Dria's World

All about state of mind

2011-12-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

With every artist, their work will usually reflect their state of mind, at least at the time they create. I'm pretty sure that's universal. You get to express what you can't quite vocalize to others in a way they'll hopefully understand. It puts a piece of you in everything you do. Yeah, you can take pictures or paint, or dance just to do it, but when you feel something as you're doing, it makes the experience that much richer. So anyway, on to my point. I came up with the idea of this shoot when I was in a somewhat introspective mood. I called it 'The Edge of the World'. I couldn't have found a better model to portray what I envisioned for this shoot than Ariana. I mean, the energy of this girl is amazing. the way she moves, her daring, it all helped bring this shoot to life for me. I'm so happy and excited for what we created. Here are my favorite images from the shoot. Stay tuned for the short film we created for the shoot. Big shouts out to Mike Van Every for directing and shooting it.

Chantel and Mark-Couple's Shoot

2011-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

So recently I did a couple's shoot with one of my favorite MUAs. I love couples shoots and this was no exception. It's always fun to get a couple together and even more so when you get to spend time with great, funny people. Here are some of my favorite shots from our session.

My Miami Trip

2011-11-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

There are so many changes coming up for me and my photography. What better way to introduce some of those changes than with a new blog. For my first blog post, I wanted to show some of my pics from my trip to Miami. I went on a business trip for my day job, but of course I had to squeeze in a little fun time. I met with the gorgeous model, Audrey Bouette, and MUA Romina. I literally drove straight from Tampa, to Miami to my hotel and set up for the shoot. It was a great welcome to Miami, and I must say, some of these shots are some of my favorite beauty shots to date. Here's a look at what we created.

Thoughts of an Insomniac

2011-09-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

Every week, at least once a week, I sit down, play music and tune out the world. Every now and then I surface from my dreamworld to write down a title. After a few hours, I have five or six titles. Once the titles are there, pictures bloom in my head. I think about what pictures best bring that title to life. For those who wonder at my process and wonder how I come up with shoots, there it is. :) Anyway, when those pictures come to me, sometimes, well, oftentimes, the model is doing something. She's moving. And sometimes it would frustrate me if I couldn't convey that motion. Since my first motion editorial with Becca, I started to think of those titles that I haven't shot yet. And there are a few, and oh boy am I excited. Most of my titles are built around still images, but for that small amount I could never get out, I finally have an outlet. 'Thoughts of an Insomniac' was one of those titles. In my head I saw the model pacing, I saw her dancing around to relieve the boredom and I didn't know how I would capture that. Thanks to Gina and Chantel, I decided to just go for it and shoot the motion editorial. Man am I happy I did. It feels so awesome when what you have in your head is exactly what you get. :) Take a look at my new editorial titled 'Thoughts of an Insomniac'.

When the day is done...

2011-09-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I shot with Rebecca Smith. She changed her hair color and wanted to shoot with the new color. Becs is one of the models on my short list that I'll pretty much shoot with no matter what. Hey, anyone who would balance on a chair inside an inflatable pool trying to keep their face about water for me, has pretty much got my loyalty. LOL. She and Gina floundered for damn near an hour in that pool, lmao, but I digress. Anywho, we couldn't find a make-up artist so I decided to keep the whole thing simple, and stick to the basics. At least we had more than a stick of shadowblast and eyeliner like last time. *sigh* good times. So anyway, we hauled to a park down the street from me armed with just my camera and a couple of pair of clothes. I wanted to capture a simple afternoon. Just you and your significant other enjoying a day together. The title, 'When the day is done' made me think of the small memories we make, just doing nothing. That was the basis for the shoot. Memories linger, and I wanted to show that. I've been dabbling in behind the scenes video and wanted to try something else. I wanted to see if I could do a moving editorial. We spent the first five minutes giggling, but got into the groove and I got some great footage. I was up until the wee hours of the morning trying to figure out how to use my Vegas Studio. (Thank you very much Google) Here is the result, and I'm kinda proud of myself. Definitely look out for more of these, cause I'm feeling very inspired. thanks Becca for being down for anything. :)

Untitled from Adrienne Andersen on Vimeo.

