I met Randy in the park. He was riding his bike and as he passed me we had a friendly "Hello" nod and then he was gone. A short while later he saw me again. This time he was simply standing under a Ramada. He called out to me "You sure do get around!" and that opened the door to a very brief but friendly conversation in which I just asked if I could take his photo. He said "Sure! What's if for?". I just said it was an assignment where I had to take a photo of someone I didn't know.
After the shot, he asked to see it (Everyone is so used to seeing their pics on the backs of camera's these days!).
While we were looking at it I offered to send him a copy. He declined, but I don't think it was because he didn't like it. I just think he's OK with not having a copy. We shook hands and off he rode.
One shot was all I got. It was all I needed.
Thank you Randy!

LE: Just Natural Light and the Fill Flash of my Canon 40D.
No other modifiers of any kind
Sigma 24-70 Lens
1/100 f/5.0 ISO 100
Just a leeetle Photoshop work on the levels and the edges of the image for a "framing" effect.

Hope you like them!

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...

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:

Two more images from my Love, Lust and Attraction set. Guess which emotion they represent... Gowan! Take a guess!

Judi Aragon. Taken at the Lighting Essentials Workshop, July 2007. This was shot at the Tempe Municipal Building at high noon...in July...in the sun...Judi wasn't the only thing that was Hot out there!