and for the last post of the year, we shall continue our tradition!

so, once again, it’s time to check out photos from the Esperanza Plantation Holiday Showcase!

this was the 9th(!) annual show and, like they’ve been doing for the last few years, it was held in the heart of Fondren at the old Pix/Capri Theater.

like i’ve said for the last few years, this is a 100+ photo post so don’t expect a lot of commentary from me. just sit back and enjoy photos of a rocking show!

and, as always, let’s give props to Stephen Barnett of Davaine Lighting for lighting so awesome, i have trouble describing it

so, without further ado:

The Line-Up! (in order of appearance)

- T.B. Ledford

- Bear Colony

- El Obo

- Wooden Finger

- Johnny Bertram & The Golden Bicycles

wanted to continue the tradition of letting the first shot be me walking in and grabbing a photo of that year’s poster on the front window.

i got there pretty early, so i grabbed a quick shot of El Obo doing a sound check.

but let’s get to it!

first up, from jackson, MS, T.B. Ledford!

T.B. Ledford ladies and gents!  next up:

Bear Colony!

(that’s right! i finally got a chance to shoot them!)

Bear Colony ladies and gents!  next on the stage:

El Obo!

this year, instead of going all solo, he had a crew with him!

El Obo ladies and gents!  and next:

Wooden Finger!

i just don’t have the words. Wooden Finger rocked it like nobody’s business!

this is what came after the photo i used to intro wooden finger above the cut.  they ripped down the white paper that had put up to project their name on and kept right on rocking!

and that was Wooden Finger everyone!  woooo!

up next, and the last act of the night:

Johnny Bertram & The Golden Bicycles!

Johnny B is actually up north in portland these days but he made the long trip back to  jackson because that’s how much he wanted to be in this show.  and him and his crew didn’t disappoint

and that will wrap up the 9th annual Esperanza Holiday Showcase!

every year rocks and this year was no exception!

and this also wraps up another year of Scenes Around Jackson!  2011 was a pretty up and down year.  looking back, i only posted 12(!) times, the entire year (not including this post).  part of the reason was a good thing. i was pretty busy shooting for BOOM Jackson and assisting Tom on his shoots and putting together a gallery show up in memphis.  but the other part was bad because my trusty DELL desktop computer finally died on me so that meant no new shoots (hell, i couldn’t even access my any of my old photos from my external drives)

but thanks to the kindness of family and friends, i have a new computer now so i plan to really keep up with SAJ for 2012!

i’m also planning some pretty big photography projects too (including two gallery shows next month!) so keep your eye out for announcements :)

(and on a personal note, let’s all help keep the internet uncensored! stop SOPA!)

alrighty!

hey chaney!  what time is it?

that’s right!  ya’ll ain’t got to go home, but ya gotta get the hell outta here!

have a good one everybody

see ya next year!

so, as you can see, it took me awhile to get back to that but, figured i’d finally go ahead and post those photos LoL.

it was my first shoot for PORTICO and i was assigned to shoot Zac Harmon.  he was back in mississippi and would be performing at the Farish Street Heritage Festival.

PORTICO wanted some photos of him and then some photos of him when he was actually performing on stage.

so, after borrowing some lighting gear from my friend Tom Beck and asking rion if he would be down to assist me, i made my way downtown to farish street to get started.

the gear i borrowed from tom was his beauty dish and battery pack and rion and i set it up in front of the Alamo Theater.  i’d scouted it out a few days before the shoot and really thought that would be a great place to shoot a legendary blues musician.

i always like to get to shoots early, so i have time to get all set up and make sure the lighting is right so i don’t feel rushed.  and since that’s what i did for this shoot, it meant it was time to put rion in front of the camera to get some light tests

another photographer that was there working for the, hmm, i think it was the Jackson Advocate, saw me getting all set up and  came over to just talk so i decided to use her for my light test shots too

trying to see how the light was looking from different angles

after making sure i had the lighting were i wanted it, i was pretty much set.  all that was left was waiting for Zac to get there.

