People Pictures

February/04/2012 12:16 PM


	People Pictures (A Small Collection of Just Some of My Clients By Stephen Orsillo of SAO Photo

		Do you need new head shots for your business? When was the last time you had a family portrait done? As you can see from these examples, my clients truly have fun when coming to my studio. Traditional or Modern, Casual or Formal Fun, Sexy, or Serious, The Choice is Yours!
	Can all these smiling people be wrong? A typical shoot consists of finding out my clients needs and desires. There is never any rush and we keep shooting until the disk is full or the client feels we have captured what they need. Later they get sent a link to a web page displaying all their best images, usually more than 50! From there they choose their favorites and those are the ones I prepare for their use. Giving the option to have the full size images sent via email or burned to disk.
		Each session is customized to my client, they choose the background and there is always experimentation in lighting and such to show my clients at their best and often I am inspired by my clients to try something new to create images that are uniquely theirs. There are never any extra costs, whatever package you choose is the price you pay, only when you want extra images from your shoot will you pay more!

	So... If you're in need of or just want some new fabulous images of yourself or your family, you have come to the right place! If you want portraits that are uniquely you, you have come to the right place! If you want to work with an Artist and Not a Shutterbug, you have come to the right place!
	I keep my costs low so that everybody can afford my services! I pondered long and hard about raising my prices and realized that I would rather photograph a bunch of people for a little bit of money than to photograph a few people for a lot of money. We're all here to help one another and to share our skills and knowledge with those that can benefit.
	Current Special! Our $99.00 package is on sale for only $39.00 for a limited time! Includes at least an hour at the studio, as many outfit changes as you like, a web gallery of all your images with private link, and your favorite image finished and enhanced and printable up to 20x30! Also the option to purchase more at a reasonable cost. So, what are you waiting for? Contact us at SAO Photo today!


	All images © Stephen Orsillo and my wonderful clients! Thank you for letting me share my skills with you!

Will You Help Brush Biker give a Voice and Toothbrushes to Homeless Children in America?

January/31/2012 08:52 PM

Phase 1 Objectives:
• Deliver 10,000 toothbrushes to the Homeless.

• Meet and spend time with some Homeless kids.

• Discover talented Homeless kids and help them promote their art by either helping them produce their first song and publish it via Youtube and iTunes, or help them get their first book published on Amazon. The result will depend upon the talent we discover.

• Invite Homeless kids to join the Brush Biker page where they will be able to talk about their and meet others in the same situation as themselves, providing them their own online community.

All the while creating the Documentary and Photo Essay, "Through The Eyes of a Child".

We are gearing up to launch our next major fund drive via indiegogo, meanwhile you can donate through Paypal to help bring this project to life!
Thank you for your support!

Will You Help Brush Biker give a Voice and Toothbrushes to Homeless Children in America?
Visit brushbiker.com if you don't know what the Brush Biker Project is!
Donate Today!

Funds Raised as of 1/31/12
$2,976.00
of $15,000 for Phase 1

January/24/2012 05:41 PM

SAO Photo – North Naples/ Bonita Springs
$39 for Photo Package with One-Hour Studio Shoot, One Retouched Image, and Web Gallery of All Images ($99 Value)

Value

$99

Discount

61%

You Save

$60

This is the same offer I had running on Groupon and for a limited time I am making it available to everyone.

Why should the Groupon shoppers get all the deals?
Also when you take advantage of this offer, you are helping provide toothbrushes to the homeless kids in our area!

In a Nutshell

Fine-arts-educated photographer snaps portraits according to customer
preferences & digitally enhances selected image

The Fine Print

This offer is for a limited time. All questions welcomed.
See website for full details of the package.

Photographers preserve subjects' precious memories, abolishing the need to hastily scoop reflections out of nearby fountains. Seek permanence with an offer you can't refuse: for $39, you get a portrait package at SAO Photo in Bonita Springs (a $99 value).

