Personal & Travel

Civic Eagle takes on San Francisco // [San Francisco Photographer]

 

Exploring San Francisco, CA.

With the Civic Eagle team at Code for America Summit 2014, hosted at the InterContinental Hotel.

Civic Eagle is a civic tech company that's changing the way people interact with the policies that impact them. One of it's products, Eagle, is a mobile app that will launch soon this month and will connect its users to legislation, their representatives and candidates, and policy issues which you can debate with friends.

 

The Tables are Turned // [Albany Lifestyle Photographer, Albany, NY]

I had been putting it off for a very very long time. I had come up with every excuse I could think of; every excuse that my own clients give me about not having their portrait made. “I don’t like how hair looks,” “I’d like to drop x lbs. before I take my picture,” “I have nothing to wear,” “It’s not in my budget;” the reasons could go on and on. But the time came and it had to be done. I had to step from behind the camera.

It was awkward standing on the other side. Being the subject and foolishly giggling to no one but a camera lens (that’s how you get those natural-looking smiles: just giggle to yourself!). It helped that I had guided dozens of people on how to pose, so I pretty much knew how to move. 

My main source of anxiety was worrying about how the photos would look - how I would look. That’s something that most people fret. We can’t all be models, and don’t get me started on society’s perceptions of beauty (I’ll reserve that for a future blog post). But what we can do is learn to be comfortable with our appearances. It certainly helps when you have a photographer who knows how to take a great portrait, focus on your best assets and see you beyond your own internalized perceptions of yourself. 

I was fortunate to find Natalie Cartz and her work. I trusted that she would do a great job with my head shots… which she did! I was most pleased with the amount of care and attention she gave me during our session. 

The great thing about this experience was that I not only received beautiful, high quality and flattering portraits of myself, but I also gained tons of insight on how it really feels to be in front of the camera. It gave me the opportunity see photography from a different point of view and I intend to use my own portrait experience to improve the services I provide to my clients. And now I can personally attest to the excitement, empowerment, and gratification that you feel after a portrait session.

Thanks, Natalie! 

Lesley Adeyemi headshot.jpg
Lesley Adeyemi.jpg

Had to take some selfies during my session!