Behind the scenes...

Take a gander at few shots of me in action! Man, photography is so labor intensive; all the sitting and laying around that I do really wipes me out by the end of the day ;-)

Besides the behind the scene shots the mama of this SENIOR MODEL took of me, I thought I would let you in on a few of my must-haves during ANY photo shoot...


[Number ONE] Hair pulled back. My hair is finally getting long enough for pony-tails and wonky bun type hair dos.


[Number TWO] Converse. I love me some Chuck Taylors... they are soooo stinkin' comfortable and I'm diggin' the fact that I can get them in pretty much any color like my other ones here.


[Number THREE] Extra long shirts. There's nothing worse than a little crack hanging out during a photo shoot and I'm crazy obsessed about that... Crack is Whack... Just say NO!

Photo 101:MECHANICS class {part deux}

I getting ready to announce my 2nd photo 101 class so I wanted ya'll prepped and ready... if you're not on the mailing list yet - get on it TODAY.

My pre-registration announcement will go out to those on the mailing list first within the next week.

Also, I had quite a few people tell me they couldn't attend the last class for whatever reason but really, really, reallllllllly wanted to. So, I'm actually gonna give you readers a voice... tell me which day of the week you would prefer. Now, my last class was on a Tuesday so I'm not going to repeat that day and my Monday's are reserved for my family so, for now I'm leaning towards either a Thursday or Friday night. Leave a comment or message me separtely letting me know the day that works for you and I'll see what I can do.

After this next 101:MECHANICS class I will not be hosting another one for quite some time; I'm going to start focusing on building up the materials and content for my photo 102:CREATIVE class. So, if you want in then be sure to sign up ASAP when registration opens.

As a reminder, photo 101:MECHANICS will consist of reviewing gear, settings, terminology, lighting, composition, and most importantly just how to take better pictures (of your kids, pets, anything). If you now have one of those super fancy cameras and for some reason it's been stuck on Auto since you pulled it out of the box - or if you've attempted some of the other settings without the results you've wanted - then you should absolutely sign up for this class.

And don't let the name fool you, we will NOT be opening up our cameras to view the inner workings of the mechanisms, we will however learn the fundamentals of photography as well as different shooting styles, understanding lighting conditions and controlling the photography triangle (ummm yeah, you gotta take the class to find out what that is :-) Plus, of course what all those buttons, knobs, wheels and dials are for.

Also more info on the class can be found in previous posts HERE and HERE.

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And what's a photo blog without some photos, huh? These are from my recent test model shoot - I loved, loved, loved the B&W versions of these photos as I was editing them so that's what I'm sharing with you now... ENJOY!

Model Test Shoot :: SIM Agency

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to work with one of the 'new faces' of SIM Modeling Agency. Meet Miss Tori W! Gorgeous, fun, sweet and completely adorable! I also enlisted the help of make up artist Lakesha B for this shoot as well.

I was quite a bit nervous regarding the location I scouted - when we booked this session weeks ago the sun was setting a lot earlier in the day than it is right now. Well, simple fix... we just pushed the shoot time back by 2 hours and it actually ended up being absolutely perfect. And as you can see I was even able to bring out my lighting set up and got a few OFC shots. Note to self - buy a flashlight... shooting in pitch black presents a whole new set of issues... ;-)

HS Senior Model + Drag Queens = Downtown Fun!

I had so much fun exploring and walking around downtown Phoenix with my model and her mama yesterday for our shoot. We started off at Heritage Square (what a fun place with fantastic lighting!) and just continued on around the streets of PHX. I love that area so if anyone ever wants a downtown, fun shoot just let me know - I'm totally up for it!

Meet Miss Harley C... this girl is all sorts of cuteness and has got a good head on her shoulders; she is light years ahead of where I was when I was her age (all thanks to her amazing Mama!)





And while we were downtown it was kind of hard to miss the many, many folks both male and female dressed in some sort of wedding attire. I can safely say it almost felt like I was back home in NorCal (San Francisco) watching the very entertaining drag queens - good times! I don't think we ever really found out what the occasion or event was, but whatever it was, it sure made us laugh and we just couldn't leave until we documented just a piece of it...

