Young Wedding – Half Moon Bay, CA

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At Andrew and Calli’s wedding last weekend, everyone joked “It’s about time!”, and even I recall Andrew asking me nearly two years ago about shooting his wedding in the future.
Long time coming or not, the weekend turned out beautiful. And everyone that was there had a great time. Andrew’s nervousness slowly left him – but turned into strong emotion and happiness. Where as Calli became more and more nervous as the ceremony approached – giggling and laughing in nervous excitement at being a little scared that things may not go perfectly.

I had a wonderful time being part of such an important day for these two. I know Andrew through a car group that I’m a part of… or should I say was a part of when I was living in the Bay Area. Andrew, too, was once part of that group. He now lives in Texas with Calli, but they returned to California for their wedding.

It was supposed to rain that weekend. However, as you can see, it turned out to be clear and sunny. It was windy, sure, but still a gorgeous day.

The entire day was full of laughter and jokes. Andrew is a huge dork… I’ll just say it. Calli is also making jokes and constantly making faces in all her photos. So I knew going into this that it was going to be one really interesting weekend. And while the image above may be romantic, scenic, or whatever “nice” word you want to use… there are others below that are much more “real” and true to their personalities. haha!

I’ll keep this short as I’ll be adding captions to many of the shots to help tell the story of their wedding weekend.

Read on after the break…

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Dairy Farm & Rancher portraits, Tennessee

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At 81 years old you wouldn’t expect to hear that Gerald Hitchcock is still working his ranch. But ask him anything thing related to his farm and he’ll smile and answer proudly.

Gerald is actually my step-dad’s father. So, this blog is a bit more personal since I don’t typically post a lot of family related things here. However the fact that he’s 81 and still gets up every day to work his ranch is just an awesome story in itself.
The portrait I shot of him is quite simple, really.
“I have the ranch cuz I had the tractor (bulldozer)” he told me when I asked about the large piece of equipment. He pointed out that over the years it was the the tractor that made the money to allow him to get the farm and feed the family. Mrs. Hitchcock, his wife who still hosts family gatherings at the holidays cooking tons of food for everyone, even told me “Oh that’ll be good (gettin a photo with the bulldozer). That tractor has been the backbone of our economy (for the family).”

I wanted to keep the image simple and straight forward. And while I originally thought of just having a standard shot with his ranch/property in the background, it quickly became obvious how integral this piece of machinery was to the family.

As I’ve gotten older and progressed in my career as a photographer since my college days, I’ve realized more and more how important personal images are to me. And, with that, the importance of photos of my family. I’ve since started a personal project of creating portraits of my family members, starting with my own grandparents. I will probably share those in a later post. But, when talking to my step-dad about his parents, I knew his father would be an awesome portrait to take simply because he’s still working and doesn’t seem as old as he is when you talk to him.

Jim Grissom is the nephew of Gerald Hitchcock (above).
Jim was born and raised in Tennessee; he owns and operates Mountain Farm Dairy in Van Buren County.

I met up with Jim on a hot afternoon when he was busy working to repair one of the farm’s tractors. He was covered in dirt and laughing at the idea of me wanting to take his portrait. But, that was exactly what I was hoping to capture… him in his element.

Dairy farming is a hard job. A 15-16 hour work day, seven days a week is something that most people would never do. Jim and his family are proud farmers though – he and his sons have degrees in Agriculture and all returned to the farm after completing school.

Jim, while calm in these shots, was actually laughing quite a bit at my choice of location for the photos. But, being a very bright day I needed him in the shade so I could capture a nice shot of his face and eyes.

I’ve always had a lot of respect for farmers. I think it’s one of the most under-appreciated jobs in the US. So meeting people that are proud of what they do like Jim and Gerald – family or not – is humbling. So when you start whining about your office being too hot/cold, or complain that you have to put in an hour of overtime one day… remember that there are people out there working twice as hard. And they’re proud to do it.

I’ll be continuing this series over the next couple weeks. So check back those of you who are enjoying these portraits.

