We met up with Brianne again a few weeks back to provide her with some shots for her portfolio and comp cards that she'll distribute to land more modeling gigs. Brianne's great to work with, and she's been featured on my blog more than once already as a trooper when it comes to shoots that offer...complications...! Last time, it was pouring rain throughout, and this time, come sunset, not only was Brianne forced to look into the bright setting sun, but we were swarmed by sand flies and all bitten into a million pieces. She never flinched (maybe once, but to her credit, she laughed about how crazy it was). Ah, the glamour of it.

We also met up with dancer and actor Laura, who needed some headshots for her own promo materials for her agencies. Laura was great to work with my crazy scheduling, and I assured her a late-afternoon meet at her home would be perfect for what we were after is we could find some shade and control the light well.

This first image is a straight headshot...we matched her clothes to go with the light background, allowing her skin to pull us in with its tonal difference - and her eyes, offering the most contrast, to allow a focal point to the viewer when looking at her head shot.

We had great backlighting from the West, so bouncing some light up into her face gave us a glamour look on this selection of images. By setting the camera's exposure for her skin , the backyard went dark and lets her face ane eyes again be the focus of the image. That there 's such a wonderous glow to her hair is what separates the genre of the photography here, and gives her such a wide range of usage on the 300-plus photos we made together over the course of an hour. Great work, Laura!

And of course the pet-end of the business here is still in full-swing. We had yet another parrot from one of our stock shoots hit a magazine cover! I'm pretty sure this is Charlie the African Grey, I remember the shoot - and remember Charlie being the perfect, cooperative (and talkative!) model. Thanks, Charlie!