Jose Villa and JJ

This is what every photographer should wake up to on a cloudy Saturday morning: a husband with two packages from Amazon. The first package contained something for my husband, and the second, well, the second contained a work of art. I'd been dying to get my paws on this book ever since I heard about it, and augh, it's seriously one of the prettiest things we own!

I've read the first two chapters and I can tell you without a doubt that it's pretty darned amazing. Anyone who knows me knows that my two idols are Jasmine Star and Jose Villa. They both have very different styles, but they do agree on the basic principle of photography: practice, practice, practice. I've got a photoshoot lined up later today with one of my gorgeous friends as my model, but before I do a photoshoot with a real person, I always like to scout out my set so I don't waste any of my model's time. My hubby does well as a practice model, but this time, I decided I would practice with someone a little more patient, who wouldn't mind me tweaking his ears this way and that to get them in just the right position...

Yes, I used a stuff toy. Don't hate! He never complains and he never ever loses a pose, even when I have to stop in between shots to take note of my metering values. And he doesn't mind getting into compromising positions in front of the camera!

The main purpose of this practice run with JJ is to experiment with as many poses as I could. I wanted to see what would work and what wouldn't, taking into account of course the fact that I would be working mostly with couples. Another factor I wanted to take into account was lighting. I did this practice shoot right before sunset and shot all the pictures into the light, thus achieving a haze effect. I also messed around with my White Balance to get a more orange hue so the pictures would look more vintage-y.

After shooting with JJ, I gotta say, I am reaaaally looking forward to my shoot later today. One of my friends, who just so happens to be naturally beautiful, has kindly agreed to model for me right before we go on a girls' night out. Sigh! Jose Villa, photoshoot, and a girls' night out. Could a Saturday get any better than this? Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!