Orlando

I must say, I have been out of the state and traveling a ton the past 9 months.  I'm impressed and very happy with how often I've been on the move.  This time the family and I took a trip to Orlando for a mini vacation.  We didn't take a plane to get to our destination, but we took a drive from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and then into Florida.  I would've loved to stop in all the states longer than to just get gas.  All of the places that we drove through seemed to be some pretty cool places to take photos.

Anyway, we were in Orlando for a Mother's Day get-a-way.  No, we didn't go to Disney this time but had a good time exploring Downtown Orlando, driving out to Cocoa Beach, walking around the resort.  Shoot, I even went to a local barbershop and got my beard trimmed up.  I felt like a local and not a tourist this time around and I certainly love having that local experience while traveling to different cities.  Not only did we get to celebrate Mother's Day, but we got to celebrate Nana's birthday, and Aunt Rita's send off to Afghanistan.

I'm ready to go to another city soon.  I really want to go to Austin because why not?  It's only 4 hours away, but working Saturdays sucks because I can never just take a weekend trip anywhere without having to take time off.  *yawn*  Adulting at its finest.

Honestly, I think my next trip will just be to travel around Dallas a bit more.  I still haven't gone to the Cowboys stadium to do a tour of their facility.  Can you believe that?!  I've been to Deep Ellum a few times, but hasn't experience the nightlife there at all.  I'm really missing out on things to do and experience in my own backyard!  So I guess I'll do that first!

Aaron

Well, another quick post before April ends!  A spontaneous trip to North Dallas yesterday resulted in some pretty awesome photographs.  My boy Fredy hit me up yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to join him for a quick shoot in North Dallas.  I jumped at the invitation to join him!  Having Aaron as a model made things pretty easy and super interesting.  Fredy always tends to find the hidden nooks and crannies of Dallas and we always manage to create some interesting images.

In the process of switching bags, I left my trusty-dusty 50mm in my other camera bag so I was forced to shoot with my 24mm the entire time.  Although, I must say that I'm pretty satisfied with how everything turned out!

I hope everyone enjoyed this month!  I know some areas of the country had some pretty crazy weather at the beginning of the month.  It's been pretty chill in Texas!  This week we were in the 80s with a nice, cool breeze.  The weather has been tolerable so far.  Ask me about the weather this time next month and you'll get a totally different response!

Nailah - Class of 2018

Ahhh, man. Looks like I took an unintentional leave of absence from blogging!  Between work, things going on in my personal life, and trying to be a 23 year old, it's been hard to get out and take photos.  So yeah, meet Nailah!  She's a high school senior who is graduating in the next few weeks!  What a great young lady!  Very confident, very talented, and obviously works the camera like nobody else can!

It was a joy to explore Downtown Plano with Nailah and her mom.  Other than the wind blowing at 100 mph, everything about the afternoon was perfect!  I don't think there would've been a better day to do a senior shoot honestly.  Nailah is actually the first high school senior shoot that I have done since moving to Dallas so I can finally cross that off of my photography to-do-list!  What a great way to start off my first senior session in the Dallas metroplex!

If anybody is interested in doing any senior shoots, please let me know!  I am always looking to do more shoots like this.  I've always wanted to do an athletics themed senior session so definitely let me know if you guys know of anyone who would be down for that!

Happy Late Valentine's Day??

First thing's first... DID YOU GUYS SEE BLACK PANTHER YET?!  It's a must see if you haven't seen it yet!  #WakandaForever

Alright, back to the business at hand!  How's this for being different?!  This is my first time doing a shoot like this and I'm sure it won't be my last!  This shoot made me take a step out of my comfort zone.  Being that most of my shoots have been outdoors the past couple of years, this was also good practice for working with light that's available me.  For some of the shoot, I used my ring light and a backdrop.  Towards the end of the shoot, I challenged challenged myself to find the best available lighting in the house.  You know when old folks haven't done something for a long time, then they go do that thing and end up doing it well.  Yeah, that was me during this shoot and it's safe to say, that I still got it!

Not only was it a fun shoot, but it was certainly a lot better when Alex comes in and just completely slays!  This late Valentine's Day shoot was one to remember.  I'm super satisfied with how well everything went and is ready to do another shoot since I don't have much time to pull my camera out.  I almost want to buy some strobes because I miss doing studio work but at this point in my life, I'd rather spend money on traveling!  Because who doesn't love a good trip, right?

Speaking of trips...  Get ready for some super awesome photos coming in the next blog post.  It'll be a trip that I've been trying to make for a while and now I am finally getting a chance to go!  I haven't seen some of friends in years so it'll be good to see them as well!  Anyway, have a great rest of the week guys!