Help-Portrait is a movement started by photographer Jeremy Coward. The mission is simple, but hugely impactful: find people in need, help them look their best with free hair and makeup styling, take and print their photo, then give them the photo for free. I participated in this concept a few years ago at a Kansas City event and decided to bring it to my local community of Steamboat Springs, Colorado this year, including a few extras like framed prints.

Just outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the appropriately named Rainbow Ridge puts on a stunning display of colors each fall. Normally, this view and several more like it are conveniently accessed by a busy forest road that also kicks up quite a bit of dust and noise. But during October of 2011, the road was closed to all motorized traffic due to a series of culverts being replaced. This was my queue to bike up and enjoy a bit of serenity in an otherwise busy location. An incoming storm added to the uniqueness of that afternoon’s view, although it decreased my dog’s après photo enjoyment when we had to rush back down to the truck when significant lightning arrived (I simply cruised downhill on the bike, but he had to run).

This year’s Ski 4 Yellow event in Steamboat Springs raised another $200,000 in the fight against cancer in conjunction with its summertime counterpart, Ride 4 Yellow. After a “yellow tie” evening gala featuring keynote speaker and former Denver Broncos running back Reggie Rivers alongside other NFL players like Kevin Clark having fun at the photo booth I hosted, Saturday was time to ski for Grammie and the many other friends or family members who have been impacted by cancer! I had a great time capturing the action, setting up and running the photo booth, and donating a framed panoramic of my Rainbow Ridge image to the silent auction.

One of the first concepts I learned about in portrait photography was “Lens Compression.” The common assumption is that a telephoto lens will “compress” the foreground and background together. This produces a more pleasing portrait that doesn’t distort facial features while still drawing attention to your subject (and not the background). In this post, I’ll get into more detail as to what lens compression truly is (and isn’t) and discuss how it applies to other genres of photography, like landscapes.

One of the first photographers I started following was Joe McNally. His Hot Shoe Diaries book is full of great info on how to make big light from small flashes, including a “creepy-guy-in-the-alley shot” that I recently enjoyed recreating.