***Note: All photos in my personal albums and below, in this column, are copyrighted by me.***Obviously the celebrity, television, music and movie photos in the column to the left were not taken by me. Their use is not costing anyone any money. On the other hand, they are used here to promote the celebrities, the television shows, the music, and the movies. However they will be removed should NBC/Paramount Studios/Warner or the celebrities complain of their use here!
Any photos appearing in the Friends Comments section (towards the bottom of the page) are the responsibility of those respective posters and I will not be policing them! (Ditto for the avatar photos appearing in the "Friend Space.")
Coldplay - "Clocks"
This Myspace page mostly concerns my photography, which is my avocation, not my vocation. In other words - I do this as a hobby - NOT to make money. This page simply concerns a pastime for me. :-)
Throughout this page and the blogs are topics of interest to other photographers and to models. And yes, there are men and women (and boys and girls) who do modeling in states other than just California, Texas and New York! As a matter of fact, there are many national and international websites dedicated exclusively to fashion photography and modeling - such as Net-Model.com, OneModelPlace.com, ModelMayhem.com and others.
In Oklahoma there are a vast number of fashion models and fashion photographers. Some people have fishing or flying kites for a hobby. We enjoy taking pictures of people!
Most of us are quite capable of doing a family photo shoot or a senior photo shoot. But most of us do photography as a hobby, not to make money - therefore it wouldn't make a lot of sense spending a ton of time setting up a photo shoot, doing post-shoot photo processing (such as with Adobe Photoshop) and perhaps getting prints for seniors or families. There are commercial photographers that do that for a living.
On the other hand, those interested in modeling are often college students who cannot afford the sitting fees of commercial photographers. That is where we hobby photographers come in. We do the photo shoot to gain more experience with our chosen craft in exchange for the time of the various modeling subjects that come our way.
This might seem strange to the uninitiated, but it actually works out quite well. The shoots are usually performed just as they are with commercial fashion photographers. Settings are chosen (either in a city, in the countryside, or in a studio), outfits selected, makeup and hair is done (often with the aid of an on-set MUA or makeup artist). Then it is up to the photographer and model to come up with a variety of interesting poses.
Many photographers and models hope to eventually turn to photography or modelling full-time, as a living. Others simply do it as an enjoyable past-time. But in all cases, we Oklahomans pride ourselves on the highest standards of professionalism and conduct. Those of us engaging in this hobby are all pretty well-known to each other and we often get together for group photo shoots involving dozens of people.
Please note: The style of other people's Myspace pages in my "friends list" may change from month to month. I am not responsible for the content other people choose to put up on their page - only for the content on my own page. I do not take the time to track these changes on everyone else's page but if I do happen across one now and then that has gotten, um, a bit weird, I may remove it from my friend's list. :-)
MY GALLERIES
You can see examples of my photography by clicking on any of the links below. Some photos are also posted directly below (on this Myspace page).
1. MySpace Pics .
2. Myspace Blog .
3. Myspace Gallery (here, below).
4. My OneModelPlace web page.
5. My Model Mayhem web page.
HOW TO AVOID MODELING SCAMS
From the Better Business Bureau
Click here:
http://www.bbb.org/alerts/article.asp?ID=477
!!!IMPORTANT!!!
If a scroll bar appears at the bottom of this window (even when maximized) then please scroll your browser window all the way to the right when viewing photos. Otherwise the right half of these images will not be seen.
!!!IMPORTANT!!!
Dove Real Beauty Campaign
This campaign is supposed to emphasize natural beauty through proper skin care - as opposed to hours of retouching and other photographic tricks. Those of us into photography often use special lighting, posing and even photographic retouching to make the end results look as nice as possible. Make up artists do the same with their art. Fashion designers do the same with clothing - all to the end of making poeple look nice. Personally I see nothing wrong with this... as long as things are not taken to an extreme. Nothing in life goes well when over-indulged or taken to the extreme!
I actually use many of the "tricks" shown in this video myself - to a point. I tend to think that moving eyes around and lengthening and narrowing the neck goes a bit too far! I have, however, enlarged eyes - but not to the extreme measure as seen in this video. I also might remove acne scars, etc. For the most part, all of my retouch work is done with such subtlety that people usually never even realize that ANY adjustments have been made.
