I recently made my way over to the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury on Long Island to make some corporate portraits of a new vice president and dean, allowing me an opportunity to meet some really great people and explore the campus - which is gorgeous. I've always wanted to make casual portraits on the campus' front lawn area, where a grove of trees offers about as picturesque a setting as imagineable - especially in the fall.

This time, though, we headed into the library for the shots. With several locations to choose from, I loved the the curving wall of windows in front most, and set up some strobes there to make the image you see here. I think it works from several perspectives, especially as the university is technology-centered; the architecture and design of the library is very modern, lending itself as an appropriate environment for the portrait.

I also wanted to share a few from a recent family portrait session on Long Island, where the young man and young lady pictured at left were kind enough to let us make some wonderful keepsakes for their parents. For the first shot, we created a make-shift set in the living room...I loved the drapes, knowing it would offer a non-distracting yet attractive background. A plush rug underneath and some diffused studio strobes I brought to the location did the rest. Check out that smile, he just wouldn't stop...awesome.

It was really too cold to do what we wanted to do outside, but in the 5 minutes we tried we had some really great light in the backyard. The wind was really helping make it uncomfortable, but gave us just enough motion in the young lady's hair to give the image some flair. I'm particularly pleased to show with this shot that I am FINALLY comfortable with the way my digital black & white conversions are turning out. It's easy to simply desaturate an image to grayscale, but getting it to look like the glory days of film has taken a few years of experimentation.

"What the Duck," a comic strip that centers on the photography business, is a favorite read over here. I even chose to buy some of the creator Aaron Johnson's holiday cards this year to send to clients. I should post them more often, as they do get me to chuckle almost every time. ..and the scenarios are almost always so close to home it's as if Johnson is a fly on the wall in my office. This time though, I'll just post the little ironic stab you see here. See more at www.whattheduck.net