Advertising Photography | Faces & Space for Atelier Salon
Atelier Salon in Corpus Christi was redeveloping their website in 2021 and a good friend of mine, Gerald Flores (Tuxedo Goose Films / Taco Gear) was working with Ambrose and the salon staff on the creative direction of the website as well as video content through his Tuxedo Goose Films brand. Anytime Gerald reaches out to me with a referral, I know the client is going to be a good one. After chatting with everyone involved, we ended up planning two different shoots. The first shoot was going to be focused around the empty salon space - I would be photographing the stations, some details, some custom-created stock for website and social media background, and then a few additional high-key product shots. Our second shoot would be a few weeks later to capture headshots / environmental portraits of the salon staff.
The first session we tackled one day while the salon was closed, allowing them a chance to clean and straighten everything at the close of business the day before. Gerald met me there and we scoped out the angles I'd be photographing and we adjusted the staging to ensure everything looked up to par. After about an hour and a half, we were done and the post-processing began to get photos ready for their website as soon as possible.
That same day we set a date for the second half of the shoot a couple of weeks later so that all of the staff members could be prepared for their environmental portrait prior to opening for the day. For their portraits, I created a clamshell lighting setup utilizing an Angler Parasail 88" for the bounced key light above the subject, and then an Angler Parasail 45" shoot-through for the fill light below the subject. A 15" shoot through umbrella was utilized as a hair-light to provide some separation between the subjects and the background. I positioned each staff member in a way to utilize the mirror lights as an abstract background.
Client: Atelier Salon
Creative Director: Gerald Flores
Agency: Ensemble Group