Roxanne, Roxanne

2011-09-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Meet Roxanne. Roxanne is that woman in the neighborhood, the 'ride or die chick'. I like to call her a classy shit-talker. She's gritty when she needs to be, but with a few swipes of make-up can be that woman you would be proud to have on your arm. Men love her, women envy her swag. This beauty story was fun for me, it's a bit of an urban story. Gina brought the attitude and Anamary brought to life the make-up that told both sides of Roxanne's personality. Clean with a punch of color to drive home just how vivacious she is, the makeup said it all. It was a pleasure shooting this and that all goes to Gina. Watching her move and pose really wrote the story for me. I went through the film with my husband and as I'm thinking aloud about what her body language was saying, he came up with the title. He started singing 'Roxanne, Roxanne' and it clicked. I'm currently obsessed with beauty shots, and these are some of my favs this year.

Lovely Sparklies

2011-08-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

So last week I posted behind the scene pics from my shoot using some AMAZING jewelry from designer Otazu. Love, love their designs. Big thanks to MUA Chantel Hyden for hooking us up with the contact. So for my first shoot with the jewelry I wanted to do something simple. I enlisted help from model: Felicia and hairstylist Hope Shoemaker. The day started rough due to some last minute cancels and the shuffling that entailed, but ended on a good note. Thanks to everyone for their patience! It made the shoot go smoothly and we got some great shots. Here are some of my favorite ones.

Victoria and James are getting married...

2011-08-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

James and Victoria are getting married. How exciting. Couples and engagement sessions are always fun.
You get to see other couples interact, hear the story of how they met. It just so happen that James and
Victoria met in Ybor City, so that's where we did our session. Ybor City is a great place to shoot,
but us Floridians know what it means to live here in the summer time. Yep, sporadic rain showers.
It rained midway through the session, and the clouds were virtually dancing in the sky, so lighting
was a ginormous problem. But we found cover to shoot when it rained, and braved the heat when it
stopped. By the time we were done, the three of us were drenched, and not from the rain. lol. It was hot and muggy. All in all in was a great session and I loved the shots we got. Here are some of my favs:

Pretty in Pink

2011-07-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I had a shoot with Jenny Mercado, a very talented hair stylist. We met when she did hair on a LipGloss magazine shoot for me. She showed up in bedazzled shoes and an awesome pair of parachute pants. I knew I had to shoot her. Her energy was amazing! I was really excited when we set up a time to shoot together. We didn't have really a set concept, I just knew I wanted to do some portraits that would hopefully catch some of the energy that crackles around her. I have to say, I LOVE what we ended up with.

My trip into the fairy tale woods...just a warning, they're full of mosquitoes.

2011-07-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

So today I took a trip to the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg for fairy tale like shoot. I bought a donkey mask a while ago for a shoot and didn't get to use it. I finally got a chance to today. I wanted to do a modern day spin on the beauty and the beast. I had it planned out. There would be flowers and this crazy romantic and ethereal vibe. Instead, we got mosquitoes from HELL!! Add the humid heat and it was a recipe for disaster. Luckily for me everyone in our party kept in good spirits and made a day that could have miserable, pretty fun. :) I'm about five pounds lighter, and sporting a few bites, but I really love the shots and that pretty much made it worth it. :) Shout out to Chantel, Elinka and Jathaniel, along with my hubby for being so awesome and such a good sport. I'm sure after a good soak in Benadryl, we'll all feel better. LMAO! Here are my favorite images from the shoot:

I shot a wedding...and survived!

