BORN THIS WAY

Te'Anna Williams and I had worked together on a previous shoot, but I never got the chance to physically shoot her with my own camera. I was an assistant on the set with Josh Eskridge. Since that time we passed messages back and forth wanting to shoot together and then finally with this GAGA series we had the opportunity! I offered Te'Anna the position, not only because is she a fantastic model and person, but mostly because what the song “Born This Way” represents and I knew she could pull it off. I needed confidence and and someone comfortable in their own skin.

“You’re black, white, beige, chola descent / You’re Lebanese, you’re orient / Whether life’s disabilities / Left you outcast, bullied, or teased / Rejoice and love yourself today / 'cause baby you were born this way”

From the start Micah and I threw out ideas regarding “Born This Way”. Urban queen, that's what we wanted, a subject who was confident and didn’t care what people thought. Immediately I thought of locations and props, I was positive from the start that anywhere downtown Louisville would be a suitable location. Somewhere public, but not public enough to get 100 people crowded around the the police called.

When the word queen came to mind, I also thought of a throne. Where the hell can I get a royal throne? I was clueless. Fortunately, I have a few friends in the film industry, I contacted them for ideas on prop houses and antique shops. I was directed to Joe Ley’s. A massive 4 story antique store with toys, furniture and props that can be both purchased and/or rented. I made the proper connections and soon enough I was in touch with Shelia. We texted our ideas back and forth until she found two thrones that were absolutely spectacular. After consulting with Micah I reserved the throne and it was on.

I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous on the actual physical look for this song. Micah and Te'Anna didn’t get a chance to get together before the shoot and I was unsure of what to expect, I wasn't sure how we could top “Heavy Metal Lover”.

The day before the shoot I decided to drive around downtown and scout out a few locations and at least have a plan. I decided on a couple of locations, one being a courtyard I had shot in 3 different times. I was a bit weary of shooting there, but I had never actually shot outside in the courtyard during the day. Which is exactly what I ALWAYS wanted to do, this was the perfect opportunity. I just wanted to show the grand scale of the location and how amazing it really was. I knew after this shoot though, the courtyard would be tapped and I would probably never return with my camera.

I mapped out two other spots, both being in the downtown area and I was fairly confident. With the massive throne in the back of my car I headed home to get some rest, the shoot would come early. 

Saturday; things got off to a late start, but there was no pressure, because this time around people/locations weren’t depending on us to be here or there at a certain time, it was just us, the throne and downtown. 

As I stated in my last post, I’ve had to put all my trust Micah as the creative director on this concept, the looks were in his court and I was on the bench until shooting time. But this time around, after the look was complete, I took a look at Te'Anna and liked it. It showed confidence, but also a lot of freedom with no rough edges. No eyebrows!? This is crazy! Then, once we decided to rip up the fishnet tights, I was in love.

We arrived at the courtyard and I really don’t think they knew what to expect, honestly Micah and Te'Anna we’re probably, understandably, a bit frightened. After loading in our gear in between the fence line, we scouted around, turned up GAGA on the iPod player and the shoot was on…except I was missing a crucial piece of gear….

The metal clip that holds my speedlight to the bracket upon which I connect my modifier, was MIA. After a 5 minute search in my car, I knew I had to improvise. So I grabbed two twigs, duct tape and a piece of plastic and rigged a horrible looking brace to hold the light. But it worked for me and a week later I found the clip buried underneath two extension cords.

I’ve worked with a lot of models in my short career, but Te'Anna is one of those models that just loves the lens and the lens loves her. There was little direction needed. Click pose, click pose, click pose. Te'Anna’s poses and expressions were outer worldly, very alien, very abstract and seemed to be naturally inspired from the video “Born This Way”. 

The sets we’re fast and to the point. Even though I pretty much had my entire studio with me, I took what I learned from “Heavy Metal Lover” and just rolled with it. One light, one softbox and a reflector. I might as well left my gear in the car.

I’ve had some police “interference” at the courtyard before and even though the officer is usually pleasant, they give out threats and tactics to try and scare you into avoiding shooting there in the future. So conveniently during our last set, guess who showed up! I noticed the police car and went out to the alley to speak with the officer. After some small talk and scare tactics, like “Your car is more likely to get stolen here then anywhere in Louisville”, the conversation ended and he went on his merry way. We decided to move on, but not before we we’re approached by some questionable men who we're obviously drunk at 3 in the afternoon, brushing them off, we hopped in our cars and drove off.

Bouncing around downtown Louisville on a beautiful day, we definitely had some gawkers! Even some kids stopped by to take pictures with their phones of the photoshoot, which I didn’t mind and honestly was pretty cool.

We closed up the day by diving in headfirst and doing what I had imagined from the beginning. I was really hesitant, but we went for it. We pulled off Main Street and popped up the throne on the street corner, I setup my one SB-800 and Te'Anna ran over to the throne for a quick few poses and snapshots. The winning shot was to become one of my favorite images I have ever captured (seen below).

It was an absolute pleasure to finally work with Te'Anna and beyond the cops, crackheads and gawkers, the results out of post production were what I had imagined and more. Te'Anna truly was born a superstar. 

HEAVY METAL LOVER

Scheduling is hell. Going into this concept I wanted to go big or go home. All outlandish locations, crazy outfits and over the top makeup. When you’re dealing with a large team of people and trying to work out shoot dates, locations props, all while working outside of normal dayjobs, it can be stressful. So stressful I was about to make some drastic changes and cut the concept in half.

Two days before the first shoot, I came to the realization of something. Why do I do this? I do this to have fun and have a creative outlet. I do produce creative concepts to help my business, but more to have fun with friends and work with a great array of people, who like me also do this as a creative outlet. It was like a cloud disappeared over my head and I had a new outlook on photography. I haven’t looked back; I was ready for GAGA to begin.

