5
Jan
2012
Photoshoot: Mo Sabri – The Overnight Classic
A long-awaited blog post. Introducing the super talented Mo Sabri, an up and coming hip hop artist from my alumni East Tennessee State University. But don’t let the small residing town of Johnson City, TN fool you. Mo has big dreams, with the ambition, raw talent, and of course songs to back it up. I admit I have to be picky when choosing photoshoots, and after listening to Mo’s lyrical genius I cleared my schedule to work with him. Mo takes his inspiration from Eminem, Blink-182, Kanye West, Blue Scholars and U2, but he’s not a copy-cat. I too take inspiration from other artists, and use it to fuel my future work. This post is about the photoshoot, I’m not a music critic like MTV, take their word for it. I just know what I like!
Mo Sabri – The Overnight Classic album cover
For the shoot, we decided on 2 different locations/looks. One would be in an open field with lifestyle photography. And the other would be a more stylized commercial look. With the sun setting, we went to the first location in the hills of Johnson City…. no shortage of grass and trees in Tennessee. Like that rhyme? I could be a hip hop artist too!.. (cough)
Then we headed to “downtown” Johnson City to do some low key night shots. The album title “The Overnight Classic” had already been determined, and I thought a night shot would be most appropriate for the album cover. Here it is without the title added:
His lyrical genius, good beats, and loyal fans skyrocketed him to the top 10 of iTunes World chart on January 1st on release day. Damn good way to start the new year.
29
Dec
2011
Ferrari F430 – wallpaper
Nothing gets my heart beating like the sound of a Ferrari engine at full tilt. This Ferrari F430 is a “prop” for a shoot I did with hip hop artist Mo Sabri in Johnson City, TN. More to come on that later. The image is practically one exposure, lite using a single Alien Bee 1600 softboxed, then touched up in Photoshop. Enjoy!
18
Sep
2009
World of Whirlcraft
Another shoot at my new pad in downtown LA (freakin love this place!). This time with Lyz. Short and sweet is her name, and her personality is just the same. Believe it or not she’s an avid World of Warcraft gamer! I can hardly get my sister to play Halo 3, let alone coax a model into playing one of the most addictive life-ruining, insomnia-inducing game in existence! You can never tell a book by it’s cover… well, sometimes, but definitely not in Lyz’s case.
For this shoot we collaborated for a jumping shot. Once the shoot was confirmed, I ran down to Big 5 to buy a trampoline… and how sick would it be to hit the rooftop button on the elevator and have the shoot on top of LA? Yea that’s what I thought too. Obviously these are highly photoshopped for the end look.
We tried a couple of outfits, the white “dress” worked best for the composition. I used 2 gridded Alien Bee 1600s flanking the model, and the Alien Bee ringflash for front fill… next on my ever-growing gear list are a couple of softboxes. It’s easier to see why the pros need assistants!