The package includes the following:

A one-hour studio portrait session
One retouched and enhanced image, emailed and printable up to 20"x30" inches
Access to a web gallery of images

SAO Photo's fine-arts-educated shutterbug, Stephen A. Orsillo, captures the personalities of subjects with a passionate and artistic approach to photography. Brief consultations precede all one-hour photo shoots to ensure that cameras capture clients' desired aesthetics and human-pretzel poses. After smiling or staring blankly for a reel's worth of shots, subjects can sift through the apprehended images and choose one to be retouched and enhanced. In a few days, the chosen image will arrive via email or electronic stork in a format that's printable up to 20"x30".
Additionally, subjects will receive access to an online gallery of their session's shots, from which they can choose other images to be enhanced for an extra fee.

In order to take advantage of this fantastic offer,
you must mention this ad when contacting SAO Photo, contact us either by email or phone. Phone number can be found on website.

All money raised during this promotion will be put towards the Brush Biker Project, creating a documentary and providing toothbrushes to homeless children in SWFL!

Some of the above text is from the original ad that I ran on groupon. Thank you for your continued support! SAO

You can now donate through Paypal to help bring The Brush Biker Project to life! Thank you for your support!

Funds Raised as of 1/24/12

$2971.00

Happy New Year!

January/01/2012 05:59 PM

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2012!
The biggest news at the moment is that the initial Brush Biker Kickstarter Project fund drive is over!
Thank you all for your support!

(I have rambled on quite a bit on this one so it may be an enjoyable read. S )

As it turns out, more of you became patrons outside of the project page than through kickstarter. This was surprising, but this was also the first time I have used kickstarter, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I know some people don't want to use Amazon (don't blame ya for not wanting to open yet another online account!) and others don't have credit cards (the wisest among us to be sure!).

I could have waited until the New Year to launch the project, but I am very eager to get this venture going and wanted to test the waters with the fund raising page.

All of you that have responded have responded favorably and I want you all to know that it is that Spirit that you have shown that is fanning the flames and keeping this dream alive!

The (soon to be) revised Kickstarter page is just a part of a multi-pronged approach to raise the needed funds. A donate button has been added here and to the Brush Biker site. All work now done at the studio will have 10-20% of the package price go directly to the project and I am also creating a special line of goods that will appeal to all in which ALL profit goes directly to this fund.

I credit the Chopra Center for encouraging me to spend days contemplating and pondering my Dharma when I took on their Meditation Challenge.

What good is my work if it is only available to a select few?
I have always been happy to share my skills and talent with those that needed it and often times got screwed in the process. Family and friends expecting work for free and wealthy clients that want to cut my prices even lower than they are.
I have found over the years that those with the least always give the most. Those with the least are always the most appreciative for any work getting done, be it car repairs or photography. Those with the least always leave tips, wealthy clients, almost never and almost always ask for more than bargained for.

I would rather create images for free for those that can't afford it than to suffer through the vanity of those that are thankless and feel I am their slave because they throw me a few pennies.

Many of you reading this have never known what it is like to lose everything. I do, and not just financially, as many in the current economy have had it bad and lost their second or third homes or have had to get rid of that gas guzzling oversized Tonka toy they thought they needed. I do know what it is like to be living in the shadows, to have only that which you have with you as your sole belongings, to know what it is like to live out of a car, to wash up in public restrooms, to know the pain of true hunger which is more than a lack of food. I also know how amazingly grateful I was when I was offered something as mundane as a shower! These things that I lived through in my teens and then had to revisit again many years later as an adult are a part of me. I am not ashamed nor would I wish the likes of that lifestyle on anybody. I am also well aware of how it separates me from others that have not known what it is like to have to put full and complete faith in God in such a way. I can sense it when I talk with people. It is almost as if I feel more whole as a result.

Some people have told me that they are amazed and even envious of my "simple way of life", of my "spartan living".

