Member Showcase - Ron Beaver
Let’s talk about someone who has fast-tracked his way to success in under three years! And when he started, it had been decades since he had picked up his camera or worked in his darkroom. This someone is Ron Beaver, a passionate, hard-working photographer based near Seattle, Washington. I met Ron in May 2017 when he attended one of my 3-day intensive workshops in NYC. When we sat down to look at his portfolio, it was mostly filled with pictures of a pretty girl who wasn’t really a model but she had “the look”. I knew instantly he needed to start working with real models and more models because his work was really strong but he was being held back by the talent he was working with. A few months later he hired me to mentor him and we did a 3-month intensive private mentorship where he flew to NYC once a month and shot five days in a row with 5 different models. He was dedicated, engaged, almost enraptured to learn! These are the qualities that it takes to make it and sure enough, he has! In just three years, Ron has been published in dozens of magazines, he has shot numerous ad campaigns for exclusive jewelry, hair, and clothing brands. And he’s just opened up his portrait studio outside of Seattle. He’s gone back to shooting film which was his passion in high school and college before he had to put it aside to join the workforce. I am incredibly impressed with how diligent and focused he is and I’m extremely proud of his growth in such a short time. Ron has been a Breed member since 2017 when his passion for photography was ignited again. And he’s been my friend since then too! The one thing I can say that I love about Breed is that it has connected me with people who have become lifetime friends!
Ron shot an assigned editorial for my magazine, Alice Magazine recently on his property in the Pacific Northwest. He’s lucky to call this paradise home, look at these backgrounds!! I reached out to him and asked him if I could feature this editorial in our Member Showcase and we are fortunate that he has agreed! Please enjoy his words about the shoot and the photographs. His website and social media links are listed below the pictures. Enjoy!!
COVID Creativity
Aka Quarantine in the Secret Garden
COVID has required us all to get creative with our beauty and fashion photography. A commission by Alice Magazine for a summer clean beauty editorial was a fabulous “excuse” to finally shoot in my garden in July, at the height of the rose and lavender season. I was fortunate to already know the perfect model, Soli Brinkman of FreedomLA, and HMU artist, Shawna Cuellar of LuX Artistry Creative, who both lived nearby and were willing to shoot outdoors.
I was able to style this shoot using simple pieces from the model herself and a couture “sleepwear”/lingerie designer. Layneau, whose feminine sheer pieces are breath-taking and suited this story and Soli perfectly. HMU direction was for natural, informal, free-spirited style with colors that harmonized with the garden backdrop.
Since I was working without an assistant, I used my Nikon D850 with the 70-200mm VRII f2.8 lens. I seldom use zoom lenses but in this case I did not want to constantly change lenses for different angles and crops, and the f2.8 aperture was wide enough given the amount of light we had and the space we had in the garden. (And as much as I love my Phase One iQ4 system it is simply too cumbersome for a fast-paced shoot like this, and I do not own the long medium-format lenses that I wanted to use.)
We shot two evenings because I wanted to emphasize that kind of light. The light and weather was ideal on both days. It is not possible to fake good light!
During the afternoon of the second day I used shady areas under trees that still had amazing soft light.
I used a diffusion panel for one image (l) that I shot mid-day in very harsh sun - all while I was crouched in the lavender with the bees - and another (r) I posed her under an architectural overhang.
In most cases I was able to shoot at ISO 64-100, even in the late evening there was still plenty of light, as I was shooting at f2.8 - f4 to capture the “painterly” backgrounds.
The key photographic element to this shoot was I knew the color harmonies for each location and the time of day that the light would be best. However, several of the best images such as the title image and this one below happened at another time. It is important to be flexible and take advantage of unexpected lighting gifts from nature.
