Nailah - Class of 2018

Ahhh, man. Looks like I took an unintentional leave of absence from blogging!  Between work, things going on in my personal life, and trying to be a 23 year old, it's been hard to get out and take photos.  So yeah, meet Nailah!  She's a high school senior who is graduating in the next few weeks!  What a great young lady!  Very confident, very talented, and obviously works the camera like nobody else can!

It was a joy to explore Downtown Plano with Nailah and her mom.  Other than the wind blowing at 100 mph, everything about the afternoon was perfect!  I don't think there would've been a better day to do a senior shoot honestly.  Nailah is actually the first high school senior shoot that I have done since moving to Dallas so I can finally cross that off of my photography to-do-list!  What a great way to start off my first senior session in the Dallas metroplex!

If anybody is interested in doing any senior shoots, please let me know!  I am always looking to do more shoots like this.  I've always wanted to do an athletics themed senior session so definitely let me know if you guys know of anyone who would be down for that!

Happy Late Valentine's Day??

First thing's first... DID YOU GUYS SEE BLACK PANTHER YET?!  It's a must see if you haven't seen it yet!  #WakandaForever

Alright, back to the business at hand!  How's this for being different?!  This is my first time doing a shoot like this and I'm sure it won't be my last!  This shoot made me take a step out of my comfort zone.  Being that most of my shoots have been outdoors the past couple of years, this was also good practice for working with light that's available me.  For some of the shoot, I used my ring light and a backdrop.  Towards the end of the shoot, I challenged challenged myself to find the best available lighting in the house.  You know when old folks haven't done something for a long time, then they go do that thing and end up doing it well.  Yeah, that was me during this shoot and it's safe to say, that I still got it!

Not only was it a fun shoot, but it was certainly a lot better when Alex comes in and just completely slays!  This late Valentine's Day shoot was one to remember.  I'm super satisfied with how well everything went and is ready to do another shoot since I don't have much time to pull my camera out.  I almost want to buy some strobes because I miss doing studio work but at this point in my life, I'd rather spend money on traveling!  Because who doesn't love a good trip, right?

Speaking of trips...  Get ready for some super awesome photos coming in the next blog post.  It'll be a trip that I've been trying to make for a while and now I am finally getting a chance to go!  I haven't seen some of friends in years so it'll be good to see them as well!  Anyway, have a great rest of the week guys!

New Year, Same Start

Happy New Year, everyone!  Man, I tell ya.  What a start to the New Year!  This year started off exactly like it did last year.  James Madison University (JMU) came down to compete in this year's NCAA DI FCS Football Championship game against North Dakota State University (NDSU).  But before I talk about this crazy game, let's talk about an event that transpired the day before the game!

My good friend, Scott came down to photograph the game so you know we had to get together and hit the road.  Thursday night, Scott asked me if I wanted to go to Waco and visit Magnolia.  You know Magnolia!  The Magnolia from HGTV?  Yes, Magnolia!  I had no idea what Magnolia was and HGTV wasn't my first choice when it comes to watching tv.  I happily agreed to take the trip down since I have never been to this Magnolia.  Come to find out, last year when I photographed JMU softball at Baylor, I stayed in a hotel right down the street from Magnolia and still had no idea where or what it was.  Seeing this place was pretty neat.  I posted to my Snapchat and within 2 minutes of posting, I had several friends send me a message saying how jealous they were of me being there. 

Scott and I walked around the store so that he could pick up something for his wife and while we did that, I was taking in the ambience of this place.  It was certainly a place I would want to visit the next time I go to Baylor.  Maybe even take a friend or two and do a photoshoot there?

So Saturday was the big day and probably one of the most exciting events to add to my list of crazy things to happen in 2018.  JMU, looking for a back-to-back win, while NDSU was fighting to reclaim their title.  A nail-biting game to say the least.  I was shooting and trying to keep my emotion out of the game but could find myself actually getting stressed at almost every point in the game.  I didn't go to JMU, never taken a class there, but I am a self-proclaimed, die-hard JMU Dukes fan!  Don't @ me.

Ok, so not only was the game super exciting to shoot, I also got to photograph Terrell Owens!  Like, the Terrell Owens.  You know, T.O.  It was a pretty good day, other than the loss.  Lots of excitement, lots of photos, and even getting to spend some time with the FCS's best photo team!  Big thanks to Cathy for getting the squad back together for another year of photos, laughs, and love.

Maria & Family

Sup, everyone!  Long time no see!  It's been a while since I've done a blog post.  My coworker and good friend, Maria finally got a free day for us to go do photos with her kids.  We literally planned to do this since the summer and have both just not been able to do a shoot because of our lives being so hectic.

The day before the shoot, we confirmed where we wanted to go. The photos that I saw online made the locations look beautiful and a place that would be good for family photos.  Well, that wasn't the case after we got there!  We pulled up, looked around, and everything was brown, dead, and ugly.  I had another location as a backup and we made our way to that spot.  Literally the exact same thing.  Everything was ugly, the park was extremely small, you could see the back of people's houses, fences.  Just a pitiful park.  Should it have even been called a park?  Maria mentioned that she had a park where she used to do her morning runs that could work.  We hopped back into the car and made our way to Rockwall, Texas.  This park in comparison to the first two was perfect for what we needed.  What really made this shoot so great was that it was almost 70 degrees!  Perfect December weather if you ask me.

After the shoot, Maria's son wanted some Wendy's so we stopped and got him a 4 for 4 because he killed the shoot and had a great time!  No better way to end a long afternoon of shooting than a pitstop for some food and a Wendy's frosty.

I'm always interesting in meeting more people in the DFW area so if any of my readers know anybody, send them on to me!  I'd love to do more work with families and couples.  I'd really like to do some lifestyle shoots with couples in an Airbnb or some really awesome location.  So again, let me know if you all know some folks!