After the first round of homelessness, I wanted and needed everything! And got it. After the second round, I realized how little any of it meant.

These kids today are living through the worst depression this country has ever seen. Not, the son of the doctor that was going door to door to fund his trip to Paris, this lad was under the impression that everyone in this country is as well off as him because he has been sheltered. His mouth hung open and he looked rather soft headed as I shared with him some of the reality of the world outside his gated community.

Right now 50%, yes, 1 in every 2 people in the United States of America are living at or below the poverty level. I have a feeling we are no longer the richest country in the world, we are certainly not the most compassionate when it comes to our own brothers and sisters otherwise it never would have gotten this bad. Most people, ultimately, and I am guilty as well, only look out for themselves and in most dealings want to know what is in it for them and also want to come out on top.

There are those that would never even consider joining in to help give the homeless a voice. Some are content with writing out monthly checks to some charity or another without even knowing where their money is actually going towards, for all they know they could just be paying the person to open the envelope and process the check, and, is that money sent to far away lands really doing what it is supposed to? I used to sponsor some kid in Africa but there was something that just didn't feel right, and knowing me it coulda been the fact that I shoulda been helping my own nation's kids, my own family before even thinking about some mythical land that I may never see.

There are many cliches that come to mind like, charity begins at home, you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else, turning a blind eye....

Of all the lives I have lived, of all the hats I have worn, of all the Gods that I have bowed down to, it all returns to childhood truths of things we know instinctively to be true. I don't need a book to tell me how to live, how to love my neighbor as my brother, that was obvious when we were kids!

And of all the types of people I have held close and gotten close to, it is the biker community that I admire the most, the true biker, not the bike rider, not the person that is so insecure they try to act tough, but the true biker, the one that lives close to the land, that fixes his own bike with chicken wire and stuff found in the kitchen, the one that would give you his last dime or the shirt off his back because he saw you needed it, without you even asking, it is given to you, and they do it because they truly and honestly feel you are family, true family. With true bikers, respect is not earned it is given from the start, but once you lose it, forget it. Yes, just like kids and also just like true honest human beings.

Focusing on my Dharma has returned me to my roots, could be why brush biker has returned also, not sure yet! ;-)
But he is quite a punk kid if you ask me!

Holy Cow! I rambled on quite a bit here!

With or without your help, the Brush Biker Project WILL be a success, with your help things get done a bit faster and it will give you something real good to be proud of.

Yes, I think people should be proud of the good things they do, I know some "spiritual" types that think that is a no-no, I personally think that attitude takes some powerful energy away from the deed and almost hollows it out. If you do something that helps another, feel how it feels good, enjoy it and be damn proud about it!
Think about it!
Isn't the joy of gift giving a delightful one and one worth reveling in?

Happy New Year One And All!
My your life be Blessed and May you be a Blessing to someone less fortunate than yourself, trust me when I say a little kindness, a little human touch, gets remembered for a long long time.

God Bless!
(whichever one favors you, mine has gone rather electrifyingly quantum recently)

Will you join the Brush Biker Brigade or will you stand on the sidelines and watch?

Help Brush Biker give a Voice and Toothbrushes to Homeless Children in America!
brushbiker.com
Donate Today!
Funds Raised as of 1/1/12
$951.00

Official Brush Biker Hats Arrived!

December/23/2011 05:23 PM

The official (distressed military style) Brush Biker hat arrived today compliments of Quensboro
A great company out of N. Carolina that does excellent embroidery work and at a really reasonable price!

Check them out and tell them we sent you!

Have You Joined the Brush Biker Brigade Yet?

YOU are ON SALE for HALF PRICE!

November/25/2011 10:19 AM

Happy Holidays!!

From now until
December 1st 2011
The bare bones portrait package is on sale for 50% off!!!
Yes! You too can now have Beautiful, Unique and sometimes Oddly Wonderful
New Images of you or your family
For Only 49.50!
No hidden charges! No sitting fees!
Low overhead means the savings get passed on to you!

