Baby Portraits By Evan Kafka

As far as gear goes, Kafka’s main camera is a Canon 5D Mark II. He uses a Sekonic L-558R light meter. Profoto gear features large in creating his signature style. Kafka does this with two 1200w Acute packs, one 2400w Acute pack, one 600B Acute pack, and six Acute heads. He also owns one Magnum reflector w/grid. His Profoto rigs are fired by two PocketWizard Plus II transceivers and one receiver. Kafka also transports his lights in Tenba cases. “I got into Profoto products because of the quality of the light shaping tools,” says Kafka. “I was always renting them when I first started out. They’re the industry standard. The reliability is always there, and you don’t have to worry about them not firing. Profoto gives a certain high-quality look to images which I think is identifiable. When I look at other photographers’ work, I can often tell when Profoto gear was used.”
Lately, Kafka has aimed his signature style at babies. “It happened naturally after shooting my young daughter,” he says. “The response has been very good. I’ve sold some as stock photos, and they’re doing quite well. For me it’s all about expressions, character, and intensity. I took that same approach and did it with babies. I shot last week for Huggies, and I’ve done a stroller company shoot. People like seeing babies this way. This kind of look and this kind of lighting is something I haven’t seen applied to babies before.”