Some How I Will Make This Happen

I have to be sure to go this game—Game of Thrones jerseys at the Staten Island Yankees.  —Luis

Meet George R.R. Martin Night

Similar Suits

Batgirl’s redesigned costume (by Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr) has been incredibly accepted and applauded by the comics community. It’s one of the fresher redesigns I’ve seen in years. After years of Spandex hell, and just simply being a copycat of Batman’s outfit, we have an original take that lends itself more to a real-word Yvonne Craig-style costume. I couldn’t be happier with this. 

On the heels of that costume's popularity, Marvel has decided to redesign the nearly perfect Spider-Woman costume. The’ve gone with a very real-world jacket, tight leather pants combo that Stewart and Tarr perfected. Here, though, it seems forced and copycat-ish. The logo looks great when the jacket is closed, but is unnoticeable when opened. On top of that her slouchy belt simply doesn’t work. This all led me to ask “Did Jessica Drew’s Spider-Woman really need a redesign?” I don’t think she did. Marvel took one of the more identifiable costumes in comics and simply genericized it in the guise of making it real-world. This was a big swing and a miss for me.  —Luis

Lighting

I tend to light everything high and directly in front. But on this day, I quickly learned to shoot with back light. It made things completely different from any shoot I've done before.

The sunlight in the picture on the left is was started all the back lighting. Then I wanted to exaggerate what was happening in the doorway. Then I needed to recreate that in the laundry room (before we got kicked out). I don't think I'll ever go back...

Day Three

Day Three of shooting was so long, it easily felt like a week. We shot a meet-and-greet in the morning, prepping for the show in the afternoon, the show, and then the wrap party... It was definitely a good time.

More Clothes

I can't believe that's my yard. I also can't believe I figured out how to light that. It's like I've been reading. It's more like I woke up, having learned from all my past mistakes. And then my yard turned out looking this lush.

Stuff

Kind of crazy to think that less than a year ago I quit the office job and a little less than a month ago I almost gave up on this photography idea. Here I am shooting, shooting, shooting...

Super Cute, Super Fast

More art direction from LV...

This is me and the designer, Alison from Project Runway Season 3, hustling to get through 14 looks. Without her knowing exactly what she likes and having two great models from Race Management, I'm not sure how long this shoot might have taken. Our call time was 10 a.m. and just about everyone got lost. So we started around 11 a.m. and still finished by 4:30 p.m.

Then, completely unprecedented, people stayed to hang out after the shoot.

It was a good shoot.

New Pictures

I thought I had two shoots today, but it turns I was just way too excited about being double-booked. My second shoot is next Tuesday.

LV says it's too soon to give up on trying to be a photographer, so I've been going crazy trying to book more shoots. With today's shoot, there were no stylists. That makes booking the shoot so much less stressful. Less stress means feeling less like giving up. Which is good.

Swimwear

These are three of the looks from the swimwear shoot. I had wanted to set up a beauty shoot, but the model I was able to get comes from an agency that prefers to send models to fashion test shoots. So I brought in a wardrobe stylist to make it a fashion shoot.

But I still spent plenty of time getting my beauty shots.

This is the picture LV took of me taking the previous picture.

Our dining room gets really great light. I hate to waste it, so I shot a few without the flash. This look is courtesy of LV saying I needed one with her hair pulled back and my last-minute bikini purchase.

The swimsuits didn't immediately get packed up. I left them out for my shoot the following day. This meant lots of yelling at the cats to stay away from all the dangling strings.

Male Model

I looked around for a new modeling agency that had men who were looking to test. Lucky for me, it only took one phone call. Unlucky for me, my guy had a short amount of time to shoot. I think we squeezed in everything we needed and got what we wanted. A little too much in too little time, but, well, that's why it's a test.

Color & Motion

I wanted some bright colors to help make my book pop. Then I thought I could use some motion, too. And tight shots of the wardrobe. And not another white girl. There were a lot of things I wanted to add to my book in one shoot. I'd like to think we got it.

Jay is very tall

Now, it's probably totally hypocritical to label all of my photos with a big "MadelineStrum.com" and then steal images off TV, but, until I get my cease and desist order, these images are courtesy of Tyra Banks, Ken Mock and the fabulous people at CW.

This is Sarah, shooting the 14 contestants for America's Next Top Model Cycle 10. I tried to stand as far away from Sarah as possible during filming so as not to end up on TV. When she asked me to stay closer so she could hand me the camera when she was done shooting, I took to squatting as close to the ground as possible so I would not end up on TV.

Mr. Jay is very tall, but when the cameras first started rolling, I was like right over his shoulder the whole time. We all were. The producers told us to stop clumping. So, I took to scurrying around the background. At one point I kicked over a pipe and caused a really loud bang. Then I started hiding farther away from the set (which wasn't really possible).

I am squatting and thus escaped being in this frame. It also helped me keep warm. It was really cold in November.

Everyone Showed Up

It was like a test shoot miracle. Although the model was switched last minute, we had hair, makeup and a wardrobe stylist. Yay!

The dark gray background I wanted was out of stock, so we shot on the light gray that arrived earlier in the week. The color pictures are nice, too. I ended up getting really good with the healing tool after retouching clothes and all on 16 images for the agency. Our model was quite the chameleon (not that you can tell from the two I put here) and the team was awesome (love the bow).

Wardrobe Function

My wardrobe stylist did not cancel! She drove down with a set of clothes to do a geek chic shoot. The model showed up, too! Shoots should always be like that...

Super Bowl Sunday

I was supposed to do a shoot with a wardrobe stylist at her fiance's bar, but she had an emergency and needed to cancel. I'm still hoping to reschedule that shoot.

The model, the makeup + hair stylist, and I threw together an outdoor gear shoot in my backyard. Just as I've discovered it's bad for me to shoot on at dawn because I am not a morning person, I've now discovered Sundays aren't very good days for me either.

Not Just Kittens

I really do take pictures of things other than my cats...

After assisting on a shoot for Verse magazine and talking to the fashion director about where I could find wardrobe stylists, I was really motivated to go out and find some people. These people keep canceling on me, but I push on. Shoots are always better with stylists, but, hey, I think we did all right with a wardrobe person.

And now for a photo of me taking a photo

This is a picture LV took of me and Shannon on Wednesday. I'm the one with the camera...

Pictures from this shoot to follow soon. A little too much freelancing and unfulfilled invoices to follow up on. Blech.

Models in My Backyard (cont.)

I had the rental lights from Thursday to Monday, so it seemed like a waste not to stick Scrappy out in the cold for a shoot. It only took a few frames to break through the forced smile and get to something real.

She really wanted to do a Halloween fashion show. I needed some seamless white practice. This was one that showed the dress best, which I needed as examples for a potential client. There were better portraits in the bunch.

Models in My Backyard

Today I shot Tristan, a Model Mayhem-er, in my backyard. The shoot was originally supposed to be at Coney Island with a wardrobe stylist. But she had a paying gig, so she wasn't able to come play. And then I thought Tristan was going to cancel because of the weather. But after a day in the cold shooting models in ridiculous get-ups, I wasn't about to be deterred from using my rental equipment. So, I told Tristan we'd start in the backyard and that's where we stayed for the whole shoot.