the picture desk

Mr. Obama for Getty Images

stephen — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:13:11 +0000

Last week I was asked by my editors at Getty Images to cover President Obama’s LinkedIn Townhall at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. A whole lot of work (and waiting) for an hour-long event. But again, it’s not like I get to to photograph to the President of the United States in such close proximity on a daily basis – He was on the campaign trail when I last I photographed him. Time flies isn’t it?

Niklas Zennström for Atomico

stephen — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:50:36 +0000

A few months ago I was commissioned by venture capital firm Atomico to photograph its founder Niklas Zennström at Stanford University. If his name sounds familiar chances are you’ve use some of his previous invention such as Kazaa and Skype.

Despite Niklas was on a very tight schedule between the shoot and his speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Niklas was kind enough to let me photograph him in a few different places. My task was to photograph Niklas with some the iconic Stanford architectural elements. Here comes the long curve arch walkways.

With the environmental portrait in the bag we decided mix it up a bit. One being a simple tight head shot against one those stanford brick walls…

… As well as a backlit shot of Niklas. Let’s call it the ethereal angel investor theme. It’s different than the standard head shots, but it’s a different way to look at the usual commercial portraitures.

hope.

stephen — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:38:16 +0000

I was given this origami titled “hope” last week from a high school kid while photographing a leadership camp in Occidental, California. What a neat little thing isn’t it?

Since the item was pretty cool looking I figured I’ll try a new way to capture a spiky 3D object into a 2D photograph. What do you think?

Next up. Camp photos. Stay tuned!

2011.

stephen — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:02:02 +0000

Well, I guess I am about three months behind on the hello 2011 thing. Heck, the last time I posted something was back in October.

No, I did not leave the photo biz for the comfort of culinary school (ha). It’s more like the combination of: 1. I was a never a good writer; and 2. It’s been busy both professionally and personally. Not mention I am still trying to burn off those holiday ~~turkey/bacon/tiramisu/buffet~~ edible shenanigans.

But I promise I will post more then just ~~silly/moody/funny/weird~~ iPhone photos this year. Stay tuned.

In His Time…

stephen — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 08:07:08 +0000

No matter how frustrated life can be sometimes, I am still very blessed and grateful to have one of the most amazing job on earth.

Jen+Stephen engagement

stephen — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 07:22:14 +0000

Well, this is a post long overdue. A few months ago, I spent two days photographing Jen and Stephen’s engagement around the Bay Area. With them flying in from elsewhere in the country and a slew of ideas for the shoot, we narrow down to a few locations (okay, 6) and pretty much had a ton of fun with it. It was a lot of driving and setting up, even with my trusty assistant Molly Stetson helping out. But we had a blast!

Here are my favorites:

Then comes a few snappies on film.

And we started day two with some film.

then we switched from Fuji Velvia to Kodak NC160 for the slightly natural, less saturated look.

Now this is where things got even more fun. We were walking back to our cars when we pass a bunch of wooden drawers and someone mentioned box carts. Next thing I know the drawers were incorporated.

Kids, don’t try this at home.

Now I should start packing my gear for their wedding in Seattle this coming weekend!

Fútbol at the Stick.

stephen — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:20:10 +0000

About a week ago I got a call from my editor at the SF Chronicle about shooting a last minute soccer game at Candlestick Park. I was like yes, who’s playing? Well, it was Real Madrid v. Club America. My assignment was to focus on Real Madrid fans and players i.e. Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Iker Casillas. Unfortunately, the latter two didn’t show up, so I was left with Ronaldo.

The game was a blast until we realized Ronaldo switched number from his usual #9 to #7 and that our roster print out was all over the place. On top of that Real Madrid’s uniform have no numbers whatsoever in the front. That sure made captioning on deadline a lot more entertaining. Oh and it was freezing cold.

and for the Ronaldo fans…

the game-winning goal.

Real Mardid 3, Club America 2.

Gregg Jefferies

stephen — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:47:34 +0000

About a month ago I photographed former New York Mets player Gregg Jefferies in Pleasanton, California. The image was to accompany Sport Illustrated’s annual summer “Where Are They Now” double issue. The idea, as I was told by my editor, was to photograph Gregg at Foothill High School, where he now coaches. As it was was my first assignment for SI, it was naturally exciting and more or less nerve-wrecking.

So with the help of my lighting assistant Scott, we managed to overpack scott’s volvo with just about everything for an extra peace of mind, as illustrated here during our setup behind the dugout.

Anyways, after setting up shop and watch a bunch of kids playing baseball with extra ferocity because “OMG Sports Illustrated is here!” we finally got the fields to ourselves for a few minutes. The entire shoot lasted perhaps 7 minutes, switching between film, digital, and a settling sunset. Now that the story has been published, here are my favorites from the day. Everything except the first one were shot on film.

And the final product.

Sports Illustrated Vol. 113. No. 4, Page 85!

I-Peh+Anu, Huntington Beach, Calif.

stephen — Wed, 19 May 2010 01:56:42 +0000

Just back from photographing I-Peh and Anu’s wedding down at Hungington Beach this past weekend with Hardy Wilson. It was my first ever Indian wedding and now I am looking forward to my next one! everything were simply photogenic! Not to mention I-Peh and Anu were great to work with. Oh, did I mention there was a horse involved?

Here are few of my personal favorites. Still want to see more? Click here for the extended gallery!

operators

stephen — Wed, 05 May 2010 07:05:56 +0000

This one’s been sitting on my desktop since I made the scan back in December… one from a spur-of-the-moment trip to the train museum in Old Sacramento. These volunteer train guys are totally cool.

Anyways, May is going to be one crazy month… 4 weddings plus an engagement shoot. I guess I’ll post more since I’ll be on the road quite a bit this month…

Adios.