2011-07-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I pretty much intensely dislike weddings. (Trying to teach my son not to say hate. Gotta practice what I preach. ;) ) Anyway, weddings are very stressful, and you have to LOVE them to be a great wedding photographer. Notice I said great. Some photographers love everything about weddings, and you can really tell in their pictures. Me...not so much. I think that my girly gene failed me on that note. The whole process freaks me out. I just hate the thought that I could make a mistake that could cost a couple their entire ceremony. Plus, I'm a ball of nerves when I have to shoot people one on one. Put me in a room full of strangers and I'm chewing antacids like m&ms. (Ya'll know I'm shy. lmao!) Ok, I exaggerate, you couldn't pay me to chew an antacid. Just the thought of that just made me gag a little. But I digress.

So I'm the kind of person that doesn't necessarily hold a grudge, but I don't forget a slight. Nor do I forget a favor. When Jessica wrote to me and told me she was getting married, I was so excited for her. When she asked if I would shoot her wedding, I heard the needle scratch on the record sound. LOL. Then I thought about how awesome she was when I first started shooting. She was one of the first 'models' I'd ever worked with. It was hard to find models in those days and Jessica was always down to shoot. It was really a godsend. Especially when you're just starting out, and having to teach yourself everything. Photoshoots were a craps shoot in those days. Sometimes it was successful, sometimes you wanted to bury the film into the farthest reaches of the earth's core. :)

It came as a HUGE relief to me when she said the wedding would be small. Not that it was any less stressful for me, but I could handle small. She didn't really want any shots of the ceremony. She mostly wanted shots of she and her husband at the beach, after the ceremony. I could handle that. I was on pins and needles throughout the whole thing, and nearly fainted with relief when I was done, but...I did it. I made it through a wedding without a my hands shaking too much, and without any crazy un-fixable mistakes. I think I did a good job. I love the shots, and most important, Jessica loved them.

Here are some of the shots. I thought I'd include some of the earlier shots I took of Jessica back in her modeling days. Haha, bet you forgot about these, Jessica. And I bet you wish I had. :)

What to do on a rainy Sunday

2011-06-27T17:31:00.000-07:00

So while summertime in florida is beaches and barbeques, it's also hurricane season. So every now and then you'll find yourself stuck indoors with a little rain. Sunday, I found myself catching up on edits, and playing around with some editing techniques I learned from the internet. Deviant Art is an awesome sight for photoshop tricks. I recently did a shoot with Cristin that I called 'Set Adrift'. I edited it, the way I normally do, and really loved the shots. Well, after spending an hour or two surfing deviant art, I decided to try a couple of things. Here are the results. I think they're pretty and I love 'em. Not quite the mermaid story we were searching for, but still a tale of whimsy. :) A perfect fit for my current mood.

Beauty Shooting, Guerilla Style

2011-06-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

So this morning, I was so not feeling my day job. I was in a creative type of mood and could feel the walls closing in on me at work. Of course I took to Facebook and expressed my restlessness. Chantel Hyden suggested we use my lunch hour to shoot. An hour? Yeah right. But then I got to thinking, and then I got excited, and then I was like *shrugs* why not? I sent out a mass text trying to find a model who was available last minute and who was down to do something crazy but fun. Marissa answered, and the lunacy began. I did a hasty run to my house for my camera, snatched an apple on the way out the door and beat feet back to work. When make-up was done, we hopped in my truck and went around the complex to a lake that I used to eat lunch by. I pulled up, popped the brake, and we jumped out. Luckily for me, not so much for my husband, I keep most of my stuff in the truck. My current obsession is my five in one. It's so awesome! Ten minutes later we piled back into the car and peeled out. I had to get back to work, you know. lol.. Anyway, there was no way we could have gotten more than two or three usable frames, right? Wrong. Marissa rocked it! She moved, and really gave me enough range so that the eighty frames I was able to squeeze out really counted. I had a hard time choosing which ones to edit. :) Here's what I chose, and I gotta say. THAT ISH WAS FUN! I love photography!!!!!

