Macy: The studio shoot

The Texas panhandle is not exactly known for it's abundance of talent in the fashion industry. In fact it has become painfully clear that I will not be able to remain here if I want to continue down this road (Don't worry family, I don't mean anytime real soon). To quote Melissa Rodwell "You have to base yourself out of a city that has a somewhat large fashion market (or any fashion market) in order to compete in the industry." (http://fashionphotographyblog.com/2010/01/location-is-everything/)

However, there are always exceptions.

Enter Macy...

This month at the studio I work at we had a folio competition between all the photographers. Each photographer got one hour to photograph a model of our choice in the studio, then submitted 5 4x5 prints to be judged by the manager. I had seen some work that Macy had done for another local photographer on Facebook and decided to send her a message asking if she would be interested. I'm very glad I did.

Macy is an aspiring fashion model, as I am an aspiring fashion photographer. The difference is that she is leaps and bounds ahead of me. She already won 2008 Commercial Model of the Year at an expo in Dallas, and has a shoot for a magazine lined up this spring.

It takes a lot to make a great photograph, and you can create a stunning image of a model who doesn't know the first thing about modeling. But having a model who knows what they are doing can really push it over the edge into extraordinary. And that is what Macy brought to this shoot. She was awesome to work with, and I could tell from the beginning that she was in the right line of work.

It is an awesome opportunity to be an early part of what I am sure is going to be a very successful career for Macy. More to come, in fact, there has even been talk of an outdoor shoot. For now I'm leaving you in suspense...

For more: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=186909&id=179333521583

The story so far...

One of my biggest pet peeves is posers. I could list many examples, but for the sake of time and keeping your interest, I will mention only the most relevant. I got my first "nice" camera December of 2004. It was the Canon Digital Rebel, and I thought it was the nicest camera in the entire world. Of course now, five years later, I still have the same camera and find people on a regular basis who have a higher megapixel camera on their cell phone than my "nice" camera can produce. I don't care for that camera anymore (though it has served me extremely well) and am looking forward to getting my Canon 7d in the next week or so. Whats the difference? Back when I got the Rebel, I told everyone that I was a photographer. But the truth is I didn't know the difference between an F-stop and a refrigerator, I had never done a paying job, and I knew just enough about Photoshop to run a quick filter and say "Hey, that's kinda cool". Now, I have been photographing for five years, I have worked at the top (in my opinion) portrait studio in Amarillo for three years and have trained under a Master Photographer for the last year. I have made a living exclusively by doing photography for the last three years. Now I am a professional photographer. All this is said as an admittedly long winded way of saying: I am not a fashion photographer and I will not claim to be one until I am making my way in that world. This is a record of my journey.

I am writing this blog for a few reasons:
1. My own catharsis. A place to vent when things get to me.
2. For anybody else who is walking a similar path and wondering what to do next, or if this is the life for them.
3. For those who know and care about me, to give them a way of keeping up with my journey.
4. If I think someone, somewhere out there is rooting for me, I will be less likely to give up.

Here we go...