{jeff}

What a crazy few weeks I have had. I ran a holiday promotion last year and it seems that every one of my dear clients that purchased gift certificates decided to redeem them all within the same month. It has been NUTS....but I am having a blast shooting and then editing through the night almost every night. What a fun opportunity, in the midst of my "gift certificate promotion" shoots to take a break and be able to do a photo shoot of my good friend Jeff that I've been spending quite a bit of time with the past few weeks. And what a RIDICULOUSLY awesome shoot it was...in so many ways!! We had SUCH a blast!




As is the case with most guys, Jeff wasn't completely comfortable doing a photo shoot of himself. LOL! However, after we got started, even he started having a good time with it. I have always loved this particular location for male portraits. The backgrounds are so awesome and more "masculine" than others I tend to use. However, we were in for a big and fabulous SURPRISE the day we did this shoot. As I was walking around one of the buildings, I looked a ways off and noticed that there was an abandoned TRAIN CAR!!!!!! JACKPOT!!!!! I was so excited, I just about screamed! HOW AMAZING is this backdrop?! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

I could not have DIGITALLY CREATED a more amazing backdrop than this awesome train car. I couldn't get enough of it! And Jeff was THE perfect subject for this backdrop.

I didn't realize JUST how perfect it was, until I walked around the other side of the train car and saw the word "RESPECT" spray painted on it. AWWWWESOME!!!!! Then, I KNEW it was DESTINY! LOL! So awesome to have found this train car on this particular shoot. I immediately told Jeff he was going to have to do a little flexing for me. LOL! He was SUCH a good sport! This shot below has to be one of my favorite shots that I have ever done....for so many reasons. Love the subject I was shooting....love his expression and pose (his build is sooo perfect for this backdrop..LOVE IT)...love the train car...love love love SO MUCH about it! PERFECTION! I could SCREAM!


This photo shoot was so great for so many reasons for me! Loved finding this new backdrop and having the opportunity to take a little break from "cute family pictures" to do a masculine shoot that is a little more "edgy" and fun. As much as I love shooting families, it was fun to do something different for a change and show that I am more versatile. Jeff was the perfect subject for me to shoot....willing to  try just about anything I asked him to do. LOL! He even climbed right on up onto the train car..and probably would have climbed up even higher if I had asked. LOL! Love these pics of him climbing onto the train car....some of my all-time faves.



The untrained eye tends to usually just focus on the subject in the picture...however, those who have a "photographer's eye" notice EVERY DETAIL...the bolts, the rust, the writing, the shadows, the lighting, the composition, the angles...and even details ON the subject that most will almost always miss. There is SO...MUCH....MORE than just PUSHING the button on the camera. This shoot was one of my favorites for ALL of those reasons. OOOOH...I SO LOVE WHAT I DO!!!!! As long as I am a photographer, I will  never truly "work" a day in my life. I LOVE IT! If you can..(LOL)...try to look at EVERYTHING in the picture...and not just Jeff. It will be a challenge, I know...LOL...but when you do, you will see what I mean about how AMAZING this shoot was for me. Everything was PERFECT! How AMAZING is this backdrop?????? LOOOOOVE IT!



So fun to have a more laid back shoot and have the time to take as many pics as we wanted and not have to worry about the time. We had so much fun. :-)







Until Jeff has a chance to look through all of the images from his shoot and choose the ones that he would like for me to edit, I thought it would be fun for me to choose a few of MY faves to edit and post as a little sneak peek. As you can see....I had a hard time limiting it to a few. Ironically, Jeff doesn't consider himself to be very photogenic. As you can see....I was able, yet again, to prove my subject wrong. What a blessing to find something I LOVE to do..that I feel I am GOOD at. Such an amazing feeling. Love that I am able to make my subjects feel SO comfortable, that they are able to let go, be themselves and seriously RADIATE the amazing, amazing Divinely awesome beings that they are in the pictures I take. LOVE THAT. ;-)






Many thanks to you Jeff, not only for giving me the opportunity to do this AWESOME shoot (so excited to be able to add these to my portfolio), but for your friendship. You are such a great blessing in my life. What a crazy fun day this was. I hope that you are as pleased with these proofs as I am. SO can't wait for our next shoot! "Reptile" theme right? ;-) LOL!

Comments

[Jeff Smith]

Awesome writing...awesome location...awesome photos! Thank you for all your time and effort in working on this. Talk to you soon.