Test shoot at it's finest.

2011-06-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

My latest shoot was a test shoot with MUA Chantel Hyden and model Raylin Kelly. It was a simple beauty shoot, but with all test shoots, I tried new lighting methods and got a chance to use my new lens. I LOVE getting new equipment, but I do get nervous when using it for the first time. In this case, I bought a 70-300 lens and a reflector holder. In the case of the reflector holder...not so much. It really couldn't hold the reflector at the angles I needed. Plus, I definitely need to get sandbags. So anyway, I'm in a whimsical mood, and am trying to play with lighting techniques to match my mood. It's amazing how creative you can get with natural light and a five in one reflector. :) Here are my favorite shots from the shoot. I love, love the lighting, and can't wait to continue with experimenting with natural light.

A rare flower in the gardens

2011-06-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I did portraits at the botanical gardens at USF here in Tampa, and what a blast. One of my husband's coworkers wanted to shoot in her traditional Indian attire, i.e colorful saris and the like. I decided that I wanted to shoot at the botanical gardens, cause, I mean, with all the colors in the garments, what better place to shoot. Archana was so great, very open to try anything, and the resulting pics are really beautiful. It's always fun to work with someone who's not a traditional model, but is still able to emote, and sell a shot. It was definitely a pleasure to work with such an expressive person. With a visiting childhood friend giving helpful poses and suggestions, we had a blast, and was rewarded with some beautiful portraits. Here are some of the shots from our shoot.

Au Naturale

2011-06-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Most times when you're wrapped up in fashion photography there is the stress of makeu-up, hair, clothes, setting, and a plethora of other mundane details that go into a sucessful shoot. Every now and then I need to take a step back. It can burn you out having to obsess over every detail, especially without the help or extra set of eyes. There's nothing worse than going through a whole shoot and not realizing a garment's unbuttoned or the hair is completely out of place. When shooting I tend to have tunnel vision, and can miss a lot of small details. I now see why most magazine shoots have a whole team of assistants, and others just to see to the minor details. Anyway, I digress. The reason for this blog post is to talk about those times when I get burnt out on the details and minutia of fashion photography. It's not really plausible for me to just stop shooting, I go nuts. Almost to the point of twitching. :) Anyway, so when I get to the point where I'm burnt out on fashion, I turn to simpler shoots. Shoots that don't require a lot in the way of clothes make-up and concepts, but artistic enough to calm the muse.
So when Laticia came to me and said she wanted to do a shoot with no make-up, very natural, I was esctatic. She just needed simple headshots for her book, right up my alley. So we headed out to a field with just my camera and us. The resulting shots are great portraits, with very minimal editing. I shot the whole thing into the sun so other than some changing of the levels, and a simple gradient filter I hardly had to touch the shots. Here are the results, very natural, and beautiful.

Oh I love learning new tricks!

2011-05-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

So I have a page where I like to share some of the many things I've found around the web that have helped me in my photography journey. A page where I give mofos their shine so to speak. I didn't go to school for photography, so a lot of what I learned has come from books, websites, and blogs. I'd pick up a little bit of info here, a new trick there, and have piece together everything into a style that's finally starting to come together for me. Every now and then I get into a rut or a sort of stalemate, so I like to scour the web for new ways to edit, and new techniques. I found a great photoshop expert on one of my many forays through YouTube. Here is a link to her page and a couple of tutorials that she posted:

NataliaTaffarel‬‏

I found an editorial for a really cool editing trick that I'd actually wanted to try for a while now. Here are some of the shots from the shoot. It was all done with natural lighting, using the white filter that's part of my five in one reflector to tone down the sunlight. (Thanks Sherry for the assist! lol) I really love the result. Make-up was done by Sherry Restifo, and Makayla is the model.

