Mother #$&%’in Black Ops!

You guys have no idea how excited I am to share this shoot with you all! About two months ago I got a phone call from Beau Peregino – he’s been on the east coast doing various acting work/etc (seriously, google him for the controversy about the political ads he was in, haha!).
Anyway, Beau sent me a photo of some Special Forces military gear he was given to use by a close friend of his (who is in the Special Forces). Beau said “next chance I have to get you to this coast, we have to do a shoot in this gear.”

Well, shortly after that conversation Activision released their press photos for Call of Duty: Black Ops. I immediately loved the imagery and knew that I would have to emulate the game cover with Beau and the gear that he had.
Two weeks ago I was traveling around Florida for work. So it wasn’t hard to make a few detours after my trip before returning to California.

I traveled up to Maryland to shoot with Beau. I was also able to see a few friends on my extended trip – which included continuing on to Boston.

Here’s a wide version, which I also like.

This crop isn’t as tight as the previous one, but still works and also allows some flexibility if I want to use this shot for other things.

This shoot was surprisingly simple. It was a two light setup – specifically a two speedlight setup, pretty sweet, huh? I worked with two versions of shots of Beau, and composited about 15 total layers for the image when it was complete. Most were smoke and masking layers. There is a lot more to this image that is masked out that I have to work with in case I need it.

Beau and I goofing off when we were starting. Our friend Hillary came to hang out during the shoot and watch, and she snapped the only behind the scenes shot of the night.

I’m currently back in California and catching up on work and edits. I also just ordered some new lighting gear and hopefully will be experimenting with that soon, too! Kassandra (you’ll remember her from the calendar I shot) has tentatively volunteered to test with me for fun once my new setup arrives. So hopefully I can line up her and another model or two for new images soon!