Portrait photography
Headshot of a young guy striving to be an actor
in studio portrait of Cory, actor and model
black and white self-portrait
Sometimes you have to do a self-portrait – they say it’s a very good exercise for any photographer to get to the other side.
This time I had another reason – simply didn’t have any model on hands and wanted to try this black and white high-contrast approach.
I think I did pretty good actually 
But wife disagreed and said that I’m absolutely not like this portrait because I’m soft and smiley 
My first try of cinemagraph
portrait of a cute 6 months old boy posing on white background
Wanted to try a cinemagraph for the very first time and Anton seemed to be the perfect subject for that
We placed him on the backdrop and he started his usual crawling, push-ups and swinging standing on all fours But then he suddenly relaxed and took this painterly modelling pose. We were quite stunned as he was quietly smiling at us and gently playing with his hand.
Portrait in studio
Studio portrait of a boy
Our Pride – New Arrival
Being a commercial photographer specializing in family and children photography one could meet newborns on almost daily basis. But… Having your own child born is arguably always an extraordinary event! And so I do understand all the parents wanting to get their newborns photographed. Because believe it or not you have only about 10 days for that. It is that short!
Repose Chamber Music
Another great photo session on-location, this time for Lianna Levine Reisner, beautiful soprano. She was about to launch her new venture – Repose and needed a few portrait and headshot photographs. So we went to 2 locations on Upper West Side and got quite a variety of portraits as you may see, both indoor and outdoor.
Repose Chamber Music
I always enjoy working with creative people, and this time was no exclusion!
Classic soprano singer
And since I liked Lianna’s idea very much I want to quote her opening statement for the project:
“This summer I have been building an exciting new project. I am happy to announce the launch of Repose, which presents chamber music exclusively for private events at smaller venues. I am reinvigorating the age-old salon concert for a modern audience, bringing people together to experience music in the comfort of their living rooms, among friends and loved ones. And Repose is just the right type of entertainment for occasions like senior birthdays, retirement parties, and fundraisers.
Dreaming of flight
Take off
Flying over the beach
It was a windy day on Fire Island and you would want to fly against that wind, I’m quite sure. It was real fun! I clearly remembered myself being a boy and doing the same Unfortunately I didn’t have ocean around.
Pianist Mariko Miyazaki portrait
Portrait of Mariko MiyazakiMariko in a piano store, Manhattan, NYC
Mariko in a piano store, Manhattan, NYC
Portrait on a bridge in Central Park, New York City
Portrait of Mr. Peter Weiss for St. John’s College
Portrait photograph of Mr. Peter Weiss for St. Johns College of Maryland
That was an assignment from St. John’s College to photograph Peter Weiss for their multimedia project on human rights. He is Vice-President, former President, of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms and its US affiliate, the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy; Vice-President, Federation Internationale des ligues des Droits de l’Homme; and a Vice-President of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Here is more information about him.
As we spoke with Peter he mentioned that the time he spent in Africa is still most memorable and so I decided to incorporate in the portrait his favourite art piece he brought home from there.
Portrait of a graphic designer (with a touch of fun)
It was a really easy going photo session at Stephen’s house. He is a very bright and creative person and despite he needed just a plain headshot I went to doing it with a little funny twist in post-production in terms of background. Which I believe looks just great for something like facebook profile and other social media usage. Of course I gave him a version with simple white background for more serious purposes too
Headshot of Stephen Turbek, graphic designer
Portrait in interior of a designer / decorator
Portrait of Helaina Bernstein
Portraiture session of NYC based interior designer and decorator Helaina Bernstein on-location in Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Corporate headshot portrait
It’s always easy to do portraits of a person with outstanding personality. That was the case
I was hired for a corporate headshot portraiture session, because Scott needed new headshots for his upcoming publication. We did it on-location at their office’s library, which was just the right spot for the look he was after.
portrait of an attorney in library
Scott G. Kaufman is the principal of Crowley & Kaufman, P.C. His practice focuses primarily on Queens County Surrogate’s Court matters. These matters include estate litigation, estate administration and will contests. Scott G. Kaufman also handles all matters relating to Guardianships pursuant to Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law. Scott has become a well known and well respected practitioner in both Surrogate’s Court Practice and Guardianship.
Don’t shoot
This was just a test-shot, another part of my ongoing project about uniforms. Fun, fast and easy-going photo session on-location in a basement We will obviously work on this theme though, I would like to have more action in the image of course.
Not a cop but in this uniform looks cool
Just quick ‘strobist’ info behind the image:
one 580ex2 blue-gelled behind him in the boiler room, 1/16;
another one 580ex2 gridded on his face, camera right, 1/16.
F8, 1/160 sec.
Photographing a family for Christmas card
I’m always proud when clients come to me again year after year, because it proves I’m doing good I’m delivering the images and I’m making them happy!
This was another such family: I photographed them last autumn when Robi couldn’t even stand yet on his own. And now we had another photo session in Central Park for their Christmas cards. The astonishing fall foliage of late October in NYC makes it perfect background for such images.
It's all about love and happiness
Robi is now quite running and know what he wants and what he doesn’t like too
We had actually to do 2 days of photography to get enough images.
