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Latest Shoot: Bowling Themed Editorial Spec Ad

I've been fortunate to work with some great photographers in the years that I've been modeling and oftentimes we end up working together on more than one project. A few weeks ago, a photographer I shot with a while back, Stephanie, shot me a text to see if I was available for a shoot. She's got great skills and I had a blast working with her before so I figured, why not?

The shoot was a bowling themed editorial spec ad. The word "spec" means that it's not a real ad that's meant to be published. The purpose of this shoot was for portfolio building, which I was happy about because I've been wanting to include more samples of editorial work in my portfolio.

I showed up bright and early at a bowling alley in the beach town of Pacifica, which is about 15 minutes outside of San Francisco. Thankfully, the weather was amazingly warm and sunny. I met up with Stephanie and we headed into the bowling alley to set up the equipment and figure out what shots she wanted to get. I arrived "camera-ready," which means I did my own hair and makeup. Stephanie provided everything else: wardrobe, accessories, etc. We were a two-gal operation. :-)

We knocked out the shoot in about 2 hours, which was awesome. It gave us plenty of time to relax and enjoy a nice lunch at a nearby seafood place. Below are the fruit of our labors, lol:
What makes Stephanie so amazing is that she's a student photographer...that's right, she's still in photography school and is in the process of fine tuning her craft. Below is the first shoot I did with Stephanie, which was a Nutcracker theme (I was the Gingerbread Lady):
I don't know about you, but I believe she's got the natural talent it takes to be successful and I can't wait to see where her skills take her after graduation. In fact, my shooting experience with Stephanie has actually inspired a blog post I plan on doing soon, talking about the benefits of working with student photographers, so be on the lookout for that real soon!
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Comments

Erica Lynn said…
Gorgeous photos! Stephanie definitely has natural talent. I love the gingerbread picture, there is so much character and emotion coming through. I can't wait to read your post on student photographers! :)
March 23, 2012 at 10:33 AM
Anonymous said…
Am I supposed to have to pay to create my portfolio? It seems like that is what every agency is saying I need to do.. "You need to invest some money into your career." But it isn't just "some" money, it seems like $1,000 is the least I'll spend. Is this normal? It seems a bit ridiculous, especially if "A real agency won't ask you to spend any money"... I don't know what to do. What did you do to build up your portfolio?
March 23, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Dania Denise said…
Hi, Anonymous! You'll find the answers to your question in its own post, titled "Answering a Reader Question #339." Thanks for reading!
March 23, 2012 at 7:32 PM
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