INTRODUCING Jennifer Colli!
America The Beautiful!
She’s hot!
She’s fun!
She’s Bubbly!
She’s Smart!
She’s an Actress/Model!!!!

Jennifer Colli = Texas Hotstuff!

Okay, I can hear some of you saying it… Prince, Prince, how did you light this woman? How did you find her? Where can I get one? Okay here goes. How did I light her you ask? My cool cats over at Linco Inc makers/distributors of the Britek Lighting system have a tool called Cool Fluorescent Lighting. Its a daylight colored light. Its brighter than standard light bulbs, it runs cool to the touch, and its very bright. I used one of there strongest lights the PE9110 (a bit pricey at $500 but worth its weight… why? No light meter needed, plug n play, what you see is what you get, finnish a shoot in 10 minutes vs 30 minutes.) with (4) 240 watt bulbs and a 40×40 inch softbox. The light from these things is the best of all the Britek gear. Linco Inc should actually be congratulated for the fine job they’ve done in making such a useful and durable product. The only thing intimidating was the transport of this hulking system so I brought along my best assistant and soon to be best photog Larry Land. Besides the big 15lbs light, softbox and stand, I also brought along a smaller continuous fluorescent light  (CFL) the PE9060 (a more reasonable $150.00 or just $400 in a kit with two including stands and 32″ softboxes). I cross lit the scene and used the fastes lens I own – the old faithful 85mm F1.4 Minolta wonder portrait lens that fits my Sony Alpha A900… wanna see more including lighting setup photos? Go to www.studiolighting.net for my full lighting review soon!

Sugarlips!

B.A.P.S. II

Makeup By:

CANDACE MARPEL

Concept By:

DAVID GRIFFIN

Hair By:

MONICA JOHNSON

Photography By:

DAVID GRIFFIN

Chime in… what do you think?

Me, Tai Collins, Cyrina Yarbough and Candice Marpel got it in about 4hrs ago at my home studio! We held a fashion shoot showing off some of Collins’ designer clothing we did two looks. Since I had the time I visioned a creative beauty shoot (that may just very well be plain ole beauty). I went a little out of character… boring gray background, 48″ octa (which i NEVER use in such a small confined space a B800 to cover fill lighting and background lighting. I even cranked out the good ole ABR-800 for fill and softness when needed. Trust me people, I never work this confined. I’ll have a lighting article at www.studiolighting.net soon. Just getting it off my chest here first.

I lit it with my: Britek HS-2000, Alien Bee B800, (sometimes) ABR800.

Here’s a shot of Cyrina. Great pallet to start with. But the star of the shoot was the new hotshot makeup artist Candice Marpel. (Not that the clothing and hair were not spot on.) I saw something great in the new (self taught) MUA… OUTSTANDING FUNDAMENTALS! Her blending was nothing short of spectacular. The confidence and speed actually “threw me for a loop” because I am used to waiting for makeup work in 1hr increments. Having the makeup done in 5 minute increments was shockingly welcome!

When I work out of the Bat Cave as I like to call it, lighting gets to bounce all over and almost any light has a major influence on the overall image shadows. You must be careful as heck not to forget this. In delicate situations like this one must remember to feather the lights away from the background and to give the lighting some direction as your doing your work.

Transformations, don’t you just love em!!!

She calls herself cocaine??

This is actually more of an introduction… so without further or do… introducing CYRINA YARBOUGH!

Stylish Beauty

A Closeup

My favorite part of this is seeing her transform into Halle Berry from Baps as soon as she started Rocking that wig that was styled by Monica Johnson about a month ago!!!! Yes Monica, WE GOT IT IN!!!

Jason "GQ" Soaris

I got a question in yesterday asking how I created the photo of Jason Soaris… They wanted more clarity for how I created it.

“The image was just crisp, stunning and a subtle sexy. The lighting was soft and just ohh soo pro… How do I light like that?” – J. Serra, Los Angeles

Here’s the answer J. Serra (who’s full name will be kept low of course): You start with a large soft light-source overhead. I used a 48″ octabox from eBay in a 440 watt Britek HS-2000 flash. Then I placed a second flash for the solid gray background next too it (on an overhead boom) aimed at the BG (background) using only a 7″ reflector. I finished it off with 2 4×8ft foamcore boards in front on both sides of the subject. (You can see the twin rectangles in the catch-lights of the subjects eyes as proof.)

