Blog – Rod Magdaluyo

Expecting Olivia

Published on April 8, 2019April 8, 2019 by Rod Magdaluyo

Family is hope.

“My daughter-in-law is expecting her second child. Do you do pregnancy photos?”

I have to admit this request made me hesitate.

Not that there’s something inherently different about taking pictures of a woman about to have a baby versus a woman trying to land a modeling gig.

Light is light. Lenses are lenses.

But, yes, there is something different. A hope. A sense of pride. A very unique period in a woman’s life that usually happens two or three times at most, if at all. That last month is a nervous celebration of love and excitement.

Could I capture that?

Stephanie is a sweet woman with a warm smile and she wanted simple images of herself and her family.

We wanted to get a sense “how things were before you“.

Photos to show their daughter in the future. Images they could point to and say “You were a part of this family even before you were born.”

And to highlight the love that brought her into the world. And the rock of strength her parents stood upon.

I’m glad I was able to spend some time with this wonderful family, and I’m glad that I answered confidently when asked to do this session.

“Do you do pregnancy photos?”

I would be honored to.

Liz, Dee, and Quinn

Published on December 21, 2018December 21, 2018 by Rod Magdaluyo

Family is dynamic.

I get a good balance of headshots, portraits, and family sessions and each one is a unique (but ultimately simple) challenge for me: create something memorable for my client.

Simple does not necessarily equal easy, of course. I have to do my due diligence to increase the chance that we’ll all have a fun time and I can give something valuable to my client. Charge the batteries. Clean the lenses. Prep the memory cards and test the flash.

For Liz, Dee, and Quinn, it meant scouting the location a day early, to get a feel for possible backgrounds and the lighting conditions.

Once that was done it was time to make the magic and, for a family shoot, to focus on capturing the relationship, the dynamics, between the family members.

Take this picture, for example.

You can instantly see how much joy the father and husband, Dee, gets by being around his family.

He’s the kind of father that gets down on his hands and knees and pretends to be a dog to play with his son, Quinn. Check out the pure happiness on Quinn’s face. Look at that smile.

Now see how he’s being held carefully, lovingly, with a gentle hand by his mother, Liz.

You can see that these two make her laugh a lot.

Yeah. I took that shot.

Might be one of the best I’ve ever taken.

Someday one of Quinn’s children might see that picture of him and their Grandpa…

… and see how lovely their Grandma was.

That’s the kind of things I think about when I take pictures.

I suppose it might seem grandiose or silly to some. But to me, photographers make investments for the long haul, something that pays off the day after the shoot with a “Wow, that dress looks great on me!” or generations after with a “Wow, I look like Grandma!”

Either way, it’s always an honor to capture these brief moments in time.

Kristan and Jayden

Published on November 22, 2018November 22, 2018 by Rod Magdaluyo

Family is love.

I jumped at the chance to take Kristan’s portrait. She’s literally one of the sweetest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. When we were in the planning phase of the shoot, determining the “where” and the “when”, she asked if her son Jayden could participate. And I said “Absolutely!”

This, of course, changed the shoot from a portrait session into a family session.

Whereas a portrait session is an attempt to “capture the essence” of a person a family session has a goal of showing the relationship of the people. In this case: Kristan and her son are an unbreakable unit. You can see the mutual love and respect.

I still made a point to get some individual shots.

Asking a kid to work through a full hour or an hour and a half of photography is a lot. We let Jayden relax and play throughout the shoot so I could focus on Kristan, (who is absolutely lovely).

And then we’d see her son sitting in the sunlight:

I used a lot of off-camera flash for this photoshoot, mainly for fill light. It was a bright day in the park so we worked in pools of shadows.

When you’re working with a tight unit like Kristan and Jayden, you’ve got to watch for the unplanned interactions that happen between them. Be alert for how they interact and you’ll get a feel for their dynamic. In this case: a loving mother guiding a strong young man.

Catching Marissa

Published on November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 by Rod Magdaluyo

Marissa is a natural model.

She knew instinctively how to move for the camera, and needed very little direction from me. I gave just enough coaching to explain the shot and she’d nail it.

I knew right off the bat, from the first picture that I took, that this was going to be a fun but challenging shoot.

She’d go through a series of subtle changes with her eyes, her smile, the way she held herself, so quickly that I had to really scramble to keep up with her.

I’d yell “Wait! Don’t move! Do that thing again!” but she was already moving on to the next look.

The early morning sky was perfect for the shots and we used a reflector for fill when needed. Lucky for me one of my other favorite models, Katherine, was willing to act as my assistant.

When you’re working with someone as dynamic as Marissa, you’ve got to be ready to “go with the flow” and follow their lead and just try to catch as much of their personality as they’re willing to reveal. Try not to rely on burst shooting too much, but it’s an advantage in these situations.