So aside from shooting weddings and portraits, I also work at FORGE, a rockin’ design firm in Dayton. Our team just launched A Modern Eden, a line of iPhone apps and products for kids and design-savvy, fun-loving adults (which you should definitely check out!). In preparing for the launch of AME, we needed to get team photos which I was, of course, thrilled to shoot!

With FORGE designer Ryan Clark functioning as art director, we set up shop in the conference room using a 12-foot roll of white paper, a couple studio lights and my Nikon. Without having real animals to interact with, it was hard to get everyone to pose naturally. We improvised a couple of times by standing just outside of the frame to give the individual someone to focus on. I love my camera’s ability to fine tune the focus point. It allowed me to leave the camera in one spot and move the focus bracket over each person’s face to get the sharpest image. Everybody took several frames, but these were the final choices:

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In just looking at the individual shots, it’s hard to imagine what the end result would look like, right? But when Ryan used his Photoshop-super-powers to combine my images with the enchanting animals of A Modern Eden, greatness was born:

Thanks FORGE-ers for a great shoot and Ryan for the creative direction! It was a lot of fun! The final product, in all it’s sweetness can be seen here.