SF Advertising Photographer - Donato in the Redwoods
Donato in the Redwoods
I hadn't seen Donato in seven years. This Italian friend of mine now lives in Somaliland, where he's been for two years working for the NGO Population Services International - an organization doing important work improving healthcare, especially for children. He's a great guy and a genuinely good human being.
This was his first time in San Francisco, and taking him into the redwoods felt like the right way to show him what the Bay Area can do. I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did.
The two images say everything about why this location works for portraits. The wide shot puts Donato in context - arms crossed, relaxed, the ancient redwood columns rising behind him and the path winding back into the trees. The close-up is pure available light filtered through the canopy: soft, slightly cool, and flattering in a way that no studio setup quite replicates. Two registers, one session, one good reunion.
Portrait Photography in the Bay Area Redwoods
The Bay Area's redwood forests are among the most extraordinary photographic environments in the world - and among the most technically demanding. The light under the canopy is filtered and diffused, changing by the minute depending on canopy density and time of day. The scale of the trees dwarfs a human subject in a way that can either diminish the portrait or make it monumental, depending on how the frame is built.
This session used available light throughout - no reflector, no fill, no equipment beyond the camera. When the environment is doing that much work, the best approach is to stay out of its way and let the place do what it does. Donato was easy to photograph: comfortable in the space, not performing for the camera, just present. Seven years is a long time, and you could feel the ease of old friendship in the session.
As a San Francisco advertising photographer, Marc Olivier Le Blanc works regularly on location across the Bay Area - including the redwood parks and natural environments of Marin and the East Bay hills. Environmental portrait sessions like this one are some of the most rewarding work: a real subject, a real place, and enough time to get both right.
San Francisco Advertising Photographer - Outdoor and Environmental Portraits
Environmental portraiture in a location like Muir Woods or the East Bay redwoods requires reading the landscape before reading the subject. The light, the scale, the path of the sun through the canopy - all of it has to be understood before a single frame is made. That preparation is what separates an environmental portrait from a snapshot taken in a nice location.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc is a San Francisco advertising photographer and portrait photographer available for outdoor portrait sessions, editorial commissions, and on-location commercial photography throughout the Bay Area. For portrait photography in San Francisco, contact Marc through the website.
