It’s been forever and a half… It’s been an incredibly difficult journey in the last 3 months or so… Let’s see if I can’t return to consistent blog posting.
Here’s one from last summer. Doesn’t she look a lot like Britney Spears in some of those shots?
This girl was absolutely astounding to work with. She knew how to move and just look at her! Aaaaand, she does BALLET!! My head is gonna ‘splode…
I’ve been waiting so long to share this with everyone, and the time is finally here…
If you don’t say it, I will:
Holy shit!!
Many thanks to Felicia for all the hard work (she makes it look easy, but it was hard work doing ballet moves in a studio while keeping track of lights) and Genevieve Jaslowski for hair and makeup and holding up the reflector outdoors
Shot these guys not too long ago:
Remember Nicole K from last week? Well this is the other Nicole; Nicole Wimmer. Also from McCarty Talent, except she’s in charge of a sizable portion of the operation there. When I need to book talent from McCarty, Nicole is almost always my point of contact.
Now, this girl really knows how to move. I’ve known few models like this in all my time working with them, so it’s always a real pleasure, but she did have a harder time than she’s used to for our shoot.
You see, Nicole was beginning to rebuild her portfolio as a plus-size model… So, not having modeled in quite some time, working the camera as a plus-size was a little different from the usual for her.
Still, she does know how to move and I think it really shows:
In Nicole K’s shoot, I forgot to thank Genevieve at the McCarty Salon for her amazing work on both hair and makeup! She also did the work on this shoot and 2 more to come. Thanks Vivi!! 
Not long ago, I had the tremendous opportunity to work with a new face, plucked from the local acting and modeling agency, McCarty Talent. Immediately after seeing a few shots of her, I knew I wanted to work with Nicole K. I knew she was fresh into the modeling scene (ie. hasn’t quite learned how to move naturally for the camera) but felt confident I could get the shots I needed out of her.
I’d say I placed my bets well. Here are some of the results:
Some models make me exclaim “holy shit!”. Every time I work with them, I can’t believe what I’m getting.
Kari is one of those models.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but there’s more to modeling than just being pretty. There’s professionalism, there’s reliability, there’s flexibility, there’s passion, there’s creativity, there’s versatility, there’s hard work, but above all, there’s the way they move.
Photography is of course all about the STILL image, but you can tell you how well a model moves by looking at their work. The better they know how to move, the less a photographer has to do. With an exceptional model, you just point, shoot and occasionally suggest something.
The last time I shot with Kari, it was in a cemetery and I kept asking her to look really sad. This time, it was all about looking really cool and man could she pull it off! Kari has all the qualities I mentioned above in spades, plus she’s ultra nice. The complete package.
I hope I get to work with her many, many more times.
I recently moved my studio background gear from my cramped little basement, with a ceiling so low that when I reach up I can lay my hand flat on it, to my garage, where the only way I could touch the ceiling is if I stood on my car’s roof.
Or, you know, on a ladder or something.
But so it’s given me a ton more space than I used to have. And with models 5’8″ and taller, it helps to have both the vertical space and the depth to get the shots I want. I have no clue why I didn’t do this sooner, but here I am now.
And here’s Ashley, my first guest in my cold garage (I’ll be getting a space heater when they’re back in season):
Heather is a model I’d had the opportunity to work with before. She was wonderful and I immediately knew we had to try working together again.
Here’s what came of our recent shoot:
Here’s a shoot I did recently. The second model (Marielle – first shot below), was very much a surprise for me, because I was only supposed to shoot with Stefania. Marielle was doing the makeup and wanted to be part of the shoot, so I went with it. The concept went from the simple “girl under the sheets” shot to a sort of slumber party turned weird. We moved in a lot of random directions with this one, so it’s not at all a cohesive whole, but it was a ton of fun anyway.
Yep, I had a model recently break my guitar.
Nope, I’m not kidding.
Seeing as I only had one shot at this, what you see above is the test shot before she did the real smashing, to make sure I had the look I wanted, she was hitting the right spot on the wall, coaching her to make the right face, etc.
Stay tuned for the real shoot, coming soon!