I knew the location for “Heavy Metal Lover” had to be interesting and scouting for locations was going to be an important part of the entire series. I started small and worked my way up. Emails turned into phone calls and phone calls turned into meetings, meetings turned into booked dates. Luckily this is my second concept, so I used a few friends/contacts from “Bond Girl - A Portrait Series” to lead me in the right direction. For “Heavy Metal Lover”, I wanted a badass motorcycle juxtaposed to a rundown junkyard.

First thing was first, the bike. I called a favor from Jason Fessel of whom is the leader of the New Albany Riders Club, which I shot a calendar for. Thankfully he was more then happy to offer up his 2010 Honda Fury VT1300. I then called a friend in the automobile world; Glen Kern. He directed me to Tommy @ Gilbert and Mitchell Auto Salvage.

I chose Kelly Campbell for this song because it was unlike anything she had ever done. I knew she had the right attitude and look for the image, plus she is super cool! I suppose I like to feel overly prepared before going into a shoot, especially one that has a lot on the line. I felt under-prepared because the look of the models were out of my hands, but I wanted it that way. I’ve had to trust my models and creative director; Micah Severo Ruelas 100% and it’s something that I really have never done before.

10AM came early and both Micah and Kelly we’re on their way over to my house to begin the look preparations. I really didn’t know what to expect, especially with Micah asking me to straighten out a few wire hangers!

An hour in I was already blown away with the look and the confidence started swinging in. Okay, everyone is bringing it, so I better bring my A-game and pull out all the stops. By 1:15PM, Kelly was ready to rock and we all jumped in my car and hauled off to the junkyard.

Arriving at Gilbert and Mitchell Auto Salvage, I had my shot ideas in place and knew where I would be shooting, just didn’t know how quite yet. We settled on a small shed with about 20 engine blocks all thrown in together in a dis-organized mess. TOO COOL. Jason backed in the bike and away we went.

Lighting took about 20 minutes to key in and Kelly took about the same to warm up to the camera. Shooting on a bike is awkward, so once the groove was found and lighting was in place, things started clicking. It was sort of like a dream from that point on, the results we were seeing on the iPad(which was tethered to my camera) we’re better then I think any of us expected. We ran around the several acre junkyard finding little cool spots and cars we could “play in”. Micah jumped in front of the lens on few playful shots and we had an absolute blast, just doing what we love.

My goal for this entire series was to think outside of the box and sell the expression and pose of the model. The environment and lighting has always been key element for me, but I wanted it to simply be a amazing backdrop rather than the focus. So by the end of this shoot, I was pretty much sticking with one light with one softbox and or natural light. I experimented with A LOT of lighting techniques and what I realized is a small touch of soft light really brings out that expression and look I’ve always wanted.

Less is more. Is it a phase? Perhaps, but it’s working for me.

We wrapped up the shoot around 5:00PM and were pretty much on high from the days work. We we’re covered in dirt and grease and dog tired. But, surprisingly I ended up having one of the most fun nights I’ve had in quite sometime, that is being Josh’s Exposure party which I spoke briefly about in the previous post.

What a great way to kick of GAGA. I truly believe this is some of the best modeling Kelly has ever done, some of the best shots I have ever captured and I can’t say enough about the stunning styling/makeup from Micah.

More to come, so much more, so be prepared. We won’t be getting anymore sane with the next…

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE THAT SHOOTS HD VIDEO?

Last night was legendary. Friend and photographer Josh Eskridge and I officially premiered the documentary “Exposure” to a close nit group of creative people that were involved in the project. I really didn’t watch the actual film, but rather the people watching the film and their expressions. A smile came over my face when I reminisced about my personal situation a little over a year ago and where I am now. I picked up a DSLR camera in December of 2010 and now I standing in a room full of people I consider mentors and peers of a amazingly creative industry watching a body of my work. When the final credits came on and applause reverberated throughout the room, I can’t remember a time when I’ve felt more proud of a creative endevour.

I can’t lie, at times, creating this film was stressful. Collectively between my assistant Chris and I, we shot well over 10 hours of footage. The interviews, Mahtab and the evolution of style; All of that had to be smashed into a short mini-documentary. It came down to the wire, two days before the premiere date we we’re still cutting things up and making revisions. In the end, after all the bath of ideas we feel we have created a raw, intimate and fresh behind the scenes feature. We hope to inspire not only photographers, but makeup artists, models and anyone with a creative drive.

It all started with a simple question; “Do you know anyone that shoots HD video?” and from that moment on what was a vision snowballed to a grand reality. Ever since I took sight of Josh’s work on Facebook sometime ago I’ve admired his images and consider him to be a strong inspiration in my photography. To have the opportunity to document his passion and love was an honor.

SUN, SAND, SOUTH BEACH

2012, 3 video projects right out of the gate and now I’m finally getting my head above water to take a breath(exhales).

I decided to take a long overdue vacation to Florida and recharge my batteries. I soaked in some relaxation and a lot of fun! On our annual trip to Miami, I decided to contact a friend of whom I worked with on another fashion shoot here in homebase Louisville, KY; Eva. Why not take advantage of the warm sun, beautiful beach and a luxury hotel room by adding in a stunning model to photograph!?

I could only bring minimal gear and had just the basics to work with. No softboxes, grids or beauty dishes. Only 3 speedlights, a reflector, a light stand and the bright sun. Needless to say, it was a challenge.

This impromptu mini-shoot was really fun. No team, no MUA, just myself and Eva. We started out on the balcony of the hotel where the sun hit her back and ocean wind was fierce. Using a makeshift light stand and the heavy use of a reflector we nailed some shots composing the best image possible on the small 6x12 balcony. Within the hour we’re headed down to the beach where we would begin our second set: high fashion bikini.

South Beach is just amazing, not only for it’s night life, but also for its clear water and white sand beaches. Hitting a few tents and cabanas on the way, we finally made it to our shooting location near a badass peninsula of boulders and rocks. I stripped off my shoes, emptied my pockets and we walked 25 feet into the ocean knee high. Eva instantly started rocking poses and I instantly fired away.

When it comes to small session shoots like this, I pretty much wing it and go with the flow. In this case Eva asked me to shoot her in a “Give Tanks” shirt. An organization that strives to cultivate global hope by reminding anyone who sees its apparel to be “tankful” for the little things in life. Hey, I can dig it, so we posted up on the rocks and got some killer natural light images.

But, no photoshoot goes without some problems, the Pixel Soldier trigger that fired my flashes decided that it wouldn’t work that day so I had to move over the Nikon’s “onboard” triggering system CLS. It's inconsistent, unreliable and honestly a big headache. But, I pushed through the shoot and by then end was happy we had scored a few compelling images.

Returning to the hotel covered in sand and saltwater I had to do a detailed check of all my gear to make sure nothing was damaged. I was positive my lens received a nice wind blast of water on a few occasions and may of taken a couple of knocks from climbing on the rock peninsula. Upon inspection everything seemed A-OK, nothing that a could lens cleaner and blower couldn’t take care of.

I hung my soaked clothes out to dry on the balcony and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. It was nice to get back to still photography and a great way to kick off my exit from video world.

Conceptual Talk

Now that the majority of my video sessions have been completed, I’m anxious to get back into still photography. I plan on kicking that off with my next concept “GAGA - A Portrait Series”. This concept came out of nowhere and literally just popped into my head one evening. After the idea had been planted things began to snowball into something grand.

Myself being a pretty big Lady Gaga fan always found her antics and fashion intriguing and interesting. Over the top outlandish and I love her no shame attitude. What you see is what you get and I don’t care. It's inspiring, and inspiring enough to base an entire concept around her works.

Lady Gaga is in the public eye for her music, fashion, videos and controversial lyrics, in other words she’s hot right now. So, while the time is right, lets take all of those elements of popularity, mash them up like a ball of clay and create our own piece of art! And, you better believe I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure Gaga see’s the results herself.

This is a next level step and we are going big!

Plans are in action, storyboards are being drawn up, locations are being confirmed and dates are set. I couldn’t be more excited about this concept and I have one hell of a team. Micah Ruelas is my creative director, also styling, hair and makeup. We have 6 models, 6 looks and 6 shoots, my March is shot! (No pun intended). Be on the lookout.

P.S. Stefani Germanotta is Lady Gaga’s real name.

Before I close up this post, let me give a shout out to my “Bond Girl” team. As promised, the 8x12 print below was sent out to all the exclusive team members. This concept is really what told me “Hey, I can do this”. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on such an extreme creative work, then I did on this. I do believe hard work pays off and I couldn’t of been more happy with the results and I’m glad I had the opportunity to work with such great talent.

AWHADUP VIDEO WORLD

I’m still here! But man, times are busy! I was approached several weeks ago to shoot a marketing video series for Missy Brown to kick off her new brand M Sqaured Photography. It is to consist of two shoots and a short interview session which will all be spliced into 3 short videos for potential clientele. When she offered me the job, I was more the happy to take it on and bring a lighter note to all the edgy film work I had been doing.

This past Saturday consisted of fresh-off-the-altar bride/model Katie Cunningham and another fantastic model Kaitlyn McGrath. The shoot was the take place at a newly established venue called The Ice House. 10AM; We started makeup/hair prep at model central i.e. Josh Eskridge’s loft and the fun started. We had a incredible group of friends that pitched in, which made out for a great time! Missy Brown, Joey Goldsmith, Chris Klapheke, Josh Eskridge, Peter Dedina and not to mention Micah Ruelas and Hank Walton!

Going into this I had a few ideas of the style, it would be long dreamy stedicam shots with a smaller shutter speed for better smoothness and motion blur, quite the opposite of what I had done for “Exposure”, that being more handheld, intense dramatics and a faster shutter speed for that “Saving Private Ryan” look. 

The Ice House consisted of a labyrinth of floors and abandoned levels that Josh and I got very lost in. What was supposed to be a 5 minute scout turned into 30 minutes. The place is a haven for fashion photographers and you better believe a business card was passed onto the owner! I really hope I’m able to have the opportunity to shoot in The Ice House again in the future and really take advantage of those upper levels. 

With this particular shoot we started in the cellar, a dark brick-walled basement that looked like something out of Underworld. The spaced was cramped, so the stedicam shots would have to be confined. But, by jumping over stacks of concrete, wood planks and swinging around tight corners I was able to capture some cool footage, in the process being covered in dust and remnants of an ancient under structure.

Once we returned to the upper levels it was like someone had opened the door to a entire new game of fun. Running around with my glidecam like a clown, I’m not sure what people thought of me. The area was wide open and I fully took advantage of it and started rocking the styled shots I originally had planned.

We closed up the 7 hour shoot on the roof where I believe to get some of the best shots of the day. Plenty of open room and the low sun flaring my off lens just appeased my appetite for epicness. But, my stomach wrenched when suddenly my camera wouldn’t let me record and it simply read “Card Error”. Without a second though I popped in my backup 32GB and setup for the next shot. In the back of my mind I’m thinking “Oh shit, all the footage I shot from today is on that card”. Nevertheless we finished out the last set and had a awesome dinner at Doc Crows. We said our goodbyes and exhausted from the long day I decided to head home.

Anxious to work the memory card problem I went straight to my PC to import all the footage. No go. “Card Error, Please format”. I was flabbergasted, what am I going to do now? I ended up trying several solutions to no prevail and eventually gave up and crashed out.

The next day I decided I would face this head on and a few hours later I had recovered all the footage off the card and backed it up to my hard drives. Close call! But a lesson learned, Luckily I had the backup card and luckily there is software out there that can save your ass in these situations.

We still have more footage to shoot, but here is the teaser trailer and some un-color corrected screen shots for Missy Brown and her awesome photography.

