SergioHey guys! It's been a quiet week for me. I've been preparing to assume my duties since I officially start in my new position tomorrow. Sure, it's not a major change for me since I've been covering those duties for a while now, but I am excited to be officially over my new area and leading my team forward. I've got some jitters since I am officially response for all of the marketing and outreach activities for my program, but I'm looking forward to the new challenges. So yeah, I've been psyching myself up for tomorrow!
On top of that, I'm been thinking about the classes that I'm going to be taking in the upcoming semester. At the moment, I've signed up to take a Portrait Photography course. I'm a little nervous about it. It's been a while since I've actually taken a photography course and submitting my work for a grade. Sure, in the past, I've gotten some pretty good comments and grades on my work. I'm not really worried about that; I'm just thinking about how I'm going to need to coordinate models to help me out with the assignments. Plus, I really need to do some networking to get in some good graces with local make-up artists since I'm pretty sure that I will end up needing to photograph a female model for an assignment. I should probably brush up on lighting techniques that looking flattering on women instead of my love for dramatic lighting for men. Still, I'm looking forward to the class since it'll help me out in the future.
So yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to moving on through August. I'm looking forward to starting the new job, and the increase in pay! However, I'm more excited about getting a better work-life balance. Through the improved work-life balance, I'm looking forward to being able to do more my photography through the two courses as well as on my personal projects. It should be pretty awesome to say the least!
Sergio
On to the reason that you guys are here - Sergio! He was actually the first model that I photographed in 2014. In February 2014, I had decided that I needed to get out of Austin for a while and eventually decided to take a long weekend trip to San Antonio. Thinking about the photo shoots that I had done in June 2013, I definitely wanted to see if I could work with some male models while I was down there. I did change it up though; last time, I had stayed in a hotel suite a couple of blocks from the River Walk. It wasn't necessarily the best place to enjoy the River Walk from since I had to walk through some slightly shady areas to reach the River Walk. Don't get me wrong, the hotel from the June 2013 photo shoots was definitely a gorgeous, historical place with a lot of charm. However, for this trip, I was definitely looking to book a hotel suite on the River Walk.
During the February 2014 trip, the hotel suite that I stayed in definitely had a nice atmosphere to it. It had some Spanish charm and furniture that definitely made the stay a pleasure. Of course, when I booked the hotel suite, I was basically looking for a nice suite that would give me a base of operations while allowing me to have the space to do a couple of photo shoots. Needless to say, I was definitely happy with the accommodations since I was able to hold two photo shoots there during my February 2014 trip to San Antonio.
It was my luck that I was able to work with Sergio during that trip. While we didn't connect as well as some of the guys that I have worked with in the past, it was still a comfortable photo shoot with some easy conversation flowing between us. More importantly, I was impressed with his physique and overall look. Additionally, he had done a couple of photo shoots before and knew what I was looking for when I asked him to move this way or that. Overall, I loved working with Sergio and am happy with the images that came from the shoot.
Street Clothes
Like my previous photo shoots, I started by photographing Sergio in the clothes that he wore to the shoot. When he showed up, he was wearing a black muscle shirt that showed off his impressive arms as well as a pair black pants. While I do have some images of him in the muscle shirt in the gallery dedicated to him (http://www.reyjphotography.com/sergio), I decided to highlight the image of him posing shirtless while still wearing his black pants.
I love the image below for several reasons. Starting off, I will say that I love the pose in the image and the fact that he's not looking at the camera. I like that his body is turning towards the camera. This helps to create some visual depth that is evident in shoulders and the slight twist of his hips. Additionally, I love the placement of his right hand across his abs and how it creates some additional visual interest within the image. So yeah, I love the pose in the image.
However, I absolutely love the lighting in the image. I love how the lighting is coming in from the opposite direction from where his body is facing. Through that placement, it creates a wrapping effect as the light sweeps across from the right side of the image before tapering off into shadows. However, that light helps to create some interesting mid tones and shadows that highlight the muscles in his chest and abs - especially his abs. Additionally, I love how the light sweeps across his face and there's enough light to highlight his right eye while the rest is casted in shadow. For me, the lighting definitely one of the top reasons why I ended up selecting the image below to highlight for this section.
Underwear
Additionally, I ended up choosing the image below to highlight for the underwear section because of the feeling a comfort that is present in the image. Normally, I tend to favor photographing a guy in a variety of underwear that highlights his physique, but there is something appealing about seeing a guy in pair of boxers. While the gallery has some additional images of Sergio posing in a variety of briefs, I ended up selecting this image because it simply called to me.
In addition to liking the soft looking boxers, I also liked how his black pants are pooling around his knees and calves. For me, that effect helps to create the feeling that I have captured a moment in time. In the past, it has not been a typical image that I have tried to captured; I've been more focused on having "clean" images that move from pose/garment to pose/garment - not the in-between phases. However, I'm finding myself looking forward to capturing these types of images, as well as the "behind the scenes" types, that help to present a more comprehensive view of the photo shoot.