Show them how beautiful you are!
Show them how beautiful you think they are by giving this as a gift this Christmas!
Email me to take advantage of this offer or if you have any questions and
Happy Holidays!!!!!!

(the demand for fresh baked cookies may be waived as well as the donning of silly hats!)
Buy NOW ~ Use LATER
or
Buy NOW ~ Use NOW!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

November/23/2011 09:30 AM Filed in: cookies

It has been declared that ALL clients arriving at the studio without
FRESH HOME MADE COOKIES
(or some other such delectable like Monica's Gluten Free Brownies)
must don funny hats and be photographed while spouting poetry.
Having not appeased The Artist with fresh baked goodies,
these images WILL be put on public display
to show ALL of their folly.

Signed
The Artist
On November 23rd in the year of our Lord 2011AD
(who also had a fancy for sweet baked goods)

Trick or Treat! $99 photo package for only $39!

October/31/2011 11:38 AM Filed in: photography | portraits

Yes, it is Halloween and the beginning of the Holiday Season and the beginning of what folk here in SWFL call "Season", and with it's arrival a new Groupon Offer is being offered!
It's no trick and certainly is a treat to all those that take advantage of the offer! As for me, I consider it a Holiday gift that I'm giving to everyone that wants it! A $99 photo package for only $39. This is a limited time offer so grab it while you can!
Happy Holidays to All! The fun has only just begun!

if page does not show up in your browser click here!

Baby Expo!!!!! What?

October/19/2011 03:07 PM

This coming Saturday from 10-3, I will be sharing a booth at the "Baby Shower & Toddler Expo"!
What?? Have I finally lost my mind? Maybe!
Imagine that, me promoting my work at a baby expo! But that is not really my intention.....
Why would I, someone who revels in creating odd, slightly off-beat images, preferring to photograph circus freaks over the stuffy political statesman even consider such an event?
Many reasons!
The littlest people, even those conceived from even the most mundane parents are quite a curiosity! Living in a world of adults, babies have an almost alien quality about them, with their big heads and little tiny eyes, their soft round bodies, reminding one of the Pillsbury Doughboy, and they seem to have this strange power over many adults that makes them start babbling incoherently and acting rather foolish, seemingly for the toddlers own twisted amusement.
How different is this from the old time vaudeville hypnotists that would make their victims start clucking like chickens?
Yes, these small humans are quite fascinating.

So, aside from me finding the freshly hatched embryos so intriguing, is the fact that I have no photos of me with my mother. Something I wish I had, something I never gave much thought to when she was around. Which brings us to my real intention on being a part of this event, I can give these children something I don't have and can never have, something that no matter what I do will never materialize.
A picture of me with my mum would be a priceless heirloom!

Many parents don't realize how such a little thing could bring such joy to their children long after they are gone, which is why, even when the parents say they don't want to be in the pictures with their children, I always try to somehow get them in there.

A message to all parents out there: A photograph of you with your children is the most valuable gift you could ever leave them and would also be cherished in the here and now!

I am sharing my friend April's booth at the expo. Where we are promoting "Treat Your Mom Like a Queen This Halloween!"
Giving her a crown and a robe, sitting her on a throne and photographing her with her children, free of charge! And as you can see from the attached graphic some lucky winner in the raffle will get a full dose of me!

At this event, I don't care so much for promoting my business as giving whoever stops in something special, free for the asking, that will forever bring back memories, that is what matters to me.

Thanks for inviting me to partake April!

April O'Leary, is an Author, Speaker, and Life Coach, and from what I have seen is also a loving mother and a loving and devoted wife to her husband Jim and I am honored to call April and Jim friends!

'Tis the Season!

October/18/2011 08:40 PM Filed in: photography | children

The children shown here are not homeless, but why not give the homeless in this land a little extra this year and also keep them in your prayers.

