Tori Red Glow 2537 sm

Biting the Tie 1095 sm

I asked her to bite the tie. The cute crinkle of her nose was just a bonus!

Racquel on the Bench 0411 sm

I wanted to test some Strobist lighting techniques, using a DIY snoot & a Grid Spot combo out in the bright bright midday sun of a Phoenix Summer day...just cuz I had nothing better to do with my time...

Ariza Nights from Model Mayhem answered the casting call and we spent a couple of hours in the heat at Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale AZ with me testing various combinations of settings on both my 430EX Speedlight and Canon 40D.

This is the first processed image with more to come as time allows.

Strobist: Shot with a 70-200 f/2.8 L USM at f/10 1/320 shutter speed. My DIY gridspot/snoot attached to the 430EX which is at full power, camera right set just to illuminate her face as she lounged on a park bench. It's almost as if I planned it that way...

Courtney at the Makeup Table 4176

Your comments are always welcome!

I have just added the ability for folks to subscribe to my blogs via Feedburner.
So I am asking all who are currently receiving updates to PLEASE go to the blog page itself and subscribe using the "Subscribe Via Email" option at the top of the screen.
Once you have subscribed, LET ME KNOW with a message directly to me and I will pull your email from the Yahoo Groups Distribution List...that way you won't get multiple emails from every post!
In a few weeks I plan on discontinuing use of the Yahoo Group completely so if you have any interest in continuing to be notified of new posts, please take a moment to use the new Feedburner tool.

As always your comments & continued support are much appreciated!!

===Steven===>>

Courtney: Red Dot 4208

My Favorite of Courtney so far...

I just learned about this site yesterday (Thanks Jessie!) and gave it a whirl...
As with most things, the free version is limited in many ways...in this case, they only allow the creation of 30 Sec video's, in low resolution...but what the heck! Free is Free and this is pretty cool!
Let me know what you think...Oh, and PLEASE leave your comments ON THE BLOG...
Don't just "reply" to the email. I REALLY do want to start building the blog up more and the only way to do that is with comments for new folks to read...
Thanks!

===Steven===>>

MardiGra Ninja

As the Sunset began on Sat July 4th 2009 I found her waiting for her next victim...

Patrice's Pet 6617 sm


Geordi Topless 6899 sm

This photo shoot was the brainchild of Patrice when she said: "Most of my fan base are Sci-Fi Geeks. I should do something geared toward them..." and I said: "I know someone who built a Transporter Console..." And the rest, as they say, is history!


Sorry for the false start! Just wanted to post this while time permits. I am currently working on more of the photos of Franchesca (The Pinup Girl from a few posts back) and I needed to take a break so I was experimenting with some techniques on this image of KayCi and frankly I really like the results!
I'd LOVE to know your opinion as well! Please post your comments here on the blog.

Thanks!

===Steven===>>


The intention here is for Franchesca to be IN a "cheesy" Pinup oil painting. How'd I do?
Comments are always welcome


The latest image of Franchesca. I am very happy with the way it came out. I would love to have your feedback!
Please post any comments here on the blog and not as an email response. I appreciate it!


So...I was writing a nice long post to go along with the pictures, but for reasons unknown, all of my text just poofed in a puff of computer derived spite.
I MAY try to recreate the post later... in the meantime, here are a few more pics of Patrice...
Hey, aren't they supposed to be worth a thousands words each? That's gotta count for Something!

The power supply on my Desktop PC has died...thus delaying any work on the images of my last few photo shoots.
My plan is to rush over to Fry's Electronics tomorrow after work and get a new one, and either install it myself (Ha!) or have my friend Mike install it on his next day off. This could set me back about a week in my workflow since my laptop just isn't beefy enough to do any editing on the full resolution versions of the images...and that's the only version I use to ensure the highest quality output...
So, for those of you who are waiting to see how the shoot with Franchesca came out...yer just gonna hafta wait!




Here are a few of the photos from my shoot with Patrice. Comments? Critiques?


This is my friend Patrice. I met her a couple of years ago at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. She was doing exactly what you see her doing here: Performing for the passersby & and the folks enjoying lunch from some of the nearby food merchants. Turkey Legs! Beef & Chicken on a Stick! Fully Loaded Baked Potatoes...Now I'm hungry!


Well, me being who I am, I took a bunch of pics of her. There were a few reasons why I wanted to photograph her. For one thing she’s very pretty, very talented, and most importantly she agreed when I asked if I could!


While I was getting pics at different angles, I engaged her in a conversation by asking her questions about the instrument she was playing. It’s called a Spinet, and I discovered that Patrice really knows how to make it sing! I also learned that she spends her winters traveling with several different Ren Faires throughout the country, but AZ is her Home Town gig.


Well, after posting her photos on my "Wilgar" Flickr site I got a message from Erin, a girl I met during the the DarkCon ’07 Promotional Photoshoot. Erin said Patrice was her sister! After looking at photos that I took of both of them I can see a family resemblance!


It's very cool that they are related, but to top off the coolness, both of these Beautiful Ladies are extremely talented musicians! While Patrice plays the Piano and Spinet, Erin’s main instrument is the Violin. And they both teach as well!


Ever since I met her, Patrice has been on my mind as a person I would love to know more about. We are currently planning to collaborate on a photo shoot in the Not Too Distant Future. When that happens, I’ll be sure to let you know!


If YOU would like to know more about Patrice and her Music, (and let's face it, you KNOW you do!!) PLEASE be sure to visit www.PatriceRuane.com where you can view video's of Patrice performing, listen to more of her wonderful music and even purchase her CD's as well!


Be sure to let her know I sent you there!

===Steven===>>


For several weeks I have had some props in my possession that I have been craving to shoot with. They are a couple of St. Andrews crosses and I have been trying to find someone willing to let me tie them up to one and take pictures! The wait is over. Introducing Heathyr:

Heathyr on the Cross 7824



Lydia 6601, originally uploaded by keyholeprod.

Latest finished image of PIXI-90910


First Kiss
Originally uploaded by keyholeprod
After strolling up and down the Tempe New Years Block Party, The Hour finally struck. This image is, to me, the First Kiss of the New Year. They didn't see me take the photo with all the excitement going on, but I did show them the photo and hand them my card.
In honor of their gracious permission to post this image, I have posted it first.
Now this is the way to start the New Year!

This shot is generally unmodified with just some minor levels/curves adjustments but the color is as it was in the camera.