Given that, I also like how the lighting works to show off the definition in his body. In particular, I like how the light highlights the muscle definition in his chest, abs, and hips as well as the muscles over his ribs on the left side of his body. Sergio definitely worked hard to achieve his muscle tone; I'm just happy that I was able to capture it in a positive light.
Favorite Image from the Photo Shoot
For me, there were several images that I could have chosen as my overall favorite from the shoot. However, I ended up choosing the image below because of how several elements came together. As I mentioned before, I definitely liked how comfortable Sergio looked in his soft looking, gray boxers and how that feeling transferred in the image below. And I definitely love how the lighting sweeps across his body, particularly on his face.
However, I ended up choosing the image below as my favorite because of the pose. While I could have played with the composition and had him be more off centered to create a different feel to the image, I ended up liking how the image felt with the chair placed directly centered. But instead of him being seated in the middle of the chair and staring directly at the camera, I wanted to create some interested by having him seated off-centered and turned slightly to create some counter balance to the weight of his left leg thrown over the side of the chair. To me, it helped to make the image more interesting while still having him in the center of the image.
In addition to the placement of his body, I love his hands in the image. As I mentioned before, I tend to pay attention to hands because I don't want them to come off like they are just hanging there. Sure, I don't always have the model doing something with their hands in every single image, but I do try and have them change it up to help make them interesting. For me, I love how they look as they are somewhat clasped together. Additionally, I like how they help to add some perspective to the image. Yeah, the hand placement definitely factored in when I was choosing my favorite image from the shoot.
Closing
I absolutely loved working with Sergio during this photo shoot! I'm definitely happy with the images that came out from our collaboration and several of them have become my favorites from my catalog overall. Sergio was definitely a pleasure to work with throughout the shoot, especially with how focused he was on helping to create stunning images. I'm definitely already thinking about heading back to San Antonio in order to work with him on another photo shoot. I'm definitely hoping that it works out! If you are interested, you can check out the gallery dedicated to the photo shoot at http://www.reyjphotography.com/sergio.
Again, thanks for checking out the website and blog! I definitely appreciate it that you guys are taking the time to scope out my work!
If you want, you can also checking out my Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/reyj.photography. I tend to post images daily there!
If you are interested in setting up a shoot or letting me know what you think about my work, you can email me at [email protected]!
Red Chair SeriesHey guys! I'm sure that some of you are shocked that I'm writing a blog entry a week after my last, but I'm hoping to be better about writing and publishing them on a semi-regular schedule. I'm probably doing better with posting images on my Instagram account (http://www.instagram.com/reyj.photography), but I always seem to have my phone with me. Of course, I'm definitely excited to be finishing up this entry since it will conclude my thoughts regarding the December 2013 photo shoots. So yeah, that's really exciting!
But first, a quick update on life.... Not much is going on. I'm slowly preparing myself for the upcoming promotion and everything that it will entail. Sure, it's not going to be a major change since I've been the acting manager for that area for a while, but I'm thinking about some of the things that I want to work on as the official manager. Of course, it will also entail continuing with some of our major projects, including a statewide conference and some media projects. And, of course, I'll be looking to fill some vacant positions. But overall, I am looking forward to officially taking the helms and figuring out the direction that we need to head. It's exciting, terrifying, and thrilling! All at the same time!
I'm also finding myself taking time to enjoy the smaller things in life. Normally, I would be spending part of my weekends working on work-related projects, but I'm definitely trying to take them back. Like I said in a previous entry, I'm definitely looking forward to having a better work-life balance and having more time to do the things that I want. Of course, I'm finding myself going to the movies to have a little escape from reality. Like today, I totally geeked out as I watched the latest Star Trek film - Star Trek: Beyond. While I agree that it was definitely on the fast pace, there were some beautiful and captivating imagery throughout the film, especially the conception of Yorktown. That interpretation of what a city would like in space definitely appealed to the architecture photographer in me. Absolutely stunning! But, I will say, that my favorite part was watching the U.S.S. Franklin take on the tidal wave of bee-like drones as they blasted the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage." And, it totally cracked me when the crew referred to the song as being "classical" music! Those scenes were definitely my favorite from the film, and almost makes me want to watch it again on the big screen!
Finally, I'm finding myself obsessing over Beck's latest song right now. It definitely took me a moment to figure out who it was after first hearing it on 101X. It didn't really strike me as a song that the station would play, but so did Twenty One Pilots' "Heathens." I'm probably just not listening to the radio enough to know how the music trends are shifting and blurring nowadays. But yeah, I'm definitely loving "Wow" by Beck (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZlbahhoEIo). It's just an infectious song that makes me smile. "It's my life, you life/live it once, can't live it twice/so nice, so nice". "It's your life/you got to try to get it right/look around, don't forget where you came from". Yeah, I'm definitely Beck's latest. It's definitely worth a listen!
