Amy Frena and I worked together for the first time in October of 2009. She is one of those models who I thought was ignoring my requests to shoot, but I found out that she was just overwhelmed with requests to shoot. Look at her portfolio of images and you’ll see why.

We worked well together, and I was looking forward to multiple shoots with her in 2010. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that she is picking up roots and heading to sunny California to try her luck out there. Then imagine my elation when she said she really wanted to get in another shoot with me before she left!

Amy understands the importance of a good make-up artist for best results in a shoot, and she was able to use her talented (and equally beautiful) sister, Anna Rose, as her make-up artist for this shoot. Anna Rose knows her stuff. She knows how to apply make-up for a photo shoot, and she knows how to do it quickly!

The three of us spent half a day together just having fun in the studio, and the photos show it.

I have another pretty girl shoot coming up in two weeks, and have already booked my first paid job as well. I also have the first team shoot with the Atlanta Roller Girls, and a few other irons in the fire, too.

2010 is looking good so far!

As I started writing this entry, I was thinking that 2009 was a “meh” year for me photographically. But as I wrote it, I realized that 2009 was a pretty good year for me. I did not accomplish the goals I set for myself this time last year, but it was a good year all the same.

The bulk of the year was spent finishing the basement which included my beautiful wife’s art studio, our still in disarray tiki/beach bar, and my photography studio. All of the destruction, construction, and cleaning meant not much of a chance to do as much photography as I would have liked. I did get some good shoots in, however, and I really shouldn’t complain to much. After all, I now have my own mostly finished studio space (I say “mostly finished” because no studio is ever truly finished) with plenty of room for shooting everything from family portraits to artistic figure work to product photography.

I did some travel (which I love), and went to San Diego, Albuquerque, vacation in Florida where I worked with two swimsuit models on the beach (you can’t do much of that in North Georgia), a paid trip to Myrtle Beach to photograph a hotel for the day job, and a weekend nature photography trip to the Smoky Mountains with good friends.

On very short notice, I organized the very successful model shoot out for the annual Rock and Roll Monster Bash at the Starlight Drive In in Atlanta – a feat that also put me in touch with a number of people I only knew from the internet as well as helped to get my name out to the alt model world (I loves me some tattooed models!). I also continued and strengthened my relationship with the Atlanta Roller Girls and became their official official photographer for the latter part of the 2009 season and the upcoming 2010 season. My relationship with the Atlanta Roller Girls directly led to me doing a piece on the Austin, TX band And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead for Prick Magazine – on line and in print – in 2009, too.

I ended 2009 working with the first Help Portrait project, a few shoots for my personal projects, a big group and individual portrait shoot for an international company, and some great shots of my family at Christmas. All in all, 2009 was a pretty good year for my camera and me.

As I look into 2010, I already have five shoots booked for January, including a repeat shoot with the beautiful Amy Frena before she heads off to sunny southern California to pursue her modeling career, two personal project shoots, a client product shoot, and the first shoot as the official official photographer for the Atlanta Roller Girls.

2009 did not suck, and 2010 will only get better!

***The pretty girl at the top is Amy Frena. She was one of my last pretty girl shoots of 2009, and will be my first pretty girl shoot of 2010.

Atlanta Roller Girls

I spent 3 days photographing roller derby action at the Southern Fried Smackdown in Atlanta. I shot over 2000 frames of action, met some really nice folks, and made some great connections for future events.

I did another shoot with my beautiful friend Heather, then a weekend road trip to the Great Smoky Mountains with two other photographers, Brian Garret and Stu Haluski. None of us are usually nature/landscape photographers, so the trip was very helpful to break us out of our comfort zones and try something different. We met nature photographer Richard Mack who gave us tips for shooting sunsets

Smoky Mountain Sunset

on Clingman’s Dome. Richard even gave us a mention on his blog. (pssst…check out the video of me and the boys driving the Tail Of the Dragon)

I wrapped up October with my last unpaid “portfolio shoot” for the year with the oh-so-lovely Amy Frena who contacted me to do a shoot. I was recommended by a friend of hers who I shot more than five years ago. Keep an eye on my YouTube page for a video from the shoot.

The rest of the year will be used for personal projects and family time. I am also FINALLY putting the final touches on my new website design and getting involved in “social media” – including Facebook and Twitter.

That pretty much covers it for now.