Always have a plan "B".

Today I was to spend the afternoon with the beautiful Stephanie Ziajka, but unfortunately she took ill. Not to sound like Ricky Bobby, but thank God I have a smoking hot wife! Melinda could tell I was a little disappointed, so she changed clothes quickly and we were off. We went to the planned location, we did a little different look than what I had planned, but I still shot and had a great time with my gorgeous wife. I am a blessed man. Now if your model gets sick, don't be calling my wife, but have a plan B.

My Morning with Clyde

 Clyde is a Weimaraner that someone dropped off at our house. I can only imagine what trials and tribulations that they must have been going through to want to drop of such a wonderful dog. He has been with our family for five years now and has brought us great joy and happiness.  This morning I took him out in the field, but instead of a Remington 870, I brought a Nikon D300S. Weimaraners are natural hunters. As far as I know Clyde has never been trained to hunt, but as you see, he just has the instinct. He will retrieve until he loses interest, and he will point. Sometimes his instinct gets him in a little trouble. On more than one occasion, he has been a victim of our cats razor sharp claws. As soon as we stepped into the field, Clyde locked on to something. Normally, I can't get more than a few feet away from him, but this morning, something else had his attention. He slowly moved toward a downed oak tree in our pasture. His concentration at the overload setting. Machine like best describes his actions. He was doing something and I am sure he didn't know why. It was just in his blood. After a few seconds it happened, the point. Clyde was on point. After taking a couple of quick images, a kicked the brush and a rabbit scurried away.

Clyde is all business when we step into the field.

He zeros in on his prey!

He is locked on now.

The point, I love it when he does this. 

"Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun"

Man I love "Blinded by the Light"! You younger folks won't know what I am talking about. I also love shooting outside. Throw in a beautiful model in a swimsuit, and you have the recipe for success! In all seriousness, when I am shooting someone outside, I never want to have them facing into the sun. NEVER EVER! Now pay attention, here comes the tricky part. I try to position them so the sun is behind or to the side of them. The sun then puts a rim light on their skin, and highlights in their hair. The problem is, the sun also makes your model become a silhouette. To counteract this effect, you need to use an off camera flash on the opposite side of your model from the sun. Set your camera to expose for the background that you have, and adjust the power on your flash to properly expose your model. (did you catch that play on words?) See the nice highlights in her hair and the rim light down her left side. Now that's what I am talking about!

This is Stephanie Ziajka. Remember the name. She competes in pageants and she is currently Miss Tampa Bay, and will be competing for the title of Miss Florida in July! We recently spent a chilly day on the beach shooting for Swimsuit Illustrated Magazine and Blue Sky Swimwear. I had a great time photographing her, she is such a nice young lady. I look forward to working with her again.

Working with what you have!

 On a recent job, I meet some new friends. Here are two of them, Donna and Skylar. Donna inquired about getting some head shots done for her portfolio but our schedules just didn't work out. She lives in L.A. and I am in Florida. It would be July before we saw each other again. We had a few minutes free so she met me in a hallway that I had found a couple of days before while shooting a runway event in that building. This hall wasn't anything spectacular, but what it did have is a giant window to let some nice soft light in. To make a long story short (because I'm a photographer and not a writer), I placed her in against a plain wall,  metered for the available light, and took this portrait with basically, no equipment other than a camera. No fancy light setups, no backgrounds, just the beautiful light that the Good Lord gives us every day.

Earlier that day, I met Skylar. After we had talked a bit, she told me that she is interested in becoming a model. Well this one was a no brainer, I better shoot this girl before she becomes famous. She is gorgeous, but she had never modeled before and was understandably a little nervous. I had her come on down to the "Hall of Beauty" and took a few quick shots with her. She did great and I look forward to working with her soon. You don't need to have a bunch of equipment to take good photographs, just like owning a bunch of pots and pans doesn't make you a good cook. Speaking of that, it's Christmas Eve, I just heard my wife stirring around in the kitchen. I can't wait until the smells of her delicious cooking fill our home. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

You know it when you see it!

I recently had the good fortune to photograph an event for Ameriprise Financial. The party was top notch with music, delicious food, and live entertainment. Most of my evening was spent photographing clients in front of a large beautifully decorated Christmas tree.That's what I was there for, to provide the guest with a Christmas portrait. As the evening progressed, a few couples made their way to the dance floor, and that's when it happened. I captured this! I knew it was good before I ever looked at it. This is why I enjoy photography. This image tells a story, a story of a couple very much in love, young at heart and enjoying every moment of life.  At least that's the story this image tells me.  As a photographer, you don't always get to shoot the "story" images, but when one pops up, you gotta be ready to capture it!

Time Goes by so Fast

I recently had the pleasure of photographing a young lady that I have known for a long time. This is Mallory. I was her basketball coach when she was a little girl. My how she has grown. It doesn't seem like that long ago. Time flies by so fast. Now she is graduating from the University of Florida. Wow! Which brings me to my point. An old friend of mine, Mr. R.D. once told me, "son, you only go around once, you better give her hell while you are here". He didn't mean go wild and live like there is no tomorrow, but I think he meant that you should do things you want to do, have fun, don't waste time and effort on things that don't matter. Tell the ones you love the way you feel.....OFTEN. Enjoy your life, think of each day as a gift, and maybe go a little wild once and awhile. At least that's what he said meant to me. Mr. R. D. has since passed on and I miss seeing him when I visit my family in North Carolina.  I will never forget him and the little piece of advice that he gave me that day.

Making my First Impression!

As I pen this blog entry, I am submitting my first photos to Swimsuit Illustrated Magazine. Devin and I had one day last week that we could shoot. It rained the whole week. To make a long story short, we had a couple hour break in the weather and we made the best of it. All of the shots have stormy looking clouds in the background. Not your norm for swimsuit magazines I imagine, but that's what we had to work with. Devin was an excellent model, and my wife Melinda really helped with all the equipment and worked hard at trying to keep it dry. This shot was not submitted to the magazine, it's one of those fun shots. If you want to see the whole shoot, check out Swimsuit Illustrated this summer, I hope you see my work in there a lot!