Photos featured in Lore Magazine

Jurgen Mantzke, the creative director hired me to collaborate on a full day shoot with Kathy Ollerton for the Lore Magazine. Mrs. Ollerton and her husband Ed Krafchow are the presidents of Prudential Realty, and she is working on a very special and meaningful mission to build a school in Afghanistan.

The idea of building a school came right after 9/11. When she heard of the attack in NYC, she called FEMA and Red Cross if she could help by lining up Realtors to fix buildings, files papers, buy lunches, sweep floors - whatever they need.

Despite of her heart to help, she couldn't find a project. The next day she was referred to Leadership High where kids watched in horror as the plane crashed into the World Trade Center just a block away. She and her Realtors went to mentor the kids with hope.

Then one of Ollerton's volunteers Ibrahimj Mojadiddi, an Afghan immigrant had an idea to build a school in Afghanistan where war bombs have destroyed nearly all of the country's 2,500 school.

Her loving kindness compassion really moved me. Instead of anger and hatred toward the terrorists, she donated money to build a school in their land. What greater power than love and giving?

The photo session was smooth and fun. Our first location was at the conference room in her office where Jurgen the creative director envisioned her as a school teacher. I used a spot light with narrow cone on the Speedotron lighting pointing directly on her face for a dramatic side lighting effect. A second light on umbrella from the far end was used to fill in the face and illuminate the room.

The second location involved with Afghan atmosphere, and we went to an area called "Little Kabul" in Fremont. I never realized until the photo shoot that Fremont has the largest Afghan population outside of Afghanistan. We walked into a oriental rug store and used the rugs as the background. Afghan workers from nearby stores came and posed as as extras.

After the shoot, we had lunch at an Afghan restaurant across the street. One of the ladies posed as an extra was the waitress. It was my first Afghan meal and it was really delicious!


To read more about the article on Lore Magazine, click here:
http://www.loremagazine.com/go/article_free.php?mp_id=201&PHPSESSID=0b0cc24cd303588b7b1883ff608ac99b