Rugby Book Cover

Several months ago I was contacted by Virginia Downes, Director, Production and Design for Godine, an independent publishing house located in Boston, Massachusetts. Virginia and I had previously worked together on another book cover when she was at Harvard Common Press. During our initial phone conversation she said she was interested in having me create a cover image for a book that, to quote the book jacket, “follows the players on West...

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Epic gardening blog.jpg

Earlier this year I was contracted to do several types of shoots for Kevin Espiritu founder of EpicGardening.com. In a makeshift studio set up in his warehouse I took product shots of his stock of beautifully constructed raised garden beds. With the help of some white seamless paper and some post production photoshop magic I think you will agree that you can’t tell they were shot on location in a warehouse. The next two days of shooting...

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chard white for website darker type.jpg

A couple of weeks ago I completed a shoot for the Scepter & Sword Wine Company. I was tasked with shooting three different bottles of wine: a red, a white, and a rose to be published on web, print, and social media. The tricky and challenging part of this project was shooting the unique and beautifully executed dimensional foil scepter fixed to the outside of each bottle. Capturing the metallic feel of that design element while at the...

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soldier battlefield.jpg

While archiving images the other day I came across this image I shot a couple of years ago at my client's place of business in a very large meeting room converted to a studio for the day. My job was to shoot one of their employees dressed as a soldier in the studio setting. That photograph was then going to be combined with a background the creative department had found online. I had the opportunity to plan out beforehand how I was going to...

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Photo of Toray product

Recently I was contacted and hired to do a shot of this filtering product, made by Toray, a company located in Poway, California. You can't tell by the photo, but this is a 7 ft tube that was a bit difficult to position. Transporting this beast to a studio was not an option so I was asked to shoot on location at their facility in an area filled with equipment. Had to be bit creative in lighting, but my client was pleased with the outcome....

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MRI Scanner

Last month I did a shoot at UCSD Medical Center for VisionRT, a medical device company based in England. They make specialized cameras for radiation therapy medical equipment such as the one shown here. This shoot had its challenges that took a bit of planning to overcome. In order not to interfere with patient's treatments we needed to shoot after hours and within a small window of time. The room was small and cramped and the imaging device...

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fitness equipment

Several weeks ago I completed a two day shoot for Hoist Fitness Systems in San Diego. We did product shots, exercise shots and beauty shots of models using their outstanding fitness equipment. They make products for both commercial and residential gyms. Having used their equipment at the local YMCA I can tell you their design and implementation is first rate.

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photo of watch

Szaga Watches is a new designer and manufacturer of beautiful designed watches geared towards millennials. I love the minimalist and bold style. Did some test shots, one of which is displayed here.

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4th of July

The day before the 4th of July I had the opportunity to shoot for Quilt in a Day, a handicraft publishing company based in San Marcos California. We shot at a rustic and beautiful cabin in the mountains nearby San Diego. This is just one of 7 shots we did that day. Happy 4th!

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Tearful Product Shot

Just finished up post production on a shoot involving a medical device called iLux which recently got FDA approval and is now on the market. Tearfilm is an innovative company based in Carlsbad California that enlisted my help in shooting their new products with and without models. Great group of people who I'm sure will be very successful with this device. The device, by the way is a novel way to treat dry eye.

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Oggi's wings copy copy.jpg

Just finished 5 days of shooting over a two week period for Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Company. They wanted to completely redo all of the photography for their printed menu and website plus some additional hero shots for banners for their website. Their menu is extensive and runs from salads to flatbreads and pizza, to deserts. I was lucky enough to get to sample so many different items and even got to take home some pizzas at the end of a...

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Photo of biotech employee

Back in September of this year I was contracted to help create photographs for the launch of a new website for Genoptix, a San Diego biotech company. I spent two days shooting people in action, product photography and environmental portraits. Here's just one of the many shots captured during that time.

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Macro photography

Sometimes my clients have a need to shoot very small products or components. This involves macro photography, which is just a fancy way of saying shooting "up close" photographs at high magnification. There are some optical limitations that come into play that can and should be overcome. The most obvious is what we photographers call shallow depth of field. This means that although one part of the photograph is in focus it is nearly...

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Product photography

I was experimenting with an image I captured during a product shoot for Accriva Diagnostics. Their product, although wonderfully designed and having beautiful flowing curves, did not contain much color so I needed to use another design element to liven up the shot. Sometimes I will go for a textured or colorful background, but in this case I tried to add some attitude to the photography by creating an interesting grouping with some visual...

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Emily puts on makeup

This past week I started a two day photo shoot for Clarify Medical, a San Diego company that makes a hand held device for treatment of chronic skin diseases at the patient's home. My task was to document a day in the life of a typical user. We were lucky enough to have access to a wonderful young woman who allowed me to shoot at her place to capture her daily routine. She was a natural in front of the camera and a joy to work with. Here are...

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pies.jpg

Food is one of my favorite subjects to shoot, either in studio, or on location (usually at restaurants, under the watchful eye of the chef). Cooking, and eating, is a joy and a passion of mine, which is why the time just flies when I'm working on capturing that subject matter. It is said that "we eat with our eyes". Creating a stunning food still life is an essential skill I take very seriously. While shooting on location for a restaurant...

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I've been showcasing my work on a flash based site for over 5 years now and have been very happy with the way it performed and attracted new clients. Unfortunately the time has come to abandon that platform as the powers that move the internet seem to have decided to phase out flash. So welcome to my new site and stay tuned for updates, new images, and whatever fun things I may wish to share...

Rick

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Please check back from time to time to read my newest blog entries. Rick Starkman Photography is always adding new content as time goes on.