Test shoot at it's finest.

My latest shoot was a test shoot with MUA Chantel Hyden and model Raylin Kelly. It was a simple beauty shoot, but with all test shoots, I tried new lighting methods and got a chance to use my new lens. I LOVE getting new equipment, but I do get nervous when using it for the first time. In this case, I bought a 70-300 lens and a reflector holder. In the case of the reflector holder...not so much. It really couldn't hold the reflector at the angles I needed. Plus, I definitely need to get sandbags. So anyway, I'm in a whimsical mood, and am trying to play with lighting techniques to match my mood. It's amazing how creative you can get with natural light and a five in one reflector. :) Here are my favorite shots from the shoot. I love, love the lighting, and can't wait to continue with experimenting with natural light.

A rare flower in the gardens

So last weekend I did portraits at the botanical gardens at USF here in Tampa, and what a blast. One of my husband's coworkers wanted to shoot in her traditional Indian attire, i.e colorful saris and the like. I decided that I wanted to shoot at the botanical gardens, cause, I mean, with all the colors in the garments, what better place to shoot. Archana was so great, very open to try anything, and the resulting pics are really beautiful. It's always fun to work with someone who's not a traditional model, but is still able to emote, and sell a shot. It was definitely a pleasure to work with such an expressive person. With a visiting childhood friend giving helpful poses and suggestions, we had a blast, and was rewarded with some beautiful portraits. Here are some of the shots from our shoot.

Au Naturale

Most times when you're wrapped up in fashion photography there is the stress of makeu-up, hair, clothes, setting, and a plethora of other mundane details that go into a sucessful shoot. Every now and then I need to take a step back. It can burn you out having to obsess over every detail, especially without the help or extra set of eyes. There's nothing worse than going through a whole shoot and not realizing a garment's unbuttoned or the hair is completely out of place. When shooting I tend to have tunnel vision, and can miss a lot of small details. I now see why most magazine shoots have a whole team of assistants, and others just to see to the minor details. Anyway, I digress. The reason for this blog post is to talk about those times when I get burnt out on the details and  minutia of fashion photography. It's not really plausible for me to just stop shooting, I go nuts. Almost to the point of twitching. :) Anyway, so when I get to the point where I'm burnt out on fashion, I turn to simpler shoots. Shoots that don't require a lot in the way of clothes make-up and concepts, but artistic enough to calm the muse.
So when Laticia came to me and said she wanted to do a shoot with no make-up, very natural, I was esctatic. She just needed simple headshots for her book, right up my alley. So we headed out to a field with just my camera and us. The resulting shots are great portraits, with very minimal editing. I shot the whole thing into the sun so other than some changing of the levels, and a simple gradient filter I hardly had to touch the shots. Here are the results, very natural, and beautiful.

Oh I love learning new tricks!

So I have a page where I like to share some of the many things I've found around the web that have helped me in my photography journey. A page where I give mofos their shine so to speak. I didn't go to school for photography, so a lot of what I learned has come from books, websites, and blogs. I'd pick up a little bit of info here, a new trick there, and have piece together everything into a style that's finally starting to come together for me. Every now and then I get into a rut or a sort of stalemate, so I like to scour the web for new ways to edit, and new techniques. I found a great photoshop expert on one of my many forays through YouTube. Here is a link to her page and a couple of tutorials that she posted:

NataliaTaffarel‬‏

I found an editorial for a really cool editing trick that I'd actually wanted to try for a while now. Here are some of the shots from the shoot. It was all done with natural lighting, using the white filter that's part of my five in one reflector to tone down the sunlight. (Thanks Sherry for the assist! lol) I really love the result. Make-up was done by Sherry Restifo, and Makayla is the model.

 

Celebrating Spring

So this past weekend, one of the models I've worked with called and asked for a favor. The photographer scheduled to do a lifestyle shoot canceled and she needed a photographer. I'm not much of a lifestyle person, one: I never quite get all the smiling, and two: it never really interested me. There is an art form to every type of photography and so I leave lifestyle to the photographers who are good at it. I mean, sure a pastry chef knows how to make lasagna, but really, wouldn't you rather have their fantastic cupcakes? I think in terms of fashion and beauty so the pictures in my head reflect that. But, I thought I'd give it the old college try. Well, I got some pretty good shots, but inevitably my favorite shots turned out to look more fashion than lifestyle. It looks like an ad campaign, and I absolutely love how whimsical and romantic the images are. Chris, Jennifer's boyfriend, has a fantastic backyard. His neighbor has a jasmine growing along the fence and it spills over onto their side creating a beautiful setting for my shots.Because of the time of day, the sun was especially harsh and turned out to be a lighting nightmare. To combat it, I put the model in front of the sun, and shot into the light, creating a gorgeous halo that softened the images. Make-up and hair was done by Christie Burton, she really did a great job.  Here are my favorite shots:

Something Old, Something New

Photography is an ever changing and evolving thing for me. It's amazing to go back and look at the shots I've taken over the years and compare them to my current work. Sunday Reece and I had a shoot planned, that was suppose to be elegant, and high fashion. Well, the muse is a fickle beast. LOL, we did make-up and hair, and chit chat turned into, 'Hey, didn't you have an afro wig?' Ha ha, did I! Two or three years ago I did a 'high fashion' shoot downtown Tampa with these wicked 80's prom bombs that I'd found. I bought three afro wigs to go with it. Blond, black and red. LOL, man...good times.  Here are some shots of what I did a few years ago:

Chuckie, a most awesome model, can make anything look great. The afro wig is so big that we had to put a towel underneath to pad it and make it big. LOL, so I know it had to be hot. But you can't tell. She made it look so easy.  

Any who. We pulled out the wig, did some crazy adjustments, and now my something old, looked like something new. As usual, Makayla completely owned the look and we turned out some great shots.

Family Treasures

Ahh, the pleasures of family treasures. When my family realized I was serious about photography, the random, unusual and mostly awesome little presents started. A hat here, a piece of jewelry they found at a thrift store, or little small nonsenses that you find at garage sales. I got them. I loved them, and much to my husband's chagrin, I've kept the majority of them. My dad is great about finding small treasures while he's out 'garaging' (his term for going to garage sales) and giving them to me when I go to Georgia to visit. They've been featured in a many of my photoshoots. But, my all time favorite gift or treasure my dad has found, is definitely a camcorder he found at a garage sale that has to be from the seventies. LMAO, ok, maybe not the seventies, I'm not even sure when they started making hand held cameras. As a matter of fact this thing is so huge, I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been hand held. I love it! Recently I posted on my facebook that I was in the mood to shoot and Shelby graciously answered and said she was down. Well, I absolutely love last minute, out of the blue shoots. It gives me a chance to be creative and a little whimsical. Sometimes I see something during the day that inspires me, and this was one of those days. Any who, she came over and I finally had an idea for the camera my dad gave me. The resulting shoot is called 'Live Feed'. Here are some of the images from that shoot, as well as some of the other treasures I've received from my family.

Here are some other images of the various things my dad bought for me 'garaging'. :)

The veil in the front, is one of my family treasures.

The round glass dome was from a light fixture my dad found. Loved it. Probably will have other uses for it as well.