Get the Job Done: Bath Tub Boudoir Session

Tonight I will be shooting a boudoir client who is taking me up on my idea to use the massive soaking tub in my basement bathroom as her background/scene. I'm talking warm water, bubbles and candles! Throw in some lingerie and some heels and my client is going to knock her husband's socks off when she treats him with this sensual anniversary gift! There is something lush and intimate about a woman getting ready for a bath. I hope to be able to capture that appeal inherent in this natural, everyday sort of activity.

As has been the case, my client was reeled in by the ever popular image of Teri's Rose seen above. She would like to try to recreate that look during her session. But she was also pretty taken with this shot of Kristen:



My sistah from another mother Heather M. Smith-Matthews of Fortuitous Photography will be double-teaming this assignment with me. Heather has really excelled in her boudoir photography, and I can't wait to experiment with he and my client in my spa-like basement bath decked out in neutral shades of black and white. Here's one of Heather's fabulous shots:

Get the Goods: Attending a Nude Maternity Workshop

Tonight I will be attending a pregnancy shoot hosted by the Artistic Photography of Denver Meetup at the North Denver Photography Studio in Northglenn. Cellista the model is about 8 months pregnant and has posed nude for both art and photography classes. Here is a great shot of Cellista taken by IFD Photography in Boulder.



I'm really excited to be able to working with someone who is comfortable with nude photography. I think adding several tasteful shots to my portfolio will be an inspiration for mothers to be who might have been skeptical about this kind of portraiture before. I've been wanting to practice more with the use of light and shadows in nude photography. Here is a similar shot I took with Mandy earlier this year. Mandy has since delivered her beautiful baby.



For just $25, I get two hours with this model during the Meetup which has been limited to only 7 photographers so each of us have the time to craft our ideas. Plus, the smaller group setting ensures that photographers won't need to be fighting for access to the sweet spots when we find them. It's also going to be another great opportunity to keep practicing with strobes and remote triggering with Pocket Wizards. I hope to be able to capture images like this from Ottawa photographer Paul Couvrette:



If you haven't already, consider joining the dozens of Meetup groups being hosted by experienced photographers, models and makeup artists. They are great opportunities to network, meet new friends and get some experience and shots to make you a better photographer.

Breaking News: New Dell arrived today!

Thank God! My new Dell Alienware computer arrived today! It was sitting there all nice and pretty in a larger than life black box in front of my desk at the Denver Post. It's gonna take two people to help me get it downstairs to the garage and into my car.

The forced vacation time gave me a chance to rest after a busy spring shooting special events. But after a few days of not being able to edit, I thought I would pull my hair out! Dell customer service said it would take up to 15 days for them to build my new computer and ship it, but they made extraordinary time, getting to me just eight days after a technician declared my XPS 710 could not be repaired. Dell is no longer producing that PC and didn't have any parts to replace the dead motherboard and power supply.

Friend and fellow photography colleague Tiffany Trott has offered to help me transfer my files from the XPS hard drive to the new Alienware hard drive. And I can't wait to see how Adobe Photoshop CS5 will behave on a new Windows 7, 64-bit operating system. For the past few weeks, I and numerous other CS5 users have been coping with a "Not enough storage is available to complete this operation" error that causes Bridge to seize up after editing photos for about an hour. I would have to reboot my entire computer once Bridge froze. Some have said that Windows and extra RAM prevented the issue. Meanwhile, Adobe technicians have since discovered that a Norton security program may be causing the memory error. Check out the forum conversation here.

Again I'd like to express how pleased I have been with Dell customer service. Don't skip out on those extended warranty plans. Because I was still under warranty, I was able to get a brand new computer for free. And my clients get the benefit of a new computer for faster editing and process return times.

Now let's get this baby out of the box!

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Here is my favorite "What the Duck" comic from this week. Rock on Aaron! "What the Duck" is an online comic strip created by Aaron Johnson. I just love how Aaron's wry sense of humor reflects the current state of the photography industry. But what really freaks me out sometimes is how much they reflect whatever situation I'm currently experiencing as a professional photographer ...whether it's working with clients, desperately trying to stay on top of equipment and technology upgrades or trying to figure out social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

The genius of his strip is the way viewers can interact with Aaron and his comic character. Folks are welcome to link, post, copy/paste, or save the strips to their own sites, blogs, forums, newsletters, etc. Aaron also allows viewers to suggest titles for his individual strips, and post photos of their own plushy and stuffed W.T. Duck working or hanging out.

Get Connected: Business project with a Mary Kay consultant

BEFORE, a fresh face
AFTER, a glamorous makeover by Lisa Young, a Mary Kay consultant

This month, myself and photography colleague Jason Peckovitch of Illusive Dreams Photography are developing a partnership with Alicia "Lisa" Young, a Mary Kay independent consultant that we hope will be profitable boons for both our businesses. The plan is still evolving, but basically when Lisa holds her beauty consultations with new clients, Jason and I also will be there shooting "before" and "after" images and selling prints on-site of their new glamorous makeover. The arrangement is going to be fantastic and I can't wait to get started this month!

