Monday, April 02, 2012

PGS Featured Photographer: Farley Magadia

One of the cool things about being a working photographer and videographer is I get to meet, get to know, and get to work with other people who do the same sort of work. Many of these people are truly good at what they do. Really good. Sometimes, incredibly good! Photographer Farley Magadia, IMO, falls into that last category.

CLICK HERE and check out Farley's Model Mayhem profile and portfolio.

Farley has a full-time photography job, one that a fair number pretty girl shooters might envy: He's the in-house staff photographer for a large toy company. Make that adult toy company. Also make that a VERY large, manufacturing and distribution adult toy company with many millions in annual sales.

As you probably are aware, many adult toys are aimed at women. Because of this, Farley gets to regularly shoot plenty of beautiful, hot, sexy models for the marketing, advertising, and product packaging needs of the company he works for. As such, Farley is both an accomplished glamour and tease photographer as well as product photographer. In the hierarchy of this company -- cuz, you know, all companies have hierarchies, even mine, and I'm a company of one -- Farley reports to its well-staffed art department where he also performs much of the post processing and re-touching on his photographic work. He shoots other stuff, of course, but this being a glamour photography blog and all, I'll stick with what's most relevant to this web page.

Besides having this enviable job, the company provides Farley with a well-equipped studio, i.e., a very well-equipped photo studio, to help him work his magic. I've been to the studio a number of times. I've also worked in it, although I was shooting video, not stills.

Recently, I worked for the same toy company which employs Farley, albeit I was working for them as an independent contractor. I spent three days in a commercial studio (apart from the company's in-house studio) shooting product videos. While I was tasked with all things video for this shoot -- lighting it, shooting it, and all that goes with doing that stuff -- Farley was also there. He was there to shoot stills, be a 2nd unit video cameraman (as needed), and for shooting behind-the-scenes video.

That guy was running all over the place! Often, with more than one camera in his hands! I, on the other hand, spent most of my time with the same camera in my hands, my ass perched on an apple box or standing and moving around in a confined area, shooting the principal photography (video) for the project. There were times when Farley made me dog-tired just watching him run back and forth between sets all the while capturing stills and video with multiple cameras. His cameras ranged from multiple point-n-shoots to a Canon 5D Mk II (which he used both as a still camera and to capture video) and to some other cameras he had with him, although I don't recall what they were.

Anyway, this may be the first time I've featured another photographer on this blog, leastwise one who isn't regarded as an iconic photographer or is someone quite famous for their work. Maybe I'll do it again from time to time?

And Farley... Thanks for making my job so much easier on the recent shoot and also for your willingness to share your abundant knowledge of photography with me each time we've met. You are such a passionate, creative, and skilled photographer and all of that shows in your work! I enthusiastically look forward to the next time we get to work together.

The pretty girl at the top is one I snapped of 1991 Miss USA, Kelly McCarty, who also regularly appeared from '99 to '06 in NBC's daytime soap, Passions. Got MILF?

3 comments:

Bill Giles said...

I looked at his MM portfolio. Very nice work.

Rob said...

great post jimmyd, farley is a true perfectionist and a pleasure to work with every time. he continues to amaze me on every shoot! thanks for a great 3 days and as always, I enjoy the detailed posts! keep up the great work

jimmyd said...

Thanks Rob! You guys were a great team to work with: Nick, Kevin, Farley, you, everyone! Thanks for the opportunity to work with you guys!