Family portrait: It's good to be together
Beautiful day in a park makes it perfect for family portraiture
Happy family moments that we want to remember
Family portraiture in Saudek’s colors
It was a family portrait session in out local beautiful Juniper Valley Park in the beginning of November. I was caught by autumn colors and remembered my old favorite photo book by great Czech photographer Jan Saudek. He used there a technique by hand painting his B&W photographs in such a vibrant and rich, saturated colors. The book was titled “LOVE’.
So this particular picture reminds me of that book every time I look at it.
Family portrait photo session in a park
Portrait of an interior designer
This week was like week of interior designers’ portraits – I did 2 of them. This was the first job on that week, beautiful and talented Alicia, really great interior designer, with multi-years experience.
We were about to shoot both indoor and in Central Park at first, bit on the day of photoshoot the weather was quite windy so we dropped the idea of shooting outdoor (November in NYC is always tricky).
I think we got the great imagery despite the space was a little bit too tight so we couldn’t get full-body portrait, but it wasn’t my plan anyway. I quite like the incoming light and those birds in behind the windows
The whole light-colored interior was quite good setup for Alicia’s blonde hair also.
Portrait of Manhattan-based interior designer
Alicia also is an avid traveler (looks to me she has lived all around the Europe), and she has done an international design jobs as well.
Portrait with travel memorabilia
Photo session of an extended family in Central Park
But in this case I was lucky to have this great family, so easy to photograph!
Portrait of extended family on a terrace overlooking Woolman Ice Skating Rink in Central Park
We definitely had great time together walking and playing along most scenic spots of Central Park on that gorgeous autumn day.
Love and happiness
It’s getting to be that time of year again
It’s getting to be that time of year again – that’s how Allison started her email asking when we can do another photosession with her family. I’m honored – it’s the 3rd year in a row I photograph this lovely family! I feel like I’m part of it, at least for those 2 hours we spend together And then I look through the images choosing the best for them and for my portfolio and recall how great they are.
First time we did a session when Alex was about 10 months yet and now he is almost 3 years old. They have relocated from Bronxville NY to New Jersey last year and they also got a new member of the family – furry Chelsea very playful and funny.
So we started to shoot around their new home in the backyard and then moved inside:
Alex enjoying soap bubbles in the backyard
Having fun, jumping and wrestling
Great new house, great happy family
Toy story forever
After that we drove to nearest park to get beautiful autumn colors in the pictures and to have fun in general
It's all about love
I admire Allison and James – they seem to me one of the greatest couple parents I knew – they are always caring of the family. And it is really easy to photograph them because there is no need for posing – I just observe and capture their happiness and love.
Having fun in the park
I see you - he loves to play hide and seek
Getting tired
They are so happy together!
Engagement in NYC
It was first time being in NYC for Carlo, but 4th for Eleonora. I was hired to photograph this beautiful couple around Manhattan’s landmarks.
Lovely couple on a lovely day
The day we scheduled the photoshoot weather was quite tricky and nasty so we had to push it for another day. I saw that Carlo was kind of upset and confused because of that and I didn’t see the reason for that. I thought it’s not a big deal, we always depend on weather.
While we were walking to Central Park next day Carlo explained to me that actually he made a proposal yesterday! Damn, I missed this moment, now I got it! But they were so obviously in love, kissing all the time so I think I didn’t miss too much after all
First time in New York City, and being in love
Love
Children ballet headshots
That was extremely funny and easygoing photosession once. It happened during rehearsals at Russian Brighton Ballet School in Brooklyn. I simply fixed paper seamless backdrop to a wall and set a couple of strobes, one in a softbox and another one shooting through white umbrella.
Girls were doing the rest of my job, except pressing the button maybe But at some moment I found them photographing each other with point and shoot cameras on my backdrop, they were definitely having fun.
Isn't she bright? Posing in a studio-like setup.
Excellent model! She knew perfectly how and what to do in front of camera.
Headshot of a composer
This was a headshot portrait session with a well-known composer Andy Mendelson in Lower Manhattan.
We started at his apartment, played a guitar a little bit trying to achieve that ‘moment of creativity’ look and then came out toward beautiful morning light.
To be mobile I used just a couple of Canon Speedlites indoor and only one strobe shooting through softbox when outdoor on-location. The softbox was handheld by my assistant, who was also walking backward at times, parallel to Andy moving toward my camera – tricky part
Portrait photography of Andy Mendelson, NYC-based composer
Orange city mood
Just a couple of glimpses
Double-decker for Mersedeses at 3rd World Trade Center building.
Luxury Mersedes passengers cars as passengers on double-decker
Did she realize this match of colors? I guess not
I think she had very bright mood
Princess’s family photo session in Central Park
Another family photography session in Central Park on lovely summer day with a beautiful princess Aidan and her parents Melissa and Rob.
Need to admit she was extremely shy and we had difficulties to get her in front of camera But we played and did let her play her game
As the result I believe we got plenty of catching images of this great family.
Joy of running fast
Little girl laughing
It's all about love
Great family moment
Faster than wind
What a beauty!