WANTED :: 2011 High School Senior Spokesmodels

Just a few more of my favs...

To my darling Stacy... Thank you for lending me your beauty. Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement. Thank you for your eager anticipation.





Of course, this shoot would lack all things fantastic and whimsical without the gorgeous Christina (maker of all the hair accessories). Be on the look out for her upcoming Etsy shop - Madame Pumphrey - so you can get your hands on one of her handcrafted beauties.

Things I adore :: light, tall grass and a good hair accessory

I feel like my motto is 'Have camera, will shoot'! OK, well maybe not a motto, but I at least need to put it on a t-shirt or something. You see, I have this friend and she's kind of an amazing artist/designer of all things hair accessories. This was our actual convo last Monday.

Her: You wanna take some photos.
Me: Always.
Her: How about Thursday?
Me: Done.

And that was it; it honestly was that down n' dirty quick. Before I knew it I had arrived at the most glorious location, soaked up every last bit of light from the day and got some of the most amazing shots.

Enjoy.

I love before and afters...

I just love it when photographers are bold enough to show their before and after shots; it can be a scary sort of thing to show people your straight out of camera (sooc) images, but it has help me immensely so I thought I do the same.

But, to start I do want to preface this show 'n' tell post with a few comments regarding post processing. If you are a photographer or even just an avid photoshop user then you are familiar enough with actions. That word - actions - for some reason has become this dirty, taboo word in the world of photography. I say... GET OVER IT! Actions are great; use them. It's NOT cheating if you know how to properly use actions to suit your own personal style and vision for the image(s).

Here's my argument... Sure, knowing how to accurately adjust and correct an image in Photoshop doing each step, one-by-one by yourself is great and all photographers should have that sort of knowledge as a resource. However, if an action can complete all those tedious steps for you and does exactly what you want it to do for an image and it gets you from point A to point B at just the click of a button then why wouldn't that be a good thing?! It just seems natural to me to utilize actions as a way to speed up your workflow - it's all about time management and efficiency for me.

Just remember there are always two sides to each coin and by that I mean there is no action in this world that will make up for a bad picture due to lack of camera know how, creative composition or photoshop knowledge. In my humble opinion it all starts with a good, correct exposure and proper white balance; just like in construction if you start with a solid foundation then what you build on top of it will stand strong.

Without further a do, here's a little glimpse into my post processing photo work...



For this photo as soon as Tanya laid on the blanket I knew exactly what my vision was for this photo. So much of creating your own style and knowing what to do with an image comes from having a vision of what you want it to look like... which, believe me only comes from experience, creativity and shooting who ever and what ever as much as possible. In the photo above you can see that the SOOC isn't bad at all, but what I really wanted to create was a dreamy, ethereal image with a bit of a vintage feel. I just love the way it turned out.

Oh yeah, and for any other photographers be sure to check out this Savvy blog, you won't be disappointed!

More goodies from the last photo shoot...

"Prom" fashion shoot

Here's my latest collaboration with Jamie from AMP.












Oh yeah, and that blondie is my niece... such a rock star!!

What to do in 30 degree weather...

...have a photo shoot, of course!

We got some stunning images and unbelievable shots as a reward for nearly loosing fingers and toes due to the extreme cold; who new it could be this cold in sunny Mesa, Arizona!! Go figure :-)

Thanks gals for being such troopers! ENJOY!

Model shoot with AMP

My latest collaboration with Jamie from AMP...

Latest [photo] shoot

Some pics from a quick photo shoot I did with Jamie from AMP

Oooooo la la...

So as I mentioned before, I am teaming up with my very good friend Jamie (Arizona Makeup Professionals - www.arizonamakeupprofessionals.com) to do some photo shoots to help build both of our portfolios. Jamie found the model through an on-line modeling community/message board and well, as you can see we definitely got a beauty here; this is our "mock" bridal shoot.