We really didn’t have a particular theme in mind for this shoot so Jordan started out in this really cool black leather vest. My wife Liz was kind enough to help us out with makeup for all of these shots.

After playing around with this outfit, we decided to try something else. Jordan got changed into another vest and redid her hair. I tried shooting this a variety of ways and then suddenly had the idea to put my gold reflector behind her as a background. I think the reflector really adds an impact to the photo.

Jordan is a fantastic model whom I’ve been lucky enough to work with several times over the last couple of years. I’d just like to take the time to thank her for working with me and trying some crazy ideas. You can see all of the shots from this shoot here.

On the bright side, I am now only about 4 hours from San Diego (where I am from), 3 hours from Los Angeles, and 2 hours from Las Vegas which means that I am near a ton of potential models/clients, just not close to any of them. Add to that the fact that my new job will have me extremely busy, I am sad to say that my model photographer will likely take a huge hit (although my landscapes should make a huge comeback). It’s my hope to book one or two shoots a month with models as I spend time in San Diego, LA, and Vegas but we’ll have to see. Either way, if you’re interested in working with me, please still drop me a note (photosbygi@gmail.com) and we’ll attempt to figure out a time/place to shoot.

Fast forward to a week or two ago. We were decided to try this shoot one more time. The weather was clear and beautiful, but it was definitely still chill out there. We went to Eldorado and after almost killing ourselves walking on the side of a hill on ice and taking a few test shots before her face (and my fingers) turned blue) we decided to try something else.

We ended up moving to a location near Emily’s house that after having seen it, I wish I had discovered months ago because it was pretty darn cool. We got out and started shooting. Of course before long, the temperature continued to drop and the wind kicked in. As quickly as we started to shoot, we had to end our shoot. This was definitely one of my longest shoots with least results (about 5 hours including the drive to Denver, then up to Boulder, try to shoot, then back to Denver, then try to shoot some more, and finally back home to the Springs). We defiantly get all of the shots that either of us had hoped for but I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the shots we did manage to get off. Moral of the lesson? Shooting outdoors in Colorado during the winter can definitely be frustrating.

Jordan is a fantastic model that I have had the chance to work with several times over the last year or two. She is from Colorado Springs but currently a full time college student in Grand Junction. Generally whenever she comes home for vacation we try and make a point to get together and shoot. This time we decided to try something a little bit different for both of us (although in all honesty, almost all of our shoots have been “a little different”)

Jordan came over to the studio right after Liz and I finished up working with Samantha and Brittany. Liz went right to work getting the makeup started because for this particular shoot, we spent way more time doing makeup between shots then actually shooting. Liz did a fantastic job with the makeup. What you see in these photos is all her. I brought out the color a little bit and fine-tuned it a little to match the color of the fruit using Photoshop, but by and large, she really made this work.

For lingerie, a simple red bustier with matching red panties works great. There was no real particular idea for this shot, just to have fun and see what we got. Honestly, I think Samantha totally rocked the camera. I totally love the messy hair and the smile on her face.

While I was busy shooting a set with Brittany, Samantha came back in in a different bra and panty set and wanted to do a set with Brittany. Not what I had planned but sure why no? I have to take a moment to thank my wife Liz for this because she really helped me out with posing in these shots. It wasn’t something I had planned on so it wasn’t anything I had taken any time trying to come up with ideas (and for anyone who doesn’t know, I suck at posing).

For the next shot we did some simple cute Christmas type stuff. I had really wanted to get a bunch of Christmas stuff shot this year and in the end, only did two shoots with it.

The final shot that Samantha and I got was an idea I had found a long time ago. I have a folder of about 600 images that I use for inspiration. Some of them are different poses to try, others are different lighting styles, but some are just some cool photos that I really like. Out of those cool photos that I just really like, a small number of them are just “out there” and I figure I will likely never actually shoot. When I’m working with a model to come up with ideas, I will frequently give them a link to this folder and see what they like. I was very surprised when Samantha said she wanted to try this. So what do you do with 4 dozen doughnuts and a naked chick? Cover her in them of course.

When I shoot, I generally have a good idea how something is going to turn out before I even look at it in the camera. This was definitely not the case with this shot. Liz and Brittany had covered Samantha in all of these doughnuts but I really had no idea if this was going to come out the way I wanted to. After taking a few shots and looking at the camera though, I knew that this was going to be great.

In my experience (however limited that is) a lot of new models are kind of shy in front of the camera, especially when they aren’t wearing much of anything. That was most definitely not the case with Brittany. When she came into the studio, she asked what I had in mind, and got right to work. She loves to joke around but when you stop to take a shot, she’s all business.

A lot of times when a model brings a friend with them, they can get in the way but I am very glad that Brittany decided to come along. Not only did we get some great shots of her, but also managed to get a couple of nice ones of the two of them together. Either way, I hope her husband enjoys the gift.

Ross and Samantha came over to the house one afternoon to shoot in the garage studio and also in the living room. We started out with some normal cute couples shots like what you would see at just about any photo studio. I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to posing people (couples especially) I am not the best person in the world so I kind of just let the two of them have fun and shot what I saw. This photo was shot at f/9.0 with 1/500th sec shutter. I used two AB800s. One camera right with a large softbox and one camera left using the normal AB reflector but it was bounced off of a large handheld reflector to soften it up a lot. Both lights were fired via a YN-602 transmitter/receiver.

After we got done working in the studio we moved into my living room to do some more intimate type photos. This was something that Samantha and I had discussed a lot before they came over although I kind of got the feeling that she neglected to mention it to Ross. I am fortunate enough to have a very large couch and a fairly large living room which gives a fair bit of room for models and lights. Yes it’s not nearly as big as I would like it to be if I had an actual dedicated studio space but it works out nicely. This photo was shot at f/4.5 1/800th sec using an AB800 with softbox on camera right.

Like I said, I’m not a big person when it comes to posing. While we were in the living room, Ross started to tickle and whisper into Samantha’s ear which gave me some really great shots. This one in particular I think is my personal favorite from our entire shot. It really shows the amazing connection the two of them have with each other and is just a lot of fun.

All and all this was a great chance for me to work on my couples skills. Ross and Samantha were a ton of fun to work with and both look great in front of the photographer. I’ve already had the chance to work with Samantha on another project since this which I seriously can’t wait to get posted (hope to have those up very soon).

We met on the top floor of a parking structure downtown that I use often (generally just for parking though) and shot Ally in this great skirt and bustier. I loved the fact that we were able to see so much of downtown in the background. We moved off the top level and went in and used one of the stairwells, and even one of the elevators. Mind you this was mid-morning during the week. We would shoot in the elevator until it started moving to pick up someone then we would stop for a minute. We got some very interesting looks in the elevator.

After finishing up in the parking structure, Ally changed into these jean shorts, fishnets and black shirt. We started walking around various parts of downtown just finding random spots to stop and shoot. By the time we were done shooting we were both thoroughly hot and ready to call it a day. Ally is an amazing model that any photographer would be lucky to work with.