Another Day, Another Afro

One of my recent afro shoots was with James, a 13 year old with a lot of hair.

Here is a little background on how a shoot like this goes and how I get what I want out of my subjects. With this shoot I photographed James for awhile and got some great laughing photos...

...but I wanted something a little more stoic. To give him a break for a few minutes I photographed him and his brother together.

In that photo, he gave me exactly the look I wanted but couldn't get earlier. I asked his brother to step aside for a second and asked him to keep that same look on his face. He held it perfectly and I got exactly what I wanted. I think one of the keys to being a good photographer is knowing what you want in a photo and know how to achieve it. I love the feeling of clicking the shutter and knowing that I just captured exactly what I wanted.

You can see that if you just remove his brother from the above photo, it is exactly the same as the one below. I love the peaceful but confident look on his face.


Here is a picture to give you an idea of our "huge" set for these afro photos. I bought the piece of metal from a scrap yard and it is pretty thick and heavy. It was also the largest we could fit in my Jeep Cherokee without tying it to the top. It can be somewhat limiting at times, but has been perfect in achieving the look I wanted with these photos.

Lucas' Afro

My most recent afro project photo shoot was with Lucas, a high school freshman. Lucas had quite the ball of hair! Enjoy the photos below.

I have been working on marketing efforts recently and included this definition of an afro with some of my marketing, which I think is pretty funny.

Af·ro, [af-roh] –noun
1. A hairstyle in which the hair is allowed to grow naturally and to acquire a bushy appearance and extend out from the head like a halo, cloud or ball. Sometimes called a "natural" or shortened to "fro". An afro requires very curly hair and can grow to several times the diameter of the head.

Teenage Afro

Joey was my fifth afro subject. He was actually found by a friend of mine at a lacrosse match. Thanks Ron! If you come across anybody that you think would be a good subject for the portrait series, please let me know.

Joey came with his mom and a couple of friends to the studio. He had a great smile and was having a lot of fun with the shoot, so the shoot went very easy. Having someone with friends and/or family on set can either be great or make things a lot more challenging. Many times it helps them relax and you can make use of the people watching to help loosen your subject up.

On the flip side, it can also make things difficult if the person you are photographing is self-conscience and doesn't feel comfortable with people watching. The best way to overcome this is to get your subject alone. If that isn't possible, it is best to start slow and work up to the crazy stuff. Like yelling at the camera! (see photo #3)

Fro Sisters

As part of the 'Afro Project' I photographed two sisters, Patrice & Phyllis, in the studio. They were a pleasure to work with and it turned into a great shoot. Here are a few of the images...

Afro Project #2

I photographed the second person for my "Afro Project". Rob Drabkin is a local musician that recently was selected as the "Singer/Songwriter of the Year" by Westword. I had Rob bring in his guitar and we were able to get some great photos while he sang and played.

The Afro Project

I am starting a new series of portraits that I am calling "The Afro Project". It is will be a series of portraits of people of all ethnicities and ages with 'fros'. We are going for an urban vibe and everything will be shot with the same lighting and steel background for the series.

Our first shoot was yesterday. As a photographer you have a vision in your head of what you want to capture when you set up a shoot. Yesterday was a perfect example of the photographer and subject working together to go beyond what was initially envisioned and getting some even better photos. My subject, Greg, is a skater and showed up for the shoot with his headphones on, aviator glasses and a skateboard. We went through my intial ideas for the shoot and then started having fun with his "props". Here are some of the results...