In the Orchards with Brittany

Test Shoot with Melissa Violet Orloff

I met Melissa at our shoot with HTR Images. I know how much she loves mermaids and I've been wanting to do a mermaid shoot. So I set up my own test shoot with her. 

 She's such a natural beauty.

Aren't those eyes mesmerizing?

GK In the Studio

GK is the first model I found on Model Mayhem who was reliable. I was so intrigued by his unique look that I had to contact him. He was on time, polite and prepared. I was so happy to see that he was actually studying male models, turbaned models in particular.  After our test shoot, I asked if he would be interested in doing this particular shoot. I wanted to play with studio lighting, bodyscape/fitness style.

 You know what happens when the model forgets his suit pants? You shoot him waist up!

 GK and I had a great time. It turns out that he already has quite the fan base with my lady friends! I have some more shoots in mind for him!

LA Cityscape on Whitney's Rooftop

I met gorgeous Whitney at a shoot with Ray John Pila. While doing her makeup, I fell in love with her Southern accent and telephone purse! 

 After doing a test shoot with her, I told her I wanted to do another night shoot that tests my abilities to use a basic external flash. I usually shoot outdoors, during the day. I have no problem manipulating natural light, but artificial light has always been tricky for me. At this point, I had the basics down, but I wanted to challenge myself.

 Whitney mentioned she had a rooftop available to shoot on. From the rooftop, you can see the LA cityscape and lights. Since I was comfortable enough with the lighting, and I wanted a challenge, I figured I would play with the bokeh the city lights would create. I wanted the horizon to glow enough to see the silhouettes of the California palm trees. I had no idea what her rooftop looked like at this point, but I knew I would be able to just go with the flow once I saw it.

 When she showed me the rooftop, I fell in love! There was a perfect combination of palm trees and city lights. There were riots going on in the city that night. I don't remember the case, but something happened so there were also several helicopters in and out of the shots, which I think added to the great bokeh.

 We had no idea what wardrobe, hair, or makeup were going to look like. When Whitney invited me to check out her closet, I couldn't resist! Anything sparkly already catches my eye, but when I saw this particular dress I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I wanted the bokeh I was challenging myself with to compliment the sparkles in the dress. I know bokeh isn't really much of a challenge. It's easy to create, which is why I see it overused. I wanted to use it just enough. Bokeh is often used to convey that a surface is sparkly. I didn't want to over light the dress to create more sparkles. (Unfortunately, it is possible to have something be too sparkly, lol.)

 After finding the dress, we found her pink tights, which matched her dress perfectly.

 Whitney has some of her favorite 60s and 70s singers displayed on her walls. I was inspired by those photos to add some beautiful, big, bouncy curls.

 I love her giggles!

Thank you to Travis for the great assisting!