Anyway, on to the reason that you guys are here!
Red Chair Series
While I was working through the various photo shoots in December 2013, I found myself falling in love with one of the chairs in the hotel suite. I had chosen the hotel suite because of the modern-looking furnishings and the amount of space that was available. But there was this red vinyl chair that kept grabbing my attention as I was prepping the space. It was just a bold piece of furniture that I wanted to use as a prop, but I didn't intentionally set out to do a series focusing on it. I just got lucky! You can check out the Red Chair Series gallery at http://www.reyjphotography.com/redchair.
Brent
Brent was the first model that I photographed in December 2013. Like in most of the images, the chair is not the primary focal point, but is a great backdrop to frame the model against. In the image below, I like how Brent's body is curled against the chair and how his arm is griping the top of the chair. It definitely creates an interesting composition and some interesting lines to direct the viewer's eye. Finally, I love the sensual feeling within the image as Brent's attention is focused on himself and not the camera. It helps to create the sense that this is a private moment in time. It's definitely one of my favorite images from his photo shoot.
DA
I absolutely loved working with DA throughout his photo shoot. He definitely brought his game to the shoot, even though it was late at night. However, I loved several of the images that came from the collaboration. In the gallery (http://www.reyjphotography.com/redchair), I have several images of DA set against the large red vinyl chair. However, I loved the image below and wanted to highlight it in the blog. The chair created a great backdrop as DA showed off the tattoos the muscle tone in his arms as he gripped the top of the chair. To me, it definitely served to highlight DA's body while looking great.
Jeremy
As you guys know, the photo shoot with Jeremy was definitely one of my favorites from that month. It wasn't every day that I was able to photograph a dancer. Of course, it also made it difficult to select the images that I wanted to highlight in the galleries and blog entries stemming from his photo shoots. The same could be said for this gallery and entry since there are eight images included in the gallery. However, I ended up choosing the image below because of the pose. While I like how the majority of the chair is visible in the image, I absolutely love how Jeremy is posed in it. You definitely get a sense of Jeremy's height and flexibility from how his right leg is resting on the arm of the chair. But like the first two images, I love how Jeremy's attention is not focused on the viewer and how he's looking off into the distance. To me, it creates some visual interest as the view is left wondering what he was looking at. The image below is definitely one of my favorite ones from my entire catalog.
Enrique
I'm definitely happy with the images that came from the photo shoot with Enrique, but the image below is definitely one of my favorites. Of course, I love the shape and strong lines that the upper portion of the red vinyl chair creates. I also like how the buttons on the back of the chair creates a phantom arrow and points the viewer's eye towards Enrique face, but I may be imagining that phantom arrow. At the very least, the buttons mimic Enrique's position as well as creating a leading line up towards his face. However, I love Enrique's pose and single-minded interest in his phone. Of course, I told him to act like he was taking a selfie with his phone - not sure if he actually took a selfie while I was capturing the image. The age of the selfie. Nonetheless, the image below is definitely one of my favorites from his photo shoot.
Jacob
Finally, I wanted to highlight one of the images with Jacob posing on the chair. Like the images above, I definitely loved the strength of character found within the chair. I absolutely love the crisp bold lines and how they stand out against Jacob's skin as well as the backdrop. Yeah, I was definitely in love with the chair and am definitely looking for a similar one to have in my home! Of course, I also like how Jacob's posed in the chair. I love the casualness of his leg thrown over the arm of the chair. And, like the others, I like how he's not paying attention to the camera and has his gaze directed towards the distance. It's definitely one of my favorites from his photo shoot!
Closing
I definitely loved how a prop can bring together a series of images. In this case, I chose to center a gallery (http://www.reyjphotography.com/redchair) and blog entry around this gorgeous red vinyl chair. As I've mentioned above, I fell in love with the bold, crisp lines of his back and how it held its own against the backdrop. However, it definitely helped to accentuate the models' bodies and show them against an interesting item.
It was also hard to withhold some of the images from the galleries dedicated to the each model. However, as I was posting the gallery focusing on Jeremy, the idea of the Red Chair Series definitely sprang into my mind. From that point, I purposely withheld several of the images until I could post them in a unified gallery. I'm definitely happy with how the gallery turned out as well as how the red vinyl chair pulled together the images from six different photo shoots.
Overall, I'm definitely happy with it. And, like I said, I'm definitely looking for a a similar chair to have in my home. Who knows, maybe I'll have another photo series focusing on a similar object. Nonetheless, I'm definitely keeping my eye out from stunning pieces that would look amazing in my images!
Again, thanks for checking out the website and blog! I definitely appreciate it that you guys are taking the time to scope out my work!
If you want, you can also check out my Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/reyj.photography. I'm posting images to my Instagram account on a daily basis.
