Philadelphia Photographer | Fall/Autumn Lawn Party on the Main Line

Nathaniel Dodson October 24, 2014

When a company hosted a lawn party to celebrate a great year of business and growth in their company, they asked me to come out and photograph what went down on a cool October evening in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

I was privileged to capture a ton of great photos of the great kids running around at the party participating in pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, playing football, tug-o-war, corn hole, and so much more!

Everything was shot under the beautiful overcast skies which gave me amazing soft wrapping light the entire day while I was shooting. I also gave the photos a film style in post processing to top off a classic portrait look for these images.

I brought a wireless printer to the party and was able to deliver prints before families headed home and give them a great tangible gift that they could take home from the party. The photos were a hit!

Behind the Scenes Video: Isabel Lacatus | RCA Recording Artist

Nathaniel Dodson December 28, 2013

Check out our behind the scenes video for our shoot up at ACME studio in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn, New York.

Merriam-Webster defines “prodigy” as “a highly talented child or youth” and also notes that the word is synonymous with words such as “Marvel, Phenomenon, Sensation, and Wonder”. However, Merriam-Webster seems to be missing Isabel’s photo which should be tucked in with their definition of “prodigy”.

I walked down a hallway into her studio space one winter evening with her father and was greeted by a smiling Isabel sitting behind the control station in the recording area. She hurriedly encouraged me come in and listen to what she was working on, but before she could let me listen, there were some final adjustments that needed to be made. I watched as she masterfully guided her cursor through the Pro Tools music application and adjusted the vocal track until it was just perfect. She turned the speaker volume up and played the track that she was working on, smiling and bobbing her head the entire time. Her little dog, Cimba, thoughtfully watched us and whimpered her voice of approval; or maybe was just concerned that a stranger (me) had suddenly appeared next to her owner. The music was just right and the voice, well, the voice is where all the magic is. This girl can flat-out sing and she’s got a passion unable to convey with words alone.

Isabel is a recording artist with RCA Records/Sony Entertainment and is primed to be the next big thing in the music industry. Isabel aspires to be like her inspirations, Alicia Keys and Andrew Belle, and the uniqueness and depth of her voice combined with her musical talents and production skills will certainly carry this youngster to new heights. She has won contests, accolades, and the hearts of many young fans. Keep your eyes peeled for this young starlet to grace the cover of your favorite magazine or walk down the red carpet in the coming months and years.

Check out the Isabel Lacatus website and sign up for her newsletter to get a free mp3 download as well: http://www.isabellacatus.com/

We shot all day in studio and then wandered out to the Brooklyn Bridge and then later into Times Square and shot until about midnight. Check out some our photos from the day below:

Help Portrait | Philadelphia, 2013 | This one's for you

Nathaniel Dodson December 17, 2013

On Saturday, December 7th, 2013 an amazing event called “Help Portrait” swept across the globe. I lead a group and assembled one of the Help Portrait events right here in Philadelphia.What is Help Portrait? In a word, it's the most awesome photographic, charitable, story-telling, story-giving, picture-creating, tear-jerking, perspective-gaining, thought-provoking, and fun events that one could conjure up.

Help Portrait happens when a group of photographers, hair stylists, makeup artists, and volunteers get together and spend a day giving portraits away to those in need. For free. The people we photographed were characters of every walk of life; fathers, mothers, families, and fun-loving kids.

Partnering up with a number of Philadelphia photographers and artists (credits later on in this post) we had an event that went off without a hitch! I owe a massive “thank you” to everyone involved for helping to make this what it was and what it will be in the future! Without the selfless giving of others, we could never have made this happen!

During the event the best moment I experienced was when one 79 year-old gentleman-who had never been photographed before-looked at me and told me that he now "had a photograph he could give to his granddaughters so they would always remember him”. How cool and incredible is that? That’s a moment that will not soon be lost on me. Perspective gained.

I’d be remiss if I didn't mention that this whole worldwide event was started several years ago by the fantastic Nashville photographer, Jeremy Cowart. (Jeremy hates being mentioned in these articles, but credit where credit is due. *bow* )

We had a great location, Old First Reformed United Church of Christ which the incredible Philly-based company ShareMySpace helped up find and schedule.

Here are a few of the photos I shot on that day:

One of our organizers/photographers for all the Philadelphia Help Portrait events, Jaleel King. This dude is hilarious.

Also, here is a rundown of the awesome people who came out and rocked this event with us!

Organizer & Lead Assistant Nathaniel Dodson (Me) Alex Cerrato

Photographers Chris Dawson & Susan Harner Victor C. Green Kyle Cassidy Max Grudzinski(Max also has a blog post on his experience with Help Portrait ») Stephanie DeFeo Jeffrey Sabotta Jaleel King

Makeup Artists Marissa Cordero Nina Wachuku

Hair Stylists Jessica Pineda Ivy Ji Han

Volunteers Steven Collins Mikey Ilagan Christopher Dodson Angelyn Dodson David and Lexi Moore

Fashion Model Katie Shea Walters | Philadelphia Photography

Nathaniel Dodson April 29, 2013

Daughter of local photographer, a film student, avid Star Wars fan, and budding young fashion model, Katie Shea Walters sure has her hands full modeling, walking in events such as the recent “Philadelphia Fashion Week”, oh, and-as mentioned-she’s a film student.

Katie and I first got together in January of 2013 and have worked together a couple times since then. These images are from our very first shoot together. This was very much a run-and-gun style shoot as we ran around a Philadelphia area town called Manayunk and captured images in several different areas of town. This shoot was a stylized, fashion-influenced, environmental portrait shoot to get Katie some unique and fun pictures that she could add to her portfolio.

The light source in these images was a single light, a 400W head with a 39” Rotalux Deep Octa bank (one of my personal favorite lighting modifiers!)

Check out a few of the images we captured below.

Katie Walters | Philadelphia Photography | Philadelphia Photographer