"Steeling" Fashion with Audrey Proulx

For a while I have been wanting to work on a photo shoot with my wife Melanie (Melanie's a hair stylist with some mad skills at L Salon and Color Group), and not too long ago I had the opportunity to do so. What you'll see in this blog came together with the help of many people. Karla, our Office Manager who joined our team towards the end of January, found clothing stylist Kelly Shouey, helped in our model hunt (one of which you will meet today), and arranged countless other details.

Originally our fashion shoot was to be outside, but the weather was horrible and with only a week before the shoot it was evident we needed a backup location. I didn't want to photograph everyone in our studio, I wanted a unique location, so after driving around I ended up at "San Mateo Artistic Iron Works" and loved the look of the place. Lui Manzon Jr., Owner of San Mateo Artistic Iron Works, agreed to let us use his shop as our studio and it couldn't have been a more perfect place, as you will see.


In this blog I want to introduce you to one of our four models, Audrey Proulx. I met Audrey about a week and a half before the photo shoot, pitched the concept to her, and she eager to get right on board with us. Audrey, the youngest model on set, was our first dare devil to jump on top of the metal work benches, balance on anvils, hammers, and anything else in the shop. She wasn't even afraid to lean against the thin glass windows to get "the shot."


Take a look at some of the images we captured of Audrey...

Don't forget to check out our next blog which will feature Lauren Rodenberg (she is on the far right)...

Adam Simpson in Studio

                                                  

       

      

   

  

   

      

 

   

   

                                                  

Ben Wysocki in San Francisco

Last week our dear friends, Ben and Michele, moved from San Francisco back to Denver Colorado. Their time here seemed to fly by and even though we wish they could have stayed here longer, we know they had to move on to the next part of their life's journey. Ben and Michele you will be truly missed by us.

Before they left I asked Ben if I could photograph him around San Francisco. I didn't want to just document Ben's day around San Francisco, because being the drummer for The Fray, he has had a lot of great photos taken like that. In fact, the book The Fray: There and Back by photographer Rod Blackhurst is pretty cool book showing a behind the scenes look at The Fray's journey.

With that being said I wanted to photograph Ben with more of a portrait look. The following images are what was created. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Thank you Jill for help on the shoot, and thank you Ben for walking around the city with me.

Abolitionist in the Round

A friend of mine put together a concert in San Francisco with a number of other musicians and they called it "Abolitionist in the Round". The concert helped raise money to donate to the organization Not For Sale, an organization dedicated to put an end to modern slavery (human sex trafficking). I would encourage you to visit the Not For Sale website to learn more about what is happening in our world right now.

Corporate Photography

I had the opportunity to photograph Tiret & Company CPA's company photograph a number of months ago and simply enjoyed the experience.

Here is the photo they used for their wall and Christmas card.

Phil Wickham Concert at CPC Live

A little while back I photographed Phil Wickham at a concert he was performing at for CPC Live. When I met him before the concert began, to take photos of him and the VIPs that were attending the show, he was very chill and easy to speak with. I didn't know what to expect from his concert because I hadn't really listened to his music. With that being said, I really enjoyed his concert and was deeply moved by the songs he was singing. The lyrics to his songs were very refreshing to my soul.

If you haven't heard any songs by Phil Wickham, you may just end up buying a few of them.

Chris and Conrad opened for Phil Wickham and they were fun to watch as well.

Weekend in the Napa Valley

Ever since I was a little boy I have always loved spending time in the Napa Valley, in particular St. Helena. My fondness for it comes from the fact that my father's parents grew up in the Napa Valley. Both my grandfather and grandmother was raised in St Helena and graduated from St Helena High School, one of the coolest looking high schools I have seen. In fact, most of, if not all of my father's family is buried in the St. Helena cemetery. My great grandfather was a Sheriff in Napa and my great grandmother was an elementary school teacher. I grew up hearing stories from my grandfather and great uncle about the "adventures" they had as kids in St Helena. To this day I enjoy listening to the stories my father tells about the times he spent on my aunt's ranch, and his stories about hunting and motorcycle riding all throughout Napa and the surrounding areas.

During my childhood summers I was practically raised at Lake Berryessa. My first driving lessons, before I was old enough to drive legally, were on my grandmother's property where she was raised. My first driving accident was on the same property. . .  I turned too tight while driving through a field and dented the side of my grandfather's van on an old tree stump. I even earned how to drive a stick shift in a dump truck in St Helena.

Well, not to long ago my wife and I drove up to St Helena and spent the weekend there, and these were some of the photos from our time there.

I hope you enjoy them.

On our way home we drove through Yountville, another cute town in the Napa Valley.