Ben

Took a shot of Ben from the side of a bank building in East LA the other day. It was an awesome wall but was in a not-so-awesome neighborhood.

Lately I've been seeing more and more opportunities in less-than-stellar areas of town than anywhere else. I always wonder what people would think if I took out some camera equipment complete with lighting, reflectors and stuff and started doing a portrait shoot.

Hmmm... Maybe not a so good an idea...

Cinderella

Did a Quince portrait session of Emma at the Old LA Zoo. She was so beautiful and the dress was incredible! For Emma and her Mom it was the 1st time that they ever came here. We had a blast!!! I love this location! There's so many elements that can be used to get some great shots. It makes for a great session.

Veronica had an idea of doing like a Cinderella shot with one of Emma's shoes being left on the stairs while she ran up away from it. I figured, OK so I started with metering the scene with a light meter. Then I used a strobe to brighten the shoe.

Once we did that we were ready. I focused on the shoe and had her run up the stairs a couple of times until I got what I envisioned.

Brandon & Kiana

After what seemed like forever, we finally made it back to San Diego to visit. We were also able to do a shoot of my very close friend Junior and his kids Brandon and Kiana. Should I even call them kids any more? Brandon's getting ready to graduate from high school and Kiana's in 10th grade. Wow how time flies!!!

We really didn't get much time to do a complete shoot but the location was a beautiful place. I saw how the light from the sunset was playing against the water and, through the shoot, really wanted to incorporate that element into some of the shots.

Close to the end of the shoot I had to use it before it all went dark. I figured it would be perfect as a backdrop and had the kids set up close to the shore while Junior held the flash up. The sun also added an element of also being a edge/fill light.

As soon as everybody was ready and I had the ripples framed just right I started firing away. Click