Also coming up will be more modeling photos. So, I may shift over to a different extreme in photography and be posting beach model photos in the next week. Haha. We’ll see…

World Poker Tour: Bay 101, San Jose

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About three weeks ago I photographed the Bay 101 tournament for the World Poker Tour in San Jose, Calif.

I was contacted by the WPT about freelancing for them at one of their tournaments that they needed images from. This was an awesome opportunity and I was thrilled to be offered the chance to work with them. So, I made the trip up to the Bay Area and spent Friday evening – and many more hours into the morning – shooting the Final Table.

I’ve seen poker tournaments on TV, and know a couple people who have played professionally at various levels. So while it wasn’t a completely new experience being around television cameras, professional talent, etc., working with this major brand was a new setting for myself.
The staff of the WPT was wonderful though – everyone I came in contact with that evening was very helpful and everyone pretty much seemed to know I was there for the evening replacing their normal photographer and they all made sure I was able to do and shoot everything I needed that evening.

So, to the staff of the WPT, Thank you! I had an amazing time and you all were great!
Hopefully I get the chance to work with the WPT in the future; until then I hope you guys enjoy the images. I’m sharing a small collection of some of my favorite shots from the evening.

Final Table, before the start of the match.

The Royal Flush Girls

Getting started for the night

Vivek Rajkumar took 4th – winning $295,800

Casey McCarrel took 5th place, $221,800

Mike “The Mouth” Matusow took 3rd place, $369,800

Kimberly Lansing

Kimberly was extremely friendly made sure to give me enough time to get a nice shot of her in the booth.

Occasionally there were some moments where everyone was laughing and had some great expressions.

Moments like this were much more interesting though. Alan Sternberg ended up taking 1st place, winning $1,039,000 that night. But there were a few points that he lost some sizable hands.

Equally stressful were some major losses by Vivek. This was shortly after he lost a few hundred thousand dollar hands.

Getting ready for the final two.

The stare-downs were pretty intense.

Steven Kelly ended up taking 2nd place, $595,300.

Waiting on the flop.

Alan wins, and in congratulated by Vince Van Patten, Tony Dunst, and the Royal Flush Girls

The winning hand.

Group shot of everyone.

 

Really awesome experience working with the WPT that evening. I spent some time chatting with various people behind the scenes, got to meet a few members of the WPT talent, and also chatted with some of the Royal Flush Girls who were all surprisingly friendly (I say because a lot of models I’ve met are not, haha).

I look forward to the next time I get the chance to work with a great group of people like this.

Coming up for me is a trip out to Tennessee for the holiday weekend – so check back soon for new additions to my portrait series!

My Hollywood showcase, with RAW Artists

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THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Last night was my showcase in Hollywood, at Playhouse with RAW Artists. As many of you know, I was contacted by RAW Artists a little over a month ago. They had come across my photography and were interested in having me showcase with them. Well, that event was last night and the support I received from everyone was overwhelming.

I was really touched by how many people came out to support me and my work – and even the goofy shot of five of my subjects and myself above is awesome!

So often I tend to look at my work as just photos.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe in my work and stand my imagery. I’m confident in my abilities, but I still will look at my images as something that my subjects allow me to very easily create with them.

What I’m trying to say, is that often I forget that the portraits I’ve created of people mean more to those individuals than I realize.  And nearly every person from my collection in last nights showcase proved that by showing up excited to see their photo on the wall, give me a hug, congratulate me on my work, and thank me for allowing them to be a part of it.

I’m surprised I didn’t get more emotional, but as I go through these photos and see what a great time everyone had talking and meeting one another, it compounds the amount of love there really was last night. Again, Thank You!

A couple things that stand out, before I get to a huge assortment of photos…
My cousin drove up from San Diego to be there even though he had to work at 4a the next day, thank you Gianni!
My Mom and step-dad flew down last minute from the Bay Area.
Adam, who turned into my poster-boy for this whole event, came out on his 25th birthday to be there.
Lauren, my best girl friend here in LA, celebrated her birthday last night with me at the show AND took tons of photos for me because she knew I wouldn’t have time.

Everyone else that attended, texted, called, emailed, posted on facebook, etc. Thank you all for the support!

Please check out the rest of the images after the break, I’ll have a lot more to say about the event and people that attended.