If you are interested in setting up a photo shoot, you can email me at [email protected]
DonyeHey guys! It's been a while since I last posted a blog entry (and I was doing so well before - ha!), but I wanted to get one up today since I'll be writing about the last photo shoot that I did in December 2013. Overall, things are going well here. It's been a while since I did a photo shoot, but I've been focusing on on the full-time job and trying to do my best there. It actually worked since I ended up getting a promotion and will be overseeing some of our media and outreach projects at work. It's a little daunting, but I'm definitely feeling like it's a step in the right direction. Of course, the managing side of things may kill me, but it definitely feels like a step in the right direction.
I'm also hoping that the new job will allow to have some more time pursue a better work-life balance. In my previous position, I was usually putting in 10-12 hour days and working on the weekends to get projects done. Now that I'm over the new area, I'm hoping to leave on time and take my weekends back. Hopefully it will give me more time to work on photography projects and actually take some additional courses. Well, I hope since I've signed up for three courses in the upcoming fall semester. We'll see how it plays out. Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to the new job and the prospect of having more time for photography projects! It should be great!
Donye
Alright, on to the reason that you guys are here. As you guys know, December 2013 was a busy time for me. During that month, I photographed eight guys in the span of a week. It may have been a little on the overkill side, but I definitely needed a creative outlet after finishing the semester at graduate school. It was definitely fun since I got to work with a lot of amazing guys and further hone my skills with each shoot. I definitely loved each shoot for different reasons, but I will say that the shoot with Donye was definitely one of my more memorable ones.
Working with Donye was definitely amazing. He has done modeling work before and knew which positions showcased his body really well. It definitely helped that he had an amazing body as well as an easy going personality. We definitely bonded over music as we listened to the divas from the 80's and 90's, including Whitney Houston, Lil' Kim, and Tina Turner. Yeah, I definitely have an eclectic taste in music, but it definitely helped to get us more comfortable with each other.
However, I did have a moment of panic during the photo shoot with Donye. For the December 2013 photo shoots, I had book a suite at a local hotel here. It was pretty decent since it had some modern features that captured my attention as well as having a large amount of open space. It definitely suited my needs since my place was fairly small and wasn't really conducive for photo shoots. Anyway, during the photo shoot with Donye, I had decided to push one of my strobes to the max for some reason. Not really thinking about it, I continued taking quite a few pictures in a row. It's going well until I heard a pop and a fizzle! Looking at the lights, I saw that the maxed out strobe was smoking!
Yeah, I totally burned out one of my strobes during a photo shoot at a hotel! Of course, my first thought is great - I'm looking so unprofessional in front of a model by destroying my equipment. Then the panic set in! I freaked out internally thinking that the smoke from the strobe was going to set off a smoke detector and the whole hotel was going to be evacuated because I burned out a strobe during a photo shoot! I'm not sure how I looked on the outside, but I was freaking out on the inside and thinking of ways to explain and talk my way out of the situation. Luckily, I was able to dissipate the smoke and didn't set off any smoke alarms! Now, when I think and talk about it, I laugh at the experience since I'm sure that a lot of photographers have had that freak out moment when something didn't go to plan. I've learned from the situation and moved on with a shrug.
Donye was cool about the whole situation and didn't seem bothered by it. Either that, or he wasn't really aware of what had happened since I told him to take a five minute break while I dealt with the smoking strobe. However, I had to take stock of the situation since we were still fairly early into the photo shoot and I was down a light. I didn't let it deter me; instead, I just became creative and figured out how to get some cool images with just one lighting source. I will have to say that I love the lighting in Donye's images and that these are some of my favorite overall!
There are days when I thinking burning out one of my strobes was a good thing since it led to these images, but I still mourn the fact that I had depart with some cash to replace that burned out strobe! Still, burning out that light may have been one of the best things to happen to me since I had to think on my feet and become more creative with one light! Since then, I have tried to think back to some of the lessons that I learned from that shoot and play with lighting from a single light source.
Street Clothes
Like with the other guys that I have worked with, I started the photo shoot with Donye modeling the clothing that he wore to the shoot. When he arrived, he was just wearing a t-shirt with Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. on it as well as a pair of gray sweats. I liked how comfortable he looked in the clothing and definitely was happy with the images that came from that portion of the shoot. Of course, he also surprised me when he voluntarily told me that he wasn't wearing any underwear underneath his sweats because he didn't want any indentation lines to show up. I definitely thought that it was interesting for him to tell me, but it also showed me how professional he was and how he wanted to bring his best to the shoot.
Of course, I love the image below and chose it as a highlight from this portion of the photo shoot. Like I said, I definitely chose to work with Donye because he has an amazing look and an amazing body. As I was looking through the catalog of images, I found myself stopping at this one because of the strength evident in his arms and hands. I liked how his arms seemed to be straining against the edges of the sleeves as well as how the t-shirt conforms to the lines of his torso. And, of course, I love the position of his hands and the visual element they created while being in that position. It's a definitely a great straightforward pose that shows off his body in a good light.
