First off… apologies! It has been over a month since I’ve been able to blog about anything! It sounds cliche, but it is amazing how much having a baby changes your life. EVERYTHING about your life! From the activties you do to the amount of stains you’re comfortable with having on your shirt while appearing in public… to your schedule! Honestly, the past month has been hard in finding a way to keep up the BeautifulYouth Project and all the work that must be done on a weekly basis… and “extras” like blogging have fallen to the wayside a bit!
Several shoots have taken place in the past month, so I’ll recap them in this post.
Pee Wee
First off, I was pleasantly surprised when Pee Wee came to town! After his last shoot, he had announced that he was retiring, so I wasn’t counting on any more sho
ots with him. However, just 2 months short of his 18th birthday, he decided he wanted to give it one more go! We drove out to a local lake/recreation area and began shooting. It’s hard to believe that t
his is the same young man I met 5 years ago. The things that haven’t changed are his almost explosive sense of humor and his constant kidding around. It’s always great fun hanging out with him, and he makes shoots fun and exciting.
It was pushing 100 degrees in the shade when we went out to shoot. These extreme-weather types of shoots can often go badly, but PW’s great demeanor and personality kept things going strong. This being his last shoot with BY, it is interesting to go back and look and compare the shots we got with those of his first session five years ago. The examples are posted here, and I’ll let you draw what you want from the contrast.
Hawk
Hawk had his long-awaited second shoot a couple of weeks ago. Hawk is a naturally quiet (yet active) boy, and you can tell from the photos that there is a lot going on behind those caramel-colored eyes. He has such an easy grace about him- he reminds me of a small version of Leonardo DiCaprio: fine delicate features, a quiet grace, and a sense of something deeper just hidden behind the veil of his perfectly proportioned gaze. We went with a “pistachio” theme this time, mixing green and brown, waiting just for the sun to set behind the hills before we shot. I’m pleased with how these turned out, and look forward to many more shoots from this talented model!
Lana
Lana is one of the BeautifulYouth Project’s newer and most talented female models. Her stark and startling good looks help create her powerful aura… wherever she goes, she seems to suffuse the air with mystery and mystic qualities. Her personality is very amiable, but during her shoots it is hard not to keep thinking that she has a very old and wise soul.
Our shoot last week went off well enough; however, it was a very bright day, the sun was too high, and the shoot location offered precious little shade or variance. All poor decisions on my part. In addition, the spartan environment seemed to clash with her almost uber-elegance, so I’m afraid much of the shoot was wasted, through no fault of Lana’s. Again, it was just one of those days that seemed like every decision I made was the wrong one. We did get a nice set with a colorful bit of clothing that I had found from a small Indian vendor, so I am hopeful that these shots will make up for the technical mistakes of the rest of the shoot.
Next Post: the return of Jacob