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Mark Fightshark Miller, Shelby Jones, and Rita von Riot

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Mark Fightshark Miller, Shelby Jones, Rita von Riot.
Three new amazing additions to my ongoing portrait series and the last additions to my upcoming showcase this Thursday!

 

Mark Fightshark Miller has had one of the most inspiring stories behind any of my portraits so far.
Heavyweight kickboxer Mark Miller is the only person to get back into the ring after open heart surgery. Here, check out this video about his story..
Go ahead, I’ll wait.

The opportunity to meet and photograph Mark was actually offered to me by Shelby – a model-turned-fighter who I was talking to about photographing for my series as well. But I’ll get to her story in a moment.
After Shelby told me a bit about Mark, what he’d gone through, and then reading more about him online, I knew his was a story I had to have in my series.
The idea for his portrait was simple. The image above is exactly what I envisioned too. Mark, pointing to his scar, with an expression that said “Yep. I came back from THIS.”
Bad. Ass.

This was the very first image I took of Mark.
Honestly, I love this one as well because I think for this brief second, his personality and humor came through in the shot. He did this pose and expression on his own and it’s a funny, creepy, and still powerful image. Admit it, you would NEVER get in the ring with him.

Shelby Jones was someone I was introduced to through a mutual friend of ours. I was told by our friend Lisa “You gotta shoot Shelby, John. She’s hot. Has bright red hair and tattoos. She’d be amazing with your work.”
Sweet, redheads intimidate the crap out of me. Probably because I’ve never worked with any. Ever.

But, Shelby and I started chatting and were discussing shooting “at some point”. Then, when I mentioned my portrait series lacking women, she volunteered herself for it. And after seeing some of the images I’d created for the series, said she would definitely be down to be in it. She also volunteered Mark (above) for it as well.

The funny thing was that I didn’t realize Shelby was now training to fight until I explained more of my series and the concept of creating portraits of people and a side of their life. Shelby’s background includes modeling, burlesque, dance, etc. I honestly thought that alone would be a cool concept.

But come on now… How awesome is it that she fights? Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

I played around with a few variations of this image. Ultimately I went with green, to contrast her bright red hair.
But seriously the concept of “hot girl who is also a fighter” will be cool to anyone… so I wasn’t worried about backgrounds at all.

The last shot we did was with some blood and scrapes makeup (Thank you to Samantha Ward our MUA!)
This was an idea that Shelby had. I didn’t want her to look completely beat up, so we kept it light. Because honestly you never want an image that looks like you lost… You want something that looks like you got knocked around a little bit.

Last, and certainly not least, is my dual-portrait of Rita von Riot.
Some of you who follow my work might remember Rita from the K&N Filters Calendar that I photographed a little over a year ago. Rita and I talked about shooting again last Spring, but timing just never worked out for us. Then she became pregnant with her daughter Rylee! So, of course, that kept us from shooting as well! Haha!

I was hugely flattered when I received an email a week ago from Rita who said that she’d been following my portrait series and loved all the images that were coming from it. She said she would love to be a part of it and had an idea for a mirror-image type shot that showed both sides of her life. One half would be the plain mommy-side of her life, and the other half a dolled-up model side.

I loved the idea and was also very interested in the challenge of creating such an image. I knew certain factors had to remain constant for the photo, but that there would also need to be major hair and makeup changes. Rita used her favorite MUA, Maria B. Muah, who was also used for the K&N shoot.

Adding Rylee into the photo was something I didn’t plan for or expect. And while it made things a little more difficult because Rita had to adjust her body a bit to hold her daughter, honestly, it really is what made the shot great. Plus it helped that Rylee was completely mesmerized by my light.

For those curious, this is a composite of five total images, and over 20 layers. It took quite a while to edit, but, was entirely worth it.

To give you an idea, here’s the Mom-photo from that afternoon.

 

All three are awesome new additions to my series and each one of them a great story, too!

This Thursday, at Playhouse Hollywood, I’m showcasing these photos along with a lot more of my portrait series. Hopefully everyone that is around can make it out and see my work on display! More info on that here: https://www.rawartists.org/hollywood/unearthed/?artistid=10284

You can also see higher resolution versions of these in my portfolio here: https://www.johnremus.com/photography/portraits/

Thanks for reading! Hope to see you at the show!!

