Downtown Pensacola with Taylor Cherie

Over the July Fourth weekend I had the pleasure of working with Taylor Cherie in my hometown of Pensacola, Florida. Taylor is a young but very experienced and professional fashion model. She is very active in the Pensacola area.

After much discussion we decided to shoot in the picturesque downtown area of Pensacola near Seville Quarter and Palafox Street. I arrived at Seville Quarter early to scope out areas and backgrounds for shooting. Just a quick walk around downtown Pensacola area revealed several great nooks and crannies that would serve as wonderful backdrops. Like a true professional Taylor arrived as scheduled, prompt and ready.

Because of the unbearable heat we mainly stayed in the shadows, setting up in front of various doorways, brick walls, steps, and foliage.  We also ventured over to the nearby abandoned train tracks.

Throughout the shoot it was fun working with Taylor. She has a great sense of humor and a wonderful smile that she often keeps hidden. What surprised me most was her experience and focus. She's the type of person that will be successful in anything she chooses to do. 

I look forward to working with her again next time I visit Pensacola. Hopefully it will be during cooler weather!

The Jetties

The Jetties of Fort Lauderdale

I had the opportunity to shoot a wonderful athletic model this weekend at the north jetties of Fort Lauderdale. This was my first time shooting at the jetties and also my first time working with Jennifer. It took me a while to find the place, but I was able to find metered public parking near 2000 S. Ocean Dr. There are only about a dozen spots along the road.

Jennifer had never been to the jetties either, so we messaged back and forth since it's tricky to find. To make matters worse, there was a huge rainstorm coming from the west, so I was a little worried that she would chicken out. Thankfully she didn't, and neither did I. It's just a little rain, and my gear is somewhat weather-resistance...I think.

Once Jennifer arrived we walked over, with umbrella in hand, to find the beach access path...it's kinda hidden. The whole area is mostly private residences so it wasn't apparent where we needed to go, but the GPS said it's right over there behind these condos! Luckily, one of the parking guards directed us (well, Jennifer) to where the public access path was, literally right in front of us with signs and everything, and boom we were on the beach!

Jennifer is a great model to work with, has beautiful skin, looks younger than she actually is, and has a delightful mix of heritages including Caribbean, Central American, and Asian. She later mentioned that her mom kinda looks like me...maybe it's time for me to get a haircut, lol.

The jetties is a great spot for photography. Within a small area there are several different backgrounds and scenes to choose from. The long straight pathway to the beach is itself very picturesque with a lovely shade tree and some bougainvilleas. The beach itself was clean and uncrowded, I think there was less than 10 people on the whole beach during our 2-hour shoot. Over by the rocks was a lone fisherman, and a family with two little girls wearing pink swimsuits played in the shade against the white walls near one of the condos. Boats and ferries went back and forth and we could even see a large cruise ship. Palm trees dotted the area, too.

It was still raining but we decided to go for it anyway and started on the rocks. It's rare to find rocks on Florida beaches, and the grey rainy sky actually paired well with the rocks and Jennifer's black and grey fitness apparel. It's actually a photography style that I've wanted to develop for awhile but in Florida most of the scenery is bright and vibrant. We tried several different fitness and yoga poses, at times to rain came down harder but eventually subsided, stopped altogether, and the sun came out along with the mugginess.

In the end it was a very successful shoot and I was thrilled with the results and variety of looks we achieved. Jennifer was great to work with, and I look forward to working with her again.

Iron Beauties

Iron Beauties

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog, sorry! I think this will make up for it, though ;)

Last week I had the opportunity to shoot a group of fantastic fitness models from Texas and Oklahoma. They were in town for the Fitness Universe competition in Fort Lauderdale. They were so easy to work with, even in the sweltering heat on the beach. Here are some of the images from the shoot. Enjoy!

Arctic Empress shoot

A few photos from the Arctic Empress shoot, Feb 7, in Boca Raton.

Models Kasey and Valeria were great to work with! Kudos to Linda Mason for setting it all up!

This last photo makes me smile...Kasey's dress kept slipping down during the shoot so both models are worrying about that in this picture. Sometimes things don't go smoothly, but they were troopers throughout.

The Power of Six

December 13, 2014 -

I spent some time this morning photoshopping a photo of my daughter Ember from last month's shoot near the Everglades. I wanted to turn Ember's photo into a movie poster. One of Ember's favorite book series is the Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore. Her favorite character is Number Six, the main character in the second book of the series. The first book, "I am Number Four", was a popular movie, but no news on if "The Power of Six" will ever be in theaters.

Six, also know as Maren Elizabeth, is a teenager and probably the best of the Garde at battle technique and military strategy. Her powers or "legacies" include invisibility, elemental manipulation, accelerated healing, and telekinesis. On screen Six was portrayed by Australian actress Teresa Palmer, but in the book series the character Six has long black hair and olive skin.

The original photo of Ember was taken before sunset using my Canon T3i and a gold reflector. I added a gradient, a fill overlay layer, and various text on separate layers in different styles and spacings. Later, I added a photo layer of glowing embers and a few sun bursts.

This was my first time creating a movie poster style image in Photoshop and I'm very happy with the results!

Red, Black, and Valeryia

December 1, 2014 –

On my second trip to Stellar Photography Studios, Cesar Montada arranged for a standard portrait session with model Valeryia. Several different looks and backdrops where used during the shoot.

Valeryia is a very experienced model and great at posing. I loved the way she used her hands and arms, continuously changing things up with her looks. Valeryia used props well, especially the black hat we gave her. She was very easy to shoot and needed little to no direction. I mostly just followed her lead and kept clicking!

Cesar again did a wonderful job setting up the lighting against white, red, and green backgrounds. I think the 3 softbox setup for the red background was the most interesting. If you look closely you’ll see the reflections or “catch lights” in Valeryia’s eyes.

For this I used my new Canon 6D and 24-105mm f/4 lens. I always bring my 85mm and 50mm but for some reason usually stick to the 24-105mm. Most often I shoot zoomed to 105mm and step back a bit to help compress the image. I captured several wonderful photos and did very little editing. For modest editing I use a combination of Canon’s Digital Photography Professional and Photoshop 4.

Apple Littlefield in Powder

November 10, 2014 –

Monday night I took a short drive to Stellar Photography Studios in Fort Lauderdale. Cesar Montada arranged model Apple Littlefield for a powder shoot. Cesar would spend most of the shoot throwing baking flour on and at Apple in a wide variety of ways.  Needless to say it was quite messy.

The charming Apple Littlefield is strikingly tall and lean, extremely friendly, and easy to work with. Even in these unusual conditions she issued not a single complaint and was cheery throughout.  Apple is very experienced and professional. It was a joy working with her and I look forward to shooting her again soon.

The studio currently uses Alien Bee strobes and a variety of softboxes. There is plenty of room in the studio and several different backdrops to choose from.  Cesar also picks out good, energetic music for the shoots. He did a great job setting up the lighting equipment, advising the model and photographers, and still had to clean up all the powder afterwards.

For this shoot I used my trusty Canon Rebel T3i and 24-105mm f/4 lens. I also borrowed a Pocket Wizard from Cesar to trigger the strobes. The powder increased the degree of difficulty for the shoot.  A few times the flour projected right at and on the camera, which was not very good. Since this was my first time shooting powder, it took a few minutes before I realized what look and what magnitude and vectors of powder I wanted. It was creatively challenging, which I greatly enjoyed. There were 3-4 wardrobe changes and a few more “get the flour out of the eyes” breaks for Apple. She was a trooper! In the end I think I got several great shots. I’m looking forward to my next shoot at Stellar.