My Daughter (My Model) Photo Shoot

My daughter, Amanda, was home for holiday break from the University of Virginia.  I was looking to practice some different lighting setups and I thought what better way to do it than to get some beautiful pictures of my daughter while I am working/practicing. 

All the photos were shot in our home and in the woods outside our house.  It was one of those Indian Summer days where the temperature got to 60 degrees.

Posted by VA Photographer - Len Spoden

McLean VA Hilton Hotel Holiday Party

ASCE held their annual holiday party at the McLean VA Hilton Hotel.  Over 200 employees and their guests enjoyed a great evening of good food, good drinks, good dancing, good friends and most of all good cheer.  Awards were given out for years of service, and a raffle was held with the grand prize being an Apple Ipad II!

Reston, VA Architectural Photography

One of my clients in Reston, VA, ScienceLogic, asked me to photograph their new headquarters building in Reston, VA.  I waited until late evening to photograph the building to take advantage of a beautiful setting sunlight on the building.  The pond and the water fountain really helped frame the photograph. 

Posted by Reston, VA Architectural Photographer - Len Spoden

Alexandria, VA Wedding

Harriotte and Dan had their wedding ceremony at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA. The wedding party got ready at the Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, VA.  It was just a short walk from the Monaco to the Athenaeum.  It is always fun to  photograph a wedding party as they walk the streets of Alexandria mid-day with all the tourists and visitors looking on.   The Athenaeum made for a great ceremony venue.  The small garden in the back made for a great location for the "first-look" photographs where Dan saw Harriotte for the first time in her wedding dress.  

Prior to the wedding the wedding party and family members walked  down to Waterfront Park in Alexandria.  The best part was the walk from the Athenaeum to the park where we walked through cobble stone roads and historic Alexandria townhouses. 

The wedding reception was held at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.  This was the fist wedding I had photographed at this location.  The tower and the main hall of the memorial made for some very dramatic backgrounds for some great photographs. 

Posted by Washington, DC Photographer Len Spoden

Arlington, VA Wedding at the Palomar Hotel

I was the engagement photographer for Tiffany and Drew.  We toured the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial.  You can see some of the photos by clicking here.  We had a great time, so I was looking forward to photographing their wedding at the Palomar Hotel in Rosslyn, VA.  The ceremony was outside overlooking the Potomac River and Georgetown University.  The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful day for a wedding. 

Executive Portrait / Headshot

A local Tysons Corner, VA Executive wanted to have some executive headshots taken.  He was looking for a variety of photographs that he could use for his website, marketing materials, and for requests he receives for his portrait when he does speaking engagements.  We had a lot of fun trying different lighting and poses.

 Posted by Washington, DC Photographer - Len Spoden. 

Executive Environmental Portraits / Photographs

I have a number of clients that frequently need portraits of their executives.  Many of the executives are in town for a meeting and I need to catch up with them between meetings at the office location.  Environmental executive photographs are extremely popular.  Usually it is a new location that I am not familiar with or it is a location where I have done a number of photo shoots.  The two executive portraits below are for two different clients that I photographed over the last couple of weeks in Reston, VA and Herndon, VA.  I was familiar with both these locations and the trick was to keep the photographs fresh and not looking like they were taken by the same photographer at the same location in the same way as all the other portraits that I had taken. 

For the woman executive I used the natural light that was coming in the front lobby of this Herndon, VA office building and had her sit down in the lobby chair.  I used the lit wall as a nice backdrop.  Together with her wonderful smile, I got a very nice photograph.

The male executive was over six feet six inches tall.  I had a stool but I still didn't like the perspective that I was shooting him.  I had taken a number of photos in this lobby in Reston, VA but with nobody this tall.  I found myself shooting upwards and I couldn't seem to avoid the Exit signs and other distracting elements in the background.  I looked around and had him sit down in this small area by map in the lobby.  It was my favorite photograph of the day. 

Posted by Washington, DC and Reston, VA Photographer - Len Spoden