I had the chance recently to shoot for Grand Strand Magazine, a regional magazine here in Myrtle Beach. Good chance if you live here, you’ve heard of it, if you don’t… then you probably haven’t. I’ve been harassing them via social media, and I’m not sure that is why they contacted me, But it’s help get me other jobs. I am so thankful that they did. The magazine is full of beautiful images from some really talented local shooters. Im so happy I can brag that I’ve been added to the ranks of these folks.

I’ve been wanting to shoot more food, and I’m so excited to share these photos for quiet some time. I shot a restaurant in North Myrtle beach called “Ledo pizza” I think its a franchised place based out of Maryland. Best square pizza I’ve had. (Shameless Plug) They had me shoot two dishes, the meat lovers pizza, and a lasagna dish. My favorite thing about shooting restaurants is that I get the chance to shoot a food shot, and an interior. Its made me start researching how to get better food shots and allowed me to slow down and make damn sure I have the images I need. Even though some wouldn’t see this as a big deal, but for the past couple years I’ve had the goal of being published. Since this shoot… Ive had two other stories, and three magazines contact me… It’s such a cool snowball effect and I am so stoked to feel like I’m heading right in the direction I’ve been wanting to go in since I started.

All those silly home food shoots I’ve done… makes it all worth it. I’m going to start doing more “home and garden” styled shoots. I’ve moved recently, and I’ve got the best spot ever.

I will gladly admit I’ve been in a creative rut. (I don’t mean like how Van Gough couldn’t get his ear right, I mean like I didn’t even get a canvas.) I have created this myself. I’m the only one to blame. I have the gear- enough to go shoot something, I have a decent following, and people that would be down to work with me.

I’m tired of portraying myself as this smart, work savvy, clean dude. I literally live off coffee and cigarettes. I’m not trying to re-create the wheel here… I’m trying to get some damn momentum. I’m going to have to get my ass off the damn couch, out the damn house, and shoot some shit.

I’m tired.

Not in the sense that I don’t get enough sleep, not in the sense that my body aches from hard work daily. I’m tired of not doing anything different. I’m tired of being to lazy to reach out and shoot the shit I want. I’m tired of letting myself do whatever is easy.

After taking a few days on the internet I remembered a name that struck me as a great “Zack Arias”.

If you’re a commercial photographer and you don’t know about this guy… I’ll say it. You’re dumb. He’s been on creative live, he rules DEDPXL.com and he’s straight up, a bad ass. I read an article that his wife wrote about how they met and how they split up (I guess, I didn’t read the entire thing) and realized that photography is and can be the ruin of you. I’ve been through a similar struggle time and time again. Then I stumbled onto his blog post “Get the f*uck to work”.

Holy. shit. The things he said are exactly what I needed to read, and the post of the photos, the quotes. There’s a video of David Bowie preaching the words everyone should hear when they don’t know what the hell is going on. Find your comfort zone, move a little away from it and about the time you feel like the bottom is going to cave… that moment is when the greatness will happen.

That place. That mental place, I want live there.

You’ll be hearing from me soon. I’ll share my work, what this is doing for me.

I’ve read about this a million times online and seen tons of unbelievable images. I have gone to Barnes and Nobles, sat with a latte, and read “Single Light Portraits” cover to cover more times than I’d care to admit. Every time I got up and got to my car I’d sit there… wondering how the hell I would tackle this. The thing I had a hard time getting over was that I didn’t like the style of the portraits in the book. Even though I knew they were technically correct.

I spend lots of time scanning Instagram, a close friend turned me onto a photographer that lives about 4 hours away. I went through his profile and started talking to him, and he told me that he shot most of the corporate head shots with a single light.

I. was. blown. away.

All his stuff was super consistent. Super natural looking. Exactly what I wanted to be doing. So I grabbed some friends and a light, headed to a location, and started trying it out.

So a few things before I forget… Its important to shoot a longer lens, like an 85mm or something close to that. (I only have my 70-200 f2.8) so I’ve been using that. Set the aperture at something that wont blur the entire face with the depth of field,  Shooting at 1/125 (minimum) to kill the ambient light, and have the light at a distance no greater than the diameter of your modifier. The awesome thing about these tips is that you only have to play with the lights power, and your ISO. Even then the light is kinda constant too. I started at something around 1/32nd power. As the sun disappeared I only raised my ISO a stop at a time. So Im glad that he shared the info with me, and now I shared it with you… whoever you are.

Thanks for reading.