A big thank you to our model, Dominique, for being a trooper and braving the cold waters. It wasn’t that warm once the sun started to go down, and she was soaking wet and half in the water, but she did so great!

Here’s a few other shots we did while waiting for the sun to get a little lower…

It was much more of a challenge than I was expecting and I learned a lot. Besides the uneven ground to place lights on, scrambling through bushes, and bat-sized moquitoes, one of the biggest challenges for me was working with the large contrast ratio the forest lighting. The difference between the shadowed forest and the bright patches of dappled sunlight was difficult to balance in order to not blow out the highlight detail, but at the same time not have the rest of the forest look completely dark.

Overall, it was a lot of fun experimenting and here’s a few of the photos I got out of it.

The candy coloured line appropriately named Frosting Frocks and Formal Wear is full of frothy tulles, shimmering satins and of course, sparkle. Designed to satisfy tween’s craving for fashion and fun, girls and their parents can trust Frosting to be on trend and age-appropriate. These 9-14 year old girls are caught in the limbo between children’s sizing and junior’s styles and are continuously evolving their identity. Their need for formal wear that expresses who they are at any given moment inspired each dress to boast a built-in element of transformability.  This key feature includes removable over skirts, overlays and underpinnings and allows Frosting to offer tween girls the ability to change their look without changing their outfit.

Read more on her website: melodynishi.com

Models: Olivia Mey, Meena Goundrey
Icing Artists: Kelly Chihiro McLaughlin, Miho McLaughlin

I still haven’t met Peter because he always seems to be out of town, but I can say that Mike and Ketan are great guys! I photographed a Behance event for them early last year that they did a great job of organizing and got the chance to meet some awesome people! Soon after that I went away on my travels and we lost contact for a bit, but after reconnecting with them over coffee we came up with some awesome new ideas. One thing we talked about doing sometime was having me take some new headshots for them. We played around with some different lighting set ups and outfits to get some awesome shots that reflected their personalities and could be used for a variety of platforms, ranging from casual to more professional. Take a look at what we came up with and be sure to check out their blog!

On the day of the shoot, I packed up the entire trunk of my car with lighting equipment and then drove to Corina’s to fill the rest of the car with furniture. We headed over to Central Park and found a spot just off the path. After making multiple trips to the car for everything we were finally set up. I must mention that it was FREEZING out! I was wearing Under Armour under my jeans and beneath my shirt, fleece, and jacket, and wool hiking socks and boots. Corina was in this short-sleeved dress and bare feet for about an hour or maybe more! She was seriously such a trooper and besides the goosebumps on her arms, the photos don’t even hint at her being cold. Instead, she looks relaxed, comfortable, and elegant in every photo. Don’t you think? Check it out!

We played around with some different outfits and set ups. Anthony was a lot of fun to work with and we got some great shots! I had never used a beauty dish until I ordered one (22-inch High Output White Beauty Dish from Paul C Buff) with my new lights and now I use it a LOT! I love the quality of light it produces.

I love opening packages and had all these to open! It felt like Christmas!

Of course I wanted to try them out as soon as possible and it just so happened that I was hosting a couchsurfer at the time so I put him to work as my model

I just set up in my living room, which was a bit crowded, but I made do. I had ordered 4 lights, but after setting up found out that one was not working. After calling customer service the next day and doing some testing, it seemed to be that the flash tube was defective. Their customer service was great and that’s another reason I’m glad that I went with Paul C Buff! I only had to wait one or two rings to talk to someone and after explaining the situation and figuring out it was the flash tube, she kindly told me she would send me a new one, no charge, that day with the fastest delivery they could so it would get here the following day (it did arrive today!).

I set up a black seamless for a clean background and the 3 working lights: 2 gridded and gelled strip boxes and a beauty dish. Here’s a few of the shots we came up with.

Bullying is a huge problem, and I didn’t even realize just how many students were bullied online until helping create this poster. 1 in 4. That’s 25% of students who are cyber bullied. That is a huge number of kids! I think events like this should happen more often to help create awareness of this serious epidemic.

When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

-Sherlock Holmes

My friend Stephanie is an amazing artist, graphic designer, costume designer…the list goes on. Here we have an example of her amazing costume making skills! Among myriads of other costumes she’s created is this particular version of the Sherlock Holmes costume. She also put together this entire set we used for the shoot; her attention to every little detail was incredible! I hope to photograph a few more of her future costume creations…be prepared to be blown away!

Here’s a little bit about her:

I’m Tallyn and I’m 15 with a big dream. Ever since I was 4 years-old, I’ve wanted to be a paleontologist and a singer. It’s starting to look like singing might be more realistic goal – I’ve already played my first concert and am busy rehearsing, doing photoshoots and booking live performances on my way to living out my dream to sing as a career!

Here’s a few outtakes from the most recent photoshoot we’ve done: