Portraits With Author Sarah Shoulak
Sarah reached out to me a couple months in need of portraits for a book cover!! She was recommended to me by the head of the Milk District, Angie Folks! Angie is extra cool, so I knew without a doubt, Sarah would be as well!!!!
Sarah is an author, speaker, creative, and all around awesome human.
She wanted to create a wide variety of authentic portraits that truly felt like HER! That is ALWAYS my goal. Make images that truly feel and look like my clients while giving them a ton of creative options!!!
Orlando is blessed to have her as a local creative and I can’t wait to see what she does in the future!
Enjoy these photos!!
2019; A Year in Review Part 1
2019 - A photographic year in review - Part 1!
Man, what a wild one. This was easily my most successful year as a photographer. It was also filled with highs and lows. I feel like I learned and grew so much, but the year also seemed to suck the life out of me.
My phrase of the year was “Patient Endurance”. When I wanted to give up, I’d hear the phrase gently whispered into my ears and it would help me keep going. “Patient Endurance”.
This has nothing to do with photography, but I want to encourage you; you’re not alone. Wherever you’re at. If you’re reading this on your phone or in the car or on a plane. Wherever you are;
You’re not alone.
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Lastly, I just want to say thanks. Thanks for all the encouragement this past year. All the pats on the back and encouraging words when we ran into one another around town. Thanks to those who followed along virtually. Most importantly thank you to those who hired me for a job or portraits and came to my so many my pop-ups. I can’t thank you enough for believing in me and choosing to give me your time and money to make something together. I hope you got more than just a photo out of it and something that truly helped your business or for you to remember a moment in time.
Anyways, this is the beginning of my year in review. 2019 truly was one I won’t forget and it’s nice to have these images to reflect. You are loved, my friends. Keep going.
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January: Started the year w/ multiple “Print” pops up at The Heavy in Winterpark. My wife surprised me with a trip to Tampa with my friends. Freehand Goods became a monthly client and I helped them build more content for marketing and online use! Also, I got to make some awesome portraits!!
FEBRUARY: I honestly don’t know what I did in February except for apparently photographing lots of food and now I’m hungry. Oh and Chase smiling like a bad ass for Freehand!!
Looking for some awesome restaurants to check out? Go follow Swine and Sons, Farm and Haus, and Papa Llama!
Not sure what happened in March either, but April was FIRE. Honestly, too much happened that month!! For the first time I got to photograph my favorite band: Underoath. It was at WJRR’s Earthday Birthday. They’ve been my favorite band since I was in middle school and It was truly a bucket list experience. I actually got to photograph them twice in 2019! (We will get to that later.) True Magic.
Every year is the Florida Film Festival. For two weeks, our local movie theatre becomes a home of non stop, epic films, and panels. For 3 years now I’ve been able to go and capture candids of the different happenings!!
Also film related, my friends do a monthly video series called “Cinnabar”. There they gather to watch a film, share food, have a conversation about how the film made them feel! The last picture is a shot I did for their site!
And, we went to New York!! Plus, like most of the other months, did some incredible portraits!
Thanks for following along and be sure to stay tuned for other recaps of 2019!! Happy New Year!!
Ethan and Luisa Engagement Session - A Mix of Film and Digital!
Ethan and Luisa recently got engaged and wanted to do something a bit outside the box of “Normal” engagement photos. They had seen some of the medium format photos I shot of a couple of friends and clients and said they really liked the look of it! So, engagement photos and film met and together we got something AMAZING.
The medium format camera I use is pretty large and also old and I’m still trying to get used to it. Its completely manual and focusing can be tricky, so I haven’t felt comfortable going into a session w/ only the one camera. So, we mixed it in w/ some digitals and I also took photos on my Pentax k1000 35mm film camera, just for fun.
This shoot was all done with natural light. The first time in a while I didn’t use artificial lighting of my own. We started inside and towards the tail end, I asked if they would be comfortable going outside. They happily agreed and we caught the sun just as it was setting.
