Hair: Steven Robertson & Vince Hernandez
Makeup: Paula Dahlberg
Models: Mckenna Kimball, Christie Iba, Kelli Mallory
Photography: Jake Garn
Photo Assistant: Tiffany Sanchez
Equipment used to achieve these images
Light setup was simple, two lights, each on either side of the model. Click each item for more details at B&H.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” -Albert Einstein (1931)
In 5th grade I didn’t really care for school much. One day I decided I had enough. I refused to catch the bus, forcing my dad to drive me to Morgan Elementary and drop me off an hour late at the front door.
I walked inside and watched out the window as he pulled away, off to work. When he was out of sight I walked back outside, weighed my options and decided to walk back home. My mom was quite surprised when I showed up in time for lunch. I was 10 or 11 years old.
True story.
I eventually went back after being bribed with a video game and even though my body went back my brain had checked out. I had lots of fun with friends and had a few teachers over the years that truly inspired me but the vast, vast majority of my time in class consisted of me learning to turn my brain off and go through the motions.
An experience I’m certain many of you shared.
The older I get the more I realize how damaging my formal education was to my psyche. To me the out-dated school system is everything that is wrong with the world we exist in. We teach kids there is a right way and a wrong way. Write in pen not pencil, cursive not print, color inside the lines and never on the walls, don’t do this, do that…
Well, now that I’m a dad with an 18 month old son I look at him and the intensity in his eyes as he scribbles onto a page, and how proud he is about his creation when it’s done. I draw him a fish because he loves fish and he likes it for a minute and points at it and says fish (in sign language) but then he goes right back to scribbling and shoves my hand out of the way when I try to draw another fish.
School teaches us to draw things, not scribbles. My son hasn’t been to school so he knows better. There is learning in a scribble. There is imagination. Something a school has trouble understanding I think… it’s this lack of understanding that was the number one cause of 5th graders walking home. At least in my experience.
Here’s to hoping we all give ourselves permission to scribble, and if you can afford it then, by all means, do it on the walls.
Wardrobe: Mckell Maddox
Hair: Steven Robertson & Vince Hernandez
Makeup: Paula Dahlberg
Models: Mckenna Kimball, Christie Iba, Kelli Mallory
Photography: Jake Garn
Photo Assistant: Tiffany Sanchez
Tonight I realized something about myself… I use words too much.
I started working on this image of Samantha and I saw something that wasn’t there. I found a blank sheet of paper and a pen I accidentally stole from the bank and started sketching. All angel wings. Different styles, until on the third or fourth sketch I tried just wiggly lines.
Then the image spoke to me. I’ve been having several deep conversations with many people this week and in almost every one of them the topic has brushed on the work of unseen angels amongst us.
I sincerely believe there are angels amongst us. Do you?
Here’s to hoping we all have the courage to act on our personal discoveries.
Dedicated to one of my favorite models. She knows.
Post Script
After starting this blog post I noticed the similarity to one of Ryan Muirhead‘s masterpieces. Re-posted here without his permission. (he can sue me if he wants but I’d counter sue him for the $80 filter I bought from him that still hasn’t been delivered. EDIT: Ryan immediately wrote me claiming he brought me the filter, the matter is currently under investigation. 
The similarities are unintentional and there may be influence but simultaneous similarities are too abundant not to ignore. This tells me something about ideas…
Models are Samantha Law and Lianna Hartley
January 31st, 2011 – Salt Lake City, UT to Portland, OR
iPhone using Hipstamatic (a great photography app)
Steven Wood and I landed at 6:04PM, drove straight from the Portland Airport to Stereoblind studio where we met our two hosts along with two models and two stylists. This would be the first day of a three day shooting trip, seven models in three days.
The first day, right off the plane, was a shoot planned with a full styling team and three models. None of whom I’d ever met in real life.
This trip was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to see how hard it was to leave my geographic comfort zone and shoot, was it worth the hassle to bring a camera on short trips? Away from my lights, away from my studio, away from my connections. On a bit of a whim I was browsing Modelmayhem and spotted a model or two that I thought I would LOVE to shoot, and both were in the same city..Portland, a city less than an hour and a half away by plane. One thing led to another and I looked up prices which seemed much to inexpensive to be right, Steven agreed to join me. We’d do some shooting, check out the sites and maybe even test drive a Ferrari with a blind Al Pacino, who knows. I was ready for anything.
