I've been in a photography cocoon for the last week, virtually shut-off from the outside world while attending Texas School here in Dallas, but last Saturday - the night before it started - photographer friend Lauren came into town a day early and talked her long-time childhood friend Ron into getting a little dressed up to do a just-for-fun mock engagement shoot.  Since Kylie and I's vacation to London/Ireland was ixnayed by the Iceland Volcanoay, I had a couple free weeks prior to Texas School open and was looking to do just go out and shoot for fun and try a few things.  Lauren and Ron volunteered to be the proverbial guinea pigs, and they were a blast and totally willing to do anything.  We had a ton o' fun just roaming around Deep Ellum just before and then after dark, and we eneded up with some really cool images. If you're a photographer and you haven't taken the time to get outta the rut and photograph something just for fun lately, I can't encourage you enough to carve out some time and just get out and do it.  For me, these kind of exercises recharge my passion for this photographic journey I'm on.  It helps me reconnect with the reason I got into this industry in the first place... because I love to create images.  These sessions are a time for me to play and experiment, and with that comes growth.  Sure, not everything works out, and occasionally there are a few ideas that are epic fails, but even in failure there is growth; discovering/knowing what doesn't work is just as important as knowing what does.  Sooo... break out your calendar and pencil in some play time where you can shoot for you.  What's holding you back? Anywho, where was I?  Oh, right... play time images with Lauren and Ron.  Here's my favorites from our mock engagement session last Saturday.

Man, Lauren's got some killer eyes.

Check out Lauren's killer pink leopard print shoes.  Yowsa.

Here's a pullback shot showing how the next couple images were lit.  Pretty simple set-up with an off-camera Nikon SB-900 + 22" Larson octagon softbox triggered by a Pocket Wizard on one side and a silver reflector on the other to provide a little backside fill light. I'd like to give a shout out to Mollie and Sara for helping out on this shoot.  It got dark about 30 minutes after we started, and I wouldn't have been able to do this session without them.  Thanks, ladies!  BTW, Mollie is another photographer from a forum I'm part of, and it was great to finally get to meet her - and about 23 other people on the forum - at Texas School.

Zoinks, Shaggy!

For this last image, I just had Mollie position the off-camera flash & softbox behind Lauren and Ron, and Sara held the reflector in front of them on camera right to bounce some light back in.  Loved how this came out.

It's been a couple moons since I last posted, and even now this will be more of a drive by post.  I've been at Texas School for Professional Photographers all week taking a class with Jennifer Hudson and Arthur Rainville, both of who are true artists to the core.  They live and breath amazing photography, and it's been inspiring to learn from them all week.  As with most conferences I go to, often it's the new people I meet and the friends I'm able to reconnect with that I enjoy most, and this year's Texas School is no exception.  Even more than the work itself, the thing I've enjoyed most about this photography journey is some of the people I've met and the lifelong friends I've made.  I couldn't ask for more in that regard. It's after 1 am, and I've gotta be back in class in just over 7 hours for another full day, so I'll leave you with the image below. The image is largely the result of the artistic genius of Jennifer Hudson (she created the dress for the model and taught the process/technique for creating these types of digital collages), but I'm posting it to show 1) the types of things I'm excited to be learning to do this week and 2) things I'll be offering to clients in the very near future. See you next week!