Additionally, I love the lighting on this image. Of course, this image was captured when I still had two working lights and could position one as a backlight to open up the shadows on the left side of the image. As you guys know, I'm definitely a fan of split lighting since it creates some dramatic highlights and shadows, but occasionally I like to open up the shadows as well. I definitely liked how that backlight helped to add some highlights on the right side of his face and seeming to fall along the lines of his face. It helps to give a sense of sculpture to his cheekbones and jawline. The lighting in the image definitely was one of the contributing factors to why I chose the image below to highlight.
Underwear
Of course, I also photographed Donye modeling a variety of underwear throughout the shoot. As I mentioned, Donye definitely had an amazing body and knew how to position and highlight his body. It was actually pretty easy to choose the image below as the one to highlight for this section. Additionally, this is one of the images that came after I burnt out one of my strobes.
For me, I like the black and white Male Power briefs that he's modeling because of the visual interest created by the lines. As the briefs contour to his body, the pattern of lines are distorted to give a sense of shape and depth. It's evident in the lines of the pouch as well as those along his left hip. I also loved how these briefs look in black and white images due to the strong and basic pattern. The briefs definitely make a dramatic statement within the image and definitely standout as a point of visual interest.
However, I absolutely love the lighting in the image. As I mentioned, I had to get creative in my use of the single strobe to light Donye. Sure, I've always said that I've loved dramatic lighting, but I've also used two lights during each of my previous photo shoots. So yeah, I was a little nervous on how the lighting would look with just the one strobe. Of course, I shouldn't have been worried since I've always been partial to split lighting and cascading shadows. In the image below, I love how the lighting seems to mode itself across his body. It further accentuates the muscular planes of his chest as it gives hints to the strength in his pecs as well as highlighting his abs. I also liked how it picks up and highlights the details of the veins in his left arm as the light caresses it. Yeah, I absolutely am happy with how the lighting turned out in the image.
Portrait
There was one portrait-like image that I wanted to highlight from the photo shoot. I ended up liking the image below for several reasons. First, I like Donye's facial expression. I like how his eyes were closed and conveyed a sense of calmness. However, there's also a sense of tension since his eyebrows and forehead are slightly furrowed. Through those elements, it helped to bring the viewer's attention to the details of his eye lashes and eyebrows. Of course, the lighting also helps to bring attention to his nose and lips as well. For me, it's definitely an interesting image visually as the eye wanders around and takes in the details on display.
However, I also like the edits made to the image. As you guys know, I'm a fan of black and white images and will usually present my images that way. Sometimes though, I will choose to present an image in color. While I do have a copy of the image below in black and white, there was something that spoke to me about the version below. Sure, it's not the colors that were captured in the raw image. After getting the image how I wanted, I went into PhotoShop and played with the opacity to soften the overall color quality of the image. To me, it definitely helped to make the image more interesting and draw the viewer in due to the softness of the colors. Either way, I'm definitely happy with how the color quality came out in the image below.
Closing
I'm definitely happy with the images that came from my collaboration with Donye. You can see several of them in the gallery dedicated to Donye at http://www.reyjphotography.com/donye. Working with him was definitely a pleasure since he was professional, thoughtful, and brought his best to the shoot. Of course, it definitely helped that he was gorgeous and had an amazing physique, but it was definitely his professionalism and personality that won me over. I still think there are some additional images that I want to capture with him, which means that I'm definitely hoping to work with him again in the near future. I am definitely looking forward to making that collaboration happen!
Again, thanks for checking out the website and blog! I also appreciate that you guys are taking the time to scope out my work!
If you want, you can also check out my Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/reyj.phtography.
If you are interested in setting up a photo shoot, you can email me at [email protected].
JacobHey guys! I know, it's shocking that I'm posting an entry roughly a week from my last one, but I have some time since I'm in the last few days of my staycation before heading back to my full-time job. May was definitely crazy with the trips to Atlanta and Indianapolis, but June is turning out to be a lazy month - partly due to the two weeks of traveling in May. However, I'm not entirely looking forward to going back to the job since I've been out for what is essentially a month and I'm not sure what kind of chaos I'll be leaping back into. Still, it will be nice to interact with people after two weeks of just hanging out by myself and only speaking to fast food workers to place an order. Maybe.
However, I definitely felt like I was squandering the time off since I didn't go anywhere or do anything remotely exciting. It didn't help that it rained here in Texas for my entire first week off from work. But, as I was cooped up in the apartment, I did spend a lot of time on YouTube watching music videos and how-to videos for creating visual effects for movies (not that I'm planning on making videos or movies in the future). It was definitely interesting to see how simple some of those effects are, including the Harry Potter magic as well as Nightcrawler's teleportation (Film Riot's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/filmriot). Not sure how I will use that knowledge in the future, if ever, but it was still cool to see how it's done. But I did spend the majority of my time catching up and eventually downloading music that caught my interest on YouTube.
