The Visitor

This "The Visitor" was one of our first photoshoots after we moved to Virginia from North Carolina. I was not doing production full time back then, I was doubting my abilities, and feeling down in terms of my photography.

When I lived in NC I had accidentally got into model photography. I don't consider Steph a model, but rather my partner and muse. 

I had a friend named Miguel in the military, from when I was in the Army, who reached out to me and after I had got out and asked if I'd like to meet up. This was when I lived in NC. He also had gotten into photography but mainly into female portraits. I had just been photographing landscapes, my dog, and Steph.

He and I would meet up and take some urban type street photos around Fayetteville, NC... not the best of places.

I was not particularly good at building at the time...

One day he texts me and asks if I would like to photoshoot a model he was supposed to photograph. I declined, but he insisted it would be a big help because he did not want to cancel on her. So I reluctantly agreed...

As you can see the photoshoot was a disaster on my end. I don't know if she was being nice, but she said she liked the photos and posted one on her IG. Miguel was being very kind as well, although I knew he would have done much better. 

She tagged me in the post, and over the next few days 3 of her co workers asked for photoshoots. I haven't stopped taking portraits since. 

Well back to the story... we moved to Richmond, Virginia and I immediately knew it was a creative city. I was very outmatched as it was too. Having made somewhat of a small name for myself in Fayetteville with models meant nothing in Richmond. 

No models would work with me with my current portfolio. 

Steph, saw I was frustrated and asked if we could go do a photoshoot, despite the fact that she did not want to do photoshoots, she found them time consuming and she was not completely happy with how she looked.

I wasn't really feeling it but agreed since this was not something she usually prompted.

We didn't know what kind of concept we wanted to do, but Steph had this blue fabric she wanted to incorporate.

The neighborhood we moved into was still under construction, so we walked down the street a ways and found an open construction spot.

The clouds opened up and revealed a great sunset which instantly perked me up.

I asked her to wrap the fabric around her like a cape, but then she suggested to wrap it around her waist. I attempted to set up a light just to fill her face some, but eventually decided against it.

Again, on a technical level, the photos are not the best but this was the shoot that got me creative again after the move. It's hard to describe the motivated feeling and the positive energy that came from this shoot. Steph's smile was warming, she was kind, and I knew she was struggling to view herself in a positive light but made this effort for me. 

This positive experience, I believe, is what led us to continue doing photoshoots for the years to come. I called this shoot "The Visitor" later due to the angelic and supernatural tones of it all.