Image of Jason Peckovitch by Picture Your World Photography

Image of Lisa Young by Adrian Michael Green

Jason met Lisa last month when he manned a vendor booth for Picture Your World Photography at the 2nd Annual Diversity and Outreach Fair. I was out of the state that day driving back from Ali's Quinceanera in Nebraska. Jason didn't make much profit that day shooting photos and selling prints because a rainstorm shut down the event early. But a chance networking encounter with Lisa (Jason took her photos and explained how our photo booth set up worked) lead to the great opportunity we have before us now.

Earlier this week, I took before and after shots of several of Lisa's coworkers to jump start her Wonder Woman Portfolio. I will be writing more about this project in future blogs as it develops. It was a lot of fun to see the transformations take place under Lisa's adept tutelage and makeup artistry skills. Even I couldn't refuse when she said I needed my own makeover. I loved the results so much that I'm now using the image as one of my business portraits! "You were already so pretty I just waved my magic wand and let the fairy dust settle on the pretty parts LOL!" Lisa said. But I think she's underestimating herself. Her choice of colors helped my features popped, and I was amazed to discover that I do have eyebrows!!!! I personally can't wait to try her oily skin/blemish prone skin care. She promises me she has a product to help end my "shine." I tell people I produce enough oil on my face to supply fuel to a small country. :)

Here are several more of my favorites from the shoot. These portraits haven't been edited yet since my desktop is still out of commission:













If you are interested in getting your own makeover with Lisa, contact her at this link and have me take your portrait! We would love to help you reaffirm or rediscover that you are a WONDER WOMAN!

Here's a personal note from Lisa:
"Calling all WONDER WOMEN! I am completing a Wonder Woman Portfolio.
Ladies join me in spreading the word on what makes you WONDERFUL!
MEN nominate your lady friend, female companion, coworker, MOM, daughter and girlfriend to join me to show the world our BEAUTY inside"

I think this is the start of not just a great business opportunity but a beautiful friendship!

Get the Goods: A brand new Dell powerhouse desktop!

Wow! I'm truly amazed at the Dell customer service I received today! Earlier this week, I blogged about my XPS 710's motherboard dying an untimely death just three years after I purchased it. But I was still under warranty, so Dell sent out a technician to replace the motherboard, power supply and front panel. Turns out Dell doesn't make 710s anymore and the company was hoping that a 720 motherboard would work.When it didn't, the technician called in, told them the issue, and a customer service rep determined that I would be receiving a brand new Alienware Aurora.

Dell bought out Alienware which produced powerful gaming machines with expandable performance, amazing 3D quality graphics, HD gaming immersion, and lightning speed with no lagging. The Aurora's standard features should be plenty for my photography needs. But I dropped a ton of change when I purchased my XPS 710 because I had numerous upgrades, including a souped up processor, video card and extra memory. So the technician told me to make sure that when I get the new computer that I check its manifest against my XPS 710's manifest to make sure I at least had all the upgrades I had before or something better. The new Aurora comes standard with Windows 7 64-Bit, so that will be an instant upgrade from the Windows XP Professional I was working with.

I should be getting the new machine in about 15 days. Until then, I've got to take the old 710 hard drive out and back it up. My photos are all safe and sound on external hard drives and a SmugVault. But I've still got some music files and documents on the old hard drive. And of course I will have to reinstall all software such as the new Photoshop CS5 and the latest OnOne plugins.

That's are hardship I can live with if I get a new and better operating computer out of it! Dell rocks! Now I have an AlienWare computer to match my AlienBee strobes!

I recognize that while this may be a beneficial outcome for me, it is going to be a major inconvenience for the Dermer Family, whose reunion photos I was in the process of editing when my desktop died. I am offering the Dermer's a free 1 hour photo session and a free 20x30 enlargement of their favorite image from the reunion in hopes of stemming the disappointment of waiting so long for their finished CD.

Get the Job Done: Second shooting for a photography instructor

This evening I will be second shooting an event with Efrain Cruz, director of Illuminate Photography Workshops in Denver. My readers know that Efrain Cruz was the instructor of my first digital photography class three years. His encouragement and support during those first crucial weeks is what I credit as the reason I'm a photographer now. I was all set to drop that photography class thinking everything was way over my head. Back then, I was too afraid to take my camera out of the box. All the dials and modes scared the crap outta me. And words that other students used fluently such as "aperture" and "depth of field" flew through one ear and out the other. I was lost and confused - a place no self respecting control freak likes to be.

It was Efrain who told me that he recognized I had "an eye" (even if I didn't know that what meant just yet) and that if I stuck it out in his class, he would make sure I learned something and became comfortable with my camera and the new language of digital photography.

And the rest, as they say, is history!!!

Tonight, I finally get to begin the process of thanking Efrain by being his second shooter! We will be covering the unveiling of a new alcoholic beverage, and the event includes a tasting and a cocktail party hour. Efrain has a quick turnaround in that he has to have images ready for his client within 72 hours I believe. So he said it was important for him to work with a second shooter who knew how to cover an event like this and understood their equipment because he doesn't have the time for complicated post processing. We have to get as much of it right as we can in camera from the get go. Efrain will take all of my images and edit them quickly himself, most likely using presets in Lightroom.

To think that Efrain has that kind of faith in my abilities has really helped me recognize just how far I've come since the first time he and I met. Thanks Efrain for your support and I can't wait to shoot with you tonight as a true photographic colleague! Let's rock it!