About 45 minutes before getting on the plane, a few hours before the shoot, I received an email from one of the models. “Family emergency, can’t make it. Sorry for the late notice…,” that sort of thing.
These happen, the longer I’ve been a photographer the more rarely they occur… leading me to believe that when they do occur it’s probably legitimate. I emailed her back thanking her for letting me know and… well, didn’t know what we’d do. No cell service in the plane, which was leaving soon.
We formulated a plan B at the shoot. Instead of one look each for three models we’d do two looks of two models. The results were… well… if I were into sports analogies I’d say it was a home run.
The lighting setup I used to achieve these is simple. A single strobe with a parabolic umbrella (86″) creates a very soft even lighting. The umbrella is directly behind me with the face of it perpendicular to the ground, if you look closely into the catch lights you’d see me standing in front of the light. To bring back some definition in the edges I placed two large, black foam boards on either side of the model, just barely out of frame. That is what gives that distinctive shaded contouring around the edges of the model, so to speak.
As seen in this simple lighting diagram.
Setup photo courtesy of Dan LaHaie and his iPhone
Lighting doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need a lot of attention to detail. As anyone on set that day can probably attest to – angles, distances, power and reflectors are tweaked and tweaked and tweaked… until… well, you just know it’s right.
Complete Equipment Used for this test
The amazing Paula Dahlberg hosted a makeup workshop for 6 attendees, each attendee had the opportunity to do makeup for three models in three styles. I showed up at this job with a conscious decision to simplify my process. Frankly I was sick of hauling so much equipment in and out of my studio and worrying about where everything was during the shoot. Along with my camera bag I brought one Elinchrom 600RX (with light stand) and one Elinchrom Octa and a silver reflector.
Knowing that I’d be shooting soft, one-light setups the whole day freed up time to really focus on the concept of each shoot. Combine that with the crazy inspiration that comes from shooting in the amazing Hive Gallery in Salt Lake City meant the results were… well, unexpectedly good.
Paula Dahlberg Makeup Workshop
Hair by Steven Robertson
Wardrobe by Michelle Boucher
Model & Makeup Attendee Credits (from left to right):
Avantgarde
Macy Chapman – Valerie Muhlestein
Katherine Franco – Nicole Forsey
Lilian Henrie – Alexandra Gonzales
Monica Henrie- Allison Long
Shay Peck- Lynzie Atkinson
Olivia Henrie – Mickelle Weber
Beauty
Katherine – Valerie Muhlestein
Macy – Nicole Forsey
Shay – Alexandra Gonzales
Lilian – Lynzie Atkinson
Monica – Allison Long
Olivia – Mickelle Weber
Glamor
Katherine – Valerie Muhlestein
Macy – Nicole Forsey
Monica – Alexandra Gonzales
Olivia – Lynzie Atkinson
Shay – Mickelle Weber
Lilian – Allison Long
Painting Credits for Avantgard Series (used with permission of the artists):
Jonathon Baker (images 1, 2 & 4)
Emily Edmunds (image 3)
Alison Armstrong (images 5 & 6)
Paintings on display at The Hive Gallery
Photography by Jake Garn
Assisted by Tiffany Sanchez & Lindsey LaJeunesse
Inspired by the far east, the idea was create a stylishly modern samurai warrior. These our the results of our labors.
Styling team: Steven Robertson, Janae Johnson and Brittney Wiseman.
Wardrobe Styling: Michelle Boucher
Models: Ashley Spainhower, Demi Petersen, Carly Stark and Brynlee Grossenbach
Photographer: Jake Garn
Color Me Pale
Brynlee Grosenbach: Hair and Makeup by Janae Johnson
Sarah Whitmer: Hair and Makeup by Brittney Wiseman
Demi Petersen: Hair and Makeup by Steven Robertson
Photography and scribbling by Jake Garn
The amazing folks at Whitney Advertising put together an idea for a national ad campaign that I fell in love with immediately!
Marker USA has a line of ski bindings called ‘The Royal Family’ with product names like The Jester, The Duke and The Baron…
Their idea?
What if we combined Marie Antoinette with a member of todays steezified-culture… All the vintage styling but with a twist, ski hat and goggles. The first character to populate this world would have to have a name… and why not call her Steezy Marie?
