I was exited and couldn’t wait to meet her and see the dresses she was working on. Upon meeting her and looking at the dresses she had made, it look less than 5 minutes to realize we were EXACTLY on the same wavelength as far as how we each visualized these images. Vintage, long gloves, martini glasses…..Mad Men!

And so I assembled my team, some of whom I’ve worked with before, and some with whom I was itching to work with – finally, after being in New York for two years, I feel I have found a great group of people I can work with on commercial shoots and personal projects. Angela, who did Dariana’s hair and makeup in a shoot late last year was on set, as was stylist extraordinnaire Colby Milano, and the beautiful Kelsey Lear Lafferty who came in from Philadelphia for the photo shoot, and my friend Darcy Rogers assisted me.

I had been dreaming about this shoot for days on end and knew, in my gut, that this shoot was going to be a success……and indeed, I couldn’t have been happier.

Everyone was at the top of their game, Adrina’s dresses were simply beautiful, classic and elegant and I was able to shoot in my studio space on my very own 9′ white seamless with a new medium softbox as my source of light. It was amazing.

I wanted to shoot clean and simple and use a few props here and there. This is the kind of shoot that I would love to take on location, maybe find a cool hotel lobby or a place with some vintage furniture or a bar with character.

It was really great to have an energetic crew and create images this way. Feedback and suggestions were made, we tried different things – some worked and some didn’t – and I took away many lessons from this experience – some that one will read and say “duh!” while others that are not that obvious.

1 – Working with a stylist enriches your vision, which translates into images that might otherwise be just OK.

2 – Having an open mind and listening to suggestions from others on set who are also in this together is important. It’s important to listen, to try, to shoot it in a different way and see the outcomes on screen (I shot these tethered so we could all see and make adjustments as we went).

3 – Expect the unexpected – doing #2 led to a variety of images, many of which worked well.

4 – Pintrest ROCKS! It is serving as my mood boards and inspiration boards for work that I want to create – on set and on location. Sharing this board with everyone before the shoot and asking my team to share their ideas was important – this way we were all on the same page well before the shoot.

5 – Treating everyone with respect is kind of a big deal. I speak from personal experience from many many photo and video shoots. I’ve been yelled at, humiliated and treated badly on set by other people in the past (unrightfully so) and I don’t EVER want to make anyone feel that way…..feeling like you want to crawl into a hole or just run out of the room because someone  yelled at you just to show off…that’s not right…. SO,  I treat everyone the way that I want to be treated. Simple as that.

Posted here are some of my favorite images and thanks again to my wonderful team. You rocked!

In finishing what I started last week, here are photos I took of Mike Alaska in action – performing in the Union Square subway platform.

Enjoy!

In this 2-part assignment, the first part was to create portraits of street bucket drummer Mike Alaska – whom, if you’ve been to NYC and seen him play in the subways – is a drumming force to be reckoned with.

The second part, which I will post in a few days, was to capture Mike, in action drumming in a subway station.

When I have ample time with a subject, I like to experiment and try different things and I did just that with Mike.

We started off in an alley way making some portraits and eventually ended up on a rooftop with a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline.

Here are some images from that first session.

For the next shot, we tried a few different ways of throwing the drum sticks up in the air, and this was by far my favorite shot. Look at his eyeball!

I wanted to thank you all for visiting my site, for your feedback and for your referrals.

Because of you, because of your appreciation for my art and for my craft, I am able to grow and create the work that I love.

Thank you.

From my family to yours, here’s to an amazing 2012!

The most amazing part of my shoot?
Seeing two of my closest friends, Sam and Jon, become parents.

Words can’t describe the happiness I felt when I learned about Sam’s pregnancy, let alone this moment, when I finally meet their little bundle of joy.

Edwin, I can’t wait to watch you grow and become a wonderful, amazing and talented human being!

Congratulations Sam and Jon!

My fabulous team was:

Model: Cherry Fu
Wardrobe: Daina Martin
Makeup: Deja Smith
Hair: Vicktor Stevenson
Assistants: Fernando Paz + Yue Edwards

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so I introduced myself to Lauren Amaris, a model//singer//songwriter and told her I would love to photograph her. She agreed and we had a fantastic photo shoot. You can click here to listen to her music and go to the iTunes store to download her single, Dreaming American, title track to a short film by the same name, directed by Lee Percy.

Here are my favorite images from that session.

And that is how I met Lindsey, professional dancer, fashion designer, and owner of that cute shop, Lindos Ramos. Needless to say, we hit it off and spent a good while talking about our backgrounds and passions.

That afternoon, we ended up chatting for a long time and I returned the next day to take some photographs of her store and the beautiful items that she designs and sells there. In the back of the store she designs, cuts and makes just about everything that she sells in the front, including dresses,  bags, headbands, hair clips. I love capturing the behind-the-scenes images because they complete the story – it’s not just about the final product; it’s about the process, from the fabrics, to cutting each piece, to sewing and ironing the finished product and the surroundings in her workshop that inspire Lindsey to create her brand.

If you are ever in Barcelona, be sure to stop by her store, Lindos Ramos!

Earlier this week, they made their debut with the album, Primavera, now available on iTunes and CD Baby.

The album art for Primavera is a result of Juan’s art direction, design and my imagery. One cool collaboration.

Now go download their tunes and support independent music!

I soon thereafter approached their mothers and took some shots of them too. Hardworking people, some of these mothers are lawyers, nurses, house cleaners and small business owners. In addition to the help we got at the train station when we rented our bikes, these ladies gave us even more insight and suggestions whilst in Sevilla.