i’ll admit, it took a little bit longer than i thought. in fact, i was starting to get a little worried cause the sun was sinking lower and lower and i was worried that we’d lose the good light that we had.  but right when i was about to call his agent, to see if there was a problem, him and his band arrived and it was time to shoot

zac was really great to work with.  friendly, funny, and just an all around cool guy.

after taking a few more of him zac asked if i’d shoot him with his band.  cause, in his words, “i wouldn’t be who i am without them”.

and even though the assignment was only just supposed to be him, i with ahead and said “no problem” because i really liked the fact he didn’t make it all about him.  like i said, really cool guy.

after this, zac and the crew had to leave so they could go get ready for sound check so they’d be ready to perform so rion and i wandered around the festival

after grabbing this sunset shot, it was time to make my way over to the stage cause it was go time for zac and his crew

i had full access so i could walk around backstage too, which meant i could get some pretty nice angles that i normally wouldn’t be able to get

the crew running the lights were great. i just wish that there were more lights toward the back of the stage.  unless other members of the band moved up closer to zac, i really couldn’t shoot them.

i shot the concert with a combination of a 50mm prime lens and a 35mm prime lens

had to walk around towards the back, but i got the drummer

then walked back around and got the rest of the guys

and this was the last shot of the night.  also one of my favs.

after that, rion and i headed back to the car and that was that.

if you like zac harmon’s music, you really need to see him live.  he rocked it.

and that was my first shoot for PORTICO.  gotta say, it was pretty sweet. not everyday you get to meet a blues legend.

next post will be the last post of 2011.  so you know what that means! yep, time for the Esperanza Plantation Holiday Showcase!  it kicks off this weekend, and since this may be the last one ever, you know i’ll be there shooting.

so, have a good one everybody.

see ya next week.

they were working on putting together a “Girls of Rock” 2011 calendar and they wanted to go with a more professional photographer this time.

the models, the “Girls of Rock”, would be chosen in a series of contest sponsored by Rock 93 and held at different bars/clubs around the city.  after 12 girls were picked, that’s when i would take over and start shooting.

so, for the last week of november and first week of december i, along with my friend Rion who was also my assistant, shot my first calendar at different locations around Jackson.

and since 2011 will be ending in a few weeks (wow, this year went by fast) i figure i’d go ahead and post a few of the photos.

instead of going in the order i shot them, since it’s a calendar i figured i’d go by month.  let’s get to it.

January

model: Ivana / location: trace park

for all the shoots, i used a combination of a soft box and/or beauty dish.  for this shoot, it was all soft box.  i have it off to the right on this shot and i let the sun fill in everything else.  the guy that owns the car was one of the sponsors of the calendar and he wanted one of his custom cars in the shot.

i actually shot another model, Savannah, right after i was done shooting ivana at this same location.  but since savannah is the month of june, you’re gonna have to wait a bit to see those shots

this was also one of those shoots were i could not have gotten it done if rion wasn’t helping me.  it was so windy that day that, without him there, my lights would not have stayed up.  yay for friends who work for free! :p

i think three photos per month/model is good.  so let’s move on.

February

model: Brittania / location: [redacted]

yeah, gonna play it a little fast and loose with the location on this one, cause someone i respect asked me to. but i can tell you that this shoot was sponsored by The Fish Bowl, which is where the snake and lizard(?) came from.

so, one of the main things that was required of this shoot was that they wanted that aquarium in the shots.  which meant i had to balance the off camera lighting with the light coming out of the aquarium, while  still making sure brittania was well lit.  yeah, it was tricky LoL but i really like the end result.  and brittania was just really cool and a great model.

also, she’s a tattoo artist over at TWIZTID IMAGES TATTOOS and PIERCING and she ended up doing two of rion’s first tattoos a few weeks later.

