Kevin Neilson Photography
Corporate and family photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area
The Great Untried
Posted on April 1, 2019
Creativity is hard. Self-criticism is easy. And slumps are inevitable as a result.
To challenge this dynamic, I’m doing something different.
When I’m on a shoot—whether it’s corporate or family photography—I do the thing that comes easily and naturally to me. It yields predictable results in a style and aesthetic clients expect.
Like this image of an executive on Maiden Lane in the City, snapped a few weeks ago.
After I’ve done the easy thing, I force myself to do the hard thing. Something I haven’t tried before. Something new. Different. This, for instance.
Not bad. In fact, pretty good, all things considered.
You might be surprised to learn that I made the image outside. Just ten yards from the spot where I snapped the first image. Both were taken on Maiden Lane, bustling with colors, shapes, and motion.
Can I experiment, I asked my subject.
You bet, he said.
He sat in a chair in the middle of Maiden Lane at high noon.
I stopped down till ambient light went black on my camera sensor. Then I placed an off-camera flash directly in front of him. Next I slowly dialed up the flash power till his silhouette magically appeared, and I got my shot.
Will the client use the image on their company website? No, probably not. But it’s an arresting effect, which I can now produce in the future with confidence.
I eagerly await the next, great untried!
Contact me for kids, teens, family, and corporate photography in the Bay Area.
A Team Called Trōv
Posted on February 6, 2019
People love their toys.
You know, cameras, lenses, and laptops.
Headphones, snowboards, and music equipment.
People also love the convenience that comes with 24/7 mobility.
In downtown Danville, there’s a small startup called Trōv with a big ambition.
They’re reinventing the way digital natives insure the toys they love.
Recently, I had an opportunity to meet the team at Trōv and photograph them.
I’m thrilled with the results and am delighted my client is too.
Please scroll or swipe, and enjoy!
Contact me for kids, teens, family, and corporate photography in the Bay Area.
Mothership
Posted on January 15, 2019
I cannot speak dispassionately about Adobe.
I’ve enthused about them before.
I love their products.
I respect and admire their culture.
And I jibe with their people.
Happily, I was invited back to the mothership
And had an opportunity to photograph more spokespeople.
How awesome is that!?
Exactly.
Scroll or swipe down.
I hope you enjoy.
Contact me for corporate and family photography in the Bay Area.
Cloud Atlas
Posted on December 20, 2018
Look.
Delicately fluted clouds
Spangled over Pescadero marsh
Just a stone’s throw from the coast.
The ocean may have been angry that day, my friends.
But the scudding clouds were something beautiful to behold.
Details:
31 mm | f/5.0 | 1/2500 | ISO 200
In other words, fast.
I made the image in a sliver of a second,
Which shows you just how cool the clouds were yesterday.
I hope you enjoy.
Contact me for corporate and family—and landscape (!)—photography in the Bay Area.
Youngblood
Posted on December 3, 2018
Call him Aaron.
He hails from the Midwest.
A young, ambitious IT professional,
He’s looking for a new kind of headshot.
We meet at Crema on The Alameda.
We talk about work and life.
There’s something different about him.
He’s polite in an old-fashioned way.
He tells me he’s not photogenic,
That he doesn’t like the way he looks in photographs.
Not only is he considerate, he’s likable, too.
Quiet and introspective,
He wants his portrait to have a cool-hip-creative vibe.
I tell him about an overpass with blue circles.
Something I’ve been eyeing for months.
He’s game.
We release the Birds
And fly through downtown San Jose.
As the sun reclines in the west,
The light is paradoxical under the overpass,
Both mottled and consistently even.
We don’t overthink it.
We hang out.
We shoot.
Contact me for corporate and family photography in the Bay Area.
Meta-portrait
Posted on November 27, 2018
Originality isn’t easy.
Case in point.
I’m on a corporate shoot with my client.
We’re having a blast.
Shooting like crazy.
Then this.
I want something different, she says.
You know, something unique.
Well, I like creative challenges, I say.
I pause, I ponder, I hatch a one-of-a-kind idea.
I ask for her mobile phone.
She gives it to me.
And I put it to good use.
Click.
Then I put my camera to good use.
Boom.
A woman,
A woman represented,
And a woman represented is represented again.
The mind would reel if the image weren’t so straightforward.
Right?
Look at it again.
Not bad, not bad at all.
Well, later that night, after I go home,
It takes one minute of sleuthing on the web to discover that my “original” idea has been done countless times before.
Oh, well.
At least I got heart.
And I’m in good company.
Contact me for Bay Area corporate and family photography.
Nighthawk
Posted on November 5, 2018
I’m a simple man.
I have few hopes and expectations.
I do my best to resist the temptation of prayer.
I’m resigned to a world that revolves around no one.
Still, I have moments of weakness.
When that happens, I bargain with fate.
I make promises in exchange for special consideration.
I vow to exercise more.
I vow to eat more vegetables,
To think more wholesome thoughts,
To treat people with kindness and respect, always.
All in the fervent hope that one day,
In my next or fourth or fifth life (I’m patient, you see),
I’ll return as a man who stands
In unshaven glory
Before a bar that’s loaded with bourbon.
Contact me for creative Bay Area corporate and candid family photography.
