Just finally getting around to posting pictures I took of my friend Vanessa Cantu. She’s entering a contest (I’ll let her tell you) and needed some head shots.
Since she helped me out with the 40’s – 50’s Hollywood Glamour photo shoot – I gladly obliged.
The first set of photos you see in the gallery below (click for a larger view) are her “Head Shots.” I grabbed my gear and showed up at her home and while the make up artist did Van’s make up, I set up in her dining room.
We started snapping photos using my new Beauty dish and another light against a white “Pop up” background.
Out of the 100 I took we (Vanessa, me and Liz) whittled it down to about 5 that I lightly retouched in Photoshop and then one that she used for her submission. Lesson learned, make sure your model’s hair is combed down…less time in Photoshop getting rid of fly away hairs.
The next set of photos was tougher. Not the model but the situation. We needed to get a lifestyle shot of Van running. As I’ve mentioned before Van is a distance runner and this is where she feels at home.
So Liz (my assistant for the day) and I got up at 6:30am one Saturday and met Van at Scenic Loop road in Boerne. It was a bit overcast (glad I brought my external flash) and drove down the road to find a nice spot to take some “action photos.”
We had to drive quite a bit since EVERYONE AND THEIR GRANDMOTHER was running that loop. We finally found a nice deserted spot and I started snapping photos. Unfortunately, the cloud cover really never broke but Van was a true professional. I would ask her to run on the side of the road (Liz holding my flash) while I fired it remotely.
She’s a runner right? Might as well get a run in?
We got some great photos but most were not as sharp as I would have liked. Lessons learned.
One of my favorite photos was the one by the mailboxes. We again finally narrowed it down to about 5 and one (or two) for her submissions.
I learned a lot during these shoots so if you’re wondering what I mean by the post title – it’s what I (and my Brother Jim) subscribe to in life. So what does it mean?
“In the last years of his life, Michelangelo scribbled, ‘Ancora Imparo” (still I am learning) in the margin of one of his sketches. In celebration of lifelong learning.
Yup – thats me.
Beto