March

model: Kimber / location: rock 93.9

man this was a really tight location.  and by tight i mean a really tight squeeze up in that booth LoL.

there was barely space for me and kimber so there was no room at all for off camera lights.  i still used them though, just had to put them outside the room and crank up the power so the light would still be good coming through the window into the room.

kimber was a great model and, despite the very small space, i think we made it work.

April

model: Courtney / location: poets II

courtney was actually the very first model i shot for the entire calendar so, as you can imagine, i was a little nervous going into it.  but after the first few shots we got in the groove and the rest of the shoot was all gravy.

(and yes, bud light was also one of the sponsors)

i actually had to use both the softbox and beauty dish for this shoot.  the softbox i used to light courtney and the beauty dish i used to throw some light on the background, cause it was looking too dark without it.

after this shoot, i was no longer nervous for any of the rest.  just needed to shake off the cobwebs of momentary self-doubt

May

model: Bailey / location: southern beverage company, inc.

if you guessed that bud light and cult were both sponsors then, yep, now you know why all of that is in these photos!

all the rock 93 shirts we had were a bit too big for her so, it was actually her idea to cut it up and wear it like that.  hey, it works

heh, this must be what it feels like to be a nascar photographer. sponsor logos everywhere!

June

model: Savannah / location: trace park

yep, savannah was the second model i was shooting at the trace park location after i was done shooting ivana.  and yes, the same guy that had the sports car also had custom bikes he wanted shot too.

pretty sweet bikes.

savannah was a blast to work with.  she was nervous, cause she had never modeled before but i think she did fine.  that was a long day of shooting, but it was also one of my favorite days too.  couldn’t ask for better weather to shoot in.

(oh, and i’m just using the soft box again.)

July

model: Leslie / location: fire

fire was a cool location to shoot in.  the guys in charge pretty much gave us the total run of the place so we had multiple spots to choose from.

hm, i’m actually having trouble remembering, but i think i used the beauty dish for all these shots.

the first shot was up on the main stage. the guys were cool enough to turn on the background lights for me and i told them i wanted them to leave the drum set up there.

the second shot was up behind the sound board.  they actually hung that banner in the background for me, just for this shot.

and this one was on one of the backroom pool tables.  the fire guys let us use one of their signed guitars.

this was a really fun shoot.

August

model: Erika / location: n/a

remember that guy who let us use his car and bikes for the trace park shoot, well he also let us come out to his garage a couple of days later so we could shoot erika with his custom boats.

erika is an actually model so this shoot went pretty quick. the hardest part was lighting it up.  it was pretty low light in their so i had to use the beauty dish to throw some light in the background while using the soft box to light erika.

oh, there was also another contest to being put in the Girls of Rock calendar and that was the cover contest. whoever won that would be the model put on the cover of the calendar.  erika won that part too, which is why i used a photo of her at the beginning.

September

model: Amanda / location: the bulldog

amanda has also done some modeling so this was another pretty quick and easy shoot.

i have to give rion credit for the idea to shoot her outside on the patio like this. i was just gonna shoot her inside but he’d walked outside for something, so this fountain on the patio and suggested it. and it was a good call.

really like this couch shot. so, let’s see, this shot was shot with the softbox, the first shot, behind the bar was shot with the softbox lighting amanda and the beauty dish throwing some light on the background.  the outside shot was just shot with the beauty dish.

whew.

October

model: Kendra / location: renegade cigar

this was a fun shoot. kendra was a blast and it was also my second shoot of the entire project.  i’d just shot courtney earlier in the day so i was feeling pretty in the groove by now.

plus, that cigar shot was a total man-cave LoL. just a bunch of guys chillin’ watchin’ sports, talking business, and smoking cigars.

this shot was inside the vault (the building used to be a bank) and this is were they kept the really good cigars.

really loved that background wall mural.

and i shot all of these with the beauty dish.

November

model: Kerri / location: ugh. can’t remember the park name

man, the thing i remember the most about this shoot was that i felt so bad for kerri.  don’t let the blue sky fool you, it was really cold that day. cold and windy, which just made it colder.

but kerri never complained.  she was up for anything if it got the shot.

so i made sure to shoot as fast as i could so i wouldn’t keep her out there in that bikini any longer than i had to.

all of these were lit by the softbox.  really quick shoot.