VJ Michael Benz, Sergeant Trevor Scott, DJ JJ Dunlap

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VJ Michael Benz, event host; Infantry Sergeant Trevor Scott, veteran; DJ J.J. Dunlap, musician. All three men are the newest additions to my portrait series – and with less than two weeks til the art show in Hollywood, they’re great portraits to add to my collection.

As I’ve said before, each of my shoots is meant to be telling about each subject. And each one of these shoots came out pretty much exactly as I envisioned them.

I’m going to introduce these in the order they are in the image above – not the order I shot them, haha.

Michael Benz is someone I’ve known nearly the whole time I’ve been in Socal. We met at a club one evening and I introduced myself because I liked his wild style contrasting the model he was there with that night. We’ve worked together many times since then.
When I hit him up, I knew exactly what  shot I wanted to create. And, leave it to Michael to call me 30 minutes before our shoot to say “Hey, by the way, I got us exclusive access to KRESS nightclub to shoot in. We have the whole place to ourselves.”
Michael is an event host in Hollywood, and pretty recognizable to anyone who has ever met him. I definitely wanted him in my series, and he rocked the shoot just as I knew he would.

 

Infantry Sergeant Trevor Scott, veteran. Trevor is an old friend from school. He served five years in the Army and has since returned and is now in school. The idea and concept behind his shoot was something I’ve been wanting to shoot for a while. And it worked out perfectly to not only photograph someone who already owns the gear, but that with Trevor, it’s real gear, and he’s an actual veteran who has served. Truly an accurate portrait rather than me creating this image with a model.
Adding Trevor to the series was  great because it also gave us a bit of time to catch up. I actually haven’t seen him since high school – and it’s crazy how fast all that time has flown by. We created a couple different images. But the flag image was what I was really hoping to capture.

 

JJ Dunlap, DJ and musician. JJ is someone I met through my friend Samantha – a makeup artist I’ve worked with multiple times in the past. With JJ’s music background I wanted to create an image using his amps and speakers as the backdrop. About half the images I’ve shot have something to do with environment that adds to the shot – this was one of those concepts.
JJ yelled/screamed and posed for one particular shot right as I was testing lighting and working on settings. These typically are the best chances for really original shots. I got the screaming shot just in time, and while all the other images we did were good, I kept coming back to this one.

Sorry for the wordiness of this post, haha. But I had three very different shoots to introduce in one. So, now, on to the photos!

This was the image I pictured created with Benz. Came out exactly as I wanted.

Rooftop of KRESS, Hollywood in the background.

Again, a moment when the subject wasn’t actually posing, but his attitude in the shot is real and works better than any posed image we did after.

Tighter crop. You can see more detail of Michael’s face here.

This was a shot I really wanted to create. You almost never see Michael’s eyes. So this was a bit of an unmasking.

Michael and I, rooftop of KRESS

The main image I set out to create with Trevor
NOTE: The flag is NOT Photoshop. This was shot in-camera this way.

A much softer, friendlier image.

Full, uncropped version

Screaming shot of JJ. Love how much detail I was able to get with his mouth, even down to the saliva in the shot. Really, his mouth makes this whole image.

Wider version, more detail with the background with the speakers.

JJ isn’t actually missing a tooth, but the shadow makes it look that way. Haha!

I feel like I need to go back and be a bit more generous with the editing of this shot. It’s a little too much of a headshot, I like the image with his eyes, but the editing style isn’t close enough to my other photos.

Behind the scenes pics that Samantha took.
Thanks Samantha!

JJ looks bored!

Hope you all enjoyed the images!
That was one of the longer blogs I’ve done in a while. Sorry, but I’ve been swamped running around shooting and preparing for the show in a week and a half. I hope you guys can try and come to it!

Check out more details here: https://www.rawartists.org/hollywood/unearthed/?artistid=10284

David Esquire, Esquire Photography – portrait shoot

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David Esquire, of Esquire Photography.
Talented photographer. Memorable personality. Truly an artist. And great friend.

