Disney Lovers

This shoot seems like it was sooooo long ago. This shoot was back in mid September. Only now I'm uploading it! I'll admit that I didn't exactly capture this lovely couple with a focus on Disneyland. Instead I wanted to instead just focus on them. Yes, we did sing Disney tunes all through the drive, but that's not the point! These two were just so sweet and will be getting married this December! Congratulations you guys! I'd photograph their wedding if I could. Sadly, I won't be in the country. Que sera.

Be Italian

Not really sure if this evokes something necessarily Italian. But hey, the Beer is. This shoot was the first time that I ever shot a beer bottle with a commercial intent. The best part of this shoot was creating the feel of a cold bottle with a golden body. You can probably tell I was a bit more concerned with lighting the bottle than creating a clever and deep concept behind the ad. At least the beer was good!

The lady in Gold

 

 

 

Woo! I'm on a roll today! Pumping out the second of my many overdue posts. I thought it would be fun to play with on figure looks that combined beauty with concept. I remember researching this idea of using gold leaf and seeing all these terrible and tacky examples while also being equally inspired by the use of it as an eyeshadow on the runways at Fendi. It was neat to see the sheen and the raw texture that was created while simultaneously creating a sense of decadence. I didn't think about it at the time, but I wanted to go for a beauty sensibility that you often see at Aveda. Think I've got it?

Behind It All

 Make Up: Jonathan Suarez

 I feel as though I'm trying to bring my blog back from the dead. Sorry I've been so MIA.. While I have been gone, it doesn't mean that I haven't been producing work. Posting these images simply has been a bit challenging. This semester is the busiest I've had so far. I've been actually wanting to post these images for a while but had a hard time since some how my blog decided that it didn't want to post anything. I slave and sweat over a post and then poof, It was gone.
This was the case for the last few months so, I'll have to fill you guys in on the past projects of mine that haven't been seen by anyone other than classmates in critiques.

For this project, I decided to try something that I've seen Annie Leibovitz do. Annie will often take celebrities and create a story for them to take on and embrace for the sake of the shoot. Often it will have something to do loosely with their occupation or career. In this case, I took the lovely "Amanda September" and decided to create a story for her to portray. I always loved to think about old jazz clubs and performance halls of the 30's and 40's. Not the stages themselves but backstage. This is where it's real. Where the performers have a moment to take off their masks and retreat into a different person. The person that no one really sees. 

enjoy!

Dark Dancer

Finally, more images of Shani. I'm sure that she's been waiting for these. Just a further revealing of the photo shoot. I need to redo this shoot though. There WAS NOT enough time... ><
This shoot was meant to be filled with mood and drama by use of low-key lighting. In addition, I think that Shani was the perfect model for her excellent sense of movement, flexibility and willingness to jump. One can't deny though how awesome her body is. That light made every muscle just pop! In a good way ;)

Recollect

It seems like so long ago that I shot this! I always love looking back on my past work. Have I improved? Has my prime come and gone? I'm always asking those questions that would lead to premature aging... I think this was shot early January of 2010. I remember that day. That shoot. I think I've come pretty far. Still a long ways to go though..

Shani

Very soon, I'll be posting images from a recent shoot I did with my friend Shani. Haven't had the chance to clean and edit things. So far, you can have a peak from the shoot.

Miss Meringue

Bonjour! I was feeling french and decided that meringues were something that I wanted to photograph :] I find them visually irresistible!

Playing with Food

purple interiors

apple acrobatics

jelly apple

I've been thinking about issues of bioengineering in food and also in the quality of food given to students in public school systems. It's crap... I wanted to show in a whimsical way, a sort of commentary on how our food can be manipulated. Hopefully I'm not hitting you over the head with how the idea is presented :P

Might continue to explore and simplify the concept... of course, I could just go back to exploring the human form... what do you think?

HIP TO THE HOP

I feel awful for not posting these sooner. I recently had the chance to photograph a budding hip hop crew known as C.O.S.M.I.C Dance Crew. These are a group of fun loving and funky dancers. It was a smaller shoot with just a few members. Next time, I'll have to find a bigger studio :P I decided that I wanted to go into the shoot with a concept. I wanted to have a sense of unity and forward thinking. Instead of having everyone do their own thing with the wardrobe, I had everyone in simple outfits that would pull them all together and make things seem in sync. Since this is hip hop though, I wanted to give them both an element of individuality and spunk. That's where the paint comes in :) Space was a huge issue so, I focused on making group shots, portraits and when I had the chance, some action... need to edit more of the action shots..

One of my favorite shots from the prep!

Conceptual Elegance

For the most recent photo project, my advertising photography teacher decided to let us loose and explore whatever we wanted. This was my chance! I'd had an idea up my sleeve for so long and ow I could unveil it. What was my idea? Jewelry.. When I write it or say it, it seems so unexiting :( Still, I guess I was exited since I had thought of a new way of presenting jewelry.. or at least something that I'd not seen in a magazine.
When thinking of an idea, i don't think so much about what will look pretty, but instead a new way of thinking about how something is presented. In a lot of advertisements for jewelry, you see the jewelry almost competing with this gorgeous model. She is smoldering, sexy and makes the jewelry seem like it's something that she just slaps on any day.. The point of my project though is to sell the product. I thought about almost making the model irrelevant. Sure, you want to show the jewelry draped on someone beautiful. Still, I think an ad is successful when you can't take your eyes off the product instead of the person wearing the product. That's where the tulle came in. It almost acts as a blurring affect so that the clarity of the necklace is exaggerated. I thought this would be a cool way to play with layering and presence :] Enjoy!

With love from India

I've already started my spring 2011 in January but only now are you able to see what I've been doing so far.. Our professor decided that he'd just plop a bunch of objects on a table and we would have to choose one of these objects. With that done, he told us to sell the items back to him in a photograph. My object; scissors from India. Literally. At first I thought, I'd evoke one of those really sharp and simple images of the scissors beautifully lit with the appearance that they are falling and one of the blades is just about to touch the surface of the table. What did my professor think? BORING. So, I immediately brainstormed. I started thinking of those hot Indian summers, seamstresses skillfully handling beautiful fabrics with their rough utilitarian hands. This is what I got:



Now that I look at this picture. It looks so simple and almost unposed. Still, I wish that there had been more magic to the image. To me the most exiting elements of this image are the gorgeous model's hands and the way the orange fabric reflected into the engraved words on the blade...

Ringing in the new year with some Henna

Today I met up with an old friend of mine. While in the mall we took notice of one of the many hair threading salons that have been popping up in the valley. This one happened to offer henna. Recently I've found myself wanting to do things like wear nail polish and other girly things I didn't concern myself with. Henna was of course an inevitable part of this sudden urge to do more girly things. It was spontaneous really. We went in. Got henna on our hands and walked out as though our hands had been dipped into liquid nitrogen so that we wouldn't ruin the intricate designs that had been freshly made. When I was younger I wasn't sure if I'd ever want to do something so dramatic on my skin. I thought it almost looked dirty. Today though, I suddenly thought it would look beautiful and unique.
Hopefully I'm not upsetting anyone that normally only does this sort of thing for special occasions connected to their religion and culture. My friend felt that this could only bring exposure to another culture which can bring about respect and understanding.