December

model: Morgan / location: welty commons hall

once again, i found myself shooting over at the welty commons.  it really is a great location for shoots.

going a bit more for the “studio” feel, so, white backdrop, with the beauty dish as the background light and the soft box as the key light.

with morgan, we both knew she was gonna be “december” so we made sure to have that hat

and that will wrap it up!

i really enjoyed shooting this calendar.  it was a lot of hard work, but it also proved, mostly to myself, that i could do something that was so “large scale.”  i mean, this was my first time have to organize multiple shoots with multiple models at multiple locations. and i was being paid a nice sum of money so, like the saying goes, failure wasn’t an option LoL

but rock 93 and all the models were happy with the final product so that’s a win

well, i have no idea what i’ll be posting next week.  the only new thing coming up (besides me working on my photobook project) is the annual Esperanza Plantation Holiday Showcase at the Pix/Capri on the 17th. (odds are, this is the last one so for sure i’ll be there to shoot it)

i’m sure i’ll find something in my archives to post for next week though

anyway, that’s it for this week!

have a good one everybody!

these are the photos of a beginning

i got there about an hour or two into the start of it.

the bulk of the Occupiers were doing a march around the Capitol so i decided to wait at Smith Park until they got back

around this point is when everyone who had marched to the Capitol started to make their way back

a giant banner that everyone was signing.

“remember, remember…”

Carl Gibson from US Uncut is the cowboy and the lady to the right is Elizabeth Waibel, a reporter for the Jackson Free Press.

Up The Creek brought free food for everyone at the park.  they were life savers

everyone digging into the food

ages were there. talking about past movements.

did i mention all ages?

this was the nice woman who brought all the food from Up The Creek

people had also brought ice and water and snack foods for everyone to share

around this time, a General Assembly was starting to gather and come to order

everyone comes to order and the General Assembly begins

(for more info on just what the General Assembly is and how it works, check out this link here)

there were, if i’m remembering correctly, about 5 major items on the agenda that day. one of the biggest was if they were going to vote for permanent occupation of Smith Park.

voting begins on an agenda topic

calling on someone to speak

the guy speaking now is Dane Carney.  facebook friend of mine and one of the ones that helps to maintain the OccupyMississippi facebook page

talking about how to engage more with the Latino community (if i’m remembering correctly. man, i’m out of practice, i tend to take better notes then this while i’m shooting.)

he asked me to take his photo.

voting

cleaning up after themselves

it’s Sue Harman. the least time i saw sue was at the Pro-Wisconsin Rally earlier this year (click the link to check out the photos from that)

keeping the minutes of the General Assembly

around this point is when the debate started on if they were gonna permanently occupy Smith Park

the vote is called for and given.

and so it came to pass that the General Assembly of OccupyJackson voted for permanent occupation of Smith Park.

after that pretty important vote, the G.A. drew to a close and adjourned.  then it was time to mingle and trade contact info

and that’s the beginning.

despite what some people may think, the people involved in this, in my opinion, are not ones to engage in any “tomfoolery“.

they seem very sincere and earnest and represent a diverse group of race and ages.  and, i’ll admit, i agree with a lot of what they’re talking about.

i look forward to seeing what happens, not just with Occupy Mississippi, but with the global Occupy Movement.

have a good one everybody.

see ya next post.

Scenes Around Jackson…

is…

back!

this return would not have been possible without the love and aid of some iFriends *looks at Katie West and Vanessa Yaremchuk* and family *looks at his Aunt Linda* <3

expect full posts and all new photos to come soon!  i have a lot to catch up on and lots more to shoot

have a good one everybody!

Can’t Stop The Signal!

my trusty DELL desktop, that i got for my birthday back in March of 2004, finally gave up the ghost last month.

