Baby G :)

So it's been a loooong while since I've dropped anything online here...partly laziness, partly being too busy. I'm got a big gap of missing photos which I'll try to add at some point, but for now I'll just put up some stuff from a recent shoot here in LA (while in town on vacation) because I love what we got and I'm still working through some of the shots.


I was VERY fortunate to work with an AMAZING Makeup Artist Stephanie Elise. Her natural looking makeup is the bomb, and all the models want to work with her, which is good for me too since she's opened a few doors for me and added some cool people into my network! All that and she's super cool, fun, and extremely helpful/generous as well.

Our first shoot was with a model she had referred me to, Lauren May...we call her "BabyG" cause she looks like a baby Giselle Bundchen :)

Portfolio Shoot: Shane Boulton

Portfolio shoot with local Actor Shane Boulton.

Portfolio Shoot: Laura Surrich (Part 3)

I don't know what it is, but this was another case of "blonde going brunette" and needing updated portfolio photos. Plus Laura is trying to get voted into this year's Tui Beer calendar and so some 'sexier' photos were in order.

I didn't end up shooting this one how I initially intended. The setting was completey different and thus so was the lighting style, and the pose wasn't exactly what I wanted.

100 Strangers #38: Moarigunkami

This is number 38 of 100 in my 100 Strangers photo project.

This is Moarigunkami from Wellington, NZ, Barrista at People's Coffee. No that's not his real name as you might have guessed, it's his Japanese persona. It's an amalgamation of several entities. Primarily based off the name of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami who's works he likes, and also a play off the "Maori" the native people of New Zealand. But also with the letters transposed to that of the "Moa" bird, a flightless bird native to New Zealand once believed to be extinct but possibly making a comeback? The "gun" part in the middle was a suggestion by a friend that to make it more 'fantastic' like an anime character he needed a gun or a sword, and hence put it in the name. Complex yes, but interesting conversation no doubt.

Moarigunkami hails not from the mouth of a fiery volcano but from all over the lands of New Zealand, calling Wellington his home of the past 8 years. He was headhunted to People's Coffee after working with his now boss at several coffee tastings at a local food market.

I met Moarigunkami at the same time I met Stranger#37 Henry, while picking up some ground espresso beans for a colleague. Not wanting to shoot the same background twice, I opted to use the decorative wall behind Moarigunkami instead. Oddly enough it turns out that Moarigunkami intends to enter into the same industry as I'm in, and in fact is a friend to one of my friends at work. That's the 3rd or 4th Stranger now that has known someone at my work. Crazy small world.

"What was the last thing you ate before becoming Stranger #38 Moarigunkami?" ...spanokopita (greek pastry filled with spinach and feta).

Thanks for participating Moarigunkami.

You can see the alternate portraits of Henry in my 100 Strangers Alternates set, and you can see my other strangers in my 100 Strangers set, and strangers from other participating photographers in the 100 Strangers flickr pool. Learn more about the 100 Strangers photo project here.

100 Strangers #37: Henry

This is number 37 of 100 in my 100 Strangers photo project.

This is Henry from Wellington. Born in Christchurch, he's lived all over the South Island of New Zealand, but considers Welligton "home" after moving her 2.5 years ago. One of the things he loves most about this city is the "melting pot" of cultures. He loves meeting people from different backgrounds and being exposed to their cultures.

I met Henry at People's Coffee, a cafe in Newtown that is touted as having possibly the best coffee in Wellington. I was at the art gallery next door waiting for someone and remembered that a colleague had asked me to pick up a bag of espresso grind for him. Henry and "Moarigunkami" (Stranger #38) were just cleaning up at the end of the day, but they were kind enough to sell me the grinds AND also pose for my pictures.

Henry's been working at People's for about 9 months now, but was turned onto their coffee long before that when he worked at a different cafe in town that used to serve coffee from Peoples' beans. After tasting the sweet goodness of his first espresso he was hooked, and today it's still his favourite coffee fix. The other bonus of working at People's for Henry is being in a workspace where everyone from staff to clientele are passionate about coffee.

So after botching my question of the day with Drew (Stranger #36), I made sure not to forget this time.

"What was the last thing you ate before becoming Stranger #37 Henry?" ...cous cous.

Thanks for participating Henry.

You can see the alternate portraits of Henry in my 100 Strangers Alternates set, and you can see my other strangers in my 100 Strangers set, and strangers from other participating photographers in the 100 Strangers flickr pool. Learn more about the 100 Strangers photo project here.

100 Strangers #36: Drew Dennehy

This is number 36 of 100 in my 100 Strangers photo project.

