I photographed this incredibly sweet baby just over a week ago. As a result, this image will join a new portrait gallery in the orphanage where he lives in Addis Ababa. The making of this shot – and pretty much all the others – was the product of a group effort.
For instance, I photographed him in a darkly-lit, rather crowded baby room. Firstly, we squeezed him between two other babies who helped to prop him up on a diaper-changing shelf. Secondly, he laughed along with all the upbeat energy in the room, the clapping of his caretakers and the singing of other children. Thirdly, the calls to him by me & the kids surrounding me.
This was lit with a combination of fill flash and light bouncing back from a large baby cloth held opposite a small window. In addition, we even pulled in ambient light from the blue cribs in front of him. A team of children helped carry my gear, other teens helped with posing others. And, luckily, a few genius kids who reminded me to take off my lens cap (more than a few times).
I am incredibly fortunate to be able to document these gorgeous faces over time. I have heard from a heartening number of other creatives – photographers, videographers, writers and more. Similarly, all about using their time and talent to do more things in the world that matter to them. In other words, despite what the news tells us daily, I keep seeing so very many people who want to do good. For instance, the whole crew from this orphanage who gathered to help with these shoots.
If you would like to help this orphanage in Addis Ababa, visit https://beautifultogether.org/
Next week, I will be traveling to WPPI2020, in Las Vegas. Through my programs with Nikon, who have always supported my love for this work. I’m excited to share some brand new content and fresh ideas of how to give back – whether it’s on the other side of the world or right next door.
I took some time building out this new program, 5 Ways To Inspire Yourself and Make Photographs That Matter. It includes demonstrations (like how to make a shoot like this happen) and tangible walkthroughs of things you can do anywhere. In addition, I will even show before & after work that is years apart.
If you are in Vegas, my talk is on Wednesday, Feb 26th at 2:30pm PT. If you’re not in Vegas, it will also be live streamed via NikonUSA.com/live.
While I am out at WPPI, I am ALSO excited to join my fellow Nikon Ambassadors Cliff Mautner Photography and Julia Kelleher. As a result, it will be a pretty active panel discussion on ways to diversify a business, outside of any personal projects. We all work to keep a number of things going in pretty different ways. In addition, Michael Corrado is a lively host – so it should be interesting to see all the different ways we make work work for us.
This portrait was photographed with my Nikon Z7, 105mm f/1.4 lens at f/2.2, using my SB-5000 flash. I edited it in ON1 (luckily moving pretty quickly with presets I’d built in advance).
