Lights, Camera, Rock It.

Much like everything, and everyone, I am guilty of going through phases. Perhaps more guilty than our friend Mrs. Anthony? Over the past few months I've been addicted to natural light. And I mean addicted. I'll be sitting on the couch, and notice the high quality of light streaming in through the windows. Even at midday. Or I will be walking to my car under overcast skies and just yern to take a portrait. I love natural light. As the great Alexander Neumann put it. " Natural light is my big thing. Reality is beautiful, I want to recreate reality like it is." That my friends, is the motto I've been living for the past 7-8 months. It wasn't until I became utterly discusted with the level of work I was putting out. Not that it was bad, but I was bored. I wasn't challenging myself. And I always said I loved natural light because of the mood it created, but I was beginning to wonder if I was staying away from strobes because I was scared. I knew how to light my subjects with the available light, and while I could dial in my exposure with just 1 or 2 shots, I was wondering if I was subconsiously afraid.

So what did I do? I lit the heck outta my subjects this past shoot. Not one natural light shot. Every shot was lit. Some mixing flash and ambient more than others, but I put my flashes through their paces. Killed a couple batteries and probably left my subjects feeling like they stared into the sun for hours at a time. But I did it, and, it was fun. Really fun. I forgot about the creative possibilities when you essentially play God and make an artificial sun.


We met up in Little 5 points at an alley way behind a theatre. Spent a couple of hours and came away with some great shots. The girls, also sisters, KILLED it. Not only was I shooting with a different lighting technique, I wanted to shoot more towards an editorial style, rather than your cliche senior photos. The girls rocked it. I put them in some uncomfortable poses, poses that if you saw them doing you'd question my sanity, but what often looks weird in real life, really speaks to a viewer in photographs.

 And because everyone likes a little behind-the-scenes. This was the go-to lighting setup for the entire shoot. A shoot through umbrella, boomed above and at a 45 degree angle. I love the shadows and the catch light this setup produces.