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!