Portrait of an Author
Portraits of authors and artists are among my favorite to create. In these situations I often find myself asking and listening, thinking and adjusting my visual efforts to better capture the artist before me. Photographing Denver based author, Bart Schaneman, to coincide with the release of his short novel, The Silence is the Noise, was one of these wonderful collaborations. I had known and worked with Bart before, but not until our portrait session did we ever chat about art, inspiration or life on a farm. His book is wonderful, and here are a few portraits of the author from that evening.
New gallery of portraits on my website!
It’s been a long time since I did a major website overhaul. Always overdue, actually because a good portfolio is a constantly morphing, changing entity. However – I did recently add a new gallery of portraiture that I’m proud of. Mostly recent work for magazine and commercial clients. Take a look, let me know what you think!
http://www.matthewstaver.com/#/portraits-1/
Moody, Powerful Athlete Portraits
Troy Isley just won a bronze medal at the AIBA world championships in Hamburg. I was commissioned to photograph him before he left Colorado. He is a great human; someone to watch and root for all the way (think Tokyo 2020). Congratulations Troy!
Environmental Portrait session with Liz
I had the wonderful opportunity to meet in person and spend the afternoon with Liz in her studio in Boulder the other day. It was a true pleasure watching her work, chatting with her and (of course) photographing her as she created.
New Photography @ The Denver Puppet Theater
I was finally able to photograph Annie at The Denver Puppet Theater the other day. She is always amazingly busy, I found. That makes sense because Annie is not only a wonderful puppeteer putting on a variety of fantastic shows. She also creates all of the puppets, is a kind human being and provides a wonderful service to all of the children who attend. I believe that her method of helping people think creatively and open their mind is treasure to all those who attend.
Portrait outside, midday?OK!
Below are portraits from a recent assignment in Boulder. We needed to make the environmental portraits outside around 1 or 2pm in mid-June (harsh light and it was hot, so we had to move quickly) A little scouting and subject/light placement kept him cool and made the light flattering.
New environmental portrait in Boulder, CO
Here is a new environmental portrait I created while on assignment recently in Boulder, CO.
On Assignment for Washington Post Magazine
My first assignment for The Washington Post Magazine went well. I photographed Senator Bennet and his family as he was in Colorado for the long holiday. We did some reportage and one family portrait. Here is the result: (there are some reportage photographs in the magazine as well, I just don’t have a paper copy yet of my own to photograph and share)
Portrait of Olympic figure skater, Jason Brown
After a full day of training and just days before he left Colorado for his Olympic debut in Sochi, U.S. figure skater Jason Brown agreed to go outside in below freezing temperatures and some serious snow to pose for a few portraits for me. We made a several wonderful photographs, the best two are below, and through the entire day of training and freezing outside Jason was generous with his time and energy, friendly and helpful, and a true pleasure to meet and work with.
A cute shark photograph
To ease into the weekend I thought I’d post 2 cute portraits I shot last week. 
New Portrait Commission: DAM Director
A wonderful recent commission to photograph the Denver Art Museum (DAM) Director, Christoph Heinrich, allowed for creative composition, less conservative lighting and the opportunity to craft some visually interesting portraits of an executive in one of my favorite buildings in Denver. The biggest challenge during this shoot ended up a tie between the snow that began falling the moment we went outside for that portion of the shoot and the difficulty distilling such a complex and striking building into one or two portrait locations.
A Portrait of Entrepreneurship
I am drawn to entrepreneurship. Being present at the start or early stages of a new venture is exhilarating. The air is so thick with excitement, possibility and mission that the atmosphere changes, thickens almost, and can permeate anyone who pushes into its sphere.
Ryan DiFranco conjured this sort of atmosphere as he created his new restaurant, DiFranco’s. He was gracious and generous and allowed me to be a part of his process, inside the sphere of entrepreneurship. While inside, I made a documentary style picture story that begins to capture and convey this spirit and process of entrepreneurship through the undertaking of opening a small restaurant.
As an introduction to Ryan and this unpublished picture story, here are two portraits of the entrepreneur himself.
Photographs of Wild Horses
I recently had the opportunity to photograph wild horses adopted and now living near Longmont, CO & under the care of the BLM in Cañon City, Colorado. The horses are, of course, beautiful, amazing and large. Below are a few of the photographs I created focusing on details that I found both beautiful and indicative of their intrinsic wild spirit.
Black and White Portraits of Artists
I couldn’t hope for better subjects to capture in moody black and white portraits than talented artists. Below are portraits of 3 of Opera Colorado’s Young Artists.
Fun shoot made the magazine cover
I am pleased to share the August 2012 cover of Golf Business magazine with my photograph on the cover. Yep – this is a real portrait made during an actual fireworks display on July 3rd. And moving that huge buffalo head on a golf cart to the location for the photograph they used as a spread inside sure did get me some interesting looks. Happy August!
Moody portraiture
Two of my favorite portraits from a recent assignment. I love the mood and tone created by each.
matthew staver 