There’s a bonus to this ad too! A very high-tech bonus. You see that colorful square icon near the bottom right? Download the TagReader app (it’s free) on your iphone. Scan the icon (Yes, it will work on the screen – at least it does on mine) and you can watch some sweet behind the scenes video of the shoot!
The Models!
Credits
Thank you so much to the entire team, especially the two photographer friends of mine that got suckered into modeling with ZERO notice from me! I make no apologies for doing what I had to do to get a couple guy-extras. 
Creative Director: Jim Whitney of Whitney Advertising
Photographer: Jake Garn
Hair: Steven Robertson
Makeup: Paula Dahlberg
Wardrobe Stylist: Michelle Boucher
Models: Shelby Boven, Madeline Villano, Lauren Johnson, Steven Wood and Ryan Muirhead
Location Scout: Mickelle Weber
Photo Assistants: Ryan Muirhead, Steven Wood, and Dave Brewer
Mr. Muirhead’s Assistant: Braxton Duncan
Videographer: John Paul (Video viewable via the TagReader icon on the ad)
Technical Details: 6-Lights*, lots of softboxes. Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm 1.2L
*I should have kept better notes but we had a mini-disaster during setup when I realized that a much needed lens was not inside my photography bag. The situation was fixed (thanks again Dave) without the clients even noticing… but the hiccup left little time for much note-taking on my part. :-/
Styled by Steven Robertson & Janae Johnson (hair), Paula Dahlberg (Makeup)
Equipment used to achieve these images
Softbox placed on either side of the model, large reflector to camera left.
The Value of the Muse
muse: Classical Mythology, -n a goddess that inspires a creative artist.
A model shows up on time and well prepared for a shoot. A good model takes direction and looks like a natural in front of the camera. An excellent model makes any photographer they work with appear even better than they actually are.
Then there is the muse. The muse is the rarest of all models. They are all of the above but they somehow inspire the photographer to search for reasons to pick up the camera, any reason at all. They participate in the shoot unlike anyone else and share the passion for creating something new and interesting. This passion is contagious. Enough passion can change almost anything in the world, including your photography.
I have LOVED shooting with dozens of models, I’ve really, really loved shooting a smaller group of ten or so models and I can count the number of muses and potential muses I’ve stumbled upon over the past ten years on one hand. Here are just three of them… though a couple more are unlisted. :-)
First there was Katherine.
I do, and will always, credit Katherine as the main reason I eventually became good at photography. Her bubbly quirky personality was and is magnetic to be around. If she was born 4,000 years ago wars would have been fought over her. Immediately after shooting her I’d want to shoot her again, and again, and again. This was in the day before digital cameras and it was much more expensive to shoot but I didn’t care. We had a lot of good times me and her and she always inspired me to take better photos. I still get to shoot her every few months or so today but is getting less and less as she gets busier and busier, though she will always be my very first muse.
Mara sent me an email at the very tail end of 2004.
She attached a couple snapshots of herself and said she was interested in modeling. I was immediately inspired by the amazingly rounded structure in her face, it had a very rare chiseled quality that I couldn’t possibly describe with mere words. I was only able to shoot her for a year or two before she moved away to L.A. but in that short amount of time I became addicted… I wish she’d visit Utah again!
Carly and I had our first shoot in July 2007, just before her 18th birthday.
I knew Carly would be amazing almost immediately. That rare combination of a fear-nothing personality to a bewitching shyness the contradictions in Carly are endless, which shows in the way she models. She fluidly moves from pose to pose, constantly shifting between whacky and serious. She’s amazingly fun to shoot and is the reason for this post…
The Value of a Muse
To celebrate our three year anniversary of our very first shoot Carly convinced me we should do a classic shoot from the food series I worked on a couple years ago, a series Carly helped me with many, many times!
As she’ll tell you I was very skeptical, I shot so many images during that little phase that I thought it would be impossible to think of ideas that I hadn’t already done, but it was Carly and when she gets something in her head…
So there we were at the grocery store shopping for food, we got a number of items before meeting up with Steven Robertson (who volunteered to do some styling)… it was after the shoot I realized something… the food series from a couple years ago was full of quirky ideas but it felt like just a warm-up, now I had to really make a series out of it.
This one suggestion from one model not only sparked an amazing shoot that night, but I have since shot three more girls for a new series based around food… which is blowing my mind!
8/9/10 EDIT :: Images from this series will be available in the November 2010 issue of 944 Magazine.