“I don’t like it.” laughed David when I showed him this image while shooting. “What?! Why not? That’s a great portrait. That’s YOU!” I responded. “Because… I look vulnerable.” he said. “Exactly, that’s why it’s good!” I laughed back. “Yeah, I know, and that’s why I don’t like it!” David said laughing.

David did actually like the photo everyone. He was laughing because he’s not used to having images taken of him that are somber, calm, and actually give the viewer a bit of insight to him and who he is.
I met David two and a half years ago. It’s safe to say he was actually one of my first friends I made down here in LA. We met while working on million-dollar Beverly Hills weddings – because that’s just how we roll… Ballin. Haha, but really, we met while working with Cherie Steinburg, CherieFoto of Beverly Hills. It was a ridiculously busy and massive wedding at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  David and I spent our lunch break chatting and learning about each other and their work. Turned out we had many commonalities and David could appreciate how I quit my old job and life to pursue photography full time in an area I had never lived. We’ve been great friends since.

David is someone I’ve been able to look up to, someone to confide in (which is difficult in our business to have close friends you can talk to about photo-related things). He has been a major source of advice, wealth of information, and MASSIVE supporter of me while I’ve tried to carve out a space for my work in the over-saturated Southern California market.

I’m not sure how much of that I’ve ever actually told David in the past, but I’ve really valued his friendship these last few years. So, when I started going through ideas of people I wanted in my Portrait Series, David was at the top of that list. Now the hard part would be making our schedules match up. He’s a busy guy, let me tell you… not many people can balance three or more weddings in a week and still give each bride the world – but, he can.

Now, onto the images… and I’ll share a bit more through the rest of this blog:

“Photography is like sex! Seriously, think about it. You’re focused, in the moment, completely oblivious to the world when you’re shooting… that’s sex!”
That’s got to be one of the greatest comparisons I’ve ever heard about photo.
For those of you who have had the chance to meet David, you can probably picture him saying it, too.

David brings an energy, with personality and style, everywhere he goes – I don’t think I’ve heard him give the same name twice at Starbucks for his drink… ever.
That same energy and attitude is what I was hoping to capture during our portrait session in Huntington Beach the afternoon we went shooting.

We created a great variety of shots, all different, and we did it in a short amount of time. Really the afternoon was much more about catching up  and chatting than shooting – again, our schedules never seem to match up.

I decided to bring out his eyes in this shot to humanize it rather than have straight attitude from solid shades.

Here’s full shot of the first image at the beginning of the post. A very simple portrait, but, when cropped in tighter as I did above, it becomes a much more intimate look at a side of David most may not get the chance to see. But, David gave me the chance to photograph it.

Cell phone shot by David when we started. hahaha!

David’s Twitter feed: HERE
David’s website: Esquire Photography

David will be one of my featured images at the RAW Artists: Hollywood showcase on April 7th at Playhouse, Hollywood. I hope you guys can all come by and check out my work! You’re going to want to pre-order your tickets online, they’re $10. Lounge attire required, 21+ only. https://www.rawartists.org/hollywood/unearthed/?artistid=10284

 

Joey’s Star Wars shoot – 501st Legion

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I’ve known Joey for about five years, and everyone who knows Joey knows that he’s a big Star Wars fan. He’s been a fan since he was a kid. But, it’s been the last few years that he has been building costumes and doing character appearances.
We’ve talked about doing a themed shoot for a while now. But it wasn’t until recently that we were able to make it happen when our schedules finally matched up. See, Joey is in the Bay Area (where I’m originally from) and I now live in SoCal.

Joey had a few various costumes that he wanted to use for shots. Actually, I think I was the one that wanted variety, he was cool just getting some good images of the Stormtrooper suit.
For those who aren’t aware, there is a national group – the 501st Legion – of fans who have suits that match specifications to be true to the characters. These are the guys you see at special events and character appearances.

The image above I created as a possible option for my portrait series that I’ll be showcasing in Hollywood next month. The rough edit and feel matches the style of my previous portraits but the character aspect adds insight to Joey’s personality and one of his many hobbies. Sure, I could have done a mechanic-styled shot at some later point in time (Joey is a highly skilled mechanic by trade), but this image is much more fun.

