I always enjoyed product photography but early on I had never done much of it since the studio I photographed at and helped manage was primarily a portrait studio. A friend that specialized in it for many years had a studio in Erie. Whenever I had the opportunity, I stopped by and hung around, assisting with lighting, setups and whatever else was needed because I was thrilled at the opportunities to learn.

Occasionally I even accompanied him at on-location jobs as part of his crew. This was an entirely different way of working than in a studio setting and I always made sure to take my own gear as I was usually able to break away and do some work for myself. Factories are really interesting places for photography, and if they are paying someone to take photos, they can’t yell at you for getting in the way. On several occasions, my friend asked me to shoot on my own to augment what he was doing and it turned into some fun bragging rights, especially when his client ended up choosing my shots for the interior and cover of their catalog.

Many years later, when I opened the antique store, I was fortunate enough one, to have the equipment; two, the ability and three; the space to set up my own small ( and boy was it ever small ) studio space in the back room to shoot product photos for my social media pages as well as for my advertising needs and for photos to accompany my article submissions to the various magazines and newspapers I wrote for.

Over the seven years I had the store, the variety of products I shot is really amazing. Everything from seats from a Blackhawk helicopter, to a navy ship’s door, to jewelry, toys, glass items, medical tools, oddities such as bones and taxidermy, as well as NASA artifacts, furniture, lamps, artworks, porcelain and more. I once even had a 20 foot x 5 foot hand woven rug by a nationally known weaver depicting the space program’s milestones. That one had to be shot outside.

Each item presented a challenge and I learned much from it. In addition my photoshop skills have also grown over the years along with my shooting abilities. I really enjoyed the problem solving. Clothing and other other items were also interesting to photograph.

In the shop, we had an entire store department on ladies clothing and shoes we called “Flirty Not Dirty” and the product lines included really far out high heels, corsets, gloves, stockings and leather goods to name a few..

Since I have all my files from the store ( more than seven years worth of images ) I keep trying to find ways to put them on my website to share my work and my vision of how I see things in the world we live in. So to that effect I have added a new gallery called “Walking Tall” showcasing the images I created of all the high heels we sold through the store. Some are straight up product shots, and others are set up more as still life displays. This gallery reminds me of the early part of Andy Warhol’s career when he drew shoes for the major fashion house’s and stores’ advertising in New York City.

In a similar way I have always tried to mix things up as much as possible, yet retain a style that is my own. I hope everyone enjoys it.