*tips a 40 oz.*

i’m currently using my sister’s old laptop (and by old, i mean, this thing was state of the art…back in 2001) so, i’m able to use the internet but not much else (since it tends to overheat every 30 or so min and it’s so slow it can’t read any of my external harddrives, which are the drives i keep all my photos on.  and far to slow to run anything like Lightroom or Photoshop.)

so! until i save up to get a new system, gonna have to put Scenes Around Jackson on temporary hiatus.

but I! Shall! Return!

i’m gonna be in a gallery show up in memphis this friday!

my friend cody is helping set it up and it’s called Some Art Round 3.

so, if you’re in the downtown memphis area at 517 S. Main St. on the day of Friday 29th between the hours of 6:00pm - 9:00pm, well i’d love to see you

and now, some photos from the series i’m using for the show.  these won’t be the ones i’m actually showing. to see those, well, come on up to downtown memphis this friday

(and one from a series that i may be showing next month)

next post will be a full post

ya’ll behave out there

one of the assignments was to get a photo of the band Furrows.

whenever i shoot a band, i always try to avoid the clichéd band photos.  y’know, the “put band in front of a brick wall” or shoot band standing on or around railroad tracks” type of photos.  so, i decided i wanted to shoot them in a recording studio.  i got in touch with Byron who, along with being the owner of Sneaky Beans is also the owner of Sneaky B Studios and asked if it was cool if i shot them in there since i’ve shot other groups in there before.

he said sure and, come to find out, the band was gonna be practicing there anyway and, after getting in touch with them, they said it was cool if i hung around, after the “official” shoot and just shot them while practicing.

sounded good to me

(make sure to check out the summer issue of BOOM Jackson to see the photo from the “official” shoot!)

(Tyler getting warmed up)

after taking the official shot i broke down my lighting and while the guys were setting up, i slapped a 35mm lens on my camera.

(Barry getting in tune)

i’m making plans for a new photo project called 30 Days and 30 Nights and i know i wanna shot it using only a 35mm lens.

(Tony getting ready on drums, in the background)

so, whenever i have the chance, i like to use it so i can get used to the feel of it.

(Cody looking like a rock star)

since it’s a prime lens, meaning you can’t zoom in and out, it really makes you use different parts of your brain when you’re trying to figure out how to compose a shot.

(Jason laying it down)

like usual, the lighting was pretty low in the studio, so i had to really bump up my ISO and slow down my shutter to get the shots.

but since i knew i was gonna be converting these into black and white anyway, i wasn’t too worried about the colors or grain.

i was on the other side of the glass for this shot.

it’s not always easy to get the entire band in a shot when you’re shooting documentary style like this.  which would explain why i really like this shot

i really like shooting in this style

anybody know who did that tree illustration?

heh, tyler was actually talking to Taylor Hildebrand, off frame camera left, when i took this.  he had swung by to grab some gear.

that’s a lotta wine!

and this was the last shot i got of tyler before he had to leave.  he had a gig to get to.

tyler leaving meant it was time for a smoke break!  it also meant we were outside listening to the tornado sirens going off.  a bad storm was passing through.

but that doesn’t mean band practice stops!

really like this shot

discussing the arrangement of the beats

really like this one too

and this was the last shot i grabbed before i wrapped it up and let them get back to practicing without me sticking a camera in their faces

many thanks to Furrows for letting me hang around and shoot them, it was blast.

have a good one everybody.

see ya next post!

the last time we got together we did a vintage style shoot over at The Commons.  i knew i wanted to do something completely different this time around and i knew i wanted it to be fashion.

i’ve been getting really into fashion lately, but haven’t had much of a chance to shoot it. (not since that PORTICO Jackson shoot last December) so figured this was the moment

so, a week before the shoot, i emailed Thuy some photo touchstones of the feel i was going for and then we met up a few days later to continue talking over ideas (what kind of make-up, hair style, clothes, etc.) and to nail down a time.

