I’m finally starting to get caught up on the 9 or 10 shoots that I’m behind on editing. I shot like a madman in April while my wife and son were in China. I wanted to keep busy so I wouldn’t miss them too much, but unfortunately now I’m heavily backlogged with editing, and I still want to shoot more! LOL

I met Tia through my good friend Eve. Tia and I hit it off right from the start and took over a month to plan a cool “trash the dress” beach shoot. We decided to have a backup plan of casual/glamour shoot in case of inclement weather, and good thing we did. It was eight degrees and raining in April when we shot, so we ended up with plan B. (I did end up finally shooting the “trash the dress” shoot last week. I’ll post those photos soon..after the other sets I need to edit. LOL)

I was very happy with plan B though and the results came out even better than I expected. Lately I’ve been trying to do my location lighting to look more natural (unless of course I’m doing a creative shoot), and so for this I lit the bedroom from the outside. I put an AB800 with a giant softbox on the patio and aimed it through the glass doors to her bed. I then used an AB400 on lower power through a brolly for fill. I think they turned out pretty cool! Check out the whole set to see for yourself.

Kala IV, originally uploaded by Steve Cherrier. Model: Kala - Strobist info: AB800 in Giant Softbox camera left on boom, AB400 camera right with shoot-thru for fill. SB28 camera left-rear for hair/rim. View the whole set of Kala’s shots here.

Charlena IV, originally uploaded by Steve Cherrier.

Model: Charlena Louie

Shot in my studio.

You can view the full set of photos of Charlena here.

Strobist info: SB25 through shoot-through umbrella for key camera right (rear). SB28 reflected into umbrella camera left side and hitting wall. SB28 shooting through umbrella camera left for fill (low power). (two triggered by PWs and one optical slave)

Paper Girl I, originally uploaded by Steve Cherrier.

This was a concept created by the beautiful and talented MUA, Pepa Chan from start to finish. I was honored to be chosen to photograph this session with Jeanine.

Jeanine C (Model)
Pepa Chan (Makeup Artist)
Style Genius (Hair Stylist)

Strobist info: SB28 reflected into umbrella and gelled with pink gel camera right rear for rim/hair. SB28 through shoot-through umbrella for key camera left.

You can view the whole set of photos on my flickr here.

Dark Ballerina IV, originally uploaded by Steve Cherrier.

Sarah was a big fashion model when she was younger, but has always aspired to do some darker work. This is just the start of many more to come from her I’m sure.

Model is Sarah War
Makeup by Felicia Bromba

Strobist info: SB28 through shoot-through umbrella for key, high – camera right.

To see all the images from this set, visit my flickr here.

]]> http://www.stevecherrierphotography.com/blog/2008/09/model-photoshoot-dark-ballerina/feed/ 0 http://www.stevecherrierphotography.com/blog/2008/09/model-photoshoot-bubble-gum/ http://www.stevecherrierphotography.com/blog/2008/09/model-photoshoot-bubble-gum/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:47:18 +0000 Steve http://steve.cherrier.org/index.php/2008/09/03/model-photoshoot-bubble-gum/

Bubble Gum III, originally uploaded by Steve Cherrier.

A fun, fashion-oriented shoot with Cindy in my studio. Fantastic makeup and hair by Felicia. A bit different than my norm these days.

Model is Cindy Fay
Makeup by Felicia Bromba

Strobist info: SB28 bouncing into umbrella with light blue gel camera left rear – filling the wall and slightly hitting the model on her right side. SB28 through shoot-through umbrella for key camera right. 8′ core-plast sheet camera left for fill.

See the rest of the photos on flickr here.

After a discussion with a good friend of mine, and model, CindyFay, we decided to do a theme based on the Brandon Lee movie, The Crow.

The movie begins with a story told by a young girl named Sarah about the legend of The Crow. The story states that when a person dies, their soul is carried to the afterlife by a crow; however, if that person’s soul is at unrest, the crow has the power to bring that person back to life so that they can right the wrongs that were done to them before they can find peace.

We shot in a cemetery in the afternoon, but with lighting and other post processing, it gives the appearance of night. I’ve also included select quotes from the movie that I felt was pertinent to the story-telling. Makeup was done by Pepa Chan and hair styling and assistance provided by Jeanine Chau.

You can see the whole series form start to finish on my flickr or Deviant Art sites.

Well Suited, originally uploaded by vidguy.

Model: Cindy Fay
Shot in my studio

From sharp dressed, confident — to rebellious, sexy woman, raring to get out of the suit.

A fun, fun shoot!

Strobist info: SB25 through shoot-through umbrella. Started off camera left high..then a bit lower, then in the last frame, it’s very low pointing straight on and up. Foam core reflector camera right.

Lately I’ve changed my photographic outlook and am forging ahead with a certain style and type of photos that I enjoy shooting and seeing. I had an epiphany one day when someone was going through my print portfolio and kept saying, “Wow, she’s pretty” and “Nice, she’s gorgeous.”

That was all fine and good, but I’d rather they were saying, “That’s an incredible photo….oh, and by the way, she’s beautiful!” So I’ve now changed my focus to doing more creative thematic shoots with an edge, as well as artistic nudes. Of course, the best would be creative, thematic nudes… and that leads me to my latest theme — The Turning.

This came from an idea from the lovely and talented  Cindy Fay , a model and friend who I’ve been working with a lot over the last month and a half. The theme revolves around a beautiful Victorian woman who was bitten, and is in the process of turning into a Vampire. Inspiration was drawn from “Interview with a Vampire” but with our own flavour. Makeup was done by Kaley Marshall and hair styling and assistance provided by Jeanine Chau.

You can check out the entire 11 image set on Flickr (Warning: some topless shots).

I’ve been so busy lately with shoots, work and life in general, that I haven’t even updated some of the coolest shoots I’ve ever done on my blog. Bad Steve! I’ve been working with a few really talented, creative and fun individuals (models, makeup artists and assistants) that have helped shape a new direction for me in photography.

One of those individuals who has really inspired me to do some really creative things is Jeanine. You may have seen some of her work previously in the Going Home series and the industrial shoot that we did. She got together with a fantastic makeup artist named Pepa Chan who had this wonderful idea to do a gory marionette in a forest theme. A what? Yeah, hehe, that’s often the first words that come out after an outrageous theme is suggested, but this one was really cool. Pepa made up Jeanine like she was just attacked by Edward Scissorhands. The makeup was fantastic! She also solicited the help of a hair stylist (Style Genius) who did an amazing job on Jeanine’s hair, and a wardrobe stylist (Sandra Savage) who fleshed out the rest of the look.

For a location, we were going to head to Redwood Park in Cloverdale, but I had some free time before the shoot so I scouted out Central park and found this really cool stump/log that was in front of a rather large tree. It also fortunately had a big branch above where Jeanine would pose, so we could run the strings up and over and “control” her. Her roommate Jordan (and my esteemed assistant) controlled the strings (haha..probably the only time he could ever say THAT about Jeanine) and we proceeded to make things look a bit dark.

This was shot in the middle of the afternoon with the sun actually filtering through the branches at some points, but I decided to make it look darker by upping the shutter speed to sync at 1/400 or 1/500. I used an SB600 flash camera right shooting through an umbrella for the main light, and an SB25 camera left bouncing off a reflective umbrella and with a blue gel for the “moonlight” sort of effect.

I processed these almost entirely in Lightroom with some finishing touches in Photoshop. I went with a but more of a surreal, edgy effect, which seemed to suit the mood of the theme. You can see all the photos from this set here on Flickr.