15 September 2007

Summer Showcase

Some argue if summer ever really ends in the sunshine state. Assuming the season is strictly during the months designated to be so, it is drawing to a close for 2007. Seeing as I'm a photographer with a blog, it only seems reasonable that I blog photos. So here it is, my mini summer oh-seven showcase.





Why not start the summer with legwarmers. This is my lifelong friend Tanya in the hallway of my apartment building. I told her to bring over some colorful clothes and after a little scavenger hunt through my own things put together this ensemble. She's a shy girl and felt a bit ridiculous trotting around the neighborhood dressed like this with my big camera and I, but it was for art.



Next up is Kevin. This construction worker hadn't had his photograph taken in years. Despite his loathing of photos of himself, he needed one for his new profile. Kevin was preparing to look for love online. I hope he found it, he was a very nice man.



This is MTV Jackass' Bam's uncle Shitbirdz. *phew* That was a mouthful. My friend Mike Busey called Matt and I one summer afternoon to ask if he could borrow Matt's riffle. He was filming a pilot reality TV show. It was an insane day that I've already blogged about here



Here is Mike Busey hosting a Girls Gone Wild event down at the Mojo Room. This was Sada's birthday so we drove down to Port St.Lucie for the madness.



And then this is Sada at her birthday party when we got back up to Orlando. She likes balloons. She also thought she'd like Ben to have a black beard, so he dyed it at this party. I don't recommend it.



Marcc Gregory is a musician living up in Cincinnati. He set up a shoot with me while working on his new record in Orlando. We walked around downtown to get that urban vibe. He took his shirt off a lot, which was great because he has an awesome body. I recently found out one of the photos from this shoot has made the cover of his new album!



This was my first summer working as a wedding photographer. I had my first, and last, experiences with sub-contract work. I didn't feel comfortable taking wedding photos this way. I didn't know the brides beforehand, understand what they wanted, they'd never seen my photos before, it all felt wrong. I just showed up, found the bride, took photos for a number of hours, and that was it. Awkward. Matt and I run our photography business very differently.



The British Biggins. This very nice couple renewed their vows while on vacation near Disney. They found me online and had me come out to take photos of their small ceremony with their adorable daughter. As it turned out, the hotel didn't allow outside photographers so we lied and said I was a cousin that lives in Florida. Well, I do have british citizenship...but the on-site photographer actually walked by at one point and didn't seem to buy our story. Ah well, nothing he could do. ;)



Teresa and James were our first couple to get married in a church. It was really beautiful. I'm reminded every time Matt and I shoot together how much I enjoy working with him. It's fun to share our photos and sort of feed off one another's energy.



David and Nan was my shortest wedding job to date. 1 hour! :) They had a small ceremony in the rose garden in Winter Park. They had a very casual vibe which made them so easy to work with. It rained just enough to get some really beautiful shots of them under and umbrella.


One of Matt's best friends moved into a new house this summer. He has this incredible old furniture I've been wanting to photograph and the move seemed like the perfect opportunity. I asked another of Matt's friends, Darrah, if she'd model for me. She was a great model; let me style her however I wanted! There was actually a house warming BBQ party going on the day we shot, which made for a lot of surprise visitors (all male of course) The man power was welcomed as they helped me move the furniture around. ;)



The band Less Than Perfect was a handful! It's tough to work with a group of guys. They came in like a tornado and the world didn't seem to settle back into place until they left that night. More wardrobe options, styling products, and alcohol then I'd ever seen at any of my shoots, but it was a great experience. My first time shooting a group with my studio gear. :)



Tara is a poet and spoken word artist. She also publishes a poetry magazine up in New Jersey. She was very easy to work with and interesting to talk to. She's lived a very full life. Sometimes you can just sense a strong core in people. Tara is one of those people. This photo is a composite using a photo I took in central park over st.patrick's day weekend.



Jessica, a UCF sorority girl, was beginning work as a promotional and trade show model. She needed some fun studio shots to promote herself better. She was a pleasure to shoot because she smiled so much and was a natural with the bubble-gum pop happy posing. Which is great because it's the kind of photos she needed. I think this shot is my favorite shot b.c it's not really like that at all, a bit more seductive instead.



Terrel was my 2nd client and we still shoot together! This was Terrel's 3rd session, and we switched it up by using the studio gear. He's a christian rap artist, so I thought it would be fun to really use the light almost as a prop.


My little brother has proven to be very difficult to shoot. I'm not really sure why. It just seems every time we take photos nothing really jumps out as the killer portrait. Ah well, I'm sure I'll take many more photos of him. We're still young ;) This photo is an edited composite of the two of us in a really neat park I recently found.



After living with Billy I began understanding make-up better and my interest grew. I liked what I had done with Darrah but wanted to try something more colorful. Rachel is usually up for anything, so she was the perfect model for this shoot. As well as some studio work with a lemon, that highlighted the make-up more, we also took some shots on the tennis court at my new apartment. I like the energy of this shot. I imagine there might be aliens landing. (maybe when i get better at photoshop i can put some in) ;)


I've known Audra since middle school and while we've remained friends we started spending more time together over the summer. I'd never photographed her, so I was excited to do so. We bought lots of tulle in a rainbow of colors and then my favorite shot turned out best in black and white. It's funny how that happens, no matter the amount of planing, I never seem to know where the image is going until I'm there clicking away on the camera. :P


That was a BIG, LOOONG blog! I'm hoping that I post every day, or at least almost every day. What can I possibly do tomorrow that will match an entire summer or photos?

1 comment:

JW said...

It's been a great year for you... and it's just 2/3 over! Keep it up!