Still, the video is pretty interesting in that it DOES show the entire process of a modeling shoot - location~hair and makeup~(outfit and pose are minimalized since this is a head shot)~and, finally, photo processing (i.e., retouching).
Click here to go to the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty web site.
About Me And
My Photography
Please read this section thoroughly to understand my "rules of engagement."
This is my Feng Shui corner of myspace where I talk about myself for those interested. If you are a person wanting to try modeling photography or a parent with a child wishing to do so, please read this entire section thoroughly.
I am a Christian, a family man, retired USAF F-111 avionics technician/AWACS computer technician/Squadron computer technician. I was stationed at Mountain Home Air force Base, Idaho; Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma; out of service for college and then Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico; over to Britain at RAF Upper Heyford; back to Tinker Air force Base for a few months (they closed down RAF Upper Heyford - my favorite base!). At Tinker AFB I finally got out with an honorable discharge after 20 years of service, seeking employment in the civilian sector. Currently I am a computer systems manager at an Oklahoma firm and an avid amateur photographer - meaning I do photography for fun, not for profit.
I like photography because a lot of it has to do with capturing the soul of a person and letting that soul shine out - be it happy or sad or playful or aggressive. I think everyone has a beautiful side to them, whether that is in physical characteristics or inner warmth and vibrancy.
If you are interested in getting some fashion/glamour-style photography done and you live in central Oklahoma, get in touch. Photography is not my full-time job but is a creative endeavor for me. I do not charge for my time, since it is my pleasure to help create some beautiful images.
I will provide a CD of the photo shoot - usually within 30 days, or I will post them in a special website for even faster delivery. In case you didn't know, legally, the photographer normally has copyright over all photos. However that is not my particular wish or attitude. You can use the photos we make together in any way you wish - online or for prints. If you take a CD of photos to a place like Wal-Mart to get printed, they may feel that the photos are of professional/commercial quality and may ask you for a photographer's release. I know this because it kept happening to ME whenever I had prints made! (No joke!) If this happens to you, I will print a "Photographer's Release" for you to use when you go to pick up your prints.
If you wish to have a makeup artist (referred to as an "MUA" in the industry), the charge (by the MUA, not by me) is usually $50. (I may make a matching contribution toward hiring an MUA, depending on your circumstances.)
As an amateur photographer, I do not own a studio. Those typically cost many hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month (depending on location) just for the rental (not including any equipment at all). I do already own three studio strobes, backdrops, reflectors, gels, tripods, in short - everything needed to fit out a proper studio. (If you know of an inexpensive or even free place with a semi-large open indoor space, please let me know. Even an unused warehouse would do! LOL)
Instead of a studio, I can set my equipment up in your home or even in a backyard if electrical power is available. (The strobes don't use much power.) I can also do location shoots in any desired area. Wooded areas in a city or park work exceptionally well for this. Sometimes rustic country settings provide great settings for photography.
In Edmond, Fink Park, just south across the street from the University Of Central Oklahoma is a great location. It dips below street level and has a very rustic, bygone-era feel to it with two crumbling, small bridges - perhaps the only remains of two roads that used to traverse the area. It also has a large wall of red sandstone perfect for posing against. There is currently a lot of construction going on nearby (part of the university across the street) - time will tell if the park comes back together afterwards.
Lake Arcadia is just down the road from Fink Park on 2nd Street (on the east side of I-35). I have used that lake several times before - but it is important to arrive at or near the break of dawn. That not only provides the best light, but also ensures that we have the entire beach and grassy area to ourselves.
I am very serious about achieving a high degree of technical competency with my photography. But I also like to make photo shoots light-hearted and fun. I strive for maximum safety. That is always foremost in my mind. Once, when clambering over a rocky area at Will Rogers park, I was right behind a young lady, following her as she moved into position. She slipped at one point and started to fall over but fortunately I caught her and we then pressed on with the shoot! (Lesson learned - take your heels off first before climbing over rocky areas! LOL)
Parents should understand that modeling photography involves making their daughters look as beautiful and as glamorous as possible. Pick up an issue of Teen Vogue or Teen Cosmo or Seventeen for examples of this sort of photography. Glamour is pretty much the entire point of modeling photography. If this, as a parent, is not what you wish for your child, then please re-think letting them get involved in modeling photography. Feel free to have a chat with me (online or in person) if you have any questions at all!
