Sarah's Head Shot

This is Sarah Meeker. Sarah and I worked together in the independent theater scene in Virginia Beach, VA way back in high school. What's that? You didn't know Virginia Beach had an independent theater scene? Oh. Well, neither did anyone else.

Sarah is a very talented, obviously beautiful, and very sweet young lady who is finishing up her senior year at VCU. Heather and I packed up the kids and a bounce card and headed down to Richmond on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. The weather was absolutely perfect.

I used my 85mm lens almost exclusively on this shoot, and also had the chance to experiment with some lighting techniques. I used all manner of modifiers and reflectors to get creative catch lights in Sarah's eyes.

Jane Zook

Jane and I have been wanting to do a proper photo shoot for a while now, and it just so happened that the only day we were able to pull it together was a freezing cold, rainy day in December. She was amazing though, she has such a natural beauty that it's hard not to walk away with dozens of great photos, regardless of the temperature. She was a really good sport, doing everything I asked of her, which included standing in the middle of the road, in the rain, in the cold, in traffic, without a coat.

She certainly got a lot of stares from the bundled-up people in Ghent.

Yoder!

This is Belinda. She is, as she would say, pretty much the best, ever.

It was wet, cold, and wet that day, and Belinda was a trooper. She willingly sat on a wet cast iron step for our last setup.

What you don't see here is the creeper that I had to hide in this frame. Fortunately, not a lot of tourists are on the street on a blustery Saturday evening.

CJ

This is a photo of CJ Hardee at Bright City Studios in Charlotte, NC.

CJ wrote and performed a song on an upcoming album that was produced at Bright City, and I am REALLY looking forward to it.

A Failed Headshot

Shooting some head shots for my wife Heather, I must have said something to make her laugh. Of course, I probably said it so that she would laugh. I love it when she does that.

This wouldn't work as a headshot, but it's certainly one of my favorite moments of her in front of a camera.

More Hulking Out

In keeping with the previous montage, this is what happens when a young boy sees his friend take off his shirt and make intense faces. Clearly, Samo has had more practice than Isaiah, but there is still time.

Hulking Out

This is Sam. He has an incredible imagination, and if you know him, you know that the words "incredible" and "imagination" don't hold a candle to what Sam is really like.

Heather and I had just finished a little birthday session for Zoe when our kids' friends came to see what all the fuss was about. Naturally, they wanted to see themselves on the screen like Zoe as I was tethering the Nikon D200 to the Mac Pro via a new piece of software I'm trying out called Sofortbild.

I couldn't resist.

Sam, or Samo as we call him, loves The Incredible Hulk. Despite it looking like he's having pants trouble, in this photo, Samo is "hulking out". In his mind, he turns a deep shade of green, his muscles become huge, and his blue jeans turn into purple shorts.

But please don't tell him that his favorite Marvel character just got bought by the same company that brought us Hannah Montana. He'll probably hulk out for real, and you won't like him when he's angry.

Celebrating One Year

I gave Heather a hard time about going to great lengths to decorate a cake for Zoe's first birthday. I can imagine a baby would think of it as an edible punching bag, but Heather treated it like a wedding cake. It really was beautiful.

Every time I would say something about it, Heather would respond, "It's for me" and I would assume she meant that she was putting work into it because she wanted something to do, and perhaps that was the truth, but I realized something else.

Zoe doesn't care about her first birthday. She like the attention, she likes playing with toys, but she really don't understand the concept yet. To her, it's not unlike any other day. However, I can say with certainty that she understands the concept of treats and toys.

Heather, on the other hand, understands the idea of birthdays and anniversaries. Heather understands milestones and accomplishments. Zoyenka turning one-year-old yesterday had less to do about her age, and more to do with what Heather accomplished one year ago, and the 9 months prior.

I love one-year celebrations. "It was one-year-ago since..."

So, my wife had proper reason to go to infinite lengths to decorate the cake and to make it as special for her as possible. And then, we watch as Zoe smears it into oblivion.

A Happy Accident

This photo of Sarah was an accident. My batteries died in my pocket wizard while I snapped a couple pictures, so my lights didn't go off. The resulting photo was a near silhouette, but after some creative editing in Aperture, this is the happy accident.

I Told Him To Act Frustrated

This photo of David is part of a series of portraits I took for musicians at Bright City Studios in Charlotte, NC. Great friends of mine, and really good sports, I had the opportunity to be creative and let them be themselves.

With Our Mexican Combined...

This is my friend Stacie. She recently gave me permission to blog nice things about her and something about how rad it is to be part Mexican, and how everyone should try it sometime.

I'm part Mexican too, so whenever one of our racist friends wants to be rude, Stacie and I can team up using our combined Mexican blood and defend our heritage. We never do though. Because we're too lazy.

But seriously, Stacie is not lazy. She is actively standing up for what she believes in. She's has a crazy sense of humor, and a contagious laugh. Oh, and if you're not careful, her mom will stalk you on the internet.* In fact, I probably shouldn't talk about it, chances are she's reading this right now.

This was shot on the same day as Matt Lockett's "Popeye Forearms" portrait. I only used one light for this one though.

*please refrain from any "Stacie's mom" jokes and "Your mom is online" jokes in the comments. Except for Statie's mom, she's allowed.

Auto Sale

I snapped this photo of a body shop on Highway 58 in Suffolk I would pass all the time, but in the past there was never a rooster hanging out. So clearly there wasn't a real photo opportunity in the past.

Shot from a stopped car using my Nikon d200 and a Nikkor 85mm lens.

Inside The Senate Building 7

This photo is part of a series from one hour in the Hart Senate Building in Washington DC.

Sarah With An H

My wife and I had the pleasure of photographing two beautiful young women named Sarah and Sara. The Sarah pictured is a good friend of ours, and has such a distinct "oceanfront" look. She belongs in a surf mag during a perpetual sunset.

See a natural light picture of Sarah on my Facebook account.

Inside The Senate Building 6

This photo is part of a series from one hour in the Hart Senate Building in Washington DC.

Deeply

He was praying.

Inside The Senate Building 5

This photo is part of a series from one hour in the Hart Senate Building in Washington DC.

Inside The Senate Building 3

Along with the first two photos in this series, this was taken inside the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington DC. I'm going to be taking some more time to work on my personal editorial spreads in the near future, but this was a healthy warmup for me.

Behold The Smirk

Luke Ramos is a professional smirker. See? It's pretty clear he does it for a living.

This was shot at Bright City Studios using my Nikon 85mm f/1.8 lens. It was one of the first portraits I took with that lens, and now I can't get enough of it. I think I could go forever with just an 85mm and a 24mm in my bag.

Inside The Senate Building 2

I know this picture has been done before, and I know it's been done more dramatically. However, the man you are looking at, with his head hung, and documents in hand, entered this building through a door, above which is inscribed: “A man of incorruptible integrity and personal courage strengthened by inner grace and outer gentleness…. He advanced the cause of human justice, promoted the welfare of the common man and improved the quality of life…. His humility and ethics earned him his place as the conscience of the Senate.” That is a description of Senator Philip Hart, a Michigan Democrat for whom the building was named.

I wonder how many senators and staff have read that quote. I wonder how many senators and staff would like to be remembered as such. I wonder how many senators and staff will be described in the same way.

Senator Hart died in 1976 and was one of only three senators to be honored by having a building named after them while they were still alive.