Test Shoot: Sun & Connie

Sun and Connie, repped at Wunder. Uber-shout out to Deb Chung for her amazing MUA talents! Apologies to all for my puking dogs (readers, don't ask).

Test Shoot: Sasha

Same as prior entry... not a lot of time for detailed recount, suffice to say, Sasha was WONDERFUL. Special thanks to my "assistant for life" Summer, for all the holding, hauling, attending, and MUA duties she performed!

Test Shoot: Shannon

Oy! Have been overwhelmed last couple of months-- I absolutely refuse to believe it is October...surely there is trickery afoot. Well, things aren't slowing down anytime soon, so not a lot of time for quippy rhetoric-- here's the down and dirty:

Location: Griffith Park, 3pm-7pm; 85% the 70-200mm hovering around 5.6, 15% the 24-70mm, same-ish aperture. ND.6 on both lenses for everything in the jean shorts.

Model: Shannon, repped at Wunder Management. Super nice gal who can keep up with me = bonus points. Mega thanks to her boyfriend for helping hold a variety of reflectors for me!

Usual disclaimer of: blogger compression blows-- colors way better than they appear here.

Shoots: Duo

As mentioned, I had shot April&Hailey in the same session... and while modeling agencies generally don't like to feature two or more models from the same agency in one photo if it's just a test-shoot, I figured since I had them both right there, might as well take advantage of it, if only for practice/fun.

Shoots: Hailey

I actually shot Hailey (also from Photogenics) at the same time I shot April-- so there's not really much more to report tech-wise. Hailey is/was a brand-brand new sign at her agency-- I believe I was one of her first photoshoots, ever-- and I can see why she was snatched-up as soon as she was scouted... the kid certainly has "got it"-- a born natural model. There's something "innocent and lost" that's conveyed in her eyes... and it totally works for the camera.

Hailey was as sweet as she was shy off-camera, but went into total pro-mode as soon as I started snapping; I can see a bright future and long career in this industry for her.

**I know I'm a broken-record, but I can't stress ENOUGH how much the Blogger's compression saps quality and color from the photos I post here. Does anyone know of a solution or something I should be doing differently to prep the photos for upload? I work in the sRGB color-profile, so all my colors are web-safe, but something that Blogger does makes the image quality worse than Facebook-- and that's saying a lot!

Shoots: April (and debating the 85mm 1.2)

April is the real deal... like, for real. The 6-foot, multi-ethnic, California native is the very definition of a pro, yet a fairly recent sign at Photogenics , you'd think this girl has been doing this for years. Want to hate her even more?... she was a total sweetheart and laughed at all my jokes. And while I think they were merely only "polite laughs", I appreciated it nonetheless.

The shoot took place at my now firmly cemented default location: Griffith Park; with make-up and styling starting at 3:30pm, taking about an hour before we got shooting, with last shot about 30 mins after sunset. I started with the 85mm 1.8 prime... but quickly swapped it out for the 24-70mm 2.8 and never put it back on. I'm finding that while I love-love-love my 85mm... I just can't really use it for anything other than traditional portraits-- and I'm not doing as many of those as I first thought I would when I bought the lens. I need the breathing room that a 35mm or 50mm focal length provides when composing a frame.

In the beginning, I was hell-bent on owning the coveted Canon 85mm f/1.2L.... at a fetching $1,970; the legend of this lens made me want to buy it blind... I'm so glad I did not. For anyone torn between the 1.2 and the 1.8-- forget all the talk about the slower AF and back-focusing issues with the 1.2... you only need to say to yourself..."When am I ever going to need to be at an aperture of 1.2?" The answer will be nearly never; 1.8 is a perfectly adequate aperture to get that legendary thin, creamy DOF. If it's worth the nearly $2k so you have the option of having a subject's eyes in focus, but the tips of the eyelashes begin to get blurry, I have two things to say: 1) What kind of photography are you really doing? and 2) Can I borrow $5 grand, cause you clearly are doing OK at the bank. I'll pay you back, I swear.

Listen, I'm not saying 85mm isn't a useable focal-length, quite the contrary... I'm merely saying for less than $400, you can have an extremely comparable alternative, that even is widely commentated on being sharper than the 1.2, anyway. Sure, the L-series touts being weather-sealed and sturdy and tough... but unless you're a journalist in the Middle East running from an RPG attack, your 85mm 1.8 is going to survive just fine in your camera bag. In fact, if you were a journalist in Afghanistan you WOULD want the option of being at a 1.2, in order just to get an exposure in low-light, because a flash is going to get you a sniper-bullet right between the eyes.

