Cameron is slowly becoming a regular face around my studio. This makes our second session together and this time for his senior portraits. A really laid back, easy going, and kind fella whose only request was "a picture with my truck, and a picture with my cowbell" (which being an MSU alumni I happily obliged to).
Also Cameron's hair does not change as drastically as the photos show. We did a soccer studio session a few months back for him and I never got around to sharing them, so I added those onto the bottom.
Libby /
What an unbelievably (or rather unbelibbyli) great senior session with one of my favorite human beings ever. I have been lucky enough to get to know Miss Libby Li for over three years now from birthday parties and movie nights to word puns and an intercontinental vacation this young lady has been an absolute blast every minute of the way.
Libby is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. A genuinely beautiful soul all around. Salutatorian of her class and planning to attend University of Mississippi next year to begin her studies in her career of becoming an Ophthalmologist. Yes it hurt my heart to know she wouldn't be attending my alma mater of Mississippi State University but as long as it makes her happy I am happy! She's one of the VERY few people I would ever put on an Ole Miss T-shirt for but for her.... it would happen.
And a bit about our shoot. We did a 2 part session for Miss Libby Li. One we spent a beautiful afternoon in Starkville, MS (what you see below) and the other a bit different (what you see at the end).
Me with 2 of the 3 Listers. Joyce (far right) is one of Libby's big sisters as well as my helper and girlfriend.
The "Red" series was something I have had in mind for a while and finally made happen. Libby is a dancer and her senior recital is coming up so we decided to dedicate a series to her dancing (what you see below). The powder was ordered off Amazon and went much farther than I expected. I only used around half of what I ordered. The setup was a 4 light setup with 2 gridded strip boxes for rim lights. One white beauty dish directly above camera and one bare overhead light, again for a bit of a highlight in her dark hair. I also threw in a table top/cd player in there because I don't believe a photo shoot should happen without good music. It's like peanut butter and jelly ya know?
I also have to give a very big thank you and shoutout to Sam Stevens Motors for allowing me to shoot this series in their car wash bay making for an easy cleanup (I thought). The powder was EXTREMELY fine (finer than flour) and it ended floating through the air and settling on a very nice vehicle being stored in their garage. Luckily it only needed a good washing but still made me a bit nervous. That is just a story and helpful hint to any photographers out there debating about throwing powder in your studio.... beware it gets everywhere and onto all your gear... much of which mine (especially fabrics) still have a red tint. If you ask "Why didn't you do it outside" was because it had been raining for about 3 days at this time and was still raining during the session but didn't stop us.
Makeup: Katie Leach
Light Diagram for "red" series
Carnival /
I have been wanting to try photographing a few new things to expand my portfolio a bit and learn something new. One of these new styles I have been wanting to attempt and learn more about is high fashion. I believe any photographer should take a break for a few days and just do something new, learn something, make a few mistakes, but mainly just have a good time behind the camera; in essence I guess I am "recharging my batteries".
This past weekend, the 37th Annual Railroad Festival was underway in my hometown, and ever since I was a kid there has been a carnival that came to town with it. I will admit in my younger days it was all about arm band day and any ride that I wasn't tall enough to ride, but for the past few years I have thought that carnival style would make for a fun series of portraits. I finally made that happen with an amazing team (check them out below).
Hair: Lindsey Johnson
Makeup: Katie Leach
Clothing: L.A. Green
Assistant: Joyce Li
Models: Janna and Kelbey
This entire series was photographed on a fully functioning and crowded carnival. We got a few awkward looks and stares and even a few people asking for photos with my models but was an overall great time. Thanks to the Amory Railroad Festival for getting it cleared for me to shoot as well as L.A. Green for the styling.
Camera: Canon 5d III
Canon 85mm 1.2L
Flash: 1 Alienbee 400
Cybersync reciever/trasmitter
47" Octobox
Vegabond Mini Power
For those of you wondering how these images were lit, it was pretty easy! I used 1 Alienbee 400 with a 47" Octobox (double diffused). The flash was always to camera left/right depending on the image and with varying distances but always above their eye line. I tried often to get a nice colored rim light on my models that was naturally put off by the carnival itself. (you can see this best on the last group in the series) The entire evening was powered off one charge of the Vegavond Mini Lithium (love that thing). Photographed on a Canon 5d iii with a Canon 85mm 1.2. Camera settings varied quite a bit depending on where we were located in the carnival with some locations being lit drastically different. The one thing that stayed consistent was the extremely low aperture (1.2-2.8). For those that are move of a visual type learner there is a diagram below.
Photo courtesy of to Mr. StrangeBrew Coffee himself. Glad Ms. Brew and himself were able to come hang out and experience the festival as well. (check out their page as well)
Down At The Water's Edge /
I have always wanted to build and style my own wedding session and I finally got the chance to!
This series is the combination work of quite a few awesome people but I wanted to share with you what inspired, molded, and made this happen the way it did. Being from the south I have always grown up outdoors, on the water, around a pond, and just the stereotypical Mississippi we all know and some of you have heard of! But I have always loved it. I've had an image of a bride standing in a flower covered canoe for literally years but finding a fearless bride to do that isn't the easiest thing in the world. We had a few road bumps along the way. The actual scheduled day to shoot was a 100 percent chance of rain (it was accurate) and also a last minute location change, but it turned out to be a great but slightly cold day. So glad I was able to finally, after years of envisioning this, have it come together better than I had ever thought it could.
As far as the amazing people involved on this session.... On my route to and from college there was a guy (at the time I didn't know him) who built hand made canoes in his driveway/garage. I have eyed these things for years! But never took the time to stop and just chat. Finally I did and met Davis, told him my idea and the ball began to roll (BTW he builds and sells them... they are amazing). I then met an incredibly nice lady, Elizabeth, at Uptown Lily Flowers in Louisville, MS. I told her, in my extremely non educated flower vocabulary, what I was going for along with the help of Joyce Li's Pinterest board, Elizabeth took what we wanted and went so far beyond. An absolute grand slam. I stuck with my forever great makeup team of Neely and Katie who you have seen doing all my makeup for years now along with Lindsey doing hair (sorry we were over an hour late for our hair appointment Lindsey). "The Bride and Groom" from Columbus were nice enough to supply our dress and tux as always (love that place). All these people are linked at the bottom, go give them all some love!
Hope you enjoy.
Flowers: Uptown Lily Flowers
Dress/Tux: The Bride and Groom
Hair: Lindsey Johnson
Makeup : Neely Riley Walker and Katie Leach
Models: Sarah Holmes and Cameron Hinkle
Canoe Builder: Davis Lovelace
Chelsea and Michal | Wedding /
"Bol to krásny svadobný deň." translates from Slovak into "It was a beautiful wedding day" and that is what it truly was. Chelsea and Michal's day was absolutely perfect. Filled with perfect people from literally all over the world (Michal is from Slovakia and so were his family and friends in attendance). Even with a language barrier a smile always translates. Glad I was able to spend the day with this group of people.