Sony Alpha A900, David Griffin, Diagram, Jason Soaris

LIGHTING
(440 ws) Britek HS-2000
(400 ws) SL-400
(4ft x 8ft) Foamboard

CAMERA:
Sony Alpha A900
Minolta 85mm F1.4 Lens
Elinchrom Skyport System
F11, 1/200th, ISO100

By the way, I shoot with Jason from time to time. He commissioned me to create some images for him and his cousin that resembled GQ magazine (see previous post). Viola!!!

Yesterday I stopped by the New and Improved Smash Photo for a short session with the Incredible Jason Soaris. The shoot went well (a feature with David Griffin Photography;), but, what took it over the top was my decision to go out side and do some sun-over powering 1 light magic!The result was standard fantastic and I was especially happy because of my test subject… my son Xavier! The kid is hilarious. With a simple hood wife beater and a side slashed hat my son became the well known hood character Lil Cookie Bake!

The lighting setup wasn’t complicated at all. All I did was setup a 400 watt Clo-Wens flash with a 24×24 inch ebay softbox and grid with the inner baffle (for extra softness) at a 60 degree angle about 1.5ft over his head, 4 feet away and full and blasted him and the wall at half power to get f8 (to control the flashes intensity), 1/200th (to darken the overall ambient light), ISO100 (to get the best quality image with the least amount of digital noise). Now, that explains it. How bout a hand drawn diagram check the pics of course!

The overall goal was to establish a Lighting quality that was a mix between dramatic and soft. Soft explains my choice of light modifiers. Dramatic explains my choice using a grid, overpowering the sun and not using any fill light source. I felt that the best way for me to accentuate the character (garbage look) of the location was to shoot it rather harsh. Here’s a piece of irony. Because of where the light source was, it was soft on the subject but (because of the distance between the subject and the background) harsh on the background!

Speaking of the new and improved Smash Photo… they upgraded there sinage as well as installed some killer frosty new air conditioning! Here’s the new sign!

Don’t forget too look up!

People all over the world have been hounding me and hounding me for the return of “Monster Lighting Tactics III”. Rightfully so people; but, one thing I can and will say fully – it will be worth the wait. I am doing all I can to make sure its will be the BEST “LEARNING” workshop out west! Hundreds of hours in phone calls, location scouting, phone calls, measurements, material building and wheeling and dealing will surely make this a glaring success! Right now, I have three BIG decisions left.

1.) Limit our class size to ensure a better learning environment?

2.) Where to take the on-location portion of the workshops?

3.) Should the workshop be 1 or 2 days?

Seem simple… but I got lots ta think about. How bout this… chime in and drop comments on what you think I should do?

This beauty image was created at the European School of Makeup

Image from British Gladiators

Just a word… hooked up with C.H.M. again… this time they sent me up an up and coming handsome young “Brit” by the name of David McIntosh.

Don’t ring a bell yet… dont worrie – it will when good ole Hollywood gets a look at this kid! Well here’s the scoop… he’s 22 years old, 6′0ft tall, from Britian (obviously), has a killer model look, (appearantly a killer model girlfriend – Teca Thompson, her resume includes Maxim and other global magazines), he’s been in the British Royal Marines since age 16 and is was a boxing champ! Still not enough? Try this on for size… he’s currently shooting the second season of British Gladiator – the British version of American Gladiator! THIS DUDE IS AWESOME!

I just went out to a famous beach in California. Which one… not allowed to say… why? Because magazines love creative beach images of young killer guys like McIntosh… especially since this was his first shoot like this! More on this soon…

By the way…. the entire shoot was done with a Sony Alpha A900, a 5n1 ebay reflector, a single LumoPro LP120 flash and an “Organic Actuated Duo Pod” instead of a lightstand – otherwise known as my Assistant Larry Land-Harper!