after that, i went to go scout out some locations i had in mind.  i knew i wanted it to have an “urban/summertime in the city” type of feel so that’s what i kept an eye out for as i drove around.  i found three spots that i liked (well, four actually, but even after i found the 4th spot, i knew i wouldn’t be shooting there, but it would go on my list of “future places to shoot”) so i made a note of them in my ipod touch and then went home to start making a list of the equipment i would need.

i wanted to play around with different light modifiers, so i decided to take 3 different ones.  a 20″ gridspot, a beauty dish, and my Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox.  and i needed a battery pack to provide power for my light source; an Alien Bee 1600.  (many thanks to my friend Tom for letting me borrow his gridspot, beauty dish, and battery pack)

Thuy, in addition to being a great model, can also do make-up and hair.  so, since she knew the feel we were going for, she took care of both wonderfully.  she also has a large collection of clothes, so she took care of that part too.  trust me, i could go on and on about how much she rocks, so just trust me, Thuy rocks.

the day of the shoot, one of the three locations was blocked off for some reason, so we just shot in two.  which actually worked out better i think.  it meant less running around.  and it also let me focus on making each one unique.  so the first location became the “urban” theme and the second “summertime in the city”.

heh, i think this is the longest opening i’ve done so let’s get to the photos.  i’ll fill in the rest of the details as we go!

the first location was the top of a parking garage at, around, 10am on a sunday morning.  if you ever wanna shoot downtown, sunday mornings are the best.  everything is closed and most people are still at church, so you’ll have all of downtown pretty much all to yourself.

so i started off using a reflector with a 20″ gridspot for my light modifier.  gridspots are always tricky to get a handle on and that was true for me too as i started shooting LoL

but i started to get a better handle on it as the shoot went on

(oh, and many thanks to my friend Nancy for letting me borrow her shades)

i chose the gridspot because i wanted a hard spotlight type of feel.  the tricky part was making sure i got that without overexposing

verrry tricky

Thuy is still standing in the same spot, i’ve just changed positions.  really gives it a different feel i think.

really liked those shoes

i’d brought a box fan with me, cause i knew i wanted some “wind movement” in some shots, and turned out i didn’t need it, cause it was a naturally windy day

thanks mother nature!

ok! i’ve changed things up here.

i’ve taken off the gridspot and put on the beauty dish.  see the difference?

it keeps the light hard, but gives it a more diffuse feel.

love that wind.

by the by, can i just say what a trooper Thuy was.  we may have started shooting early in the morning, but that doesn’t mean it was chilly.  it was still hot and getting more humid as the minutes ticked by.

but when i asked for her to put that leather jacket on, she never missed a beat.

just awesome.

(one of thuy’s favs)

man, i’m getting warm just looking at her in that jacket LoL

flipped her back around, to face the other way

that building behind her is the Plaza Building

i was actually sitting on the ground for these

and that will wrap up the “urban” theme.

next up, an outfit/location change and the “summertime in the city” theme!

we’re now at the corner of Congress and Capitol street.  in addition to changing outfits and locations, i’ve also changed light modifiers.

i’m now using my Westcott Apollo 28″ softbox.

the beauty dish gives a diffuse but still hard light.  the softbox, as you can probably figure out from it’s name, gives a softer feel to the light.

like light you see coming through a window in the late afternoon.

wow.  Thuy’s a good model.

when i picked this location, i had no idea what color the clothes Thuy was going to end up wearing on the day of the shoot.  i just really liked the the light and how green the trees were.

when we were planing the shoot, i did tell her i wanted her in bright, primary colors.

i guess what i’m trying to get at is that i’m really glad that Thuy brought that green dress to wear.

it really popped.

ok, for those wondering about the lighting…

i’m using the softbox as my key light (which is just a fancy way of saying my main light) and i’m using the sun as a background highlight.

i move the softbox around as needed, but i always keep it towards the front.

i let the sun do all the work highlighting her from the back.

my favorite thing about this photo?  how she has her fingers touching her left arm.

i really like these shoes too.

and that was the last shot with the shades.

thanks again for the shades nancy!

that white wall to the right is the wall that surrounds the Governor’s Mansion.

gotta say, it was really nice being able to shoot these in the shade LoL

after the sitting, i had her get back up and into the sun.

