Being a Model for the Day

I love taking photos and shooting people are my specialty. I know my expertise is getting [real] emotions out of people. This is much more difficult then picking a cool background or framing a person in the shot or lighting or editing or anything else. It’s not everyday that a big camera is stuck in your face capturing every angle so sometimes I think this can be a bit intimidating. I had a little different idea for this project… sometimes I move from shoot to shoot for clients and I wanted to simply take photos of a friend of mine. Well, for me that still means a hair/makeup artist, professional equipment and cool locations. In the photos below you get to meet Jill who has a wonderful smile but is even a more amazing person. Oh, and did I mention that this is her first photo shoot?

Jill shows up with her nerves high but a smile on her face. Gertie (@gertieglam) begins to work her hair and makeup magic to create the look I want to see. After sharing a bottle of champagne a little wine Jill’s nerves begin to fade as mine increase as I see how beautiful she looks. The pressure is on and I need to come through in capturing her beauty.

The first part of our shoot is on Townlake which has a slight issue… people. Luckily it’s a week day and we are on the slower side but people can make posing in from of a big camera very nerve racking. Oh, and it’s crazy hot outside but Jill flips a switch and acts and looks like a seasoned model. It’s around sunset and the light is nice and warm, the trees and grass are amazingly green and photo after photo turn out amazing.

I almost always use natural light and try to as much as possible. The big issue this posses is that we only have about 45 to 60 minutes to use the ‘magic hour’ of sunset and I have two locations planned. After I get the shots I want we hurry back to my place for a wardrobe change and quick hair/makeup touch up. The next location was recommended to me by @Spratx who represent many amazing graffiti artists here in Austin. I wanted a wall of graffiti that wasn’t all tagged up and they did not disappoint. The sun was reaching it’s demise but we were able to finish on a high note just in time for dinner and few beverages at East Side Showroom to end an amazing evening.

It’s still very interesting to me that in a few hours we can create pictures and memories that will last a lifetime.
I present to you J to the ILL.

Sometimes you have to use items around you to get the shot – plus ladders are heavy and boring to climb…

Here is the result:

I was playing around with the editing of this photo & liked all three versions I created so I simply decided to cut it up & use all three:

Okay… face the wall and then slowly look to the left, first down then up. Ha, here is a cool Behind the Scenes pic of me directing a girl that needs zero direction… I think I was trying just to look cool. Here is the shot:

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we left behind.” -C.S. Lewis

Here I am again trying to act like I know how to pose…

Here is a another cool Behind the Scenes with the final product:

Thanks again to Lindsey @__ for capturing all the Behind the Scenes photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though I use high end equipment, cameras still never seem to reproduce how the scene was in real life. Thankfully with a few enhancements via photoshop I can recreate the image I have in my head. Here is a after and before editing: