Trying My Hand at Fashion

Besides being my 2nd cousin, it turns out my (first) cousin's daughter, Tracy, is also an aspiring fashion designer. I should qualify the word "aspiring." Tracy has a degree in fashion design and is employed by a California clothing manufacturer as their in-house designer. But Tracy has her own work she "aspires" to market: That's where "Team Jimmy & Leesa" comes into play. Tomorrow, we're going to shoot models wearing Tracy's designs.

As you might expect, I've hooked Tracy up with one of the models-- One who won't be shedding the clothes she's wearing. (As opposed to the other times I've shot her.)

But I did say "models," as in plural, didn't I?

I did.

A friend of Tracy's is participating as a second model and I'm hearing there might even be a third model that Tracy's bringing along, although that hasn't been firmed up yet. Also, Tracy's bringing along yet another friend who is a hairstylist. To round out the team, my daughter, Shauna, (who is Tracy's age and her childhood friend and an photographer herself) asked a long-time friend of her's, Jen, to provide MUA duties. Jen recently graduated from a Hollywood make-up school. Although Jen is pursuing a career as an MUA for films and TV--she's specializing in special effects makeup... prosthetics and appliances and all that stuff--she's really excited to participate on this project.

I think it's going to be a whole lot of fun! I've known two members of the team all their lives: My daughter (of course) and her's (and my) cousin, Tracy. I've also known Jen since she was 4-years-old: Jen and Shauna went to pre-school together and have remained friends all this time.

It looks like Leesa and the old man are going to be finding out if they can artistically "hang" with all these youthful and creative minds.

The pretty girl at the top is Rebecca. I shot this image of Rebecca today, although she has modeled for me once before; about a year or so ago. Rebecca, who is from Barcelona, Spain, did her own makeup and I captured her with my Canon 5D with my trusty 28-135, all-purpose, zoom lens. Settings were ISO 100, f/8 @ 125, WB set for "strobe." Two lights were used for the capture-- a large, 4' umbrella directly in front of her and a shoot-thru, boomed above Rebecca from the rear. I used PS's Channel Mixer tool for the B&W conversion.