In mid August, I was contracted to do a food shoot for Baleen Restaurant at the Hotel Portofino in Redondo Beach, CA. The challenge with this shoot was to properly light and capture 10+ separate dishes in <8 hours. If you have ever been involved with a professional food shoot, you might know that there are a lot of variables in a food shoot including the location, the ambient lighting, the temperature, the client’s expectations, the chef and his/her food, number of people involved and many other factors.

Some food sessions take 4, 6 even 8 hours to capture a single dish to the expectations of the creative director. But that wasn’t the case with this one.  This was a really fun shoot. I have to say, Chef Daniel Roberts is one of the finest chefs I have had the pleasure of working with. Unlike other shoots I have been on, there was very little prep work to do. And in most cases, we were actually able to use the first version of each dish that came from the kitchen. They were creative, colorful and most of all – they were more than just good looking. The food tasted fabulous. I hope my shots portray just how good these dishes were once we ate them.

With a single strobe and a nice afternoon in Lake Forest, I was able to capture a good representation of her in several different outfits and hair styles.

Summer Mackenzie. a competitor at the event, contracted me to shoot some action shots of her on her 8 year old quarter horse, Ranger along with her friend Katrina Curry along with her custom performance horses.

Below are the best shots from this series.  A more in-depth review of this photo shoot will be available on our website at www.cameradojo.com.

The evening photos here were quite a challenge as I had no lighting gear, other than my removable flash on my camera.  The other challenge was the wind.  The restaurant was on the waterfront and it was a stormy night.  We had winds of about 35-45mph to deal with while trying to shoot.  Plus, I was freehand shooting as I didn’t have a tripod with me.

All in all not the greatest food shots, but adequate for what we needed at the time (considering the last minute request).  I don’t consider myself a food photographer, but it is certainly something I want to get better at over time.

New Orleans is a colorful and vibrant city in many ways.  The shots below are just a few of my favorites from several hundred shot over a two week period.

I travel to New Orleans about once every two years. I hope to post many more shots of this amazing city.

Armed with my Canon 5D Mark II and a 70-200 f2.8 lens, I was able to get some pretty decent shots of the action.  High ISO has its advantages, and I never had to pull out the flash.

At the end of April, I had the pleasure of shooting a beautiful home just a block from the beach in Corona Del Mar, California.  This beautiful 4 bedroom home had lovely balcony and roof deck views of the Pacific Ocean and was nestled in the wonderful community of Corona Del Mar.

Corona Del Mar Ocean View Home from Maurice Naragon on Vimeo.

I have shot the car before, but the subject of this shoot was Mac with the car.  It is a beautiful car and a great subject for shooting.  These were taken late on a spring afternoon here in Southern California.