Yeah, I was definitely drawn into a time sink with YouTube, but I did catch up on a lot of videos posted by Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox (https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottBradleeLovesYa/featured). I'm definitely a sucker for cover songs and have definitely come to enjoy Scott Bradlee's twists to modern songs. I have to say that some of my favorite covers include his versions of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufvZzhK_3X8), Maroon 5's "Maps" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gO_lxThc1M), Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvEWNlcefAw), and Bastille's "Pompeii" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJY83K3o670). I will say that the cover of "Pompeii" may be my favorite because of the inclusion of the song portion similar to the Zombie's "Time of the Season". "Maps" is definitely up there because of the soulful rendition. Yeah, I am fairly eclectic when it comes to music, but I definitely love the reinterpretations to the songs. Plus, the clothing worn by the singers and band appeal to the photographer in me. So yeah, I definitely spent a lot of time watching Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox channel and downloading some choice songs on iTunes. I'm definitely hoping that the music will get me through next week - even if it's a short week since I don't go back to work until Wednesday.
Anyway, since I have a few more days left, I thought I would go ahead and post an entry about my favorite images from the photo shoot with Jacob.
Jacob
As you guys knows, I photographed eight different guys in a span of a week during December 2013. It was definitely intense since I was trying to keep all of the shoots running on time and not overlapping with each other. Of course, I'm definitely happy with the results from the photo shoots and worked with several interesting guys during that week. Jacob was the seventh model that I photographed that week. Throughout the photo shoot, I found that it was easy to talk with Jacob about pop culture related topics. Sure, I was a little out of touch with some of the references since I didn't have a lot of time to stay current since I had been focusing on working full-time and attempting to complete my masters degree. Still, I found myself listening to him and providing my input whenever I felt knowledgeable about the topic. I definitely found it easy to keep up with the conversation while diverting more of my attention to the photo shoot and trying to capture interesting shots of him.
Street Clothes
When Jacob showed up to the photo shoot, he was wearing these skinny black jeans and a gray sweater. He definitely looked nice, but I changed gears when I found out that he was wearing a white A-shirt underneath. For me, that has been such an iconic look ever since I first saw Herb Ritts's image of Richard Gere sporting an A-shirt and tight jeans in a deserted gas station (http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-photograph-that-kicked-herb-ritts-career-into-high-gere/). Ever since that image, I have come to associate that look as typically American and sought to capture it whenever possible. So, when I found out that Jacob was wearing that shirt underneath, I definitely knew that I was going to be focusing on capturing several images of him posing in that shirt and his skinny black jeans.
Normally, for this portion of the entry, I try and select an image from the start of the photo shoot to highlight the clothing and look that Jacob wore to the photo shoot. However, the image that I wanted to highlight actually came from the end of the photo shoot as he was getting redressed in his clothes. I definitely like that it feels a little like a moment in time as he's treading his belt through the belt loops of his jeans. However, I selected the image based on Jacob's facial expression and overall feel of the image.
For me, I was definitely drawn to Jacob's boy next door looks, particularly his eyes. When I was looking at the images in the catalog, I definitely stopped for several moments to evaluate the image and knew that it would be one of my favorites from the shoot. Like I said, I was instantly drawn to his inquisitive facial expression and his wide eyes. For me, there's definitely a sense of innocence as well as some vulnerability present within the expression. Either way, it definitely causes the viewer to pause at the image. At least, it causes me to pause each time I come across the image.
Of course, I do love the look that Jacob is sporting. Like I said, I love the classic look of an A-shirt paired with jeans. It definitely helps to highlight his shoulders as well as the lines of his body. Additionally, I love the subtle tease that the viewer gets of the waistband and white cotton of his Champion boxer briefs. It definitely helps to add an unconscious sensual quality to the image. Yes, there's definitely a small thrill of being able to see his underwear in the image, but it's not anything that is overtly sexual. It's part of the underlying sensual quality of the image that helps to make the image appealing to me.
Like I said, it was definitely easy to select the image below as one of my favorites from the photo shoot.
Underwear
Like the previous photo shoots, I photographed Jacob posing in a couple of types of underwear. However, unlike the other photo shoots, I only photographed Jacob modeling his white Champion boxer briefs and a pair of black Emporio Armani briefs. Yeah, I normally photograph a model posing a variety of underwear, but, when I went back to look at the images in the catalog, I only photographed Jacob in those two. I'm not sure how I did that, but I'm definitely a little disappointed in myself for not realizing that during the photo shoot. I'm hoping to fix that mistake in a future photo shoot, but time will tell.