Thanks, Steve
A quick blurb about Myspace Profile Generators
I have choosen not to paste in code from one of the numerous "pimp myspace" sites because they all end up leaving people's pages barely readable with all the flashing graphics and dark photo backgrounds.
A basic rule of web design is that if a photo or other graphic is used as a web background (or any background for that matter) then the photo or other image should be light colored (i.e. - faded-out looking). That way you can easily tell what is merely decorative background and what is foreground text. NONE of the myspace profile generators adhere to that simple rule.
Myspace affords people the perfect opportunity to learn at least a little HTML code. The basic commands are very easy to learn and use. Everything you see here is hand-coded. A good way to start is by changing the color of sections of your text to set them apart from each other.
Click here for a cool color chart by webmonkey to look up color codes to use in your myspace profile. If you don't know how to do this, then click here for an HTML cheat sheet from webmonkey.
Click here for another system of color picking by December Communications called the Hex Hub. (Be sure to check out the "Hues Hub" area.) Click here for the main discussion on color called The Color Spot. Click here for the overall HTML tutorial index at December Communications. (Look in the LEARN and MASTER sections.)
I came across two cool web pages that help with inserting the MailTo code (which provides a link to your e-mail address).
- Click here for a simple page illustrating MailTo options. Examples are given.
- Click here for a Spam-me-not E-mail Link Obfuscator. This cool tool lets you enter your e-mail address and then automatically provides that e-mail address in encoded format so SPAMBOTS cannot get hold of your e-mail address! (It is also wrapped in the proper MailTo HTML code for you.)
My Myspace Gallery
Remember to scroll your browser all the
way to the right to see the wider images!
Lauren, Anna & Kylie Photo Shoot
Note: All of the photos here were done with a photographic backdrop of white paper. I substituted different effects (using Adobe Photoshop) for that white in some images after the shoot was finished. Yeah, it looks cheesy - but these were done in fun, not as serious efforts.
Anna and Lauren in a "best friends forever" pose.
Lauren doing her best imitation of Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow in Alias. (See my Favorite Television shows listing at the left.)
If you know guns, you'll know from the red tip that this isn't a real gun. As a matter of fact, it is a pellet - or "BB" - gun. Actually, this is a replica military M92F made by UHC and sold by AirSplat.com through Amazon.com. The thigh holster, visible in some shots, is also sold by AirSplat.com through Amazon.com. (Do you honestly think I would let somebody point a real gun at my valuable camera? LOL)
Anna & Lauren doing a James Bond-style pose
Lauren looking ultra stylish modeling her M92F
Lauren decided to hold up an innocent bystander in a dark alley. (This was one of the Photoshop substitutions for the white backdrop - as was actually shot in this image.)
This is Kylie. She received a pretty severe injury in a fall during a cheer routine. The doctor has forbidden any further participation in cheer routines so Kylie is now going after modeling instead of cheering and has enrolled in a local modeling school.
Kylie in a different pose.
Anna.
Anna astounded both the stylist and myself by doing some amazing poses with no guidance at the end of the shoot.
Turns out she heeded my advice given almost a year ago and has been practising her posing in front of a mirror!!!
Anna again.
Note to other potential models - follow what Anna does, try practising your posing in front of a mirror regularly. Anna also watches America's Next Top Model as often as she can. (That can show some great lesons on behavior and posing. Just forget the petty bickering among some of the models on the show!)
NATURE
The Gloaming
(The word "gloaming" is Scottish for dusk or twilight and fits the next few photographs.)
The following photograph is made from joining 11 separate photos. To view this photograph in more detail, click here to go to my blog.)
Quartz Mountain State Park, Oklahoma, photo montage
Quartz Mountain State Park, Oklahoma, Sunset, time-lapse photography
Quartz Mountain State Park, Oklahoma, Moonrise (behind clouds)
I took a lot of "artistic license" with nature in the following photograph, doing some editing in Adobe Photoshop. I challenge you to figure out what is not quite right about this photo. The bird was really there (not added later). The lake and the plants were really there. (A more pulled-back view would reveal a car driving along a road above and behind this lake-side shot.) I will even go so far as to say that no physical objects in this photo were added or taken away or altered in shape. So what does that leave??? Only one person has e-mailed me so far with some idea of what was altered - and he was still quite a way off from what actually got altered!
