Brooks Blog

Krista

Krista is a photographer and visual effects computer nerd. She's worked on some movies you may have heard of like, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Eon Flux, Peter Pan, Daredevil, Star Trek: Nemesis, xXx, The Time Machine, Death to Smoochy, Collateral Damage, A Beautiful Mind and others. She is super awesome. This portrait was shot at my studio party like the others.

]]> subject: Krista Benson
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 70mm
lighting: Two fluorescent tubes in custom fixtures.

Christopher Colquhoun

More glasses portraits from a party I had at the studio a while back. Christopher Colquhoun is from England. He's a photographer, but apparently also known in his native land for his roll as Simon Kaminski in the BBC drama series Casualty. Here he is drinking a beer. :-)

]]> subject: Michelle Tabor
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 75mm
lighting: Two fluorescent tubes in custom fixtures.

Lisa Wearing Glasses

Lisa is a nude art model that came to a party I had at my studio months ago. I've seen hundreds of images of Lisa, and to this day, I think this is one of the most honest portraits of her. I shot a good ten people that had their glasses with them and I'm going to try to post a bunch in a row, so stay tuned.

]]> subject: Lisa
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 75mm
lighting: Two fluorescent tubes in custom fixtures.

Ashley

I let an assistant of mine use the studio one day to shoot some fashion. When he was done, I shot this portrait of one of the models. Ashley is one of the cooler models I've run across. We'll shoot again.

]]> subject: Ashley Morgan
makeup/hair: Devin Joplin
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 200mm
lighting: One Mole-Richardson Junior Solarspot 2K behind a 4'x4' diffusion scrim as the main light. Silver card on the left.

Blake

I shot this portrait of Blake when he was the only one of two models that showed up for a commercial shoot. That's right folks, the female model never showed, or called. I still haven't heard from her and it was over a week ago. This is one of the pitfalls of using a non-agency model, I guess. It's the first time I've ever been flaked on... Ever. Blake was great though, and he showed up for the re-scheduled shoot with a different girl.

]]> subject: Blake French
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 95mm (iso 800)
lighting: One hand held, slightly customized, fluorescent mechanics light from Home Depot above forehead and a silver card below to give a little catch light in the eyes.

Lisa Foiles

My friend Lisa Foiles wanted to update her image a bit. She's known for being on the Nickelodeon show "All That" a couple years back, but is all grown up now. I don't think anyone willl be mistaking her for a kid anymore. She was also on a very funny episode of Malcolm in the Middle. Check out a clip.
Lisa Foiles in "If Boys Were Girls"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpFSNFTsC58

]]> subject: Lisa Foiles
makeup/hair: Jocelyn Rivard
stylist: Lisa
camera/lens: Horseman LX 4x5. Schneider 360mm 6.8 Symmar S. Polaroid Type 55.
lighting: One Mole-Richardson Junior Solarspot 2K.

Kiljoy Union

My friend Frank Ockenfels has given me a challenge... To shoot music. He thinks It's something I would be good at, so he told me to shoot some more bands, and to get out of the studio some. This was my first band with that challenge in mind. Believe it or not, it's the first time I've ever shot a band outside.

]]> subject: Kiljoy Union
makeup/hair: Michelle Tabor
stylist: The band
camera/lens: Horseman LX 4x5. Schneider 210mm 5.6 Symmar S. Polaroid Type 55.
lighting: Natural light with a Mole-Richardson Junior Solarspot 2K behind for a little rim light.

Aria Giovanni nude

Portrait of Aria Giovanni. She calls her breasts Bread and Butter, respectively.

]]> subject: Aria Giovanni
makeup/hair: Michelle Tabor
camera/lens: CHorseman LX 4x5. Schneider 360mm 6.8 Symmar S. Polaroid Type 55.
lighting: One Mole-Richardson Junior Solarspot 2K.

Sarah Ellis (nude)

Sarah has a masters degree in biology and is an expert on birds. I was at a friend's house while she shot Sarah a couple days after I shot this and when she heard a dove cooing, she explained to us in great detail, exactly what was happening around us. She also told us that she gets the same feeling when she gets a new pair of binoculars that photographers get when they get a new camera. Sarah is awesome.

]]> subject: Sarah Ellis
makeup/hair: Jocelyn Rivard
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 28-105 @ 63mm
lighting: One Mole-Richardson Junior Solarspot 2K.

Celeste S Nude

WARNING! I'm going to be posting a few nudes in the coming weeks. I shot this portrait of Celeste after a catalog shoot. One of the most fun personalities I've had the pleasure of having in front of my camera.

]]> subject: Celeste S
makeup/hair: Jocelyn Rivard
camera/lens: Horseman LX 4x5. Schneider 360mm 6.8 Symmar S. Polaroid Type 55.
lighting: Mole-Richardson Junior Solarspot 2K.

Jeff Wearing Glasses 2

So, this is a little different then the other People Wearing Glasses portraits. My dear friend Jeff was doing a little remodeling in his home when he was attacked (unprovoked, I'm sure) by a large wooden beam. Ten stitches later I tell him he must come to the studio so I can document the damage... You know, just in case he wants to file suit against the beam. I'm not so sure that Prada recommends those for protection during construction projects though.

]]> subject: Jeff V
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 100mm
lighting: Two fluorescent tubes in custom fixtures.

Lily

I'm so used to shooting with studio lights that I have to force myself to use natural light sometimes. Then when I do, it ends up looking like studio lighting. :-)
I shot this portrait of Lily next to my open roll up door at the studio. She was very patient for about five minutes.

]]> subject: Lily
camera/lens: Horseman LX 4x5. Schneider 360mm 6.8 Symmar S. Polaroid Type 55.
lighting: Natural light from open door, with a silver card on the left for fill.

Trish 2

Another frame from my shoot with Trish. I really wanted to shoot her in a way that I had not seen with her before. This is a pretty straight forward portrait, but I was thinking musician, not model, while shooting. I think I may have said something like that to her so she would relax her poses and look more real. She says that for her, as a model, portraits are the hardest to pose for.

]]> subject: Trish
makeup/hair: Trish
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 75mm
lighting: 22 inch beauty dish with a grid as the main light, 11 inch head with diffusion coming from the right. I put a small piece of black foil (Rosco Foil) along the edge of the background on the right so the light would hit the side or her head without spilling into the shadow on the background.

Trish

This is Trish. She's an art model. She wears glasses. The latest in the "People Wearing Glasses" series. Trish is about 6ft tall, so I had to stand on an apple box to get the camera at eye level. :-)

]]> subject: Trish
makeup/hair: Trish
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 125mm.
lighting: Two fluorescent tubes in custom fixtures.

Iona Lynn

Iona is a very accomplished art model that is working hard to become a better photographer. She asked me if she could assist me some day, so I suggested that we just setup a test shoot with her and I'll answer any questions she has while we're working. It was a fun day and I got some great stuff.

]]> subject: Iona Lynn
makeup/hair: Jocelyn Rivard
camera/lens: Canon 5D, 70-200L IS @ 78mm
lighting: One Mole Richardson Jr. Solarspot 2K as the main light. A LTM 1K Pepper light on the left as a rim light. A Pepper 650W on the black side of the background for a little separation. The main light is barn doored down (is that a word?) and the top of the light is flagged closer to the model to make a harder shadow on the face.