Working with a Cause

First, Let me introduce Matt Meier. Matt is a Co-Founder of a creative agency called Ligature Creative and a non-profit called Happy Hour Foundation out here in Denver, CO. I met Matt last year and this guy is amazing. His Creative Agency specializes in good work for people doing good work in the community. Recently, I've been looking to become more engaged in my community and so I try to donate my services a few times a year to help organizations that are doing stuff for the good. So when Matt asked me If I could help document an event for Happy Hour Foundation, I was glad to be a part of it. 

Happy Hour Foundation was put together by (photo below: left, right) Matt, Mollie, Stefan and Jeff. Matt and Jeff are the co-founders of Ligature Creative  and Mollie and Stefan are a part of 303 Software.  Happy Hour Foundation believes in the power of community. Quarterly, they host happy hours around Denver to support local nonprofits because philanthropy can be as simple as raising a glass. #DrinkToThis

Going through old stories

It's a new year and I decided to look back at the past. I wanted to see what I have done over the last couple of years and came across an old shoot I did that I felt had a great story that I never told.

Britton is a amazing women who has done a lot in her life. She has been in theater since she was a child, she started a non-profit at the age of 19, and has worked and lived across most of the US. After many years of traveling from state to state for work in electoral politics and working with her nonprofit, she found herself living in Denver. She fell in love with the city and wanted to be a part of the theater community again. She was looking for a new headshot as she was auditioning for a role in a upcoming musical. 

I found myself wanting to document the process in getting ready for her headshot and also for her part in the audition. So as she was getting ready I took a few shots and found myself amazed by where she has been, who she has become and all she'd done and seen by herself. At the age of 15 she left home (Augusta, GA) and moved to Boston, MA to study theatre at Walnut Hill. After School she came back home and started her non-profit called Augusta Commons, and later the Rising. From there she launched a program in Chicago called Gunpowder about gun violence on the South Side of Chicago, and the creative ways in which The Rising is collaborating with local nonprofits to educate and empower youth to stand up against it.

Later the next day we went to a music producer's home studio so that she could practice her song and music for her audition. It was crazy to see how strong she was and at the same time how much a human nerves can get to you. But with her strength and her beautiful voice it brought me to tears. I was so lucky to be a fly on the wall as I watched her go through these two days. 

This was one of my favorite moments of 2016 and one of my first experiences when I moved to Denver. 

NXT Model: Simon

Earlier this month I worked with NXT Model - Simon. Our goal was to create a GQ style Editorial style shoot. So in my studio we shoot agained a white back drop and against a Set I built. Simon brought his own suits and we fooled around and created some amazing shots . 

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Testing Light

In a couple weeks I am doing a photoshoot for a NXT model out here in Denver, CO. The feel is more of a editorial style shoot with a power headshot.  So I wanted to do something different I started to think about old contact sheets and how the selection process. This inspired me to be creative and draw over the a few headshot similar to how on a contact sheet you mark the images up. So I tweaked the lights and tested, and tested till I found the lighting I would like and then tested this concept on myself. 

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