Add one part raw talent, two parts southern fried groove and a dash of Louisiana attitude and you MIGHT have an idea what the brothers Stark and Baby Bee are about. You might…

I had the opportunity recently to shoot the two piece, Houma, LA based, Baby Bee. I absolutely love these guys’ sound, and I would imagine you are going to be hearing a lot from Joe and David Stark. Without further ado, here are a few of my favorites from the day (more ramblings after the images).

Thoughts & Shooting Notes

Joe and David have really big personalities and I wanted that to come through in these images. I decided to go really simple and shoot these guys on a white background. With very little post processing planned, we really had to focus on capturing their energy and presence.

Having two brothers together, it wasn’t very difficult to get these guys to open up and clown around a bit. We had a blast shooting the “portrait” style images, and really ended up with a great set of images.

We also wanted to take a different approach to the traditional “band portrait.” I had these guys setup and play live in the studio. We wanted to try and capture what it’s like to see Baby Bee live. While I think there is no substitute for actually shooting a band in a live venue, I think we were able to successfully reproduce some amazing energy, and I think it shines through in the photos.

Questions, or comments? Let me know by filling out the comment form just below this post.

Recently did a portrait session with Houma, LA’s Baby Bee.  We had an absolute blast.  These guys are some of the nicest folks I have had the opportunity to shoot, and amazing musicians as well.  Much more coming soon!

I had the opportunity recently to photograph local New Orleans dancer Nasheeka Nedsreal.  Besides the obvious fact that she is simply beautiful, Nasheeka was a joy to work with.  More photos, and shooting notes after the jump.

Thoughts & Shooting Notes

All images were taken with relatively the same lighting setup:

• white background (roll of white paper)
• 2 – 3 mono-lights
• Large Octobox, Small Softbox, 20° grid
• Canon 5d Mk ii

On most of the shots, a 3 light setup was used. One mono-light was fired from a boom arm, camera right/overhead, through a large octobox. To give Sheeka a bit of separation from the white background, the second mono-light was fired from camera left and behind the subject, through a 20° grid. The third light was shot from camera right and about waist high, through a small softbox to give the pants a bit of definition.

The head-shot and lean-in pose were both shot using only the first two lights described above.

All clothing designed and provided by Amanda deLeon Clothing.

Questions, or comments? Let me know by filling out the comment form just below this post.

When I transitioned from my old site to this new one, I lost quite a few of my posts due to errors in the migration process.  I could have gone through the trouble of retrieving them all, but I thought since this was a new start, and my old blog received very little attention from me, I would just start fresh.  So far, I have been pretty pleased with that decision, but I really missed having one particular shoot on the site.

In May of 2009 I was asked by my wife (fashion designer Amanda deLeon) to shoot her current collection.  It was a really fun day and we ended up with quite a few really great shots.  Here are a few of my favorite images, of two of my favorite looks from the day.  After the images, I’ll talk about the lights used and the look we were trying to achieve with each one.

Thoughts & Shooting Notes

Going into the day, I knew things would probably go pretty smoothly.  I was working with a client I know, a model who I had worked with several times and we really weren’t pressed for time.  So, with the usual obstacles pretty much out of the way, we could really focus and take time getting the shots/looks that we wanted.

For the trenchcoat, we really wanted to utilize a feature that the venue had available, which was a huge bus.  Yes, this bar had a huge antique bus (or half of one actually) inside that was normally used as a VIP area + DJ booth.  The colors of the bus really worked well with the coat, and it gave a sense that the model was outside.  In post, I wanted to give the images a “retro” feel, and I think we were able to accomplish that pretty well.

The swimsuit (bodysuit) is a really futuristic/progressive design, and I really wanted to play off of that theme.  I decided to go with fairly hard lighting, utilizing a large beauty dish with mono-light positioned overhead and a second mono-light with reflector for rim/fill lighting.  In post, I wanted to really accentuate the shadows and really smooth out the skin to give the model an almost extraterrestrial look.

Overall, I was really happy with the images we were able to produce from this session.  There are quite a few more, but these are my favorite from the day.

Have questions?  Hit me up in the comments.

One hundred degree Texas heat + one rock band + a storage facility = a whole lot of fun.

I’ve known the guys from Squint for quite some time and after moving to Austin, I knew I had to shoot these guys.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

Thoughts and Shooting Notes:

The corridors in Squint’s practice space created a great backdrop for these portraits.  The interior shots were lit with a Paul C Buff X1600 shot through a beauty dish at camera left.  I also had an X1600 w/ reflector directly behind the subjects and another hot-shoe flash directed down the hallway.  The back-lighting really did a lot to give the images some depth and make the red doors pop.  I also had a silver reflector at camera light for some fill lighting.

The outdoor shot was lit with a beauty dish at camera left, a hot-shoe flash for some back-lighting and a silver reflector at camera right for some fill.

Thanks to the guys from Squint for being such awesome subjects, and braving the heat for the few outside takes.  You guys are champs.

My wife, Amanda deLeon, is a pretty amazing fashion designer, and I consider myself lucky to be able to shoot most of her lines when the time comes each season.  Earlier this summer was no different when she asked me to shoot her Summer line for her Etsy store. Amanda wanted a very bright, surreal look to these images, with lots of color and pop.  Here are a few images from the shoot.

Thoughts & Shooting Notes:

This was probably one of the more challenging portrait shoots I have had.  It was steaming hot, which presented the challenge of keeping the models cool (read, not shiny), and the sun was either full force, or behind clouds, presenting an ever changing lighting situation.  Luckily we were prepared with lots of water, fans and plenty of flashes!

I shot this, as usual, with the Canon 5d mkII.  One White Lightning X1600 was positioned camera left and shot through a large softbox, with the sun being used as fill light from the right.  I also positioned a silver reflector below the models to give their chin a bit of definition.  The light on the wall in the far background was produced using another X1600 with reflector.