This is Drew Dennehy, Student at Victoria University here in Wellington. He just finished his first year of a double major in Economics and Architecture. He was born in Wellington but grew up in Nelson, and he's back in town for university. Upon graduation he sees himself heading over to work in Melbourne (AUS) for a couple years, and then taking a crack at life in London (UK). Eventually making his way back to Australia way down the road. But before he enters the work force, he'll likely travel South East Asia first...hey, isn't that what ALL grads do, you gotta get it out of your system before it's too late :)

I met Drew by chance today. I was returning to "Man To Man", a mens clothing store in Wellington, to pick up some jeans I had bought last weekend and gotten altered. As I was leaving the store I glanced at the front window display, thinking it could make for a cool photo. I went about my business running errands, and then about 10 minutes later I returned to the store determined to use the front window to my advantage and add to my 100 Strangers.

As I was standing outside the store 'casing the joint' for a good angle, the clerk that had helped me earlier asked if I wanted to buy the building by the way I was curiously scoping it out :) So I went back in and asked if he'd want to participate as my next Stranger. At first he agreed, but then as I explained the need to include a minor backstory, he declined but suggested Drew who was working on the upper floor of the store...and that's how I met my 36th Stranger.

Now here's the part that really sucks!!! I'm a little rusty getting back into my Strangers project, so rusty in fact that I totally blew it and forgot to ask Drew the ALL IMPORTANT FINAL QUESTION...what the last thing was that he ate...crap, I suck! Well, hopefully Drew will read this post in the next day or two, see my dilemna, remember what he had eaten last that day, and then email me and let me know so I can rectify my error. Come on Drew!!

"What was the last thing you ate before becoming Stranger #36 Drew?" ....

Thanks for participating Drew.

You can see my other Strangers in my 100 Strangers set, and strangers from other participating photographers in the 100 Strangers flickr pool. Learn more about the 100 Strangers photo project here.

100 Strangers: Stranger 35

Stranger Number 35: This is Yoshifumi Kono from Ishikawa, Japan. He's been in NZ for 1 year and 8 months now, working as a Chef and Team Leader at Wagamamas, a Japanese noodle house. Seen here enjoying his own "off the menu" lunch creation :)

The original thread for my 100 Strangers is buried in the archives here. If you want to read my Strangers' full descriptions in more detail you can check my 100 Strangers set on flickr, and you can also see alternate pictures of them in my 100 Strangers Alternates set.

Portfolio Shoot: Sarah Knox, Professional Dancer

Last weekend I had a portfolio shoot with a local Professional Dancer, Sarah Knox. She currently dances with the Footnote Dance Company where she also teaches some classes. She needed some updated headshots for her CV and her agent, and also wanted some contemporary dance images depicting motion. We took care of the headshot stuff but weren't able to do the movement images. Instead of doing in studio shots for those, we may move those outside for a different feel. When we shoot those I'll add them to this post. These are just a couple of the headshots that she chose for herself. Typically I've found Models to be the most critical of their images, but Sarah told me she was VERY finicky about her headshots...oddly enough she chose quite a few of them.

...more to come...

Portfolio Shoot: Laura Surrich (Part 2)

This weekend I shot with Laura again, I'm helping her to overhaul her portfolio. It's been a while since our first shoot. Now that I look back on those photos, I don't really like them so much anymore. I'm pretty pleased with what we got from this session. This time I asked my friend John if I could shoot inside his house cause it's got lots of windows for good light, hardwood floors, and three big leather couches...hmmm...I may have to use his house more often :)

Portfolio Shoot: Dana Mihailoff

Some photos from a portfolio shoot with Dana Mihailoff, a local Wellington model. Dana's boyfriend James was one of the Actors I met on set of Simon's short film First Light. After using a couple of my photos in his agency portfolio, he suggested she use me to update her portfolio as well.

So we spent pretty much an entire Sunday in the hills behind her family's house, and inside the lounge at her mom's office. This was also my first shoot using a Makeup Artist. Bex (short for Rebecca) is a local model as well, but also has her own Makeup Artist business for when she's not in front of the camera herself. We plan on collaborating more with each other in the future...maybe she'll even step in front of the camera for me too :)

Dana wanted a mix of casual and fashion/editorial style images. Luckily it was a nice winter weekend which meant we could grab a few shots outdoors.

Portraits of Jessica (Part 2)

My friend Jessica cut her hair recently and needed new portraits to update her portfolio. I was originally supposed to shoot with her on Saturday, but had to change plans to accomodate Simon's film shoot. So I skipped lunch on Friday and we met up at Shed5 for an hour. I had previously gotten permission from Steven (the Manager) to use the restuarant interior for photo shoots, albeit during the slower times of the day between lunch and dinner services. He didn't mind at all though as we only needed 30-45 minutes, and the seating area in the glass atrium where I wanted to shoot didn't have a booking until 1pm. He even got in on the action to hold a reflector for me...but that might have just been because he thought Jessica was cute :) But he was super cool about everything and even said I'm welcome to shoot at the restaurant anytime. Cool! :)