Not only is it the beginning of the "season" here in SWFL, it is almost Halloween which Brings us to Thanksgiving which brings us to Christmas which brings us to the New Year! And all that means the Holiday Season IS HERE! Try to deny it if you like...

And in the Spirit of The Season and in the Spirit of Giving a New Groupon Offer is being formulated as we speak and even more affordable than the last, because I love you all! We are here to help one another, to share with each other, to learn from one another. And the followers of the Church of Orsillo seem to enjoy my creations so why not spread the cheer further!

You all that actually take the time to read this will be informed as to the release date of the latest Groupon Offer and stay tuned for a surprisingly strange way to get a free picture of yourself out of me!

Also coming soon the announcement of a new project that I am more passionate about than... well.. darn near anything I can think of! And I hope you all will participate!

Musings Part 3

September/22/2011 04:39 PM Filed in: self | portraits | musings | photography

I learned a long time ago that what I like and what my clients like can be and sometimes are two completely different things.
When I opened my first studio, one day I was with a client reviewing what I had chosen as the best pictures, she loved them but begged me to let her see the others. I complied and to my surprise she chose many more images and favored some of the others over what I had chosen.
This taught me two things.
The client or model must be allowed to review all images and that the best images are the ones in which they are a collaboration between me and the person in the photo. When in the collaboration mode, the input comes from both, it is almost like playtime and we are free to be ourselves. The model is no longer a model but a living human, not a prop when approached this way.
It does make some people uncomfortable since they are used to being told what to do, but I always encourage input from whoever I am making photographs with.
Everyone comes to the studio with images in their head and those are the only ones I care about brining to life, unless there are also ones in my head as well!
More often than not it is during the final minutes of the session that the client comes out with their ideas, that is when true creativity comes alive in the studio!
I have a passion for people and value their imagination as much as my own.

I don't take pictures, with this type of process that is impossible, instead I make pictures and know full well that who and what is in the image is just as if not more important than I am in the original making.
It is when I am refining the image in the computer that my "style" comes out.
To me if there is no darkroom work done to an image afterwards, it is but a photo that anyone could have taken, it is the finishing touches that count the most and you have to know when to stop and for me I have found that the best time to stop is when I know that there is just a bit more that can be done....

I have been doing a lot of yoga photography these days and a friend sent me a link to someone else's photos to see what I thought... they were ugly, no sense of composition, no artistic merit and the yoga poses were not even fully realized and yet this person is being recognized as a great photographer.
I took a trip to his website to find most of the work had been finished with plug in photoshop filters. I have nothing against the filters as a starting point but you have to make them your own. They should compliment and enhance, not take away, not distract. Photoshop and the like can make a good image great but it can never make a bad image good.
To my horror some of these images also had crooked ocean horizons! This can be fine and look really great in some, well only a few situations, otherwise it looks like the ocean is being poured out the corner of the picture! (like the shot of bonita beach over there)
And knowing what I know about balance and the human body the some poses would have much more impact if the image was straightened.

man holding face in dispair©stephen orsillo

I was originally trained in the fine arts and studied a lot of Leonardo's writings, he said that if you can draw a tree you can draw anything. To me something similar exists in photography.
And I am not sure what it is, maybe composition is part of it along with getting rid of unneeded crap and keeping the use of filters to only where they are needed to let the feeling show. to a minimum, but when i see some people's work, and they leave me cold, I no longer think much of the skill of such a photog! (I like that word "photog" about as much as I like the word "dude" and that is not very much)

In the end, Art is a purely subjective thing. Either you like it or you don't, but before you decide if an image is any good, really take a look at it, let your own view, your own opinion shine through.
As for my work, I know some of it is crap, I know that I could be less demanding on myself as far as my clients work goes, as some are so used to today's photography, where it is a rare thing to come across really great work and they wouldn't have a clue that I wasn't giving them my best.

I will never compromise and always strive to make the next image the best I have ever created.

PS This post was inspired by a conversation with a friend named Julie.

