Thank you for visiting!

 

I'm a portrait and business branding photographer here in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to visually tell your unique story. I love the creative process - working with you to design a session plan including wardrobe selection and choosing an awesome location, embracing creative freedom while carefully capturing the moment, then further bringing your images to life with tasteful post production editing.

 

How are we different? Our creative vision and adventurous approach allow us to lead photo sessions producing beautiful portraits that genuinely capture your personality and the pulse of your business.

 

Our goal is to create amazing portraits of anyone, any product, any space, anywhere in the world. We're always looking for ways to improve the final image.

 

Is modeling for a portrait out of your comfort zone? Are you nervous about posing, or your expression? No worry, we get it - We'll give plenty of direction throughout the session so you can feel confident we're creating incredible images. With your trust we'll have a blast - so let's do this!

 

...We'd love to work with you! Send a message here to set up a session introductory call.

 

-Ryan Gallagher

 

Through all stages of production, or focus remains on mastering the following four key elements of portraiture:

Relationship

 

It's so important that we quickly earn your trust. Let's face it, most of us aren't every day models, so you may be a little nervous before your photo session. We'll give clear direction so you don't feel awkward or uncertain of how you're doing.

Figure

 

Any fine art painting or portraiture book will emphasize attention on leading lines, angles, curves and positioning of the hands. Each can be used to draw the viewer's attention back to the subject.

Attention to these details makes or breaks the photograph.

Creative Vision

 

This is the fun part - the storytelling. In addition to landscape/environment selection, deciding how to use light, color, texture and design makes each photographer's approach to describing a moment unique. It's their style of making an idea a visible reality.

 

Technical Accuracy

 

a range of equipment is used to capture depth of field and sharp, quality images based on the portrait setting.

 

These are my go-to tools:

Camera Bodies

 

Canon EOS 1D Mark 4

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark 3

 

...

 

Lenses

 

Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4L

 

Canon EF 35 mm f/1.4L

 

Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift Fixed

 

Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4

 

Canon EF 100 mm Macro f/2.8L

 

Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L

 

Promaster Digital HGX UV Filters

Canon Lighting

 

(3) Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite Flashes

 

(1) Canon 580 EX II Speedlite Flashes

 

Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter

 

 

Paul C. Buff Studio Lighting

 

Einstein™ Flash Unit

 

CyberSync™ Trigger Transmitter 2

 

CyberSync™ Transceiver

 

 

CyberSync™ Battery Powered Receiver (3)

Manfrotto MK294C3-A0RC2 3 Section Tripod

 

LiteMod™ Unit Mainframe + Barndoors

 

LiteMod™ Gel Holders + Gels

 

14” X 60” Foldable Stripbox + Grid

 

86” White PLM™ Umbrella + Diffusion Fabric

 

 

Westcott / Other Lighting

 

(2) Westcott 2334 28" Recessed Medium

Softboxes

 

Westcott 2332 43-Inch Collapsible Umbrella

 

LumiQuest Mini SoftBox

 

 

Stands/ Bags/ Post Production Tools

 

(3) Manfrotto 1004BAC Master Stands

 

Naneu Sahara 217f Expandable Backpack

 

Lowepro Pro Trekker 600 AW Backpack

 

(2) Seagate External Hard Drives

 

Adobe Photoshop

 

Adobe Lightroom

Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift

 

Built for correct linear perspective in architectural images, this tilt shift lens can also be used for artistic portraiture, making use of shallow depth of field and soft bokeh.

 

Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L

 

This telephoto lens helps me stay in the moment, but from a distance (outdoors with a barrier between me and the subject, during a Wedding ceremony, sports photography, etc.) It's also super fast, which helps freeze the action when dealing with movement.

 

 

Canon EF 35 mm f/1.4L

 

This wide angle lens produces super sharp images and wide aperature for nice depth of field. It's become my workhorse lens for portraits.

 

 

Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4L

 

A wide angle lens with zoom that allows flexibility in frame choice. Great for panorama/environmental images and group portraits.

 

 

Canon EF 50 mm f/1.4

 

It's tough to take a bad portrait with this lens in hand. Great for even shallower depth of field.