Lake Hefner, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
!!! Oklahoma Twisters !!!
Note: Not to make excuses, but the following photo was taken at high noon on a blistering hot day with not a cloud in the sky - the worst possible conditions for getting good outdoor photography. (And there wasn't a hint of wind either - not the best conditions for such an athletic event as this!)
Oklahoma Twisters! An amazing aerial feat! (Competition at Frontier City, October 2005)
Note: All gym photos were shot without flash. The owner of the Oklahoma Twisters gave me permission to use flash, but this particular practise was just before a major competition at Frontier City (part of the Six Flags enterprise) and I didn't want to detract from their concentration. Nor did I want to be the cause of a major fall! Since no flash was used, these photos were, effectively, shot at around ISO 2400 or more (including boosting brightness in Photoshop post-shoot) so they are pretty grainy.
Oklahoma Twisters! Grace and Poise.
Oklahoma Twisters! Talk about having faith in your teammates!
Oklahoma Twisters! Lots of hard work.
Oklahoma Twisters! The Oklahoma Twisters owner and head coach either demonstrating a cheer move or practising some Kung Fu.
About Me And
My Photography
(Continued from above.)
NOTE:
All of the words in bold below that become underlined when you move your mouse cursor over them are clickable links - like this .
FAMILY
After faith, family is the most important thing to me. I enjoy spending weekends with my family. My 10 year old boy is wonderful and I am very proud of his accomplishments. Besides excelling at school he has also been taking piano lessons for four years now. My wife is very busy at a maternity home. This is a place that helps pregnant girls or women from a Christian perspective. I met my wife while stationed with the U. S. Air Force in Britain (RAF Upper Heyford). I was there for nearly ten years. We actually met at a seminar on creation versus evolution. (I always think - If not for being sent by the Air Force to Britain, if not for my Christian faith, if not for my attendance at that seminar, I would never have met or married my wife, and my son would have never been born!)
PHOTOGRAPHY
As a creative outlet, I do photography. Photography is a very challenging "hobby" involving not only f-stops, aperture, strobes and scrims but also getting the best out of people who are possibly nervous about being photographed. Therefore one of the greatest challenges is getting people to relax and enjoy themselves during a photo session.
You can see more of my work at OneModelPlace . OMP is not my website, but is an international web-based portfolio system for photographers, agencies, models and actors.
Mostly I enjoy bringing out the natural beauty in people. That alone is very, very rewarding. If you like the photography examples you see here, you live in the greater Oklahoma City metroplex area and would like to have a go yourself, please get in touch and we'll arrange a time for a photo session. (But please read the note below.) Since this is just a hobby for me, I do not charge anything and will return a CD of photos to you that you can take to any print shop (my suggestion is WalMart .)
NOTE: If you have looked at my OMP portfolio and the photos here (especially in the Pics section) you'll notice that my photography is not standard studio portrait or family photography. I can accomplish that (and have done so a few times). But at this juncture, with what limited free time I have available, I prefer to concentrate on photography of the sort seen in my portfolios here. In other words, I prefer glamour and fashion photography.
Glamour and fashion photography allows for a lot more creativity than other sorts of photography. I also usually develop long-standing relationships with those I work with. We feed off of each others ideas, creativity and enthusiasm. Family portraiture also demands creativity, true. And I could probably make the odd $50 here and there. But, as I said, this is something I do for fun, not for profit!
If you need standard family photography done, please contact a reputable, existing studio. See the listing in the table below for several good studios in Oklahoma that will provide this sort of photography.
Besides the actual taking of photographs, I also love seeing what can be done with photos back in my "digital darkroom" ( Adobe Photoshop CS ). That is where the perfectionist side of me comes out. It can be very challenging to do good photo editing and make the results look natural. Too much editing by an unskilled artist will ruin an otherwise good photograph. Scott Kelby is my guru on this subject and I have probably every book he has ever written on the topic. ( Click here for Scott Kelby on Amazon.com )
Thanks for visiting!
Listing of Oklahoma City Metro Area Studios
Olan Mills WalMart
Sears Target
JC Penny Life Touch
Glamour Shots OK Direct