Celebrating Spring

2011-04-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend, one of the models I've worked with called and asked for a favor. The photographer scheduled to do a lifestyle shoot canceled and she needed a photographer. I'm not much of a lifestyle person, one: I never quite get all the smiling, and two: it never really interested me. There is an art form to every type of photography and so I leave lifestyle to the photographers who are good at it. I mean, sure a pastry chef knows how to make lasagna, but really, wouldn't you rather have their fantastic cupcakes? I think in terms of fashion and beauty so the pictures in my head reflect that. But, I thought I'd give it the old college try. Well, I got some pretty good shots, but inevitably my favorite shots turned out to look more fashion than lifestyle. It looks like an ad campaign, and I absolutely love how whimsical and romantic the images are. Chris, Jennifer's boyfriend, has a fantastic backyard. His neighbor has a jasmine growing along the fence and it spills over onto their side creating a beautiful setting for my shots.Because of the time of day, the sun was especially harsh and turned out to be a lighting nightmare. To combat it, I put the model in front of the sun, and shot into the light, creating a gorgeous halo that softened the images. Make-up and hair was done by Christie Burton, she really did a great job. Here are my favorite shots:

Something Old, Something New

2011-04-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

Photography is an ever changing and evolving thing for me. It's amazing to go back and look at the shots I've taken over the years and compare them to my current work. Sunday Reece and I had a shoot planned, that was suppose to be elegant, and high fashion. Well, the muse is a fickle beast. LOL, we did make-up and hair, and chit chat turned into, 'Hey, didn't you have an afro wig?' Ha ha, did I! Two or three years ago I did a 'high fashion' shoot downtown Tampa with these wicked 80's prom bombs that I'd found. I bought three afro wigs to go with it. Blond, black and red. LOL, man...good times. Here are some shots of what I did a few years ago:

Chuckie, a most awesome model, can make anything look great. The afro wig is so big that we had to put a towel underneath to pad it and make it big. LOL, so I know it had to be hot. But you can't tell. She made it look so easy.

Any who. We pulled out the wig, did some crazy adjustments, and now my something old, looked like something new. As usual, Makayla completely owned the look and we turned out some great shots.

Family Treasures

2011-03-08T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ahh, the pleasures of family treasures. When my family realized I was serious about photography, the random, unusual and mostly awesome little presents started. A hat here, a piece of jewelry they found at a thrift store, or little small nonsenses that you find at garage sales. I got them. I loved them, and much to my husband's chagrin, I've kept the majority of them. My dad is great about finding small treasures while he's out 'garaging' (his term for going to garage sales) and giving them to me when I go to Georgia to visit. They've been featured in a many of my photoshoots. But, my all time favorite gift or treasure my dad has found, is definitely a camcorder he found at a garage sale that has to be from the seventies. LMAO, ok, maybe not the seventies, I'm not even sure when they started making hand held cameras. As a matter of fact this thing is so huge, I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been hand held. I love it! Recently I posted on my facebook that I was in the mood to shoot and Shelby graciously answered and said she was down. Well, I absolutely love last minute, out of the blue shoots. It gives me a chance to be creative and a little whimsical. Sometimes I see something during the day that inspires me, and this was one of those days. Any who, she came over and I finally had an idea for the camera my dad gave me. The resulting shoot is called 'Live Feed'. Here are some of the images from that shoot, as well as some of the other treasures I've received from my family.

Here are some other images of the various things my dad bought for me 'garaging'. :)

The veil in the front, is one of my family treasures.

The round glass dome was from a light fixture my dad found. Loved it. Probably will have other uses for it as well.

