Marek and his student in Oceanside

One hour in Oceanside's Airport was more than enough to take a portrait of Marek who frequently flies with his students from Phoenix, AZ to various small airports in California. Polaroid, still exists in our digital lightrooms, and so do all other emulsions with their grain and frames. All shots taken with 5DMkII and 35mm f1.4. © Slav Zatoka

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & All the Best in 2010

Warm wishes of fabulous Christmas from Orange Portrait Photography.
May this season bring you lots of inspiration to have, yet, another
great year!

I am very excited about our first appearance in The Knot magazine. December 15 the new issue of the SoCal edition of a must for any future bride will have our ad and profile. Many thanks to Ana and Jimmy and Kris, our tireless make up artist and hair stylist. Mazel Tov!

Grand Central, NYC. 1/6 hand held.
I look forward to going back there next year. PDN workshops were excellent. Photo Expo is known for its exhibition floor but not everyone knows how good and diverse the workshops are. Check out the PDN magazine for updates.

Check out the nostalgia visit to Greenpoint - litle Poland in NYC.

© Slav Zatoka 2009

Sophie - my daughter, age 17 months. My favorite, but at the same not the easiest model to work with. Always running away from me when I hold my camera up, and if cornered uses fingers to draw circles on my lens (UV protection filter actually does have a practical application...)

Busy week at the studio. Thank you Ana Susi! You absolutely rock! And thank you Kris, I could not ask for a better make up work!. Long shooting day but the pain was definitely worth it. Shot in our studio in Orange, with Phase One and Arri lights. What else can I say, we all look forward to our location shot next week.

photo: © Slav Zatoka

Kate - a very talented model I worked with recently. The shot was taken in Fullerton on a very bright morning. D3X with 80mm planar color corrected in CS4 and graded in Exposure. You may see the results of this photo session here.

Testing 5D MkII with 17mm TSE PC lens. It's a great camera and a great lens but it's not as useful as 24mm. I use PC lenses with Nikon D3X and must say that it's a great combination, plus D3X beats Canon when it comes down to image quality. The difference is huge, but I love the versatility of 5D MkII and the fact that it produces stunning HD when handled properly.
Check out Redrock micro website for advanced DSLR video accessories. Coming back to Canon's 17mm TSE, the obvious problem is that humongous glass and how it handles glares in some light situations. It's not cheap either, but in many cases it seems a necessary tool for architectural photography and landscapes. For those in favor of less extreme PC lenses the following link provides information on the new and improved Canon 24mm TSE. Enlarged image circle and overall sharpness - for more details read what dp review has to say about it.

photo: © Slav Zatoka, Griffith Observatory

Another job for Alexander + Hibbs AIA. This was really a fun to shoot. Shaw’s Cove pump station in Laguna Beach, California. D3X in 4x5 mode.
Look forward to come back to Shaw's cove to shoot more, now that Santa Ana winds are here, morning light is great! California Uber Alles!

photos: ©Slav Zatoka, Shaw's Cove Pump Station

It's October and that means I am packing my bags to go to New York City for two weeks.
As usually I am very excited about the trip. I will be taking 3 day workshops at PDN Photo Expo and shopping for our studio medium digital upgrade. Since I started taking those workshops I must say that it is everything they advertise it as: "come hungry, leave inspired", not to mention this year's opportunity to listen to James Nachtwey talk about VII and his personal work. Other than that I have a lovely family from Long Beach, NY who have a new member to their family and would like me take family and kids portraits. I will also be completing a project that I am working on right now with a journalist and an architect from Poland about Morphosis.
I am very curious to see their new building in New York.

Photo: © Slav Zatoka, Manhattan's West Side

Julius Shulman - 1910-2009, celebrated architectural photographer died at his home in Los Angeles in July this year. I had the privilege of being able to meet with him and also did an interview which was published in two, leading, Polish magazines: "Swiat Obrazu", a photographic periodical and "Architektura", a monthly architectural magazine.
Julius Shulman was truly one of the greatest photographers of our times. He remained active as a photographer until the end of his life. When interviewing Julius Shulman I was accompanied by a friend and a client, Rollie Alexander, the principal of Alexander + Hibbs Architects AIA, in Anaheim, CA. Despite the age Mr. Shulman was very generous with his time and his sharp mind left us both with a feeling of a profound experience.

photo above: © Slav Zatoka : Julius Shulman and Rolland Alexander AIA, Los Angeles 2009

NEWS FROM ORANGE PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY:
Last year in October we launched a new wedding package, giving an opportunity to those on the other side of the Atlantic to come over and enjoy a honeymoon in LA while getting their wedding pictures done. A stunning young couple of working professionals from Poznan came over and after surprising them with and extra prop for the session - a powerful Shelby from Hertz's fun collection we started in Hollywood, slowly made our way down the Riviera towards San Diego and ended up in Joshua Tree just for the sunrise. They loved the package and referred us to some of their friends in Poland. It has been successful enough to start a new project - another website based in Europe, in Polish, German, Czech and English languages to advertise our services to those hungry for the West! Thank you Otylia and Woytek!

This is one of the shots I did with an LA based actress Laura Simms. A tremendously talented model and a great actress with whom I worked several times before. It was shot in Long Beach, on the famous Queen Mary, which is one of the greatest locations in the area, as far as I am concerned. It was shot with D3x with a 80mm Zeiss Planar, one my favorite choices for either portraiture or fashion, both on Hasselblad and Nikon DSLR with an adapter.