WORK HARD PLAY HARD

Where do I start? I’ll try and avoid writing a book about my experience this past weekend….It was an event I had been stressing over and excited over for quite sometime. Months in the planning had finally become a reality and the time was now. Shooting a “commercial” for Scooter Ray and his amazing pieces. Not your standard commercial, more of a fictional abstract story, that really hits home with Scooter’s personal family life. Dreamy and out of the world. From the beginning I wanted to do something a bit different with this, something that would really make a mark and be a staple for Scooter Ray Designs.

It all came down to the wire. I was still answering emails and making phone calls less than 48 hours to shoot time. In the end things panned out, the locations had been setup, calls had been made and the shots lined up.

I was extremely stoked to work with Katie Justis, a beautiful person inside and out. I loved her work with Scooter in the past and I’m glad I was given the opportunity. Scooter and Katie we’re set to play the “on screen duo” and play out this entire story of love and life.

The first shoot was set for the Peterson Dumesnil house thanks to my dear friend Emilie! Gear had been setup and lights we’re ready to go and we started knocking out shots on our treatment(shot outline). Things we’re running smooth, even with a couple of mishaps here and there(like me tripping over a LED light and it exploding everywhere).

We asked a family friend Melinda who had access to a flat black 67’ Pontiac GTO, to bring it out for the weekend. She was gracious enough to agree and be available for an hour or two each day. Spending some time in the car, out in the cold and back in the house we grabbed all the right shots and wrapped up right on schedule. There was a reason to celebrate and celebrate we did, VIP style. Day #2 would come early…

It was pretty overcast and dreary that Sunday afternoon, but it didn’t stop anything, the energy remained at a good level throughout the day and into the night. We were able to get access to a diesel truck mechanic shop for the “CORE” shots, thanks to close friends Corey Heim and Patrick Wesley. The shoot was a quick one and we grabbed all the clips needed, packed up our gear and his the road to The Grand Theater where we would close the weekend up with nearly 25 extras, 6 photogs, 4 assistants and one badass car.

It started off fairly slow. Things we’re running a bit behind and I was slightly stressed, directing a group of 30 people isn’t easy. Our generator was acting up and some of the extras that signed up didn’t show up. I had to do some re-working of the shots and direct the extras in more of a mob scene then red carpet scene. I scanned through a few of the clips and a feeling of relief cave over me, it was really good stuff. It wasn't cheesy or un-realistic and on the other hand it wasn't flat or subtle. From that point on, I was confident that this thing could really be killer. The raw footage came out above and beyond my original vision. The energy was through the roof and everyone rocked it, onlookers I’m sure thought we had some real celebs in our presence.

After Josh Eskridge grabbed a few quick shots with the car and talent, we packed up and headed off to the local pizza pub down the road for a beer to close out one of the most fun weekends I’ve had in quite sometime. I came home imported the footage and went directly to bed!

Scooter is an amazing person and I can’t think him enough for all the doors he has opened for me.

I owe this to an amazing crew of people and the results should surely show that…

On Screen Talent: Scooter Ray, Katie Justis

Car: Melinda Allen

Locations: Emilie Heim Pfeiffer @ Peterson Dumesnil House, Corey Heim and Patrick Wesley @ Wesley Trucking, Tena @ The Grand

Assistant to Katie and Scooter: Joanna Baptiste, Jeanette Moore, Tammy Wiseman, Greg Justis

Assistants: Chris Miske, Alex Ruidiaz

Photographer Extras: Joey Goldsmith, Missy Brown, Josh Eskridge and more!

All the extras!

THANK YOU!

Here are a few un-color corrected screen-shots from the upcoming feature for Scooter Ray Designs…

THIS FIRE BURNS

About two weeks ago I was approached by a metal group Johari Window about shooting their new promotional photos. I gladly took on the job and was pretty excited to explore some techniques I’ve learned in the fashion world to band photos. Being in a band myself for nearly 10 years, I learned what looks good and what doesn’t in band shots. So this shoot was something I had looked forward to for quite awhile. In the music business, perception is everything. If someone percieves you to be a “rockstar” with those “rockstar” photos, in their eyes, you probably are.

Arriving at a home in Floyds Knobs, Indiana I really didn’t know what to expect or what location we we’re shooting in. I pulled in, met all the members; Connor, Mike, Nick, Dylan and Chris. Very nice guys and I figured, with good people and good light we could make do with any situation. But once we traveled up the small his and arrived at our location, I saw the abandoned house on the top of the hill, I knew we had gold. 

We scouted for about 20 minutes and I set at least three location points for shots. We would begin on the porch move throughout the house then around sunset move outside for the natural light shots. Around the time I was gearing up I realized I had left 2 Eneloop AAA batteries at home for my strobe receiver. I was down one speedlight, I would have to do this entire shoot missing an arm i.e. extra kicker light, which would probably be a good thing with shooting groups! But I liked a challenge and accepted it. 

We shot all through the house, in the basement, outside and even started a massive fire to create smoke effect seen in the shot below. I had a great time with the guys and I’m glad everyone was super down to earth. It was their first promo shoot and I think they knocked it out of the park. They we’re as professional as it comes and I hope to work with them again in the future!

We shot nearly 10 sets and individuals in frigid weather. By the end of the 4 hour session I was freezing and worn out, but I really couldn’t wait to get home and see the results. Because I only used two lights, some extra post work was needed, but I’m real happy with what came out and I’m glad I had the opportunity to shoot Johari Window. If you’re a fan of aggressive metalcore, check them out.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT?

It’s January 2012 and to some people it may seem that things have been slow, no shoots, no new photos. Well, in fact its been the opposite. Taking a small break from still photography, I’ve been consumed in what I like to call “Video World”. Shooting, editing and color correcting video a.k.a. cinematography. 