The miracle of accidents

2011-02-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

There is nothing more frustrating than having plans go awry. There are those times when nothing goes right, one thing after the other is getting mixed up, and then something magical happens. That's what happened today. I planned out this elaborate shoot for a magazine submission I wanted to do. It had an entire story line, wardrobe planned out and then...chaos. LOL. The model's car had troubles, we ended up nearly an hour off schedule, the lighting was off and then I just couldn't make the wardrobe fit with the vision in my head. I was panicking inside about not getting the shots I needed, and my instincts were screaming for me to just go a whole different direction. I had to stop, calm myself and just listen to what my heart and eyes were trying to tell my head. And then, that's when everything started going right. Cristin started moving, the wind blew her hair around, and all of a sudden, the editorial was the last thing on my mind. It's weird to say that inspiration struck, but really, that's how it felt. I no longer wanted to shoot 'Enchanted', but wanted instead to focus on her face. Cristin is one of the most expressive models I've had the pleasure to work with. So I scratched the video that I'd planned for weeks, nixed the wardrobe we put together and scrubbed her face of everything but a trace amount of make-up and started shooting. What we ended up with were shots that I'm in love with and an editorial that Reece and I decided to call 'Summer Winds.' The whole thing was really an accident and the result of a series of calamities. lol. The moral of this story is two sided, for photographers, don't force it. For models, be ready for anything. :) Thanks so much Cristin for putting up with the change of plans and really, thank you for feeding the muse. ;) Here are my shots from 'Summer Winds'

Photogs have fun in front of the camera too!

2011-02-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

So this weekend Tony Firpi from Devious Elements and I exchanged portraits. He did portraits of me and I, him. It was fun. We talked ideas, models, and he basically gave me tons of tricks and tips about photoshop and lighting that I didn't know. It was a good day, and I'm glad we met up. I was hella nervous and sooo close to chickening out. LOL. Tony is a natural behind the camera AND in front. Lucky for me, he was down to try whatever. We pretty much went through his closet and picked out something that would a mix of both our visions. I think it came out great. Here are some of my favorite shots from the shoot. I think it showcases him as the playful and charming person his friends know him as, but also shows off his swagger.

Distant Obsession

2011-02-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a look at the finished shots from my January behind the scenes post. Andrea did a great job. Looking at the images now, I've decided to do a new series. (If you're wondering, I've become obsessed with collections and series.) Anyway, I really liked the style I shot this editiorial in, so I'm thinking about doing a whole series of editorials in the style of an observer. No poses, just very candid and hopefully raw shots. the shoot I have planned is tentatively titled 'Enchanted'. I'm really excited about it. I'm still planning wardrobe for it and planning the images I want. During my winter break I've realized that if I want the shots to look like they are in my head, I have to really plan the looks out. I normally don't like to coach model, I sometimes find that it inhibits their natural movements and sometimes forces them into poses that don't look fluid. But the problem I've had is getting models out of posing and just moving. So with this series, I plan to work more on meticulously setting up my shots without losing the naturalness and fluidity. We'll see how it goes. But any who, sorry for the tangent, here are the images from Distant Obsession.

'Isla del Carribe' Now I know what Marc Anthony sang about.

2011-01-27T18:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, so back stateside from our family vacation, and already missing the beach. :) I've never seen anything like the beaches in Vieques. They were beautiful . Although, I gotta say, being able to see the fish swimming around your legs is a bit disconcerting. ROFL. There is not much I can say about the trip really. I'm a photographer, so everything I have to say is in the images I took. And I took plenty. I think I'm gonna hang some of them in my office so I can relive those breezes. Man o man, talk about paradise.

See, wild horses walking around willy, nilly.

There were adventures aplenty. I mean, think about an old Isuzu Trooper with no shocks, and narrow, bumpy streets. Harrowing is certainly an understatement. It was hella fun. (Not sure if my mother in law agrees, she was holding tight to the 'Oh Shit' bar in the back.) LMAO!!! But hey, I didn't drive down a plunging ravine, hit a wild horse, or unsuspecting resident, so I'm chucking it in the awesome adventure column. I'm adding it right next to having to my husband's abuelo drive us down a mountain backwards 'cause we couldn't go forward, nor could we turn around (remember those plunging ravines I mentioned?). My heart was POUNDING, but abuelo's got skills. Thanks Belo.