Ethan and Luisa were incredibly kind. They are in love and their excitement and love for one another and their future can be seen in all the photos.
Thank you both for reaching out to me for this portrait session and giving me the opportunity to celebrate and make images for the celebration of your upcoming marriage!
Can’t wait to do more like this in the future!
I’m going to break up the images below, starting w/ the digital!
Next is the 35mm - I had a roll of 35mm black and white film from the day before that I needed to finish, so I brought it out for the last few slides that I had. Unsure about the difference? 35mm is a smiler sized film - its what most standard film cameras use. It’s beautiful, but it’s not going to be as large or collect as much data in a photo as medium format that you’ll see at the bottom!
A Day To Remember and Underoath - House of Blues Orlando!
A Day to Remember and Underoath did a 4 night residency at House of Blues in Orlando. I got to make it out to the last night and take some photos!
I’ve written about this before, but when I was in 8th grade I discovered the album “They’re Only Chasing Safety” and I can honestly say, Underoath has continued to be my favorite band since then. Shortly after in high school, my friends and I discovered the band A Day To Remember. We spent summers watching them at warped tour, blasting their records on drives, and seeing them play House of Blues with other bands like Devil Wears Prada.
ADTR made the catchiest and heavy tunes(And still do). And in their present-day, Underoath still fucking slays and might be better than ever. It’s weird to be almost 28 and still seeing the same bands I listened to as a kid. Even weirder to get the opportunity to take their photos. But, I’m thankful for it. This life is a beautiful circle and I wouldn’t change any of it.
Anyways, enjoy the photos! And if you get to see either of these bands anytime soon, do it! They both put on an incredible show!!
Peter Von Taborsky - Nude Portrait Shoot
My friend Peter and I made nude portraits on film. The idea was to explore nudity in a healthy and non-sexual way. Peter does a podcast called “Scotch and Good Conversation.
I’ve known my friend Peter for the last 4 years or so. We met when he owned a company called Bamapana Vintage and he was selling menswear at Stardust’s Monday market. He invited me to be on his podcast, Scotch and Good Conversation, that at the time he was just beginning. Shortly after I photographed him for a series of portraits I was doing in my living room at the time.
From the first time we worked together he said “If you ever need a nude old guy… I’m it…” And to be honest I was kind of weirded out by this comment. I didn’t know this guy’s intentions and had spent so much of my life associating the idea of nudity with sex. And that felt uncomfortable and even wrong.
Fast forward a few years, I got to know Peter better. We became friends and I realized he wasn’t a creep and that he wasn’t actually all that serious about nude photos. Go figure. Really, the idea made him just as uncomfortable, if not more than me.
So a few months ago, I said, “Peter, you know I’d do nude portraits of you, right?” He laughed it off and then I messaged him on Facebook and told him I was serious.
I wanted to explore nudity in a non-sexual context. I didn’t want to make anything graphic or really even expose private parts. But I also wanted the images we made to be clear; “These are nude images. All of the person is exposed, without being ‘exposed’.”
I don’t know where I’m going with this project yet as I think its the beginning of a series. I’ll leave that up to you the viewer, but I will say - I’m trying to explore this more. I also want to encourage people to be more comfortable with themselves and their bodies. Especially men.
And for myself, I want to know and show others that our bodies and skin can be “out” in a safe and healthy place.
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Give Peter’s podcast a listen. He also recently started a second one called “Dinner and Good Conversation” that I recently had the pleasure of being on as well! We actually did a podcast after the shoot! Ha!
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On a technical note - these images were shot across 3 different film cameras. I used Ilford BW 3200 Speed Film on my Pentax K1000, 35mm 400 Speed Kodak Tmax on an old Nikor, and medium format Ilford BW 3200 speed film on a Mamiya C330. I wanted to do this on film to push myself since much of my work is done digitally!
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