I’ve been shooting and editing video long before photography. Growing up with an oversized 8mm camera, I would shoot my own videos and short films dreaming of becoming the next Steven Spielberg. Music eventually took the front seat and after I edited my bands music video in 2004, I started bringing in clients to edit video. Now, I’m being hired to shoot, edit and color correct the whole shebang.

About a month ago, friend and photographer Josh Eskridge came to me and asked about doing a little video to feature on his website, a behind the scenes video. After a meeting or two and brainstorming, the ideas had flowed in and this little video had morphed into a full blown documentary. I’ve been working very hard with Josh and the results should be nothing short of stunning. Working with Josh has not only been a way to further my cinematography portfolio but also learn more about his techniques with lighting and model interaction in photography. 

We released a trailer last week to a great response and I’m excited to upload the second trailer this upcoming week. All gearing up for a late February premiere. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some great people and great talent. I can’t thank Josh enough for the opportunity to be apart of his incredible vision.

On a side note; I’m really feeling the itch for still photography, so I’ve started working on my next two concepts and have been cruising Model Mayhem and Facebook for the right talent. Come February it’s on!

COLD AND CORE

One Saturday evening, my assistant Chris and I walked into the five star Buck’s Restaurant where my good friend Andrew Welenken heads up the kitchen as Executive Chef. The hostess gave me a strange look and I wondered…why? Then I realized I was covered it wet mud and dirt from head to toe from taking a dip in the Ohio River earlier at the “Violet Lovejoy - Bond Girl” shoot. I sort of felt like an idiot and looking back I probably should have knocked on the kitchen door. Nevertheless, I tipped toed through the dining room and bar and found my way to the kitchen. I proceeded to ask Andrew about an upcoming fashion shoot I had on deck. It was for Scooter Ray Designs and pieces in the CORE line. I had only seen one dress from the line and I knew immediatly Buck’s Restaurant was the PERFECT location. I had to lock the restaurant down and with Christmas closing in, I had to do it now. Within several days Andrew gave me the go ahead.

The more and more I discussed the shoot with Scooter Ray the more excited I got and the more I found myself worried if I could pull it off. He wanted dark, de-saturated, low key light and a lot of drama. I’m pretty confident with capturing drama, but capturing the pieces at the same time could prove a difficult task. I did some research into a few other fashion photographers and their methods. Most used expensive studio lights with some form of large diffusion, I would be shooting with all speedlights. So I had to diffuse and soften the harsh light somehow, so I called in a friend Joey Goldsmith(goldsmithphoto.com) to assist and selfishly use his awesome gear including another SB-800 and his Wescott Apollo softbox. So with 4 speedlights, my 22" beauty dish and the softbox, my confidence was somewhat restored. But…

I was nervous. I had never done anything on this scale. 5 models, 2 MUA’s, 2 hair stylists, 2 assistants, and several onlookers for a total crowd of about 14 people. Chris’ small house was jammed with people getting prepared, nearly standing room only. As a matter of fact I spent the majority of the time outside to free up some room. Hair, makeup and styling started at 9:30am and went all up to about 12:15pm. Everyone involved was true professional, the work was completed in a cool and collective manor. I can’t recommend this team enough! We we’re pushing time because we only had Buck’s for about 3 hours. I went ahead of the group and prepared my shots inside the restaurant. At first I was a bit worried about the bright sunlight popping through the windows, I needed drama and so I wanted little to no natural light. But in the end shooting about f/12 killed the natural light pretty quickly. The models arrived and my first shot was set, I did two sets with two of the models and… I was unhappy, the results weren't what I was looking for. So I stepped back re-thought my setup and with a couple of light adjustments and some re-positioning, I had the lighting locked in. I asked the two models I already shot to step back in for a quick couple of shots with the new setup. All those shots made the cut (seen below).

I wanted to tell a story with these shots. I wanted this “New Years Eve” to be the night these characters would always remember. Starting as individuals and ending as individuals but the time in between; I wanted to stir the pot a bit and have these couples “mix and match” both sexually and racially, which is very unheard of in a old, high-class, “10 million dollars in the bank” society. Thank goodness I had the talent I did, otherwise I couldn’t of pulled it off. Thank you to the male models; Scooter and Dakota and the female models; Katie, Sunny and Slim. 

Needless to say, Buck’s Restaurant was a challenge for me. A big challenge. I’m a pretty creative person, but sometimes my brain just falls short and I overlook details, I’m glad Joey and Chris we’re there to remind me of that and didn’t hesitate on the ideas. There was also a crowd of people! I had never been the primary photographer on a shoot with so many eyes on your back and ears open to you. But, I walked away happy with the situation, I only learned from it.

Time was passing and the shots we’re looking good. I was 70% confident with them. Until that is, the very last shots near a wine rack when that 70% went to 95%. I took a technique out of Josh Eskridge’s black book and used one light with a diffused beauty dish. I took two shots and I knew these were the closer, I handed Scooter an empty wine glass and asked the team to make it the “end of the night”. All performed flawlessly. As a small celebration to myself I took a shot of bourbon and we wrapped up the shoot as the Buck’s staff walked in the door.

Returning to my office later that evening, I was excited to get the shots imported and the editing process started. After some cropping, re-touching and a lot of de-saturating I had the line-up and the shots ready for upload. I’m pretty happy with the lot and I learned quite a bit from this experience.

Thanks again to Andrew at Buck’s for letting us take over for a few hours. And thanks to my awesome crew, you know who you are!

99 DEGREES

Several weeks ago, I received an invite to participate in a epic collaboration of great friends and talent on Sunday, December 18th. I was more then willing and happy to have been invited. The shoot would take place at Shanna Simpson Photography, which is owned by…. Shanna Simpson(shannasimpson.com). The participants would include good friend and photog Joey Goldsmith(goldsmithphoto.com), MUA and model Scooter Ray, model Katharine Sullivan and model for the day/photog Shanna Simpson. I wanted to continue this trend of mine to include a story or concept with all my shots, so I came up with the idea to make our male model Scooter a rockstar and Katharine a fan with a massive infatuation with said rockstar. I’ve always wanted to get some shots with my Gibson Firebird, so I decided to bring it a long even though it didn’t end up being in the final shots. I also added a little twist, they we’re to be wrapped up in all sort of guitar and microphone cables. The film “The Matrix” came to mind.

