Explorations through the lens

Editorial Portrait at a lunch spot by the Hozugawa River in Arashiyama Japan

Cheryl Gottschall — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:05:39 +0000

Along the Hozugawa Riveris a little place to eat noodles for lunch. Each order of noodles are made to order while you waited and then delivered on small tables.

This is the woman who was working alone in the “kitchen” making the noodles.

Filed under: Japan, Out and About Tagged: Arashiyama, editorial portrait, Japan, people, portraits, travel, travel photography

Iwatayama Monkey Park

Cheryl Gottschall — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:59:23 +0000

While in Japan I went to the Iwatayama Monkey Park. It is located in Arashiyama, just a little north west of in Kyoto, Japan. The park is on Mt Arashiyama, on the same side of the Oi River as the train station. It is inhabited by a troop of over 170 Japanese Macaque monkeys.

Filed under: Japan, Out and About Tagged: animal, Arashiyama, Iwatayama Monkey Park, Japan, Macaque monkeys, monkey

Be happy, have fun and be yourself.

Cheryl Gottschall — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:59:48 +0000

I had a conversation with my client while I was photographing her executive portrait. The topic of conversation was about retouching and how much is too much. I personally don’t like heavily retouched portraits. I feel the photo should show you as you are and who you are.
The conversation continued on with examples of photos that were to heavily retouched. She told me about an instance where she was going to meet a potential vendor. The vendor had her photo posted on her linkedin profile as well as on her website. My client went to the meeting expecting to meet with a mid 40 year old but was instead greeted by a mid 60 year old woman. I know we all have that one photo at we like of ourselves but when you are using a photo to represent who you are in business I believe it should be as close to reality as possible. If a person is misrepresenting themselves in a photo what else are they misrepresenting, hiding or covering up.
On the flip side of the coin, I have been photographing some really incredible cancer survivors for the cancer treatment centers of America. These are people who have lost there hair due to chemo and have gone through the ringer with pain, discomfort and changes to their bodies that they never would have imagined. Yet, despite all this, how they looked in their photographs was the last thing on their mind. They were just happy to be alive and they knew that they were loved, admired and respected.
We should all learn from them. It doesn’t matter if a hair is out of place, your chin as a little doubled, you are too heavy or you have wrinkles. Be happy, have fun and be yourself.

Below are a few of the great cancer survivors I had the opportunity to photograph.

Filed under: On the Job Tagged: cancer survivors, cancer treatment centers, cancer treatment centers of america, editorial portraits, people

Parking is tight in Japan

Cheryl Gottschall — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:03:05 +0000

Filed under: Japan, Out and About Tagged: Japan, travel

Japan

Cheryl Gottschall — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:37:36 +0000

I went to Japan this fall to photograph. This is one of the great characters I met along the way.

Filed under: Japan Tagged: Japan, people, portraits, travel

NC Museum of Modern Art

Cheryl Gottschall — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:12:57 +0000

Filed under: Out and About Tagged: Architecture, Buildings, NC, NC Museum of Art, North Carolina, Raleigh

the “cleaned up” belt

Cheryl Gottschall — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:11:40 +0000

Peanut Roasting Machine, the final image

I was hired to photograph a peanut roasting machine in action. The client liked the image but asked if I could “clean up” the grungy belt.

Of course I told the client I could “clean up” the grungy belt. A little while later this is what they had.

Filed under: On the Job

A grungy belt

Cheryl Gottschall — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:09:06 +0000

before photoshop

This is the photo with the “Grungy” belt. I guess that’s one of the obstacles you find while shooting on location.

Filed under: On the Job