Anna Wu Photography » headshots

Eugene Petrushansky, Harpsichordist | San Francisco Musicians Headshots

Anna — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:19:37 +0000

Eugene is not only a great harpsichordist but he also restores the beautiful old instruments for fun. Plus, it turns out he’s quite the natural model too. Multitalented and handsome. Here are some of his portraits from our headshot session in Fremont:

Diana Lee | Los Angeles Lifestyle Portraits

Anna — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:28:10 +0000

She’s amazing and gorgeous and would never admit it herself. On my visit to Los Angeles last month, I needed some help with office and editing tasks, and my friend Diana needed some headshots to submit to castings as an extra. It made for the perfect trade. I taught her how to do some things on Lightroom and Photoshop, and she even retouched a bunch of these images herself.

We just wandered around Alhambra and snapped these portraits in about half an hour. Diana claims she can’t pull off a serious or a sexy look, but clearly, she’s wrong.

Gorgeous!

Part 4: Live Shoot | Workshops

Anna — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:56:55 +0000

Earlier this month, I taught the final workshop of our four-part series. It was a live portrait shoot with two wonderful models, Henry M. Chu and Shannon Louie. We were rained in and spent most of the session in a loading dock, but with all the awesome participants, I think it turned out just fine.

First, some of my images from the shoot. Then some glimpses behind the scenes, and finally, some great participant photos as well.

I loved the diffuse lighting coming in through the garage door grating. It provided beautiful “window lighting” conditions. We learned how to best position ourselves and our models to get the best side and front portrait lighting.

Henry M. Chu poses with his EQ Unit Chicago bag.

And Shannon Louie strikes some poses with our gridded garage door.

Just for fun, they pretended to be a couple as well.

Now for some behind the scenes images. The first two are from me.

Photo of Jing, Justin, and me by Vilma Milan.

Photo below by Jing Jin.

Left side by Vilma, right side by Justin Rose.

Photo below by Jing

Left side by Justin, right side by Vilma.

Photo by Jing

One last image from Justin.

Thank you again to all of the participants and our models for a great final workshop! Part 4 was unanimously the favorite workshop of the series. No new workshops have been scheduled as of yet, but you’ll see them here when the time comes!

Alexandra Leem, Violist | San Francisco Musicians Headshots

Anna — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:02:06 +0000

It was Valentine’s Day afternoon, her three adorable boys were home from school, and the weather was soggy and uncooperative, but Alexandra still made the time to drive across the Bay to come see me, and I, for one, love her for it. She is a violist newly transported from the East Coast and in need of some headshots. Trapped indoors, we made creative use of the building, including the parking garage, and captured some really lovely portraits. I also love the super unique shape of her viola.

Alexandra’s beautiful hair and makeup was done by Nini of A-List Makeup.

Best of 2010: Portraits & Headshots

Anna — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:31:37 +0000

2010 is coming to an end, which means it’s time to reflect over the past year. We kick off the “best of”s with portraits and headshots. Here are just a few of my favorites from the year. Click on the links or any of the images to visit the full posts.

Musicians

Flautist Sasha Launer in San Francisco, California

Cellist Samsun van Loon in San Francisco, California

The San Francisco Guitar Quartet in Oakland, California

Guitarist David Duenas in Santa Clara, California

Harpsichordist Susie Fong at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, California

Harpsichordist Christopher Lewis at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, California

Singer Krystle Tugadi in Los Angeles, California

Vocalist Talya Lieberman’sFirst Session and Second Session in New York City

Families

Luna’s 2nd birthday party in Redwood City, California

Little Isla and her adorable family portrait session in Richmond, California.

The Shay-Tang family at Kirk in the Hills, Michigan

Twin sisters Sarah & Andrea Axtell in San Francisco, California

More Headshots

Oakland Raiderette Jenna Miller in Oakland, California

Actor Henry Chu in Los Angeles, California

Actress Amanda Groth in Los Angeles, California

Duncan, an actor in Los Angeles, California

Diana F+ | Lomography | Adventures in Film

Anna — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:29:06 +0000

Have you met the Diana F+ and entered the giveaway? Now it’s time to see the camera in action. When you’ve become accustomed to technically perfect dSLRs, it’s both difficult and exciting to shoot film and not know what you’re going to get. So here they are– some frames and a glimpse behind the scenes with us on Talya’s Lincoln Center lifestyle shoot. I know these aren’t the most technically stellar images, so don’t judge! I’m putting these out there as they are and sharing some lessons learned as well.

Lesson 1: What you see is not what you get. Looking through the viewfinder gives you a much wider frame of view than what actually gets captured when you crop the film to 16 frames. Hence so many photos with all the heads cut off. After a while it looks intentional though.

Lesson 2: Accidents are happy. Forget to advance your film? You end up with great double exposures. Perhaps I should’ve done more of those intentionally. With how underexposed everything was, the double exposures came out better than everything else!

