Only in Austin

After living in an area for so long you really start to take it for granted. Even living on a beautiful island you would eventually lose the appreciation you had when you first visited. Well that is what this photo did for me in Austin. Driving down South Lamar the other day I noticed a flock of pink flamingos that had taken roost on this beautiful art guitar. It reminded me of what a cool town Austin is and made me see this place with fresh eyes. So, my new photo assignments is to start roaming the city and photographing the things I would have noticed when I first moved here, starting with this one. Of course I will still be traveling to get the great shots too. Starting with Costa Rica in June. I've also got my first shoot with Cowboys and Indians magazine tomorrow. It is for their new architectural spread. I am shooting a home on Lake Travis. I haven't seen the place yet but apparently it is an amazing home. I can't wait.

Learning my lesson the hard (expensive) way

I was contacted recently by a lady here in town to shoot a portrait of her daughter which I gladly accepted. I had a new sofa (actually an old crappy one) that I bought at a junk sale and had been wanting to use. The color of her dress was perfect with the sofa. So......I arrived early to set up my lights and turned on my car radio to keep me company. Obviously when Ally arrived I left it on because it's always good to have a little music on set. Not realizing we had been shooting for 2 hours (time flys when your having fun) I killed my battery. Of course we jumped it and it started but it was dead again the next morning. Time for a new battery. Our last shot Ally wanted to do with her car. She probably would have been happy with just a simple natural light set up but I wanted her to be happy so I did an elaborate light set up in the garage to get the perfect shot. While setting up I had the cable stretched a little to far on my cheap crappy light stands and you know what happened next. Yes it fell and it didn't come back on. Time to hit Precision camera to replace the bulb and of course buy a better stand like I should have done in the first place in stead of trying to cut corners. After it was all said and done.

New car battery $132
New stobe $369
New modeling light $ 39
New light stand $189
Old crappy sofa $150

Happy client with great photos: PRICELESS

Amazing compliments

Another incredible week. As I mentioned in my last blog I had a photo shoot with author and star of "The Secret" Joe Vitale. Joe has not only fallen in love with the photos I did for him but he has posted them in his blog 3 times this past week. Not only that but he gave an incredible compliment, " Rodney is a genius at turning an ordinary moment everyone else takes for granted into a masterpiece of symbol and power". Talk about making someone proud of what they are doing. Check it out at www.mrfire.blogspot.com. I also got more great news today. I will be shooting for Cowboys and Indians magazine. My first shoot will be an interior shoot of a home on Lake Travis in Austin. We are also talking about doing a fashion shoot with Patricia Vonne in the near future. I can't wait. I have shot with Patricia before and she is amazing to work with. Very professional and lots of fun. I will keep you posted on developments. Thanks for reading!

Photo shoot with Joe Vitale

Another great photo shoot. I had the honor of photographing #1 best selling author and good friend Dr. Joe Vitale. I have been wanting to do a shoot with Joe for some time now but the opportunity never presented itself because of Joe's busy schedule, until today. Of course I had been racking my brain for days trying to come up with something and it just wasn't coming to me. So, I finally just quit worrying about it and decided to let it come to me when I got there. I arrived at Joe's today about 3:00. He showed me around the house and we talked for awhile just catching up and of course the conversation led to his beautiful car Francine. I thought about shooting him with Francine but it had been done before and I wanted to do something different. But of course when I mentioned it to Joe his eyes lit up and decided it must be done. And am I ever glad that we did. I am so excited about how this photo came out as is Joe. Check out Joe's blog at www.mrfire.com to see the kind words he wrote about the shoot. Be sure to also check out his new book Zero Limits due out this June. I shot the author photo for it.

Vegas Baby!

I have actually been back in Texas for about a week now but it took me that long to recover from my 2 week road trip to Phoenix, LA and Vegas. Vegas was my final stop. Loaded with a car full of Marrika Nakk's clothes, I headed for the desert where I met up with Emily and headed out to Red Rock Nat. Park. What a great location for shooting. There is a narrow window for shooting there though. Too early and your fighting mid day sun and too late you lose your light pretty fast behind the mountains. We got some great shots. It wasn't all shooting though, I was in Vegas afterall. One of my best friends, Fred Ballard and his wife Terry were there too so we met up at the MGM and hung out for the evening. Nothing like $7 beers and $15 Frech toast for breakfast. Now it's time to start editing pictures so I can update my website. I'll keep you posted

Last day in LA

I had another great shoot with Lauren today at Marrika's house. We had a short day because Lauren had several auditions this afternoon. I seem to do better when I 'm under pressure with time. I think I got some of my best shots today. All these new photos are going to be used on her new website and for her ad in Cowboys and Indians magazine that I will be designing also. Tomorrow I am heading out to Vegas to shoot with my good friend Emily. I probably chose the worst weekend to go though. Spring Break and MArch Madness is going to make it a nightmare getting there from LA. I'll let you know

Another day in paradise!

I am hanging out today enjoying my day off in Pasadena, CA. This trip has far exceeded my expectations. Upon my arrival I met with Marrika and her assistant Corrina over dinner at the Roosevelt Hotel. Corrina is from El Salvador, where I just returned from a surfing trip so we had a lot to talk about since she hasn't been home in 15 years. Her story was amazing. Marriaka has been a joy to work with. Our first shoot was in her Hollywood home with the lovely Lauren Elaine. Lauren was amazing to work with. She made my job very easy. Things went so well that we are shooting again on Thur. and I am so looking forward to it. I am heading to Marrika's house this afternoon to schedule our next shoot. Sunday I had an 8 hr shoot for an independent film poster. I can't post the pics yet but trust me, It's going to be awesome.

Exciting times

Well, all my hard work is finally about to pay off. I am heading out to LA in the morning to meet with fashion designer Marrika Nakk. I discovered her work by shooting for Brocante, a small boutique here in Wimberley TX. I emailed Marrika to see if she would be interested in letting me photograph for her. She called me back immediately and started sending me clothes and giving me complete creative control of the shoots. Things are really taking off between the two of us so now I am heading to LA to actually meet Marrika and do some shoots there. While in the area I will be shooting with several other models including the beautiful Alike Boggan, #20 on Deal or No Deal. On my way to LA I will be stopping in Phoenix for a shoot and after LA I will be heading to Yosemite and then off to Vegas to shoot with Emily. An amazing friend and model who helped me build my portfolio when I was first starting out in fashion photography. So, I will keep you posted on my travels. Adios for now