We had a ton of fun at this shoot. For me is was 100% experimental. I had never shot with studio lights a.k.a. Alien Bee’s and it was a whole new experience. It was tough for me to key in light, I had never worked with so much powerful light. I went into the studio with a plan and came out with something more awesome then I originally intended.

After Joey’s pin-ups of Katharine, I began to setup lights, I went into it thinking it would be cool to make it look like a studio set, show the backdrop, all the light stands and lights, so I setup 5 Alien Bee’s and 2 SB-800 speedlights as back lighting and 1 Alien Bee B800 with a Stripbox w/ grid as a main light. Yeah, it was a bit over the top…

Within 2 minutes of shooting, Scooter grabbed Katharine by the belt loops pulled her in close and the fireworks went off (see below). They we’re off the hook and it was very easy for me to capture passion. I went into this thinking I was going to get some cool “rocker” poses, but little did I know I would capture such heat and fervor.

I started looking down at my camera and surprisingly the blown out highlights emitted from the gazillion back lights looked pretty awesome. It was similar to an explosion of light, almost like the entrace of a spaceship or sometime. Close-ups looked phenomenal. However, I had trouble nailing that sweet spot that I had come to excel in with speedlights. I was in a whole new world and felt small. But, I worked my way through it the best I knew how.

When the pizza had been eaten and the wine was nearly gone, it time for me to pack up and get to work on post processing. I was a bit worried at first, what I had shot wasn't my normal dramatic lighting, it was the opposite, a gross amount of light, so I went with it! After some re-touching, punching colors, and popping in a few lens flares I was really happy with the results. Thank you Shanna, Joey, Scooter and Katharine for the fun and experience.

LOVEJOY, WHAT A DOOZIE

The title says it all. This shoot was a experience, a good one. I was excited to work with Irene, because of her look and graceful posing. I wanted to push her to step out of the box and myself step outside as well, I think we achieved that. Going into this shoot I really had the least bit of idea of how I was going to pull of my vision, woman on the Atlantic Ocean escaping from Spain?!

In the back of my mind I knew I was going to get dirty and completely soaking wet. I was worried it would be too cold for everyone involved but fortunately, mother nature was on my side and it was a cool 60 degrees outside and the sun blaring. So, we pulled up to the riverfront and immediately got dirty, I’m talking covered in wet mud.

We started on the shore, then I kept pushing; “Let’s get in the water”. So I took of my shoes, socks and rolled up my pants, soon enough I was up to my thighs in freezing cold water. Nervously, I stuck my strobes in about 5 feet of water, every time a wave crashed in I prepared to jump, hold my camera out of the water and grab that stand before the strobe would touch the water(pictured below). But, I got lucky. Within about 20 minutes in the water, I had grabbed all the shots I needed. Cold wet and covered in dirt we dried off and took a break in the heat for about 5 minutes, then prepared to walk to our next location…which was a bit of a walk.

Let me tell you, Irene Mukibi was a trooper, she was doing all the shots barefoot, so I did as well. For the rest of the shoot I was in my wet cold socks, I gave Irene my shoes while we walked. It was about half a mile to our next location, which little did I know was blocked by a mud mountain that had been caused by a nearby construction zone. So instead of giving up, we tackled this mountain and I sunk in like quicksand and nearly got stuck several times(pictured below). The location changed 100% from when we last scouted a couple months ago and I was worried that we would be doing all this climbing and walking for nothing, but there was some cool brush, that resembled reeds down near the river shoreline. It was completely worth it. Irene was a true professional and I don’t think many models would of done what she did that day. Thank you Irene.

Strobist: For most of these shots I had two kicker strobes a.k.a bare speedlights on either side and the main light camera right with a 22" beauty dish diffused with a sock. The sunset camera left really REALLY helped the look of the shots and added a nice fill light on Irene’s face.

After all was said and done and we we’re ready to move on to the next model, I reviewed my shots and just knew the work had just begun for me. In order to create the vision I had, I had some post work in-store. The next day I dove into Photoshop with these shots, brought down the exposure, cut out the Louisville skyline and de-saturated everything mostly the water, which I wanted to look black as night. I worked with the curves more then I ever have and learned quite a bit. Took some work, but the results made me proud and excited for what’s in store. 

So this concludes my “Bond Girl - A Portrait Series”. Again thank you to the ENTIRE crew and team that made this vision possible. Scooter, Chris, Nick, Ashley, Kaitlyn, Lee Ann, Armina, Imelda, Amanda, Donnie, Whitney, Briquelle and Irene. YOU ARE AMAZING. Each and every one of you just portrayed perfectly and worked your tails off for this.

MAKING IAN FLEMING PROUD

Honestly, it was a goal. If the creator of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming took a glance at my “Bond Girl - A Portrait Series” and gave a smile or sparked a idea, my goal was reached. I sort of kept it in the back of my mind the entire time I was preparing, shooting and editing. WWFD.

It all started with a small idea and just spawned into something amazing. Again I can’t express my thanks to all the beautiful models, my assistants and MUA Scooter Ray. Such a great team and a pleasure to work with. It was so much fun.

If you haven’t already please “Like” my new Facebook page; HERE

So the series has almost come to an end. And I’m really happy with the response I’ve been getting. I hoped I turned some heads and inspired a few smiles. I can only hope this will be the push into the market I need. I have a lot of great things in the works, including my next concept which I hope to stir some controversy and exploit some things that are wrong with the current world we live in.

I will post on my experience on the final Bond Girl “Violet Lovejoy” played by Irene Mukibi and my challenges shooting and the post production process, it’s worth a full blog post.

