Christie A.C. Gucker

This week’s portrait is pretty special. It’s been a few weeks in the making and I was really looking forward to the shoot.

A few weeks ago, I reached out to a friend of mine, the uber-talented Lady in Red, creator of the “TheLadyinRedBlog – a lady in red who writes” and asked if she knew anyone who would be interested in doing a specialty shoot. I wanted to do something different and hoped The Lady in Red would know someone that was up for it. It wasn’t long before she got back to me with a name and contact information. I won’t lie…when I read who The Lady in Red found, I was a bit intimidated!

Christie A.C. Gucker, local author, had volunteered for my project. Her credits include The Cliff, Pacifically You and?The Purple Heart?(scheduled for release, February 22, 2013). I’m sure you’re wondering why that would be intimidating. After all, I’m a professional and take great pride in my work. But Christie is not just an author. This incredibly talented woman just so happens to hold a BFA in Design Graphics from the New York?Institute?for Technology. As if that isn’t enough, she also minored in Art History and Photography. And the icing on the cake: Christie is the Production Director at a very good design firm.

Even with all of that, I would normally still feel confident. But I was trying something new…and suddenly had that feeling of “Oh man…she’s going to know more about what I do, than I do!“?All of us have had those thoughts from time to time, no matter what our profession is. So I don’t mind admitting to that fleeting moment of “Can I pull this off?”

All of that went away when I got to speak with Christie on the phone. She was cool, down to earth and clearly a fun, open-minded person. From that point forward, I was really looking forward to working with her. It took us a while to get the shoot scheduled, but when she reached out last week to tell me she had an opening, we got to work with planning the session. The most important thing that had to happen was a new head shot for Christie.

Turns out we have a lot in common – including a borderline obsession with Halloween that runs deep in both of our families. Over the course of the session and afterwards, we spoke at length about just about everything, other than politics. It’s a lot of fun when you get to know the person on the other side of the glass. The photos take on more meaning and by the end of the shoot, I find my photos change in nature, to reflect the personality of the person I’m working with. This photo of Christie was one of the last we took and a favorite for both of us.

And for the record: I pulled it off.

Want to know more about Christie A.C. Gucker? Check out these links:
Christie A.C. Gucker Facebook Fan Page
Christie’s Website
Great blog about Christie by TheLadyinRedWhoWrites

And why not join the release party for “The Purple Heart” while you’re at it?
Event Page on Facebook

Shot data:
Location:??Private Residence
Camera:? ??Canon EOS T4i
Lens:? ? ? ? ??Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto
Light:? ? ? ? Natural

Settings:
ISO 400; f/2.8; 1/250 sec.; Aperture Priority mode; Evaluative Metering, Imagenomic Noiseware and Inverted High Pass filters in post.

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