Kevin Neilson Photography
Corporate and family photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area
Urban Chic
Posted on May 14, 2019
When I capture a candid expression like this…
….and a heartfelt laugh like this…
…and a bookishly hip shot like this….
…all in the space of 23 minutes, well, I’m ridiculously happy as a result.
“There’s one thing a photograph must contain,” says Robert Frank.
“The humanity of the moment.”
For what it’s worth, I agree.
Thanks for visiting.
Contact me for kids, teens, family, and corporate staff and event photography in the Bay Area.
Fields of Gold
Posted on April 8, 2019
Meaghan had a straightforward request.
Shoot my family, she said.
Not that kind, the other.
I chuckled to myself.
I admire a woman who’s direct.
To the point.
Like this.
It’s a gorgeous image.
Matt wondered about his role in the affair.
How does the back of my head look, he asked.
Splendid, I said.
He almost certainly smiled.
But I got his point.
So we turned Matt round.
And then it happened.
A hush fell.
The trees glowed.
And Meaghan’s hair went electric.
With chemistry like that,
Matt and Meaghan are bound to have kids, right?
Well, they do.
They’ve got two of them:
Logan and Lexie.
Lexie may be Logan’s little sister.
But she’s got big-time affection for him.
Just look at that reach!
What a handhold!
Before long, Lexie put her generous athletic gifts to use.
She free soloed the center of the tree climbing universe in record time.
After she safely descended,
We hung out in a field of green and gold.
And we—including, me—smiled for the beauty of it all.
Thank you, Matt and Meaghan!
It was a joy and a privilege to photograph your family.
Contact me for kids, teens, family, and corporate photography in the 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.
New Yorker Abroad
Posted on March 25, 2019
I’ve shared photos of this NY ballerina before. At the top of the year, we kicked off a half-day collaboration, working deliberately to achieve certain effects. Here are some of my favorite images from the collection, each introduced with a verbal cue only:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Color is Black and White
Curves and Lines
Living Green Frame
Life without Beautify is Empty
Determination
Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed!
Contact me for kids, teens, family, and corporate photography in the Bay Area.
Dance Like Everybody’s Watching
Posted on March 6, 2019
Melody.
That’s her name.
It describes her laugh, too.
And her movement.
She’s a ballet dancer, after all.
And every ballet dancer needs a portrait.
Well, portraits—one is never enough.
Of course, they have to be worthy of a dancer’s art.
So while I played with light, Melody played with expressions.
Lots of them, endlessly inventive ones.
We made for a great collaboration.
I hope you enjoy.
Contact me for kids, teens, family, and corporate 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.