Anyway, met some great people, ate some delicious food, and saw some fantastic sights. So Puerto Rico, I'll be back to visit.

So please enjoy the shots I took. Oh, and don't ask me facts. Carmen didn't speak English and my Spanish didn't go as far as I thought. So all of the interesting tidbits she told us went over my head. Carmen was so sweet about it and all in all we got along great and I'm kinda proud of the how much I understood. Once I joined my mother in law who translated for us things got easier.

Dorado

This was taken in Dorado

I just thought it was a hilarious sign. Not so much 'cause Wednesday's spelled wrong. lol, but because it's www.

Vieques

I think this is Grand Beach. It used to be on the Marine base, but since they got the boot, the locals get to use it now. Fantastic Beach.

The view from my husband's grandfather's porch. I mean really, how much closer to paradise can you get.

I think Abuelo said this tree was a couple of centuries old.

Man I love me some popeye's, lmao, so imagine my suprise when we pulled up and they didnt' serve chicken. :) SN: We did eventually go to Popeye's in Dorado and all I gotta say is, stateside Popeye's needs to step they game up.

Waterfall at El Yunque rainforest.

The view from the top of the mountain at El Yunque. Yeah, it was dizzying and amazing all at the same time.

I forget the name of the tower, but my son insisted we climb all the way to the top. Man, I'm still outta breath. lol

This was a fantastic statue in Dorado, it really showed the history of their city. The Conquistador, the African Slave, and the Taino Indian.

This is the beach in Luquillo, and yes, the sand was that awesome color. I couldn't believe it. Five minutes up the road in the same town, the beach is a totally different color. Crazy

The beach in Luquillo, see, different color sand.

Nom, nom. The guy called them chicken tacos, but Carmen called them Pastelillos. Mayhap that's spelled incorrectly. :)

By far the best fish I've ever tasted. They called it Cierra.(Probably spelled wrong.) It's king fish, and my new favorite dish!


The whole strip at Luquillo beach had little places like this that sold food. There was a small souvenir shop, pool tables, and it looked like the hang out place. The food was to die for!! It was my first stop straight from the airport. LOL, thanks Carmen.

Operation Organization

2011-01-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

So this year, I'm striving to be more organized. My mother in law tells me all the time that getting organized will help me reach the goals I set. Well, this year Mema, I'm listening. LOL. We have an office in my house we don't use due to the size. I mean really, you can barely get anything in here. :) Well, in my old haphazard throw everything everywhere way, you can never get anything in here. Now that I'm more organized, I realized I could fit quite a bit in there. Even more awesome, I can put a futon in there and now I'll have a place to put guests, other than my sofa. I know, contain your excitement about a possible lumpy/hard futon mattress, but I promise to find a comfortable one.It's now officially a make-up room/office. Reece and I can do make-up and hair in here, and then in between times, I can set up my table and do my editing, writing, miscellaneous craft projects. And here's the amazing part: my crap isn't scattered everywhere! *Gasp* I could actually find my supplies, my combs, make-up etc, without it being a major production. lol. Those who don't know me, don't realize what a feat this is. I lose everything! At least twice during a shoot I'll have to ask out loud where my camera is. I tend to set it down to fix something and forget where I put it. Yep, I'm that absent minded. You know, shiny objects and all that. :) So anyway, back to the point. My office is completed. I painted, rearranged some furniture, put up some mirrors, (Okay my husband actually put the mirrors up,) and generally made a better use of the space. Et voila, an efficient office. I have all the items in our kit in drawers, our wardrobe hanging, and a place for people to actually sit. It's great. Now Reece and I will be able to brainstorm without all the extra distractions. I'm excited. I put a dream and inspiration board to further organize my thoughts, and to give me something physical to look at that will keep me on track. This year I plan to make great strides in my career, and I'm hoping a better organized space will make it happen. Wish me luck.

