Photo Day, Minus the Hassle.
The Photographer Behind Photos by JDM
I'm John D. Martin, a South Bay portrait and event photographer serving Silicon Valley and SF since 2017. Before photography, I spent over a decade coordinating corporate wellness events for Fortune 500 clients, so I know how to keep a busy team moving without disrupting the workday. Every session runs on a clear schedule, and each person gets their headshot sent to their phone before they're back at their desk. Most people dread photo day. My job is to make it quick, easy, and worth it.
Photography Background
My background is high-volume event photography — commencement stage portraits at Stanford and UC Berkeley. Graduates crossed at 150 to 500 an hour, shot either at the diploma handoff or against a pop-up backdrop the moment they came off the stage, seconds per person, every frame consistent and archive-ready on the first try. No second takes, no do-overs.
Technical Expertise
A headshot day is a different job. Here I want a few minutes with each person — posture, expression, a frame they actually like, three backgrounds. But the stage taught me the part most photographers struggle with: keeping a line of people moving without letting quality slip, and making the fortieth frame match the first. That's why a 40-person office fits in a morning and nobody ends up waiting outside the conference room.