

The Shoot
We'll spend the next 90 minutes or so walking around the neighborhood, stopping in a variety of spots to take a bunch of photos. Some of the photos will be pure candid's, while others we'll actually quickly set up position and pose and frame the shot. The goal is to get about 50 photos from which the post-shoot editing process will filter out the best dozen or so.

After the shoot

Editing Process
I'll take the first cut at the editing process and week out all the obviously horrible one. My goal is to find around 12 photos which really stand out and I will post them in my Flickr website for you to review. I'll also provide you with hi-resolution digital copies (jpg format) of all 12 photos to do whatever you want with them. Print them all out, send them to your friends, post them on your website. It's entirely up to you. Their yours.

Print and Deliver
Out of the final dozen, you'll want to find the one that you really love and let me know what that is. I'll professionally print it and have it framed for you to hang on your wall.