Community Spotlight: Jessica Chang Irish

Welcome to the first entry of my Community Spotlight project! The goal of this project is to connect with local business owners, learn how they are connected here, what services they offer and what they love about being here.

I recall when I was first looking to move out to Modesto, California and googled the city, a lot of what was posted suggested staying far away! Thankfully, we had an open mind, visited the city and learned there was a lot of benefits to being here. It’s easy to get blinded by the negativity of things and really I wanted to shine a light on the people who help to bring positive things to the community and surrounding areas.

Without further ado, meet Jessica Chang Irish!

Jessica, runs her own consulting business, Jessica Chang Consulting, where she helps others become more confident in their communication skills. You’ll find her on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, sharing valuable nuggets of information to help one become a better presenter (in person or on camera), networking ninja, public speaker, interviewer and so much more! If you’ve ever found yourself fumbling for what words to say, wanting to ace a job interview, become a better public speaker, be sure to reach out to her!

We recently spent time together at her studio, where she broadcasts her presentations, and got to learn more about her and what she loves about the Central Valley.

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Q: What brought you to the valley?

A: I moved from San Francisco to Turlock in 2011 to be with my then-boyfriend-now-husband. I'm glad I made that life-altering decision! We now have a 3-year-old son, a mini-weiner dog, and a beautiful home together.

Q: What are some of your favorite things to do in the area?

A: I love going to the Turlock Certified Farmers Market in downtown Turlock on Saturday mornings. The energy is vibrant and it's so fun to bump into friends in the community to catch up and see how much our kids have grown. And the products are delicious and diverse - from cookies to soaps and candles and, of course, fresh fruits and vegetables.

I also love going to the hip hop cardio class every Thursday evening at Alegria Performing Arts Academy in downtown Turlock. Hip hop dance and music (especially from the 90s) invigorate me, so the class is a perfect outlet for me to have fun, exercise and destress.

Q: Favorite places to eat?

A: La Mo in Turlock, Concetta in Modesto, Fina in Ripon

Part 2: A Day With Gallo Center for the Arts

Last look, we had gone through the process of capturing environmental portraits of the Gallo Center for the Arts team. Today we’ll cover a little bit of the process I used to capture their headshots. When capturing corporate headshots, my goal is to capture a clean consistent look for all individuals of the group. Something that can throw a curve ball for people are individuals with glasses. Certain lighting setups do not lend themselves well when photographing someone with glasses, as the lights will reflect from their lenses. As well, one does not want to have different lighting setups, as that breaks away from the goal of getting consistent looks.

For these headshots I opted for a large umbrella as my main light, positioned camera right and slightly in front of the subjects. Behind camera is a strobe that is bouncing light into a v-flat wall, working as my fill. On camera left is a white v-flat that will bounce light back onto the subject, to lighten up the shadow side of the face some. Lastly right in front of the subject is an additional white foam board to help bounce light under the chin.

Light diagram layout of setup.

The back light would require a little height adjustment for those with glasses in order to not get any reflection bouncing back. That and a little play on head tilt, ensured very little glare on the lenses.

This look steps away from the typical wrapped light look of most headshots and gives a little dimension to the image with the addition of some light shadowing. Which for a theater group, I think works really well. Let me know what you think about the setup or final images in the comments below.

Part 1: A Day With Gallo Center for the Arts

I recently had the chance to work with the team over at Gallo Center for the Arts, which was such an exciting opportunity for me. In collaborating with Doug, who is their Director of Marketing & Public Relations, we came up with the idea to capture some environmental shots of the team as well as the standard headshots. With everything planned, the next step was for me to figure out how to best capture everyone in the Mary Stuart Rogers theater space. I typically work from my studio, where I’ve got things fairly dialed in for my style of shooting, so going on location presents a new set of challenges, though nothing I couldn’t meet head on.

In working to capture an environmental shot that helped to highlight the person and the theater space, the main challenge was, how to light the environment? I wanted to keep the space low lit, to give the feeling like whoever I was photographing was the star of the stage. So the first thing I did was work find a good base layer to serve as my plate shot. You can see in the following images, as I bring in lights to illuminate the subjects and then add additional lights to illuminate the lower section of the seating and finally the plate shot.

With everything dialed in, it was go time! You can see the final results below.

I just love how the environmental shots came out with the interplay of the theater, the canvas to break up the scene a little bit and the subject. What challenges have you faced while out on location? How did you work to get the shot while working in those spaces? Check back in for the second half where we go over the more formal headshots.

Treasured Moments: Austin Photoshoot With My In-Laws

I find it interesting as a photographer, when my son was born, I captured (and continue to do so) lots of images of him as he grows up.  It makes sense to, children grow up fast.  On the flip-side of that though, we have our parents, both my own and my in-laws.  It's strange that the same notion hasn't struck me to strive and capture as many photos of them as I can.  As much as my mind seems to think that they will always be present in our lives, the truth of it all is, that will not be the case.  So on our recent trip to visit my in-laws, I made it a point to capture some updated photos of them.  

My goal was to capture some fun individual shots of them and work in some paired shots as well.  All the while, making full use of my B1 strobe, mainly to force myself to learn how to use the lights.  I must say, it was quite a challenge, especially when I had become so accustomed to adjusting for just natural light.  

The light was fading fast, I had to juggle a new lighting style and I had my own pressure to produce great images of my in-laws.  Overall, I'm happy to have come out with these lovely images.  Images that I know myself and the rest of the family will enjoy for all time.

Do you have any recent photos captured of your loved ones?  If you answered no, I suggest not waiting a moment longer and look into getting that done.  The Fall season makes for a good time of year to capture those updated family photos and I would love to be the photographer to help captures them for you.