Steve Maller Photography

My older son Max is a senior at Burlingame High School, and he’s playing Oberon in a 1960’s-style staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He’s the one in this first photo with the amazing hair (and yes, he’s one of the few kids in the play who isn’t wearing a wig). I offered to document this wonderful happening, and I am having a blast being part of this. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the final dress rehearsal last night…

And in case you’re interested in the technical details of these photos, you can look at the enclosed “EXIF” information. They were all shot on my Canon 1Ds Mark III with the 85/1.2LII lens. Most were shot wide open or nearly wide open at ISO of anwhere from 1000 to 1600. All hand-held, too.

Lisa contacted me and wanted me to do a portrait session with her and her daughter Heather. I was surprised when she told me they’d never done any photos together. So we chose a couple of spots out in the east bay. We went to a favorite restaurant of hers, as well as a beautiful local park. The fall colors were in their muted glory (California-style) and we had a blast playing for the good part of the day. I loved getting to know these two lovely women, and I’m so happy they decided to finally do some proper family portraits!

I love what I do for a living. Have I mentioned that lately?

Today’s photo shoot is for a San Francisco client who designs a line of breastfeeding products. I love these pillows. They’re so colorful and well-designed. But not exactly cooperative when it comes to sitting still on my cyc. So after rigging up a MacGyver-esque contraption to float them above the surface of the cyc (gaffer’s tape and clothes hangars are today’s ingredients), I cranked out this series of product shots.

All in a day’s work!

I’ve known Shelley since she was in elementary school, and it was a thrill and an honor to photograph her big “simcha” yesterday. Her brother Kyle and her parents Randi and Jim were all glowing with pride for Shelley, as were so many relatives and friends.

Additionally, I produced a live webcast of her bat mitzvah ceremony from Peninsula Temple Sholom for several relatives who were unable to travel to California because of health reasons. Aside from being a technological tour de force, I am so proud that I was able to do this mitzvah for Shelley’s family.

I recently photographed the bar mitzvah of a delighful young man named Jordan. His big “simcha” was a wonderful day, surrounded by lots of fun family and friends. Dan Ohrman of Denon and Doyle rocked the house as usual and we all went home exhausted, but very happy.