OFF WE GO

I’ve thought long and hard on this topic. BRAND. Ever since I started “Dirty Cheese Photography” nearly a year ago I was uneasy with the name. I didn’t know how people would react in the photography world. In the graphic design world it worked well and liberal/quirky brands can keep you away from the pack. But the more and more I got into photography the more I realized that even though people knew that I ran a brand “Stinky Cheese” or “Cheese Photography”, they knew my by my name CLAY COOK. I wanted clients, I wanted longstanding clients and people that cared about me and wouldn’t be embarrassed about their photographer or the brand. So about two months ago, I decided to take my business to an entirely new level and re-brand to a more conservative “Clay Cook | Photography”. I may be thrown into the heap of a million photographers looking to make a mark, but upon doing more research, in the photography world, your name is your brand, regardless of your legal company name. Joey L, Annie Leibovitz, Jasmine Starr, Nigel Barker, their names are their brand. With all of this on the table I knew I needed to do something BIG, something that would hopefully blow some minds and take me in the right direction. Market and gain traffic.

Watching the 007 film; Dr. No and seeing Honey Ryder walk out from the ocean on to the beach one evening gave me the huge push and inspiration I needed. Always being a loyal fan of the James Bond films and the iconic roles that women play in them, I just had to exploit that concept. All original characters, all original stories, almost like being in their own James Bond film but the images would solely surround them, not James Bond. These ideas spawned “Bond Girl - A Portrait Series”.

I went on a quest to find some of the best collective group of models and shoot every weekend for a month and a half. Concepts, hair, makeup and wardrobe we’re all pre-determined. Scooter Ray, Chris Miske, Nick Kreevich and myself worked long hours to capture the essence of “007” with a edgy twist. 9 shoots later, a lot of ideas and friendships had been built! 

I really couldn’t of done it without the patience and grace of Scooter Ray and my awesome crew Chris Miske and Nick Kreevich. Thanks to apologue writer Alex Ruidiaz and all the stunning models I had the pleasure of working with. So here we go, to kick off the Bond Girl series is Zora Von Sachs and Alaska Macks played beautifully by Ashley Rose and Armina Krgo.

PETERSON CHALLENGE

I had been speaking with model Lee Ann Herring-Olvedo for quite sometime. Lee Ann is Miss Kentucky 2011 and is a wonderful, beautiful person inside and out. Speaking with a Texas twang, she came to me months ago about shooting some pieces for her portfolio. Soon enough we had a date set a concept laid out and a location in place. We brought Scooter Ray on board for hair and makeup and I was very excited for the opportunity. I arrived early, as always and began setting up shots. The Peterson Dumesnil House is a crazy big vintage house, with rooms galore and texture for days. I hate shooting on yellow, so a few of the places I wanted to shoot we’re just off limits for me personally, like the stairwell and outer hallways. Not too mention, a good friend of mine, Joey Goldsmith had just done a shoot in the Peterson house a few months earlier and I didn’t want to double his shots or locations. 

The first room I choose was a challenge, a cornered white vintage chair and dark teal walls. Using my three speedlights, I tried almost 10 positions and lighting setups, beauty dish, beauty dish with a sock, umbrella, bare flash and more. I really didn’t nail it until Lee Ann got in the room and I worked it out. Reflective umbrella camera right low, Beauty dish w/ sock camera left high and bareflash at ¼ power behind the chair.

The second setup was on a bare brown wall, this I knew I could get right and for the most part I did. This is where I learned though, I need some softboxes and stripboxes, something to really diffuse my bare flashes. Anyway, going into this we really stuck by the inspiration of “Vouge Italia” so I experimented with my continuous lights for extra dramatics. Cross lighting played a big part in these shots. 

The third setup: Dark basement, red chair and a look that reeks attitude. This was also a challenge, very close quarters and I really didn’t have much room to work, probably a 5x10 area. Regardless, I worked with what I had and got some great results. I shot through an umbrella for extra diffusion on the front and bare flashes for kickers.

I worked hard in post to give it a really edgy vintage look, with some texture work and gradients.

The whole session was definitely a learning experience, but I’m glad I experimented and did a few things out of the norm.

DESPITE THE HICCUPS

I’m super proud of how these recent shoots with model Kristine Pierson came out. It all started last weekend while shooting “The Midnight Masquerade”. I’ve always had the opportunity to shoot with Kristine for maybe minutes at a time and that's about it, so Joey Goldsmith and myself planned a special session with her. We decided on Bernheim Forest, I had never been out there so I was stoked to get out there and see all the awesome scenery it has to provide. Well, the day came and things started going wrong. I was working with only a 35mm prime lens, I forgot all my batteries and it was starting to rain. The shoot wasn't looking promising. Kristine arrived and I was depressed because I didn’t have any batteries for my speedlights, so I was going to have to shoot in natural light, but with the dreary overcast sky there was no real quality natural light. Luckily by the time the we we’re setup Joey found 4 batteries in his bag, I tried them out and they we’re good to go. The batteries in his speedlight we’re actually dead so we ended up using the one speedlight and switching off transmitters. I felt completely unprepared, but it worked out for the better, because I ended up using ONE light rather then my usual THREE speedlights. This was also the first time using my 22" Beauty Dish on location. The results we’re great, Kristine busted out some amazing expressions and I put a little vintage twist in post-production.

MASQUERADE, WHAT?

Romeo and Juliet meets Man In The Iron Mask meets Cape Fear. That’s what was going through my head, how could I represent this as a story in still photography? I knew we had the models for it and I knew the location was perfect for it. What about the light? Shouldn’t this be a very dark theme? Well, after some experimentation and mostly a lot of post production work, my vision came to life, with better then expected results. It all started with a Facebook post about getting together with 4 other AMAZING photographers and a handful of models, hitting Ancourage Park on a Sunday and just shoot. When I heard about this, I knew I had to take advantage of this situation and tell a story. With it being Halloween and all I thought a creepy, stalker theme would be appropriate and the male model John Wells was just perfect for it. I had one shot in mind and in my head, that was it, the rest came out of location inspiration and the help of friend/photographer Joey Goldsmith(goldsmithphoto.com). The week before the shoot I went out and bought some masquerade masks for about $30 bucks at a Halloween store. In the end they worked perfectly, they were subtle and not distracting. The focus has to be on the expressions of the model. I carried around my 3 speedlights and camera around the park from around 5pm to 10pm, shooting everything I could, fortunately I was lucky enough to have several models at hand everywhere I went. I think a couple of them really didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but I sort of liked that, kept it interesting. I left the shoot happy and ready to get the results into Lightroom. Once everything was edited and I was happy, all I needed was a name. Out of the blue it came to me; “The Midnight Masquerade”. I think it fit the theme perfectly. I conjured up a logo, exported the files and uploaded. So far the response has been awesome and greatly inspired my next portrait series, which I hope to step it up even more. Thanks again to everyone that was involved that day and provided thier amazing talents. Such an inspiration.

GIVE ME FUTURE

When I was contacted to work with Scooter Ray I was thrilled. I’ve been wanting an opportunity like this for some time. These pieces in Scooter’s CORE clothing line was something really “futuristic” and “out of this world”. At first I was a little uneasy, but I knew with the skills I’ve collected over the past two months, I was confident I could capture something amazing, I just didn’t know what yet. Location for me is essential. I play with the surroundings and use my three speedlights to light up the environment. I went into this shoot with no location, but a ton of ideas. I thought of high-rise apartments, roofs, anything that had an open sky or “epic” backdrop to play with. I finally decided on the Patriots Peace Memorial about 2 minutes from my house. I’ve always wanted to do a shoot there, but wanted to save it for a band, that is until I got this opportunity. The problem was the light, around 9:00pm every night the HUGE halogen lights illuminate the building and from a flash lighting aspect, your screwed. For light painting I needed pitch black, so we had about an hour window. I know wanted a lot of blue and purple, “spacey” colors so I brought along a set of gels and really experimented. I wanted lens flares, bursts of light and more. I wanted light everywhere and anywhere. Sort like beautiful chaos. In the end it worked out perfectly. The lights in the building popped on at 8:45 about 10 seconds after the shutter closed on our last light painting shot. I also managed to do all of these shots using Nikon’s CLS system, which I learned that I will probably never use again, unless needed. Nevertheless, It was a great time and everyone on set worked hard for these captures. Thanks to my assistant Chris Miske. Scooter’s crew and the model Tayler. Wonderful people and great talent. All I do know is that it gave me experience and techniques that I will not soon forget. Looking forward to more shoots with Scooter Ray Designs.

VIDEO WORLD

The past two months have been the most stressful and busiest months of my design/dayjob/photography career. However, some definite good and great results came out of it. I was hired by MetalBlade Records Inc. to shoot/edit a debut music video for a band out of Cincinnati called “Rose Funeral” that involved extras, actors, props and one huge abandoned church. All in that time I was producing a short film for my dayjob, sort of a day in the life documentary for our people out on the road. The best thing to come out of this whole stressful situation is that I was able to upgrade my Nikon body, from a D5000 to a D7000, which is a major upgrade. I had to learn the camera back and forth in one day, before I left out of town to film the music video AND short film. Also, I purchased and learned the art of the stedi-cam and let me tell you there is a INSANE learning curve to those things, I still haven’t mastered the technique. All in all the filming went well and we got what we needed. The short film was edited, rendered and premiered last Friday to a crowd of 150, it received an awesome response and I believe I got a couple of future clients out of it. The music video is still in the approval stage, but I think once all is said and done, it’s going to be a killer. Now that September has come and gone I’m seeing the light at the end of the “video world” tunnel and I am super happy to get back into still photography again. Right out of the gate, I was given the opportunity to capture some stills with my new Nikon body. Newborn photography is tough, so is wildlife photography or shooting animals of any kind. When asked to put the two together, impossible right? It took some time, but I think I was able to nail it, with the help of some tasty actions from Brett Jarnigan.

FLASHFIRE

Where do I start? What an incredible and exciting day it was for me yesterday. It felt like the start of something great. Brett Jarnagin has been a inspiration ever since I first saw his photos several weeks ago. Around that time I found out he was coming to Louisville, KY for his “Flashfire Workshop”. I told myself I need to do that, but just didn’t think it could work out. Well, low and behold I got the opportunity and it exceeded my expectations. Not only was Brett a laid back guy, he is a fantastic photographer and well, knows his stuff.

Getting down and dirty is just how I do it, when I go shooting, I’m gonna do anything I can to get the shot hence the name “Dirty Cheese”. I usually walk out of shoots either completely drenched in sweat or covered in dirt from head to toe. I tend to spend the majority of a photoshoot on the ground! This shoot was certainly no exception and I myself ended up being a model because of it. Brett loved it and hey, I was glad they appreciated the passion I have for this art and it was great to get some laughs out of it too.

Anyway, I left the workshop feeling accomplished and a renewed sense of “Hey, I can do this”. Now, looking back at my portfolio, I just want to take it all down, but I know you gotta start somewhere! I also am now 100% convinced, I don’t think need or really want to give all my money to Paul C. Buff(studio lights), I just need a few speedlights, power packs, good stands and I can accomplish exactly what I want and more. Easy, portable and lots of drama. The workshop left us completely open to creativity and the chance to really explore lighting options and I don’t feel I even scratched the surface on what is possible with lighting. I’m really excited to dive into this type of photography more and more. Edgy portraiture.

Most of the shots below we’re used with three speedlights and generally the same camera settings. All ISO 200, apeture between f/8 and f/16, shutter 1/200, speedlights at ½ power in manual mode.