Anyway, enough of that, on to the images!

I wanted a standard looking Stormtrooper white-on-black image

Total “hero” shot… even those these are the bad guys. Haha!

These were pretty cool.
The Clonetrooper suit was awesome. It’s weathered and completely different design.

Also a great suit. I don’t know the proper name for this trooper. Sorry Joey!

That’s it! There were some other images, but, very similar poses/etc that I’m not going to bother posting online.

This week is already busy with lots of editing from all the travel last week. I have some new portraits that I’m editing, as well as some shoots this week that I’ll be doing.
I’m getting things prepped and ready for the art show as it approaches. Hopefully everyone can try and make it out and join us in Hollywood!

Go buy your tickets now! $10 (that’s it, just a $10 cover) https://www.rawartists.org/hollywood/unearthed/?artistid=10284

Shooting with Sunshine Sendy and Tara Love

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Last week I had the pleasure of working with two very beautiful and talented models, Sunshine Sendy and Tara Love.
We spent a couple hours shooting last Friday and rocked an awesome shoot with many different looks.

And, since I’ve been running around all week in both Los Angeles and the Bay Area I figured I’d share a few of those shots since it’s been over a week since my last post.
Both Tara and Sendy are not only beautiful, but have a ton of experience in front of the camera. So, creating tons of photos was almost too easy – we spent a lot of the time laughing and joking.

I’ll keep the post short, and simply say that there will be more to come in the future from this shoot, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to work with these girls again soon.

For those of you who follow my work on Facebook and Twitter, you’ve already seen these. But, for those that are new, enjoy!

I’ll start things off with the image that got deleted from Twitter in about 20 minutes. Haha!
I didn’t even bother trying to upload to Facebook… It’s edited so you don’t see anything. But, I figured throwing a watermark on would help keep in somewhatttt appropriate. Haha.

“Here. you can tape me up in this…”
Hot, right? Yeah… everyone else has thought so too.

One last shot of Sendy, showing off her tattoos.

Tara Love.
I could probably say plenty of things about how great Tara is in front of the camera, and you all probably wouldn’t bother reading any of it. I’ll just say simply that I’m looking forward to photographing her again. Stunning. Talented. And just a sweet person to talk to.

I’ve made a few versions of this image with various levels of contrast and brightness.I’m still having trouble finding a point that I’m completely happy with. Tara’s skin tone is a little tricky to get super bright w/o losing too much detail.

Last image that I’m sharing with you all tonight. Really soft edit, it creates more of an artsy/drawing feel to it.

So, if you’re still reading this and not scrolling back up to look at them again, hope you dig the shots. I’m currently up here in the Bay Area. I came into town to photograph for the World Poker Tour in San Jose. I did a couple of small shoots while in town and will be returning to Socal on Sunday.

Check back shortly for more images from this shoot and others.

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!

 

 

RAW Artists – April showcase featuring me!

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I’m going to be a featured artist in the April show “Unearthed” by RAW Artists!

I was contacted recently by RAW about potentially showcasing my work at one of their upcoming shows. I went to their March show to check it out and see what it was all about. I decided that having the opportunity to share with everyone my work and what I do would be a lot of fun. So, I told them I would be down to showcase in April.

This is where all you guys come in… come support!

The show is Thursday, April 7th at 8pm at Playhouse Hollywood.
Tickets are pre-sale online and they’re $10. Basically, I need to raise $200 to cover my costs. And unless one of you guys wants to donate $200 to me, I’m raising it through ticket sales just like everyone else.
Order your tickets here: https://www.rawartists.org/hollywood/unearthed/?artistid=10284

It’s a lounge, so there is a bar. 21 and up only, lounge attire required. Party goes til 2am.

One of the things I’m most looking forward to though, the headliner is Kerli.
She did some of the songs  from Alice and Wonderland, and has an incredible style to her. Hopefully I get an opportunity to talk to her, she would be amazing to add to my portrait series.

Check out Kerli’s newest music video

And, lastly, here’s a screen grab of the online flier…

Hope to see you there!