Relationships: Amber (Behind the Scenes)

I met Amber through my wife's cousin, Susan (I photographed Susan & her Scion for my relationships project). She is a fun petite girl with a cute little car.

We started a little late than planned on the banks of the Elizabeth River in Port Norfolk. It turned out to be quite the production, Susan was there, coaching Amber and making sure one of my lights didn't blow over with the wind, and so was Shea (I recently did a glamor shoot with Shea stay tuned) who held my other light down. It was pretty windy and I am thankful they were both there.

Next we went to a parking garage in Old Town Portsmouth. We used Susan's car as the stereo and had fun.

To see the final image check out the project post.

Here is a Behind the Scenes shot while they were getting the top off.

I was using my Canon 550 EX in the back shooting into an umbrella, and bare in some shots, and my Phoenix Flash (soon to be replaced) in the Beauty Dish. I had a lot of fun with the 2 light setup.

Annabelle Lyttle

I had the opportunity to shoot this amazing model in January. She is a friend of Susan (MUA I love working with and my wife's cousin) that had just moved back from LA. It was a bitter cold day with intermittent blizzard like snow coming down. Most of the shoot was in Susan's apartment in Downtown Lancaster, PA. This was my first time working with a pro and it was absolutely incredible. I learned a lot from watching her, I feel I can give less experienced models more direction. Susan did an amazing job with the makeup.

We started with Annabelle barefaced in the clothes she arrived in and built from there.







These are from her third outfit. Susan had this old suitcase that we jsut had to have some fun with.





These shots from the graveyard were the first ones I edited. She was a trooper out there, and it shows in the images. We had a nice warm car close for when she needed to warm up.







Here are some from our last set where Susan went wild with some awesome makeup.








There are a lot more that I still have to go through so keep checking back to see what has been added or follow my page on Facebook for all of my updates.

A Special thanks to everyone who helped out.
Annabelle Lyttle - Model
Susan Bourassa - MUA
Jessica Hartman - 1st Assistant
Justin Ray 2nd Assistant

Here are some behind the scenes shots from the shoot.

Studio (12/30/2010)

I invited some friends and family over to my in-laws garage where I setup a studio. This was to do some portraits, play with lighting, and have fun. Here are the best shots from that day.



Thanks for looking, if you would be interested in coming out the next time I do one of these fun shoots follow me on Facebook.

Studio Shoot

I am going to setup a studio to take some Fun & Crazy pictures on Dec 30 and I need Volunteers to Model & Do Hair & Makeup. I plan on getting there and setting up early to take advantage of the whole day. I am looking to do 6-7 sets. Ideally I am looking to do 3 sets that are Glam/Fashion shots, and 3 head shots. I am looking for models (male, female) for these sets, with 1-3 people per set. I am also in need of a makeup artist and hairdresser to help in those areas.

I am looking to shoot something different to build out my portfolio. Do you have any really great Halloween costumes in your closet? I am open to what you can contribute.

Here are some of my ideas:

Cupcake Cutie

- Bright Colors, Cupcakes, Fun. This could be as simple as a Pink top, white/pink apron, and the rest will be props, hair & makeup.

Pin-up

- Classic to Modern, I am looking for willing models for this

Ethnic

- Do you have any traditional outfits? Examples include: Japanese/Geisha, Indian, Native American, etc…

Alt Bridal

- Any recent Brides out there that want to see what they could have looked like if they went completely wild with their hair & makeup?

Vaudeville

- Can you spin Plates? How about breathe Fire? Want to pretend that you can? Lets see what we can come up with.

Country Western

- For this I am thinking more Old West than Toby Keith, but I am completely open to ideas.

Boudoir/ Goth / Suicide Girl

- If you are comfortable showing some skin and/or have tattoos I would love to do something sexy and fun.

Here are some samples of this type of work that I have done in the past.

I also want to do some crazy head shots that don’t require an outfit. These would be shorter and quicker sessions than the more elaborate ideas but will let more people participate and will diversify the day.

If you are interested in modeling or showing off you hair & makeup talents send me an email and lets start developing some ideas. Please also indicate your availability for Dec. 30. If you can only be there for half of the day let me know so I can plan accordingly.

This is a portfolio building opportunity, anyone who participates will get a rights released CD for prints. If you can come out & help with hair & makeup I will also provide lunch.

Having Fun

I borrowed a second flash from my co worker and set up a little studio to have some fun and learn using two flashes. There were two big windows to the left of the image providing most of the fill light, I kept the second flash to the right of the image most of the time. The first flash was mounted on the camera and wasn't always on. I am looking at some options for doing more off camera flash work, including an upcoming project once the leaves start falling.

This a great learning experience, I was hoping some of my friends would stop by to model for me, but it didn't happen. If you want to know the next time I am looking to experiment & get some free shots, follow me on Twitter.




I learned a lot playing with these, it was a lot of fun and I look forward to using what I learned.

For more information, or to schedule a session send me an email of call me at 757-97-0237

PA Photo Shoot

A couple weeks ago we went up to Lancaster, PA to do a couple photo shoots with my wife's cousin Susan is a hair stylist/MUA. We are both building our portfolio's and gaining experience, and had a great time doing it. It was a whirlwind trip, we left Norfolk Thursday around 7:30pm after work and made it in to Susan's at about 1:00am. Friday afternoon Susan did Jessica's hair and makeup, the weather was nasty so we went to the Lancaster Arts Hotel and shot in their lobby. It is a great place and worked out well for us. Here are the pictures of Jessica from Friday.








Afterward we went to Susan's regular bar and had a couple drinks. It seemed like a long day but it was nothing compared to what was in store for us Saturday.

Susan lined up Kelsey for us Saturday morning. We had her come over around 9:00am and we had her until 2:00pm. She is a drama student and brought over some great outfits. Susan did her hair and makeup then we were off. It was another rainy day so we went to The Brickyard, a converted old brick building that is now shops and apartments in Lancaster. We used the entrance to the apartments which provided varying backgrounds for us to utilize. Here are the pictures from Saturday.















I still have some images to edit from when we came back to Susan's place and used her basement and some of their friends swords.

Susan had lined up a couple more girls for Saturday afternoon, but neither showed up which was fine with us, we were all beat. It was a great time and having Susan to do hair and makeup as well as her friend Becky as our "prop assistant" who helped with the setups leaving me to mostly worry about the framing was great, thank you so much. The models we had were great, my lovely wife Jessica and Susan's friend Kelsey were both troopers doing whatever we asked, thank you.

If you want to see more images from this shoot you can check out my flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_hartman/sets/72157623599098867/

Thank you for looking, if you have any questions or projects don't hesitate to get in touch.
Matt Hartman
757.971.0237
matt@matthartman.com

You can contact the MUA, Susan Bourassa at starskeepmarching@hotmail.com