Several months ago, a beautiful young couple asked me to shoot their wedding reception at Lumen in downtown St Louis. The groom Drew, is a hairdresser for L’Oreal and was in need for business headshots; so he came to me to get things done. I hope you enjoy.
I’ve had the immense opportunity to start being mentored by John Fedele, a St Louis commercial photographer; I not only admire his work, but he also has such a smooth and approachable style when it comes to interacting with clients and with teaching me the ropes. John will be mentoring me in what it takes to run a photography business; specifically, he’ll be teaching me his headshot business which he used to run and now wants me to slowly begin taking over. This really is a fantastic opportunity to get trained by a professional, to get experience in all sorts of photography including fashion and commercial work, and to finally get my foot into a successful studio. I’m eager for the future with John and eager to share it all with you. Below is my first test shoot, with a wonderfully kind model, Candace; I hope you enjoy!
For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on my submission for the Fstoppers 2011 Behind the Scenes Photo Contest; the idea is to put together a video showcasing the behind the scenes of a photoshoot. For my entry, I decided to focus on all the planning that goes into making a composite photograph of a person running across an old metal bridge found in Forest Park. I picked this particular scene because I wanted to create an image that had a good balance between the city and the park; the hope was then to submit the image to Runner’s World Magazine for publication. Hope you enjoy the photography and the videos, make sure you check them out in full HD glory!
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I kept the first video a bit short so that it’d be watchable while still being packed full of useful information. I did skip over a lot of details so I also put together a more detailed look into the post-processing process including how to process the HDR image and how to put the composite together.
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My first family shoot, the Smith’s. Such a happy family to work with, full of energy and laughter, especially out of the little baby. With the weather we had for this shoot, it’s nearly impossible not to make beautiful images; for this shoot we went to one of my favorite parks in the St Louis area: Lafayette Square. I hope you enjoy the images as much as I did taking them!
I went on a three day shoot as an assistant with John Fedele, and came back from the trip inspired to get out there and continue photography as well as equipped with some new insight into the art form. Waking up on Saturday before the sun came out, I hung out in Forest Park taking in the peace and calm of it all. I spent most of the day with my camera, this is what my day looked like. I eventually ended up in down town St Louis shooting the old brick buildings of the city. Walking through the streets of the city reminded me of being in Europe, in the heart of a city; however, I was surprised to see how empty the city felt. Many of the buildings seemed uninhabited, and it was almost as if everyone had left the downtown area. If you enjoyed the architecture, you can find more at St Louis HDR Factory Architecture
Rachel and Drew has a very intimate and small wedding in Italy this past summer, and so they decided to have a small wedding reception party for their friends and family that couldn’t make it abroad. They asked me to shoot their reception because they wanted something very casual and someone who would interact seamlessly with all the guests. I was very happy to get the chance to shoot their wonderful occasion and to capture the beauty that Rachel and Drew are as people. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed shooting their event! For those wondering, their event was held at Lumen, in downtown St Louis.
Ever since I came back from my photographic adventures in Nicaragua, I’ve begun formulating a dream to continue doing that sort of photojournalistic work. I want to travel abroad, each year, and cover a new humanitarian story. To that end, I’m motivated to begin doing smaller pieces, or stories, within the local St Louis region so that I can begin getting more experience documenting what I see. John Biscan, a local artist who rents space at Third Degree Glass Factory asked me to shoot some behind the scenes images, some photos of his finished glass, as well as some time-lapse photography of him working. For you avid followers, you may remember seeing some of his work previously showcased at Vakkár.
I hope you enjoy the images as well as the new format to my blog!
Click here to download the issue and read my four-page feature story on the exploitation of Nicaraguan sugar cane workers.
Photo CS 