However, I was able to select one image that I wanted highlight during this portion of the blog entry. Like I said, I was able to photograph Jacob in a black pair of Emporio Armani briefs. When I gave him the option to choose a pair to model, he instantly went for the briefs and cracked me up a little. However, I liked the way the briefs looked on him, especially how the gold eagle print added some depth to the image.
For me, I like the image because of Jacob's pose. I like the twist of his body and how it creates some visual depth to the image. However, I like the sensuality of the image from the position of his hips and stance to the placement of his left hand on his stomach. It's definitely the tilt of his head and the pointed stare over his shoulder that caught my attention. To me, that helps to make the image interesting and was the primary reason why I selected the image to highlight.
Portrait
Throughout the photo shoot, I found myself capturing several portraits of Jacob. Instead of highlighting my favorite nude from the session, I decided to highlight my favorite portrait. As I mentioned, I was definitely drawn to Jacob's box next door look. As I was going through the images, I constantly found myself stopping at one image. It is a crop of an image that shows Jacob sitting in a white chair in just his Champion boxer briefs, but I found myself cropping that image to create the one below.
For me, I like the overall composition of the image. Sure, I'm definitely a fan of the pose, but I like how the positive space (his body) works with the negative space (the background). For me, there's definitely a sense of balance with his lower body in the right corner as well as his arm and captured negative space in the upper left corner.
Additionally, I like the lines in the image. I like how the lines of his left arm in the lower right corner helps to drive the viewer's eye up towards his left arm and how it wraps towards his head. It helps to drive the viewer's eye throughout the image, while also creating some interesting repetition like the line of his wrist and left hand against his left collar bone. Even the "line" of his knuckles helps to drive the viewer's eye to the muscles of his neck and up towards his head. Like I said, I like several of the visual elements created by the lines of his body.
Finally, I like his facial expression in the image. As I look at the image, I find myself getting lost within the intensity of his eyes. Like several of the other images in the gallery, there's definitely a seriousness present within his expression. It's further enhanced with the lighting as it creates some interesting midtones.
Overall, I definitely love the image. It was fairly easy to select this image to highlight for this portion of the entry.
Favorite Image from the Photo Shoot
My favorite image comes from the beginning of the photo shoot. Of course, it features Jacob wearing his A-shirt and black skinny jeans. However, I wanted to pair that look up with a pair of black suspenders. What can I say, I thought it would be interesting to photograph a guy wearing suspenders. However, I selected the image as my favorite from the photo shoot based on Jacob's facial expression and overall pose. I like how he's playing with the suspenders to help create some visual interest. But it's facial expression that really seals it for me. I like how he's looking off into the distance and has a somewhat serious expression.
Overall, I selected the image as my favorite because I just liked it a lot. Sometimes, there's not a strong element that stands out or something that can be articulated. Sometimes, it's as simple as just liking the image a lot. For me, I just really like the image and choose it as my favorite image overall. Sometimes, it's just that simple.
Closing
I definitely loved working with Jacob during the photo shoot. I'm definitely happy with the images that came from the photo shoot, but I feel like there is still some additional work to be done with Jacob. Like I said, it was only after the fact that I realized that I had only photographed him in just two types of underwear. But I also think there are some additional images that I would like to get of Jacob that could potentially go beyond the studio environment. Either way, I think there may be some additional images that I want to capture with Jacob that would lead to another collaboration. As I get more grounded in 2016, I'm hoping that a potential follow-up shoot with Jacob could be in the works.
Again, thanks for checking out the website and the blog! I definitely appreciate that you guys are taking the time to scope out my work!
If you want, you can also check out my Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/reyj.photography.
If you are interested in setting up a photo shoot, you can reach me at [email protected].
Robert FowlerHey guys! It's been a while since I last posted a blog entry, but I wanted to thank all of you for your continued interest in my body of work! I definitely appreciate it! Of course, even though we're in June 2016, I'm still working through my catalog in an effort to post galleries and blog entries based on the chronology of my work. Given that, I'm still working through the photo shoots that I completed in December 2013. After the entry about about the photo shoot with Robert, I will only have two more December 2013 photo shoots to work through before we jump to 2014. So yeah, I'm definitely excited to move on from 2013, but I am enjoying seeing the progression of my work through the postings and entries. With that, let's move on to the entry about the photo shoot with Robert!
Robert
I absolutely loved working with Robert throughout the photo shoot. When I first came across his portfolio on Model Mayhem, I was instantly drawn to his hair. While I am definitely on the look out to work with attractive guys, I'm also looking to work with guys that have an interesting feature that draws me in - whether it's a facial tattoo or an abundance of curly red hair that looks like an afro, as was the case with Robert. Of course, I did find him attractive, but I was instantly drawn to him because of his hair. However, there were several other images on his portfolio that showed him with short cropped hair, but I was hoping that his hair was still grown out. I definitely lucked out though. While it was not as grown out as in some of the images on his portfolio, I was still happy with the length and the curls that were easily seen.
