Category Archives: Editorial

Bright light in cancer

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Chaplain Jim Bonomo works at VCU Massey Cancer Center guiding patients recently diagnosed with cancer through the journey ahead.  The subject matter hit very closed to home with a cycling friend recently passed away from a long battle with Leukemia and a family member recently diagnosed with prostate cancer.  I was drawn to making an imaging fitting of the seriousness of the disease and what it must feel like to be given the news.  Jim and many other like him are truly the bright spot in an otherwise darkness.

Photo taken for The Health Journal for a feature article titled “Workplace Worries: A Death in the (Work) Family“.

Jenna Bush Hager

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I’m pretty excited that one of my image from Noah’s Children with Jenna Bush Hager as the keynote speaker made it into the Richmond Times Dispatch last Sunday (April 1, 2012, Page G9).   It’s just one image but always happy to see my images and name in print.

Now, being a complete dork that I am, I think I am actually more excited that Jenna “mentioned” me on Twitter after the event.

On the cover of THJ

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Like every photographer/artist in the world, I love seeing my work published anywhere. However, it gives me a special feeling when it is on the cover. Below is my photo of Wayne Sale, President & CEO of Health First, Oxygen and Medical Equipment, on the cover the the August 2011 The Health Journal.  I am very fond of this image on many levels, one being that it’s on the cover (of course) and the other is that I finally got to use the blue gel in my bag.

(Ed Ip)

(Ed Ip)

Being different is not easy

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Most of my editorial subjects would naturally point out the locations/themes they’ve been photographed in the past. That kind of info is very valuable to me because I will then know what NOT to use. I believe editors come to me because they want something unique, so I make it a point to create something different. There are a lot of blog posts by very successful and prominent photographers about why being different is important. However, different is not always easy/quick/simple, and my session with Matt Thornhill, Founder and President of Boomer Project, is an example of that.

After a quick tour of Matt’s office, which was an old bank with a lot of history by the way, I quickly zero’d into this room because it has not be shoot in before. Specifically, I was really drawn to that spotlight because Matt is a rock-star and the go to guy in his field.

Ok, aside from the spotlight the room is not very exciting.

This is where being different require you do go above and beyond anyone’s expectation, and some time meant getting your hands dirty. I moved all the furniture out of the way, found and move that wooden divider in place to give that space some flare. Then, I aimed a strobe with a red gel through the class door into the back of the divider to give it a bit of personality. (Don’t forget to reset the room after you are done!)

Here’s the final product:

Yours Truly a Featured Contributor

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If you live in Richmond or Hampton, VA, go pickup a copy of the July’11 Health Journal.   Yours truly is a featured contributor this month.

In addition, you will also see my rocking image of Shelley Buck-Turner, Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse Executive at Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center.

For those of you that are into photography and photo gears, the photo of Shelley was achieved using a 3x ND filter and a Profoto AcuteB2 Li 600 AirS on almost full power to balance the sun behind her.  The camera was at ISO 200, 1/250 (max. sync speed) and f7.1.

Event | CBS6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo

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I spent a few hours at the CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo held at the Richmond Convention Center in mid-February to capture images for The Health Journal.  The main attraction of the event was Dr. Oz and along came the crowd.  Dr. Oz took the time to walk amongst the expo-goers to say hello, shake hands and kiss the babies (literally) which presented a pretty big problem to all the photographers onsite — we couldn’t see him or get close to him.  It was very difficult to move around and I felt like a paparazzi just speed shooting hoping for a decent line-of-sight of the good doctor.  In addition, the event organizer told me that I would have a few minutes with Dr. Oz which unfortunately never materialized.  Luckily I’ve got a front row seat to his talk and took advantage of the opportunity.

A handful of my images are in the March 2011 of The Health Journal. Go grab an issue!

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My first billboard

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The title of this post is a bit misleading.  It is not my billboard per se, rather it is a billboard using one of my image of Dr. Harpreet Grewal who is an amazing Cardiologist.  During the session, Dr. Grewal had a patient being prepped to get a pacemaker yet he was cool as a cucumber while I was sweating bullets to get him through the session as quickly as possible.  And THAT is why I am NOT a heart surgeon.

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The billboard can be seen west-bound on I-64 between the Richmond International Airport and Downtown Richmond.

Below is my favorite composite from my 30 minutes with Dr. Grewal.

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Baker’s Crust Cover

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[singlepic id=81 w=320 h=240 float=left]I took this photo of Lindsey at Baker’s Crust Short Pump the week before Christmas last year and was pleasantly surprised when the creative director at West End’s Best emailed to tell me that it was going on the cover of the January/February 2011.

Tech Stuff:
The whole thing took about 30 minutes between setup, waiting for Lindsey to be available and teardown, but actual shooting time was less than 5 minutes.  I always pre-conceptualize the images in my mind’s eyes before going out to location and I knew I wanted tight shots of Lindsey as well as wide angle images to represent the customer’s perspective.  Knowing the restaurant would be open during the session, I took two Nikon D700 bodies each with a different lens (24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8) so I can work fast and not worry about switching lens — I worked so fast, Lindsey didn’t even know I had two different camera until I showed her images off the back of the camera.

In terms of lighting, I took ambient down by about 2 stops to give it a warm glow and then lit her with a Nikon SB-600 into a Lastolite EzyBox 24″x24″ in manual mode.  The EzyBox is definitely my favorite light modifier in the field — it’s portable, provide beautiful directional lighting, and will not turn into a sail like a shoot-thru umbrella.  It does take a few minutes to setup but well worth the time.

New Year Inspiration, Jessica Jenkins

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Happy new year! I want to start the new year by talking about an inspiration to me.

I photographed Jessica Jenkins for The Health Journal in early December. I met up with her on a VERY cold saturday morning at Bryan Park before her run.

Jessica was over 300lbs 11 years ago and have since shed  the pounds by “eating less and moving more”, and trained herself to walk and run marathons (see all the medals around her neck). Jessica told me she only has 10 miles to run that day. Right, ONLY.  I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life and am completely at awe with anyone with the discipline to lose weight. Jessica, I solute you!

If getting healthy is your new year’s resolution, don’t think about it, go do it!  I want you to be my next inspiration.

You can read the entire story over at The Health Journal. The January 2011 issue should be arriving at grocery stores, doctor offices and hospitals throughout central VA soon. Be on the look out and grab a copy.