Part of a larger series called Philly 101, these short videos ask well-known Philadelphians to introduce themselves and then pick something they “wish people knew about Philly.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny09w2hv210

Damien Pileggi co-owns one of the coolest food trucks around. Rival Bros. is a coffee truck, actually, selling his own roasted beans and a myriad of hot drink options. Being coffee nerds ourselves, this was an especially interesting video to shoot.

We did a couple of on-site interviews with Damien, then took our video camera and DIY stabilizer around to several of the coffee shops he mentions to shoot b-roll (Bodhi Coffee, Elixr and Ultimo). Mark did all the capture, and I helped direct and coordinate and generally get in his way.

Back at our workstations, I edited together the narrative and placed choice b-roll clips over it appropriately. Mark cleaned up the voice over sound and color-corrected the other clips. Then he composed a custom soundtrack. We’re very happy with the results, and can’t wait to show more as they are released.

Viva la coffee scene in Philadelphia!

Many private golf club websites lag behind the times in design, in part because the organizations don’t really need to advertise — they already have a built-in clientele. Current members know what the club looks like, and mostly use the site to reserve tee times and dinners, and check on upcoming events. However, a website is more than a marketing tool, it is a point of pride for companies of all kinds.

We came up with several design mockups for the Quaker Ridge team, and they selected one that filled the screen with imagery of the gorgeous grounds. We developed an iPad-friendly  full screen rotating slideshow on the landing page, as well as an interactive course tour.

Next, we had to integrate our image-rich layout with the back-end of the site, run by Jonas Systems’ ClubSys. With the help of ClubSys technicians, we successfully translated our CSS styles over to their back-end ASP-run system.

Now, Quaker Ridge management can keep everything up to date using the web-based content management system — and even add whole new pages — while still maintaining the look of the site, and members can show off their club’s snazzy look to anyone interested. Who’s ready for a short round of nine?

Mark recently did a series of shots for the Hyatt 48 Lex, one of Midtown Manhattan’s newest hotels, which is billed as being “for the discerning traveler looking for an intimate, familiar, pied-à-terre in New York City.”

What was the best prop in the shoot? Perhaps the corkscrew curls of the little blond beauty, who seems to just love the camera (at least, the camera loves her).

People who are away from home want to feel as if they’re at home. The best way to convey that familiar feeling? Adorable children (and you can never hear them cry in a photo).

Chef Arthur Cavaliere of In Riva, East Falls

In fact, that’s true most of the time. Professional portrait photographers take the time to set up their studio and equipment environment meticulously, just so that they can relax and joke with their subjects during the actual shoot.

The appearance of being staged is never enjoyed. The benefits of preparation are.

Wrapping around the Schuykill from Center City towards the northwest is Fairmount Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country. Within the park are several sections and segments, each home to its own charms.

At any time of year, the Belmont Plateau offers up a great view of the Philly skyline, but fall may well be its peak season.

Just down the hill from the plateau peak is the Shofusu Japanese House & Garden. Though not open past October for inside tours, the exterior grounds still provide a lovely tableau of tranquil garden life.

Both of these images were photographed and then digitally painted using Corel Painter. Mark has been using Painter ever since it was a product of a now-defunct company called Fractal Design. The software was then purchased – and much improved upon – by Kai Krause’s MetaCreations (also no longer in business). Happily, Corel snapped up the rights to the program and has continued to release it.

Though it’s no longer the several-days-long drag it was in the 1990s, it still takes quite a bit of computing power, as well as good judgement, to create a digital painting from an photo. Mark first crops, optimizes and color-corrects his photos, then sets up several different brush combinations in Painter and fuses the multiple results into the gorgeous images presented here.

The lens is not outfitted with “modern” features – for example, it does not have a silent focus motor – but it does sport a macro ratio of one-to-one in a finely crafted piece of glass. Only available for the Alpha line, the lens is a steal at $199.

As it’s designed for 1.5 crop-factor cameras, the 30mm effectively translates to 50mm, long a photography standard. The lens can focus as close as 2 cm, allowing great capture of food and small details. Best of all are the intangibles – this glass captures a pretty picture, with pleasing bokeh and clear colors.

Don’t these shots from Philadelphia’s modern Greek Opa just make your mouth water?

700,000 square feet of space is outfitted with state of the art cooling systems, assuring that produce on its way from shipping containers to our markets and restaurants does not have to get warm as it awaits transfer. This means less spoilage, better efficiency and better flavor for almost every type of veggie or fruit that crosses our palates.

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and O’Neill Properties Group collaborated on the project, and built a structure that would be sustainable and not wasteful. However, they also made sure that the building was aesthetically pleasing, and to this end, Major Industries was contracted to build a huge skylight. The large, overhead glass ceiling allows natural light to shine throughout most of the enormous hallways of the facility.

We were recently contracted to photograph this skylight, and shot it both from the ground and via helicopter (chartered from Independence Helicopters, who employ skilled pilots). It was a fun flight, and Mark was pleased with his results.

The Philadelphia Center City DoubleTree by Hilton presents an especially tricky situation, because its centerpiece is a huge, custom-made fiber-optic chandelier. It demands a photo taken during evening hours, when its changing colors shine the brightest. However, the lobby also is home to the hotel lounge, which sees patrons at the bar until the wee hours of the night.

In order to capture the chandelier during the dark yet when there was no one around, Mark headed to the hotel at 4 AM to capture this shot. And, guess what? It worked beautifully.

Looking North-East:

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Looking North-West:

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Looking East:

Several more to come!

Mark found himself in Pittsburgh to photograph a hotel, but couldn’t resist heading up Mt. Washington to capture this view of the skyline. USA Today named this vista the second-best “city view” in the United States.

The shot was taken in parts with the Sony a55 on automatic HDR mode, then stitched into this final panorama.