Lesson 3: Embrace imperfection. This is a good exercise for control freaks. It’s rather liberating to just have no expectations and accept whatever you get or don’t get.

And now for some great behind the scenes captures by Yifan (some of the above images are by her as well!). I’ll admit it’s still kind of reassuring to go back to the smooth, crisp beauty of these Canon 5D images.

Hiding my Shootsac under my coat! And peeking at Yifan through the glass.

How many of us even remember how to load film? I’m kind of glad I just got that part right.

Talya looks gorrgeous, yeah? Check out the digital images from our shoot here: Talya Lieberman, Vocalist | Lincoln Center.

So you’ve seen my first attempt with the Diana F+. Now that I’ve learned a couple things from the trial run, I plan to take her for another spin before I give her away. But I’m sure you can do even better with the camera! If you haven’t already, go enter here for my free giveaway.

Talya Lieberman, Vocalist | Lifestyle Portraits | Lincoln Center, New York

Anna — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:51:44 +0000

We’re beginning to make a habit of this. I fly to New York, Talya hops into town from Philadelphia, and we do a shoot. By now, Talya is a pro at modeling. She somehow makes this freezing cold winter day look like an effortless, fun, sexy shoot. There is a whole different set of photos which I am still waiting to get back from the lab (can you guess what kind of photos they might be?), and I’ll be posting those (if they turn out) as part of an exciting surprise to be announced later this week. But I wanted to go ahead and post these first and shout out a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to the amazing Talya Lieberman. May all your wildest dreams come true in this next fantastic year of life! I’m looking forward to riding your coattails when you become a famous opera singer.

We fittingly met at Lincoln Center and braved the elements to create these beautiful images. Love the unique chandeliers in the lobby of the Metropolitan Opera House. One day you will be performing here, Talya. One day.

Those eyes! Rawr!

Our friend Yifan came along as well, and she and I traded off cameras throughout the shoot. The image on the right is hers.

Happy Birthday again Talya! Hope you love these as much as i do.

Christopher Lewis, Harpsichordist | San Francisco Musicians Headshots

Anna — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:14:37 +0000

He is a charmer. Christopher is a modern harpsichordist on a mission to bring this Middle Ages instrument into the 21st Century. He’s a champion of modern compositions for the harpsichord. Ok, I have to say it. He wants to be the Justin Bieber of harpsichordists.

I had a great time with Chris shooting at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The first thing he told me was how petrified he was to be doing a photo shoot. But clearly, he had nothing to be afraid of. He looks pretty darn handsome, and I think I can even forgive him for wanting to be Justin Bieber. See for yourself!

Love his smile! I Think these are my favorites.

Do harpsichords and the conservatory remind you of someone else too? I first did a session with Susie Fong in this same space a little while back, and she gets the credit for bringing Christopher my way too. Check out her beautiful session here. The two of them have pretty different styles, but they both look amazing and I love them both!

Talya Lieberman, Vocalist | Philadelphia Musicians’ Headshots

Anna — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:33:52 +0000

I was blown away the first time I heard her play. It was freshman year at Duke, just your typical chamber music concert– a little bit of Brahms, Schubert, Mendelssohn perhaps. But the Beethoven flowing out from her fingers was captivating, nuanced, effortless.

Talya is nothing if not talented and passionate. She has an artist’s soul and musicianship that simply cannot be taught. I joke that she’s always coming up with new life plans. She grew up playing piano, added trumpet, dabbled in french horn and viola amongst other instruments, had a stint as a singer-songwriter for which she was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal online, and yet she never ever intended to be a musician. She honed her writing skills, studied linguistics, and still life has brought her around in a circle back to music in her new life plan– Opera. Yes, I tease her for her million new life plans, but in all honestly, it’s inspiring that she’s constantly learning, never settling, and always seeking her passion in life.

On a Tuesday afternoon, Talya bussed in to New York City from Philadelphia and we spent the day shopping for an outfit, and then headed back to my friend Michelle’s apartment courtyard for the shoot. I think she’s a total stunner!

Watch out for Talya’s editing services and her burgeoning vocal career coming up soon!

Christine Tang, Vocalist | Michigan Musicians’ Headshots

Anna — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 14:36:18 +0000

She has a bright, bold spirit and the vision and determination to make things happen. Christine is a teacher and a vocalist, and also a voice teacher. You might also remember her from the absolutely wonderful family session we did in Michigan back in August.

This time, we met up in the suburbs of Indianapolis for a quick headshot session. If you’re ever in Michigan with a need for voice lessons or a soloist for your wedding, remember Christine!

Looking gorgeous on a Sunday morning! Thanks Christine, for being such an amazing supporter over the years. Can’t wait to see what new city we’ll meet in for the next session!