But I digress... back to April's shoot...

I brought in a 22" white reflector disc for a few of the back-lit shots, but other than that, no flash or fill were used otherwise. Her mom was on set the whole time, too... which was actually great because I put her to work watching my equipment or holding the reflector when needed. I just wish her dad and sisters came, because I would've had stuff for them to do, as well!

Special mega thanks to the wonderful killer-combo MUA & hairstylist, Tasha Brown... who honestly and literally, is way way waaaaaaay above my paygrade to be slumming it with me. Guess it helps to have a mega-successful TV producer girlfriend who can hook you up! Tasha was such a bright happy light on set and so freaking good, it pains me that I'll never be as good at anything, as she is with make-up. She also jumped in with a lot of coaching and suggestions for the models when shooting, and man, was that appreciated; it was so great to have a second pair of eyes, catching smaller things you don't notice in the moment, but become glaring, rendering a photo unusable later... such as an out of place chunk of hair, awkward hand gesture, or a section of clothing puffing out. Thank you thank you thank you Tasha!

Shoots: Jade

If you haven't gleaned my preferred style thus far, I like to shoot a lot of earthy, neutral colors within a nature setting... and usually in/around magic hour. I'm a huge Terrence Malick fan, so it's pretty clear where my look is derived from, amongst a short-list of others.

However, I'm looking forward to doing/trying new things as I continue to (and will forever be) grow/learn in this trade. So, I decided to grab the lovely Jade, a recent sign at Zuri Model and Talent... and head to Venice Beach for a colorful, people-filled beach shoot with themes of 'light, summer fun' in mind. I also aimed to create a more traditional "commercial" look-- versus my typical, "girl lost in sun haze" thing.

I know "the beach" is probably the most cliche setting in photography, so I tried to mix it up utilizing the insane mash-up of colors around the Venice boardwalk. We even convinced a group of skateboarders to pose with her for a fun, impromptu set. Notice the kid giving the enthusiastic "thumbs-up" to our left of her. I snapped about 20 pics and he didn't move once-- just that same grinning mug in every shot, which still cracks me up every time I look at him.

Jade, herself, was cool as shit; that's exactly how I'd describe her--a down-to-Earth girl, fresh off the bus from Atlanta (with a southern accent to boot)... and is already quickly finding success in an otherwise intimating town. I wish her the best of luck!

Breaking down the tech-specs: I mainly kept the 24-70mm on, and stayed between 50-70mm the majority of the time. I thought I'd need my ND.6 filter as it was pretty bright (or so I thought), but quickly found I could get a decent DOF without it. I could've kept it on, but that meant boosting the ISO and I always try to stay at 100 when shooting outdoors, whenever possible (even though on the mkII, grain/noise is nearly undetectable until over 1200). For the shots on the actual beach itself, I threw on the 70-200, just so I could really crush the background and bring her into the main focus.

I was hoping for a gorgeous sunset, but as it approached, dark clouds quickly formed on the low-horizon and the sun disappeared behind them for good about an hour before sunset, so backlight, hazy, sunflares were out for this round.

I have to especially mention the fabulous Kristina Van Dyk, who was the stylist for the shoot-- man, what a pro this girl is: organized, methodical, and most of all, talented. She came with an arsenal of choices (tailored from a number of reference photos I sent her prior) and had every kind of accessory to match. She's relatively new to the world of commercial/editorial fashion, but if this is her just getting started, I can't imagine what a bright future she has ahead of her. If any of you fellow creatives are in search of a stylist, please contact me for her info. I can't recommend her enough.

Another shout-out goes to the MUA, Evelyn Sanabria, who I had worked with before. Another prime example of a professional who is not only good and fast, but stands by the entire shoot, jumping in without me even having to say anything, to touch-up the model or fix an out-of-place "anything". Another highly recommended person of interest that should be on your radar.

Overall-- yet another successful shoot under the belt. I know you are all getting tired of me having positive experiences, but what can I say? I'm gonna ride this lucky wave as long as I can.

**My now typical disclaimer saying that Blogger is great, save for their shitty compression. All photos are much more vibrant/colorful than seen here. Check my pending website as soon as it's up to see true representation.