Getting My Money's Worth

Shoots never come together quickly. This was an exception. A makeup artist and a model contacted me about shooting. I said I would shoot avant-garde beauty with them. They were both excited. I really know nothing about avant-garde, but I wanted something different and I wanted to use my rentals at least one more time.

I totally expected one to say she couldn't shoot--not on such short notice. Both were available Monday, both had no problem with the location, both were responsive to emails. This was bizarre. Shoots don't come together in fewer than three days.

Thirty minutes before the shoot, I get a call from the model. She's hoping I can excuse her tardiness--she spent the night in the hospital after a life-threatening asthma attack. I asked her if she was sure she wanted to shoot. She couldn't wait.

It was a good shoot.

Toys!

LV really wanted me to shoot his GI Joes. They've been waiting in a bag all summer. But his idea was to show the new Joe with the old Joe. Unfortunately, most of the rubber rings in the old Joes need to be replaced and no one in our neighborhood sells those rings. So we shot other toys instead, like the new Indiana Jones and Violet from the Incredibles.

I wanted to try something new with the lighting, so, even though I was using the rental umbrellas, I dragged out the giant light table.

Props and Sets

I can't post the pictures I took earlier in the day, but this the family enjoying the new studio prop.

New Props

I picked up a new client from craigslist who wants to pay for portrait sessions, but also wanted me to have a really comfy chair in my studio. I thought this was a bit ridiculous because he wasn't going to pay enough to off-set the cost of a good armchair from someplace cheap, like Target or IKEA. Then I took a look at the used furniture for sale on craigslist and found this lovely Workbench armchair.

Regular people selling their used goods on CL don't deliver, so I had to find a rental car large enough, pick Scrappy up from school, get to the rental car, pick up the chair, hope we all fit, and then return the car after dropping the chair at home. Luckily, LV was working in Manhattan that day and could go move the chair to the sidewalk and then hop on the subway with Scrappy after we wouldn't all fit. I beat them home, enlisted the help of a neighbor to move the chair, and was able to return the car before the rental time ended. It was more drama than I usually like on a Friday night.

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.

Retouching

Today I finally sent the makeup artist the high res from last month's shoot. It doesn't feel like it's been more than a month since we shot...

Sweet

I've nearly paid for the macro lens with all the work I've spent illustrating for these pet food labels. LV comped up cans with the final versions of every design, and then I shot them for the presentation. (A good time to have that macro lens on hand...) LV took this picture of me (under the umbrella) struggling to figure out how to light shiny cans. I'd like to think it didn't take me *that* long to pull out an old milk jug and turn it into a reflective tent. Not quite the pretty blown out white backgrounds I had with my models.

More Swimwear

The model who arranged the beauty shoot from June was so happy with the results, she wanted to do another shoot to update the rest of her portfolio. Swimwear, lingerie, dresses... More retouching to add to my list. :0)

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.

Fixed Position

I basically had the chance to hone my blown-out white background skills immediately. The beauty was only with two models, but we stuck with the happy bright white background to make it more commercial.

Blow Out

This is the lovely clean white background I was able to produce with two lights on the back blocked by foam core. (The model specifically requested this look for the re-shoot of her January session.) Next time I'll have to be better about keeping the model in a fixed position; it's a lot harder to tell on the preview when her light wasn't exposing her properly.

With the laptop still being fussy about its connection to the camera (I specifically bought Aperture so I could shoot tethered...), we had plenty of time to talk about the Secret and how it's worked for her.

Stock and Toys

LV requested I shoot more toys. The greatest tag teams are plenty exciting, but I wanted the really old weird toys, too.

Before we started shooting toys, though, I shot our broken doorknob. I've been looking into joining different stock sites. I thought maybe doorknob could be abstract...

Before I started shooting a broken doorknob, it had to break. That was a fun afternoon adventure. Lunch at Brooklyn McDonald's: $13. Break-in after lunch: $75. New lock: pricey.

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.

My most loyal client

CrazyColoredGlasses doesn't pay, but they sure do love having me shoot. And feeling appreciated is always a good thing. And the subjects are always easy to work with.

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.