Special Thanks to:
W. Lestingi for video taping and riding a scooter 79 miles!
D. Ahola for… ??? … Bringing down the baby oil!
Teca Thompson for encouragement, great energy, a watchful eye and keeping your guy from being lonely!

The Spread will be HOT!!!

Final Note: TECA WHEN ARE WE GONNA SHOOT!!!

Hey people… before the Prince returns in full force, I gotta drop this line… I just had the pleasure of photographing the most beautiful subject yet.! Let me tell you a bit more. I usually take a week too three weeks to prep before a serious shoot to plan and make things happen. I was presented an opportunity through a new contact to photograph a FIRECRACKER… Mrs. Sincerely Ward. Model, Video Hottie, hostess, ACTRESS and other talents! Hell no I wasn’t gonna turn down the potential! She’s frickin been on (cover) and in some killer magazines not too mention how highly recommended she came! Resistance was MAJOR from all angles: timing, props, clothing, makeup, hair, styling… it was just rough on all areas. Not to say that I’m being ungrateful for the chance… I just know I couldn’t created hell on earth with her. Here is the lesson people, you take everything as a lesson that life is teaching you. Stay prepared at all times! I wasn’t ready to photograph her, but I made it happen and did my best.

I wasn’t even Ultra Trilled (what I’m accustomed too) with the images from the back of the camera when I saw them however I did know that they’d improve with a little work. I only had approximately 50 minutes to photograph her when everything was done but made due and had to severely improvise… severely. After it was over I wasn’t really ready for what I saw on screen with about 10 minutes of tweaking on one of the images I did like… I saw something great… I saw the start of Sincerely Ward…. being REINVENTED! I am actually THRILLED! I saw a new her emerging from the images! I saw something awesome! I believe she can be branded into a frickin’ MACHINE… a TYRA style machine! I pray you read this Sincerely… but think about what I just wrote and look at the direction the images went into! Besides, you are implored to come back so I can create a transformation!

Closeout: Look no one knows what God has in store for people… especially you (I’m talking to you reading)… ’till he gives it too you! He blessed me. My wife was on team, my team came together, my studio (second home) kept its doors open for me, my brotha was able to come in… what can I say? I will say God bless them ALL! The lesson that I see is that when you stride from greatness and a place in eternity…. RESISTANCE COMES STANDARD!

To my wife Delilah:

1. QUEEN!

To my Hair and Makeup:

1. Albert Elizondo – KING! Your the last minute champ of having my back!
2. Angel Prado – KING! Your killer on hair!

To Bill from Smash Photo (GREATEST STUDIO IN THE SOUTH BAY!) worked with me in the wee hrs into the night and let me get time in at the last minute!

1. Bill Schutt – KING! DADDDYYY!
2. Shirley Schutt – QUEEN MOMMMMA!

To Larry “Big L” Land

1. Laurel Crowned KING! My Brotha from anotha mutha!

To C.H.M.

1. KING! “Q Dog” Roof-Roof-Roof!

and last but not least….

To Sincerely Ward

1. QUEEN! YOU ARE KILLER! Rarely do I meet people that have success written all over there persona. You have it! Everybody else sees it! Also, I don’t know if its humanly possible to work with someone that is more fun to work with than you!!! So far you have the “Favorite Person to Work With” title for 2009! You hear that agencies out there… an “A” class model with class and a HELLUVA sweet personality! Only my three girls (Wife, and two daughters) could be any sweeter than you! You have my utmost respect!

To Tammie:

1. Queen! Thanks for touchin’ stuff that would get me in trouble!

P.S. I think “Big L” turned Sincerely Wards sponge into Salad Crutons! LOL!!

Note: In a week or two finnished images will be ready with a sample here! Stay tuned!

Remember you can check out the lovely SINCERELY WARD at http://www.sincerelyward.com and at http://www.myspace.com/sincerelyward … trust me… you wanna see!

Just wanna say sup! I’m set to reboot my blogging… the thing that’s gotten me so far! Bookmark me… its gonna be a rough ride people!

Anixia "Catwoman" Rodriguez

Just wanted to pop this pic in to give you all an idea to what we’re in for! Get ready… Great things are gonna happen here!

REMEMBER TO BOOKMARK THIS PAGE!!