Testing New Lighting Set Ups

September/18/2011 10:19 PM Filed in: lighting | portraits | self

scared man holding hand up©Stephen Orsillo

Yes! Those lights can get pretty bright!

When testing new lighting set ups things can get a bit boring if you don't add a bit of life to the test images...

For anyone interested in the technical aspects, these were done with a bounce flash and four slaves, where I placed them all and how much intensity they're spitting out is a secret!

Some people like to use the word "strobe" but to me strobes are those flashing light thingys usually found in discos or some potheads apartment, that make things look like a stop motion movie and tend to give me a headache and make me nauseous, so I use flashes and slaves.... besides, "flash" is a much prettier word than "strobe".

The flash sends out a burst of light and slaves being slaves follow suit spreading joyous, luminous light everywhere and showering all within their reaches with a momentary blast of white light! Ah! Tis a right beautiful thing!

Using flashes is much more challenging that using continuous light, for you have to envision where the light will flow and spread to.
Striving to keep my work as "green" as possible I like to only use what can be reused. Not using continuous light keeps my footprint rather small as does the use of only the best rechargeable batteries available so that I am not constantly adding to the landfills and such.

It is not uncommon to find me moving the slaves about numerous times during a single shoot, I am very fussy when it comes to lighting as it has the power to make or break an image. My slave flashes understand this and usually cooperate quite willingly, as long as I keep them fed.

Oh and yes, natural light is a marvelous invention, but that is not what I was playing with the other day....

Recent Cherubs at the Studio

September/14/2011 12:57 PM Filed in: portraits | children | photography | babies

It is not always Pretty Ladies, Handsome Executives or Yogis that show up at the studio, sometimes little people like these show up... and well, they just don't behave the same as adults do.....

Child Photography©Stephen Orsillo Baby Photography©Stephen Orsillo

Musings Part 2 Not All People Pictures Are Portraits

September/10/2011 10:14 AM Filed in: street photography | portraits | musings

And they shouldn't be. For example when doing product photography, the person hardly matters. Yes, they should be pleasing, but also unobtrusive. If you are trying to sell jewelry or a swimsuit, the model now becomes the prop. The focus needs to be the product and not the person, yet the person must also fit the personality of the product.

Some of the best portraits can be found in what is termed Street Photography. Like all other forms of photography there are rules that must be learned. Composition, in my opinion is the most important. What is held in that tiny four sided frame needs to draw the eye in and around the image. When the subject is not aware that they are being photographed, they are not hiding behind a false smile or predetermined pose.

I believe that the best photographers are those that have a background in painting or drawing as it is only there that we learn how to fit a whole bunch of stuff into a small space and still make it make sense. I think that all photography schools should have mandatory drawing classes where composition is taught, the students would benefit greatly and their eyes would be trained to see differently than the photographer who has never learned to see as only a pencil or paint brush can train us.

Musings Part 1

September/09/2011 08:37 PM Filed in: snagglepuss | musings | portraits

These days everyone and their pussycat owns a camera and these days because the image quality produced by the camera is so good that everyone and their pussycat think that they are photographers, and they are. But not all photographers are Artists. It is quite easy to snap a picture of a pretty lady in a bathing suit on a beach and have an eye pleasing picture. But when you look at the image is it just a pose? Is it just an advertisement for the bathing suit? Is the person really anymore than a prop? The secret to adding life to any image is letting your subject's true essence shine through.

fine art bengal cat portrait

To create a successful portrait the sitter's mask must be dropped otherwise we are just creating a representation of the outer shell. The sitter will be recognized but they will not be in the image. As portrait artists it is our duty to assist in lowering this mask otherwise we may as well be taking pictures of flower vases. A true portrait is a collaboration between the artist and the sitter. When we realize that the sitter is more than an animated prop told to look this way or that. This is when our cameras truly become magic boxes!

And that is just the beginning!

SAO Photo

The photographic Art of Stephen Orsillo