So for the past two weeks I have really dedicated a lot of time to lighting techniques and incorporating more Photoshop into my editing (Thanks Israel). There is so much to learn!
This past weekend I got to shoot with my friend Marnie. A Lululemon educator by day, Marnie is making the jump into modeling. When she emailed me to ask if I would do a shoot for her I was happy to do so. Not knowing what to expect, I packed my entire trunk of goodies that included my 4 light Speedotron Kit (now powered by my Elinchrom Skyport wireless kit... I couldn't help myself), 10' x 12' backdrop, softbox, multiple umbrellas, and I even busted out the D3. We converted her apartment in DC into our very own photography studio. The two of us really didn't know what the shots would look like but I must say these are some of my favorite pictures to date.
I love, love, love shooting with my friends. It makes the experience so much fun and this is one of my favorite shoots thus far. Thanks Marnie for making my job so easy and fun! Here is a "sci fi" version of my favorite shot.
A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with my friend Angel about a cool project. Angel is a Muay Thai fighter and has been doing it for quite some time now. he is currently training for his final fight which is to take place in February. Why is he giving up the gloves? He has a passion to one day become a pastor. I am very impressed with his choice and think it takes a lot of guts to do that.
Though Angel has been fighting for a while he has never had some cool pictures of himself in action taken. For the next few months I'll be paying him a visit to get some cool shots of him training and in February I will be traveling to NYC to cover the event.
Stay tuned for some more cool pictures!
I put out an invite on Facebook a little while ago about going on a photo walk with some of my photographer friends. Out of the many invites, three showed up: Israel Groveman, Sarah, and Lauren. Though I wanted to have more people come, it was kind of nice having a small group. We enjoyed some good conversation about photography techniques, getting gigs, gear, and life in general.
Our first stop was the National Zoo. Yup, the zoo. It has been a long time since I have visited so when I was planning out the walk I knew I wanted to include a visit there. Sadly, the zoo was not what I expected. There is a lot of work going on and a lot of the exhibits were closed. I felt bad because there wasn't a lot to photograph and my friend Sarah could only join us for that part of the trip. After about an hour of just exploring we decided to move on to the next destination.... Georgetown.
There were some cool things in Georgetown as always. Our group, 
now down to three, had to hit the famous "Exorcist Stairs". While there we met a gentleman named Dave. Dave trains for races that take place inside the Empire State building in NYC. His workout includes running up and down the stairs 100 times! It blew our minds. We blew his mind too. He wondered why, after so many years since the movie's release, would people still come to the "Exorcist Stairs" to take pictures. It was a good question. I know that I have many pictures of those stairs and I guess it's just a "'ya gotta do" type thing when I am shooting down there.
After the stairs we enjoyed a good lunch at Sweet Green. I enjoy getting wraps from this place. They are really good and fulfilling. While there we had a really good conversation about faith and social issues. Though Israel and I have different opinions about things at times, I appreciate his passion and was really inspired to be more vocal about what I think.
Last stop... U Street to the famous Ben's Chili Bowl! If you know 
anything about me you must know that I love visiting places that are rich in culture and history and this place has it. I know I had already eaten but I could not help indulging some more and ordering a chili dog. Yup... I ate a chili dog. I was a little nervous because I don't really eat much meat other than chicken. Despite my fears I could not pass up having one. I survived... for now :-) The thing I enjoy the most about this place is the down home atmosphere. Okay so it is a little "hood" (that means "ghetto" or "urban" for those who need the translation) but I dig that. There is nothing like loud Go Go music to build an appetite. I actually really like Go Go and have since I was in high school. I know the scene was pretty different from what my suburban friends were used to but they seemed to have a good time. After a little more exploring around the U Street area, we decided to bid DC a fond farewell.
Though I expected more people to show, I really did enjoy getting to know my friends a little better and really learned a lot from each one of them. I want to do this again and am already planning an outing in October... Great Falls for some cool fall photography. Stay tuned!
This past year and a half has been quite the interesting ride. There have been some amazing highs and some tragic lows but an overall learning and growing time for me.
Along the way I have had the opportunity to reconnect with a lot of my old friends from my childhood. Alex is someone I have known for practically half of my life. When the opportunity to take her pictures came up I gladly took on the shoot. I am still getting comfortable with posing people but I think this shoot is really starting to show vast improvement from times before. 'Ya gotta love having friends to test your techniques out on.