*the wind starts blowing and thuy brushes her hair out of her face*

Me: wait! do that motion again!

*thuy does that motion again while looking directly at the camera.*

*shutter snap*

Me: awesome.

and this will wrap this area of the location.

the last few shots will take place a little further up Congress St. but still keeping to the same theme.

ok, i’ve changed the light modifier again!  can you guess which of the three i’m using now?

*(i’ll let you know at the end of the post)

last time i shot here was during Jessica’s last photoshoot before she moved to austin.  i really love how you can see the Capitol in the background.  just have to be sure you aren’t in the middle of the street when cars are coming down it.  another plus to shooting on a sunday

and this will wrap up this location and the entire shoot!

i’m really glad i got a chance to shoot with Thuy again, after all this time.  neither one of us realized that we had let a year come and go in-between shoots.  i don’t think we’ll let that happen again (in fact, i have an idea for another project already in mind. ooooooo!)

so, thanks to Tom for once again letting me borrow some equipment.  thanks to Nancy for letting me borrow her shades.  and thanks to Thuy for, once again, being the model supreme.

have a good one everybody!

see ya next post!

*(oh! and i was using the beauty dish)

speaking of assisting tom, whenever i assist him on a shoot, i tend to take lots of behind the scenes photos.  i’ve always loved looking at photos like that and since i also love documentary style photography i really enjoy doing it.

so, figured i would finally start to post some of them.

these are all from the Jamie Ainsworth shoot.

the team!

photographer: Tom Beck

model: Jamie Ainsworth

mua/hair: Leah Vincent

photo assists: Meredith Norwood & William Patrick Butler

location: The Commons

this was an early morning shoot.  we all got there early cause, even though the shooting itself tends not to take as long, you still have to factor in time for hair and make-up

leah getting jamie ready

the team, discussing shooting locations, while having that morning coffee

tom explaining his vision!

we’re actually upstairs now, shooting in one of those rooms.  that’s a softbox to the left there.  tom’s talking over some of the poses with jamie.

yeah, i know, horribly overexposed.  i just really like meredith’s expression as tom shows her some of the shots

having meredith along as a second photo assist was really helpful.  plus it meant i could shoot more BTS

back in the chair to get ready for the next set

things get meta!  as i’m shooting behind the scenes photos, tom shows off his new ipad by showing us behind the scenes video of a recent past shoot.

meredith checking some settings on her new Canon 5D mark II

heh

tom beck, ladies and gentlemen!

what, you thought leah was the only one that could make-up and jamie was the only one that could model?

me shooting meredith while meredith records some BTS video footage

leah putting on the last touches, right before we start shooting the 2nd set

and the 2nd set begins.

as you can see, we’re always SRS BIZNESS when we shoot

after we wrapped the 2nd set, i figured that would be a good time to take a photo of all the equipment (that we weren’t in the middle of using)

and a photo of all the clothes

meredith looks at some of the jewelry while the rest of the team go over the photos we’ve shot so far

leah getting jamie ready for the 3rd and final set

tom playing around with meredith’s canon 5d mark II

heh, he must have really dug it cause, a few weeks later, he ended up buying one of his own

and the 3rd set begins!

meredith grabbing a quick BTS shot while tom shoots

tom can get those genuine smiles

figured i would throw in a shot i took with my cell phone

from the couch to a chair and a top change

and that will wrap the shoot!

oh, before we i go, meredith also let me play around with her camera, and these are 3 shots i took with it before i gave it back:

yeah.  i think i want a Canon 5D mark II now too

and that’s a wrap, from the Team Supreme

oh! and don’t forget to check out this behind the scenes video that meredith shot (with a clip or two from me) and edited by Jason Daniel!

have a good one everybody!

see ya next post!