Street Clothes
As you guys know, I like photographing a male model in the clothes they were to the shoot in order to help us get comfortable with each other. When Robert showed up to the shoot, he was wearing a stripped button down shirt with jeans. I did take several images of him dressed like that, but I was definitely more interested in the look that was created with the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers shirt that he wore beneath the button down. To me, it definitely recalled some of my childhood memories of watching the show after school, but I definitely loved how it seem to make him appear younger as well. That's part of the reason why I love the image below.
In addition to the clothing, I love Robert's stance in the image. The placement of his hands helps to add some depth to the image, particularly with how his right hand helps to create some separation from the background. Additionally, I love the slight turn of his body from his shoulders to his hips as it creates some visual interest for me. However, I absolutely love his facial expression. While I loved capturing several moments of him laughing and smiling at something that I had said, I love his serious expression and how his eyes completely standout in the image.
And, of course, I love the lighting in the image. In particular, I love how the lighting dances across his face as it goes from highlights to midtones to shadows. Additionally, I love how the lights creates the catchlights in his eyes and makes them pop even further. I was definitely happy with how the image turned out overall.
In addition to the image above, I also wanted to highlight the image below. The image also comes from the start of the photo shoot, but I love how it turned out. As with the image above, I absolutely love the lighting. In addition to loving the gradation, I love how the light showcases several of the attributes of Robert's body such as the veins in his arms and hands as well as the muscle definition in his abs and chest. Finally, I love how the light dances across his face as he turns towards the light. It definitely helped to highlight several of the curls around his forehead as well as making his eyes standout. Yes, it's definitely easy to see why the image below is one of my favorites from the photo shoot.
Underwear
Of course, as you guys are well aware of, I love photographing guys in a variety of underwear. As you can see in the gallery (http://www.reyjphotography.com/robert), I photographed Robert in a variety of underwear including white Calvin Klein briefs, black boxers, and multiple pairs of Go Softwear briefs. However, as I was looking through the images to select one to highlight for the blog entry, I instantly choose the image below. It comes from the end of the photo shoot when I was photographing Robert in a pair of Go Softwear briefs with pink stripes.
The reason I love the image below is how the light highlights his body due to the pose. I absolutely loved how his body is turned away from the camera while also creating a profile shot of his upper body. As my eye travels throughout the image, I'm instantly drawn to his shoulder and arm and how it leads down to his hand toying with the waistband of his briefs. I also like how you get a hint of a curve through the stripes of his briefs as it stretches across his bottom.
Additionally, I love the lighting playing across his back. As it wraps around his abs and waist, I love how it transitions into shadows with a jab of rim light leading down towards the briefs. It definitely adds an element of interest that captured my eye when I first looked at the image.
Finally, I love how the lighting canvasses his face. While there are some highlights scattered across his face, I liked how it is mostly midtones and shadows due to his face being turned away from the light source. I also love how his eyes continue to standout as a focal point. They are further helped along with the serious facial expression with a hint of smile gracing his lips.
Overall, it was definitely an easy choice for me as looked through the images to highlight for the underwear portion of the blog entry.
Favorite Image from the Photo Shoot
As with most photo shoots, it was definitely easy to select my favorite image from the photo shoot. For me, I love capturing a moment in time. In the image below, I was able to capture the moment that Robert was pulling off the button down shirt before leaving himself in just a pair of white Calvin Klein briefs. While it definitely is a staged image, I love the moment quality that is evident with the piece of fabric fluttering down just to the lower left of the image. For me, that sense of motion helps to elevate the image as a moment in time.
Additionally, I absolutely love the lighting in the image. I love how the light is caressing the left side of his body as it wraps around from behind him while also highlighting the muscles in his neck as well as the veins his arms. Furthermore, I love how the light sweeps through his gorgeous curls creating a mixture of highlights and shadows to create the separation of the individual curls.
However, it definitely is the facial expression that cements this image as my favorite from the photo shoot. As I have mentioned throughout the entry, I'm definitely drawn to the seriousness found within his facial expression as well as intensity of his eyes. Additionally, I love how the light accentuates his facial features and adds to his facial expression. For me, that definitely helps to make the image standout as my favorite from the photo shoot.
ClosingI was definitely happy to work with Robert throughout the photo shoot. Of course, I was instantly drawn to him due to his features, particularly his curly hair, but I loved talking with him throughout the shoot and laughing at several of the comments and jokes passed between us. Additionally, I'm definitely happy with the images that came from the photo shoot, including the ones not highlighted in the blog entry. Of course, I'm definitely hoping to work with Robert in the future - hopefully at some point in 2016!
Again, thanks for checking out the website and the blog! I definitely appreciate that you guys are taking the time to scope out my work!
If you want, you can also check out my instagram at http://www.instagram.com/reyj.photography.
If you are interested in setting up a photo shoot, you can reach me at [email protected].
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