markvelasquez

Brooke Adjustments

Brooke Eva adjusting herself, not caring who does or doesn't observe her.

Torch Song, Pt. 5

As the shoot ended, I blew out the torch and was ready to call it a night. I went to stomp out the fire on the ground I had created as a filly light when I looked back and saw how beautiful the headlights appeared through the smoke. I asked Ashley if we could keeping going for just a few more minute...

Torch Song, Pt. 4

This image might be my favorite of the night. It was so simple really, and as a photographer, when you figure out all the necessary elements in the proper way, all you have to do is stand back and click away. Plus the intense heat of the torch turning blue was an unexpected treat.

Torch Song, Pt. 3

There's something liberating about shooting in the darkness of night. The outdoor chill of the air and secluded nature feels mysterious and just a bit scary. The black of night has always been the perfect symbol for our human fear of the unknown, though it also provides for the possibility of the ri...

Torch Song, Pt. 2

Ashley is a sweetheart, though still very new to modeling and often very unsure of herself. Thankfully I can set anyone's fears at ease and we work great together, though she does require a bit more direction than my more experienced models. All that said, her natural beauty and general grace and el...

Torch Song, Pt. 1

I was hoping to experiment with different color variations using fire, so I created yet another torch and arranged a shoot. Sadly, nothing I planned worked out. Still, with a beautiful model and not wanting to leave empty-handed, we decided to just take some soft, pretty shots using the torch as a s...

Torch Song

After an experiment with fire didn't work out the way I was hoping, I was getting ready to end the shoot when I saw how well my headlights were playing on the smoke of the blown-out torch. With my usual lack of planning, I told the model to just dance around, which she happily did while trying to st...

No Excuse.

(From a recent Instagram post, this time with the name unblurred.)

GENTLEMEN: There is NO excuse for this. I get these messages several times a week, which means the models I work with probably receive 10x as many, at least. Yes, the women I work with are attractive and the photos are o...

Kat David, Pt. 13

This was probably the last shot of the day, with her relaxing in the slowly fading sun as we joked about posing with cows and other silly things. We arranged to shoot together in the future, and have since become good friends. I hope to work with her again in the next few weeks.

Kat David, Pt. 12

As our afternoon drew to a close, I kept shooting because I found myself unable to stop. She was such a natural, so chill and fun to spend time with, that neither of us wanted to stop.

Kat David, Pt. 11

But mirrors are meant for reflection, and I directed her to simple "Walk away from me" while I turned my back to her and focused the lens on the reflection itself. The auto-focus was not happy with what I was asking it to do, but once I switched to manual focus, though it was a much slower process, ...

Kat David, Pt. 10

I had also recently bought a hand mirror at a dollar store, throwing it in my camera bag for no real reason. As Kat searched for things to wear, i discovered it and tossed it to her, telling her to shine it right at the camera. Though a bit simple and obvious, I liked the effect it made.

Kat David, Pt. 9

In person I worried about how thin Kat was, which had nothing to do with her health and everything to do with her genealogy. Later I learned how much she ate and how she doesn't think of her figure much at all, and my general concern faded quickly.

Still, perhaps unfortunately, her thin frame ...

Kat David, Pt. 8

This angle was a candid throw-away shot I took as she was taking selfies with her cell phone, but I asked her to put the phone down because the light on her was just so simple and nice.

I've shot on that road for years because it dead-ends, leaving over a mile of secluded road to use for any p...

Kat David, Pt. 7

When she could finally take no more of the smoke, she hopped out and asked what was next. With the sun on her skin and the softness of the smoke still emanating from the back of my truck, I told her not to do a thing and continued to click away. I was learning quickly how well she took direction, an...

Kat David, Pt. 6

Talking to Kat, I never get the impression that she struggles with life. She's confident, opinionated, knows what she wants and what she's willing to achieve it. But often in her images she seems softer, more vulnerable, a delicate, uncertain youth afraid of the big, bad world at large.

That c...

Kat David, Pt. 5

The choker she is wearing here was something I bought when I was thirteen, a recent discovery I made when looking through old boxes at my parent's home. Though she has no Native American blood, her look easily fit with that look and natural style.

PS: I love all her weird toe-action in this sh...

Kat David, Pt. 4

I learned right away how quickly Kat could adapt into different looks. She switched easily between appearing as a strong and confident woman to an innocent and coquettish teen, though she is well into her 20s. With her delicate island features and long hair, I found taking a good image of her to be ...

Kat David, Pt. 3

I had also recently acquired some smoke bombs, and when she agreed to my idea, I got things ready, cleared out the back of my pick-up truck, and had her climb inside. I lit the stubborn smoke bomb and just tossed it in, quickly clicking away while she did her talented best. After thirty seconds or s...

Kat David, Pt. 2

We must have talked for an hour, just sitting on my sofa and discussing life, art, inspirations, the modeling world, etc. She had already had bit roles in a few main stream movies, participated in several music videos, and was modeling a ton, which again made me question why she'd drive so far to wo...

Kat David, Pt.1

I was contacted on Instagram by Kat David, a model from Guam who grew up between the Guamanian islands and England. She had recently moved to LA and by some miracle of social media found my work. She wanted to work with me so much that she ended up driving along the coast for almost three hours to f...

Kalani with Fire, Pt. 13

Finally, as the clouds opened up and the night began to cool, we called it quits. She took one last walk over to a massive rock, which has a base that is usually exposed at low tide, and I couldn't stop clicking away until she finally came on shore. I wrapped her in a towel, got her some clothes, th...