Meet Brandon.  To all the single ladies out there, especially those in the Dallas area, Brandon is not a fireman, so you won't find him in any calendars of questionable intent.  Sorry.  In fact, he is a man with a heart for God, and what could be better/hotter than that, right?  Oh, and did I mention he's single and likes to Salsa dance?  I'm just sayin'...  Don't email me askin' for his number, email address, or facebook page; I'm not running a match-making service here... not yet anyway.  If this photography thing doesn't work out, though, I'll be reconsidering. Brandon is actually in the men's group I meet with on Monday nights at church.  He's a stand up guy with a genuine concern for others, and it's been an honor getting to know him and sharing Monday nights with him.  Brandon's had people tell him he should give modeling a try.  I don't see it, but whatever.  [grin]  Clearly he's not a bad lookin' guy, right?  Long story short, we got together this past Wednesday evening to shoot a few images for a portfolio just to test the waters to see if he can bring in a little extra cash while he finishes seminary school.

I've gotta give a shout out to my assistant Jeff for this shoot.  Jeff is also in the Monday men's group with Brandon and I, and he came along to hold reflectors & lights and generally just make fun of Brandon all night.  Here's a couple SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) images showing Jeff in action and the setup for the last image in this post.  We were actually walking back to the car and I saw this chair sitting up on this apartment building balcony and told them I wanted to do"just one more shot".  With the residents peeking out the blinds trying to figure out what we were doing and at one point Jeff laying on his back holding the reflector up towards Brandon's face, it was kind of a bizarre sight.

Here's the final image.  With all the crazy temperatures of light casting different colors, I decided to just neutralize all the lights colors in post to create a more moody image.

Oh, and chill out apartment lady... we put your chair back. Oops... I lied.  One more.

Oh... and these 2.

Our good friends Ray and Hannah got married about 6 months ago in Baton Rouge, but because their big day was a little crazy with some huge freeway problems, their wedding day schedule got compressed and they didn't have much time to do many photos of just the two of them.  In addition, Hannah wanted to get at least a few bridal images done as well.  Kylie and I asked my friend Tina if she wanted to photograph Ray & Hannah to get a few more images to put in her budding photography portfolio while we came along to assist. Tina and Hannah were finally able to work out a date and time, and it was perfect... 101 degrees and humid.  You couldn't ask for better weather for outdoor photography.  I felt bad for Hannah in her weding dress and Ray in his heat-seeking black suit... I was burning up in shorts and flip flops, so I can't believe they didn't spontaneously combust in the middle of the shoot. With three of Hannah's sisters and mom in town, Kylie and I helping out, and Tina shooting, we had plenty of people to towel dry, fan, hydrate, and just generally pamper our models.  Everything turned out great and I'm sure Tina got some awesome images.  I didn't shoot much during the session (I mainly relagated myself to reflector holder, location/lighting scout, and a human light stand), but I did manage to squeeze in a few images along the way.

On a lighter note, my friend and colleague, Maribel, is celebrating a milestone birthday today...in Portland... away from her family.  To top it off, her birthday will now forever be marked as an anniversary of Michael Jackson's death (which, btw, she seriously almost shed a tear for earlier this afternoon).  Very unfortunate, but what are you gonna do, right?  Maribel just rollls with the punches, though.  What a trooper.  Several of us went out to dinner tonight and acted as her surrogate family for a mini celebration.  Happy birthday, Maribel!

So, when Melissa came into town last week for her "just because" photos, honestly I was a little nervous going into her session 1) just because she's a photographer which means I'm always a little leary about what they're thinking as I'm shooting (I know she's thinking I'm a crackhead and wondering why I'm taking this photo... Oh, crap, I forgot to white balance before those last 5 shots...), and 2) she mentioned a couple times in advance how nervous she gets on the other side of the lens.  In fact, I think she said "I'm sorry" more than once before we even got started.  I started thinking... Uh-oh... I wish I woulda paid more attention in my college Psych 101 class so I could play some Jedi mind tricks on her to get her relaxed.  When it was all said and done, though, if Melissa was nervous, I wish all my clients would get that nervous for their sessions.  She was fantastic and a breeze to photograph, not to mention funny and sweet.  Melissa just wanted something very casual, so we went down to the Deep Ellum Arts District, and the urban backdrops were a perfect compliment for her images.  Here's some of my favorites from our time together. Tell me, does she look nervous here?

And these next three images are just. plain. saucy.

I love the "casual-ness" and the beautiful light in this photo.

One of my favorites from our play time in Deep Ellum.

It was right after this image that we got kicked outta the parking garage for photographing on private property.  Whateva... we still got this cool image, so take that professional-but-overly-authoritative parking garage police lady.

Last one of the night.  I think we were all a little beat down at this point, but Melissa was a trooper to accommodate another "just one more" request.

Thanks to my friend Tina for helping me out during this session.  We used a lot of off-camera flash for this session, so I know her arms were burning by the end of the night from holding the light above her head. And thanks, Melissa, for making this such a fantastic session.  I had a blast and loved that you were willing to do whatever.  You're the best!

I had a great session tonight with photografriend and Austin reunion housemate Melissa Andries.  Melissa drove into town from Louisiana to get some images made for one of the best reasons I can think of - just because.  So many times people tend to only think about getting photography done around the major milestones in their lives... getting engaged, marriage, birthdays, maternity/pregnancy, graduation, first night in the slammer, etc... kidding on that last one- just seeing if you were paying attention, although I wonder if you can get a nice framed pint of your mug shot?  Anyway, Melissa just want to get some images made for herself, her husband, and her mom... just because.  Here's a quick preview of an upcoming blog post with more of her images.

Thanks, Melissa!  Enjoy the shopping tomorrow.