Last week I had the opportunity to shoot fashion in Chicago at a Shoot Fashion with Carlos Baez workshop.  We had four models, a makeup artist, Rachel Frank Design along with her wicked outfits and styling and a beautiful natural light studio to work in.  I loved it!  I always love to see how other people shoot especially when they are some of the very best in the industry, as is Carlos.  On this particular exercise I certainly felt the pressure of seeing eight photographers approach the same subject and setup, and trying to think if there was anything I had to say about the subject that was slightly different.

Here are a few images from the first setup.  The shooting space was so lovely it made me feel lightheaded.  And the model in these photos is a high school senior, Kaylee, so I was particularly delighted.   What an incredible experience she had!  I was so happy for her and impressed by how she did.  As for my pictures, well I’ll like these images right up until I see something someone else or several someone else’s (lol) shot that blow my little pictures right out of the water.  That’s why I figure I better post them now, before that happens.

I’ll post some from the other models a bit later.  I’m still trying to choose which ones.  We shot such a wide range of styles and setups, that I’m still a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out which ones I like best and why and what I could have done better.

The images in the first pair were shot with a tilt shift lens, which I’ve been experimenting with a lot lately, throwing parts of the frame out of focus to alter how it reads/feels.  Fun stuff.

And a through the window shot, where Brittney reminds me of a an exotic mannequin butterfly.

And the smoky beauty Oleksandra.

I am swimming in pictures right now, and behind on the blog, but here’s one from early last week of Alexandria, “Alex,” a 2010 senior at North Clay. I love Alex’s look, and she did a great job during her session.  Turns out Alex’s mom, Sharon, and I went to school together, but haven’t seen each other since high school, so it was great to get to visit with her a bit during the session as well.

Chloe and I had been trying to get  together to do outside portraits for much of the summer, since on the day we shot her studio portraits, it was raining, and she couldn’t reschedule.  Often, I find, these things work out for the best.

When I asked Chloe to describe her music to me, so we could style her outside session, she sat down and played me a song.  While I’d heard from others that Chloe sings beautifully, I was not prepared for how good she is.  She’s the real deal, our very own Miss Chloe Lucas.  She sings like an angel come down to set things right.  So we drove out to one of the quietest places I know to take some pictures while a storm rolled in.

I believe that the truly pure of heart have tremendous power.   And I believe that Chloe has a great gift.  Here’s wishing her the very best of luck when the time comes for her to head out to find her future.  Which is to say, Chloe, whatever you do, don’t stay on the porch with your guitar.

Zay is my neighbor’s niece, Rachael’s, son.   Teresa, Shelby and Tom brought him over to get some pictures.  Generally, Ada doesn’t get to help out during sessions, but we made an exception on this one.  And I have to say, she did great.  She brought out bribes (note the plastic sea turtles) as well as some newly hatched chicks not shown here.  The third image is a behind the scenes photo that cracks me up.

By the time we’d finished the session then later that day Ada helped Zay climb the inflatable wall/slide at the Cisne Reunion, Ada was introducing Zay as her little brother.  Pretty funny.  Suffice it to say, we all thought Zay was completely adorable.

I’m behind on the blog!  I’ve posted some highlights of my last two weddings on my FB business page, but haven’t put together the blog posts for them yet.  Meanwhile, here’s the lovely Brooke, from Noble.