Meagan D’Von Funk, one of my favorite hair & make-up artists had mentioned she wanted to put a creepy shoot together. Something dark, with long sharp nails, black teeth, and a haunting look. Initially we had planned on a more Nosferatu vibe, shooting in my new apartment while it was still empty. But planning was slow, and I was eager to move my furniture in. That was when I remembered an eerie tree and elaborate wigwam built from fallen branches at Clear Creek Nature Center in Denton, TX. We enlisted the help of costume designer / stylist Jessica Schmidt and …

This is the last in my Seasons Fairytale series based off of Alphonse Mucha’s “The Seasons” paintings (be sure to check out Winter, Spring, & Summer). This was actually the trickiest one to put together just because Autumn in Texas lasts about a week, and it can come without warning. Sometimes it’s the first week of October, sometimes it’s on Christmas Eve. It was important to me that the shoot be right when the leaves change colors, which meant I needed my team ready to go with little notice. Unfortunately the leaves changed perfectly on the week of Thanksgiving, meaning …

Continuing my Seasons Fairytale Series (be sure to check out the Winter Fairytale & Spring Fairytale), was the third installment, Summer Fairytale. This one was a bit trickier to put together, because the props & look weren’t as obvious as the others, and because my go-to hair & makeup artist, Mallory Chokas, had moved away. I began by reaching out to a highly recommended and very talented hair & makeup artist, Meagan D’von Funk. I wanted to collaborate with her on a look just a bit outside your normal beauty make-up, and create something she’d be glad to add to …

Claire Morales is a good friend and very talented musician. Once I saw she’d created new website for her band, clairemoralesmusic.com, I wanted to do another shoot with her so she’d have even cooler photos for her cool new site. We brainstormed on ideas, and Claire has recently been crushing on Marlene Dietrich, which was convenient because I had already done a Marlene Dietrich inspired photoshoot once before with Amanda Reyes. Whereas the last one focused on more of an Old Hollywood vibe, Claire is all about those 60’s “Valley of the Dolls” vibes, so for her shoot we made …

My good friend Leoncarlo is finally releasing his first solo album, Still Forms, on June 4th, 2016. He is an amazing musician, and creates beautiful soundscapes with his violin and loop pedal. During rehearsals for the music video we’re working on together, he mentioned needing promotional stills to go along with his press releases. I set up my studio and created a lighting set-up that would allow for me to capture his portraits with a flash & umbrella, and also capture the movement of his playing with a dim LED backlight and a slow shutter. This first photo was just …

For the Spring Fairy Tale shoot, I purchased an expensive dress from Free People, but because of the storm, we weren’t able to use it for more than a few photos. I wanted to get my money’s worth, so I asked if Joseffa would be interested in modeling it for a quick shoot. We went to the garden at TWU, near the Little Chapel in the Woods, on a cloudy Wednesday evening. It was also a good excuse to practice using off-camera flash with the new flash umbrella I purchased. Erin Summerlin was kind enough to assist on the shoot …

I remember 8 months ago I asked Cristina if there was any sort of photoshoot she would like to do, and she said she wanted to do a shoot based on Day of the Dead. She told me that what interested her in it was that it wasn’t necessarily a sad holiday, for some people it was a big party. Even though she’s never been close to anyone who’s died, she thought about how she would want people to grieve her death, which involved bringing her yellow flowers and black balloons, dancing on her grave, and reading Harry Potter to …