Hypnotize

2011-01-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday along with my stalker shoot I also shot with model Heaven Hall. Reece shot some video of the shoot, for which I am eternally grateful, and I edited a little for a small peek at the behind the scenes. Now that I've gotten my feet wet a little with video editing I'll be sure to post more of the crazy antics from our shoots. :) The music featured in the video is Hypnotize you by N.E.R.D off their Nothing album. Hotness. Love N.E.R.D. Check out my website, www.osnapstudios.com for more behind the scene video.

The Art of Paper

2011-01-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

The art of paper is a new personal project of mine. It's going to be a fun project featuring different paper cut outs. I'm so excited. Light-hearted and fun, yep that's me. The whole thing was inspired by a shoot I did with one of my favorite models, Marissa Nguyen. I wanted to do lingerie, but something with a soft and sensual tone. We staged my 'bedroom' for the shoot but it was missing something. My partner Reece and I decided to cut out paper hearts and hang them from the cieling. This immediately gave the whole scene an airy, and beautiful tone. I set up my curtains with one monolight behind it, to the right of the model. I'd hoped to give the scene a feel of sunlight streaming through a window. I set up my mainlight directly in front of the model to light the rest of the area. In the end, I hoped to accomplish, a twenty something woman, in her room on a bright and sunny morning. This brings me to another topic: staging. It's so important to the thrifty photographer. When you're doing TF props, wardrobe, make-up and such can get expensive. Especially in the race for almighty publication, everything has to be just right, and has to look well put together. To stage my 'bedroom' I used a large sofa cushion and a white sheet. I surrounded the area with curtains to give myself more area to shoot. I didn't want to catch any of my kitchen in my shots. lol. Any way. Here is a shot of the staging area, along with the edited shots of the shoot I called 'Paper Hearts'. I ended up using the shots for my valentines advertising. Enjoy!

Model: Marissa Nguyen

Project Red Light

2011-01-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

Last year I decided to work on a personal project. Something that explored the concept of sexy without necessarily being overt. Project Red light came from that. It's my take on sexy, whether it be hard, soft or sensual. there are different sides to Sexy. More importantly what I wanted to show was the gut reaction most people have to the 'red light'. It immediately sets the mood to sexy and regardless of what the model is wearing or lack thereof, the red light will signify sex. So project red light is my take on 'sexy'. I took both beauty shots as well as fashion shots. Here are my favorite shots from the project.

Lingerie in the back yard? But what about your neighbors!?

2010-07-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is just a small peek at the behind the scenes. I did a lingerie shoot in my back yard a few months ago. (Thank you Brittney for being so awesome. It was blazin' hot that day!) Here is a pic of the set-up.
It's three pieces of plywood painted white. The third is for the floor. I used my background stand to hang these white curtains. It was, I don't know about one or so in the afternoon, so the sun was pretty high. I used a single monolight front and center on the model. It's a small budget light I got from amazon.com, only about 100 watts. Here is the final result:

Not too bad for my backyard.

My new direction

2010-07-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

So, lately I've been looking for that niche that fits me and I tell you, I just may have found it. It's that gray area right between glamour and fashion. Here are some images from the more recent shoots I have done. We'll see how it goes.

Oh Snap Studios

2010-03-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

It's already March of 2010. The year is trying to sprint by at a fast pace but I am going to sit back and make sure I enjoy the ride I plan on taking this year. I am bound and determined to get my name out there this year. Network, network, network is the name of the game. I want big things for myself this year and instead of wishing I am actively pursuing my dream. Sometime in the next couple of months I will be published in Lipgloss magazine. (So excited) I will keep you posted on when the issue comes out. Can't wait. Also, thank you LHMMag for posting me on their website this month as an emerging talent.

My goal this year will be to develop my photography of course, but I want to find my niche. Right now I think beauty shots is really where I work well, I love faces, it's the one thing about a photograph that draws me every time. Here are a couple of examples of my fav beauty shots I have done.