Alisha McGraw’s Vintage Images
When it seems easy to trip over several wedding photographers on your way to the post office, how do pro shooters differentiate themselves from the pack? One way is to combine two passions, one common, one not as common, and package them in a way that brings customers from far and wide.
That’s what Alisha McGraw did when she started Some Like it Shot. Originally begun as a pet photography business, McGraw had a long fascination with all things vintage. She and her husband Holland McGraw had a vintage wedding, complete with period clothing. Eventually, her deep love for dogs was fused with her vintage fascination, and a new business model emerged.
“Almost everything I do has animals in it because San Diego is such a dog-friendly place,” says McGraw. “I don’t limit myself to one genre, such as weddings or portraits. I work with live subjects. Animals are part of families, so we include them.”
©Some Like it Shot Photography
A Seattle native, McGraw relocated to Orange County and began to get serious about photography. She then moved to Los Angeles to attend Cal State Northridge for a Deaf Studies degree in Sign Language Interpreting. The entire time she was in school, she owned her own photography business.
“A lot of pet photography is not just about the pets,” says McGraw. “It’s also about the pets interaction with their owners.” Those owners are now seeking her out, especially after she became a photographer contributor for Dog Fancy magazine, the world’s most-read dog periodical. With her name being recognized by its many readers, her business began to increase. When readers saw her vintage angle, her timing was perfect. “Vintage is a very popular genre right now. I don’t know if it’ll fade out, but I do know it’s popularity has increased very much in the past two years,” she says.
©Some Like it Shot Photography
McGraw feels strongly about the appropriateness of the vintage vibe. “There will always be classic cars, vintage clothing, tattoos, and nostalgia. I have grandparents coming in and identifying with the looks we’re trying to get. What used to be considered photos for male readership-magazines is now really tame.” By finding her vertical market and specializing in this look, clients are finding Some Like it Shot largely by word of mouth.
With customer service at the forefront of her business model, McGraw is not bent on trying to push the vintage look on all her clients. “It’s something I’m aware of,” she says. “I try to take photos of what the client wants, but most of my clients want my pin-up work. They’ve seen my portfolio, or they have a friend who did it, and that’s what they’re coming to me for.”
©Some Like it Shot Photography
Although some clients have their own vintage costumes, McGraw can also provide period clothing for her customers. “I have a lot of clothes, and a good range of different vintage styles. We encourage people to bring what they’re interested in, if possible, because I don’t have every single size in every single style, but we do cover a lot of bases. We can always change some colors of some outfits in Photoshop, if we have to make things match.”
It’s clear to McGraw she won’t be shooting landscapes any time soon. Aside from juggling all the technical aspects of photographing pets, McGraw feels she speaks the same unspoken language of other pet owners who come to her studio. “I’m a people person. I have to have live subjects. A lot of photographers don’t know how to work with pets. That’s why I include pets in shots with their owners. I know how it feels to be an owner, and I can almost predict what the owner wants in a visual representation of the relationship they have with their pets. It comes in handy,” she says, laughing.
©Some Like it Shot Photography
Pointing to her youth as an only child on long family vacations, McGraw cites the time as being fundamental to her love of photography. It was on these trips she often kept herself occupied by shooting pictures. “The pictures weren’t very good, but I loved taking them,” she says.
The Canon 5D Mark II is McGraw’s main workhorse camera, with a 5D as her backup. All her lenses are Canon, and up until 1999 she was entirely film-based. Citing ongoing classes she’s taking with Tony Corbell, including upcoming ones at UCSD, McGraw plans on getting a Sekonic light meter soon. She’s also happy about getting her hands on some new PocketWizard technology down the road. “They’ve got to be the easiest way to separate your flash triggering,” she states.
©Some Like it Shot Photography
“We use the Profoto D1 500. I’ve never done a studio shoot without having some sort of pet running around. One of the things I love about Profoto is the sturdiness. It’s a trustworthy brand. I don’t have fear that if something gets bumped it’s going to fall over and hurt pets or start fires. The gear is well-made. The comfort level for me is I don’t have to worry about it after I set it up—I can focus on the dogs. The dogs take a lot of attention in the studio because you don’t want them causing trouble. I don’t worry about the dogs running around the Profoto equipment. The Profoto packs are also easy to figure out and always reliable.”
Although she specializes in the vintage pin-up genre, McGraw is aware all clients are different. Accordingly, she doesn’t have a cookie cutter-type approach. “We’re all-custom, all the time,” she says. “No one wants to have an identical image some other customer has gotten. It’s like two women showing up at a dance in the same dress.”
©Some Like it Shot Photography
With the explosion of vintage images, it’s easy for McGraw to find reference photos and art. “I’m really influenced by Gil Elvgren and Alberto Vargas,” she says. “They’re the two most popular artists painting these images in the 1940′s and 1950′s.” With the magic of Photoshop, McGraw can make her images look brand new or aged, as if they were actually shot back in the pin-up golden era.
©Some Like it Shot Photography
With her husband being ex-military, McGraw is no stranger to the large percentage of military wives and girlfriends who come to her to be photographed for their men in uniform. “I know what that lifestyle is like,” she explains, “and I get a lot of requests from women who want to provide this kind of gift for their significant others.” With people driving to her from as far away as Sacramento, McGraw has struck a chord with wives and girlfriends, military and non-military, pet owners and non-pet owners. We salute her and wish her continued success
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Written by Ron Egatz
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Just a follow up! We love our new Sekonic :) woowoo.