I'm holding a studio workshop from 6-9 PM, Friday, April 13, 2012 at Studio 8 West in downtown Richmond.

The workshop will provide two models, makeup artist, and hair stylist for a small number of photographers (only one photographer per model shooting at a time) and two models (posing separately at two stations in the studio). 

The models will be Richmond's Sonnie Slagle (MM 375860), who will be posing for fashion and lingerie photos, and Australian visiting model -Dollhouse- (MM 762373), posing for fashion, lingerie, and art nudes.

Receive an Early Bird Special of $20 off with your paid booking through Wednesday, April 11. The price returns to the full price when booking Thursday or Friday.

You can book your exclusive spot in my web store on facebook and make your payment through PayPal.

*Note: The images in the attached ad were not taken by me. The image of Sonnie was taken by Ron Dressel of Charlottesville, VA and the image of -Dollhouse- was taken by Xpozure in Brisbane, Australia.

Now, on to the subject at hand. Studios.

I've recently partnered with a couple of studios to give myself even greater flexibility on when and what to shoot. One of these, Studio 8 West, is here in Richmond. The other one, Union 206 Studio, is in the Washington, DC area in Alexandria.

I'll also be holding some studio workshops, allowing a handful of photographers at a time to experience shooting with a full team of models, makeup artists, and hairstylists in a fully-equipped studio environment.

Look for more like these in the coming months!

This is the gorgeous Khadijah O'Rourke.

If you'd like to see the full sets of photos, bouts 1-4 can be found here and bouts 5-8 can be found here.

And finally, in the image above, we have a really cool action sequence of the black team's pivot, Pinky Tuscadero, leveling they white team's jammer with a clean hit.  This particular bout was Skaters (black) vs Refs (white).

Well, now I have.

I present, again, Diane Sokolowich!

"But Mike! You don't do vintage shots very often!"

I know, I know. But when you've got such a fantastic vintage wardrobe, how can you not?

Here is just a small sample of some headshots I took for a local Richmond actress named Morgan Barbour. There's a very real chance one of these will end up on imdb.com one day!

For now, you can see larger versions of the individual shots in the Acting Headshots album on my facebook page.

One of the models that I recently shot (see Courtney in my last post) attended a casting for America's Next Top Model and submitted two of my photos from our shoot to them. She's been invited to New York City to meet with Tyra Banks and the producers of ANTM.

Now I know I can't claim that it was my photos that got her the invite, but they definitely didn't hurt!

And since I really don't like posting on this PHOTOGRAPHY blog without giving you at least one photo, here's a shot of Courtney from a shoot last spring.

Once again I've fallen behind in my blogging, so here is a quick rundown:

Since my trip to Nashville in October through the end of 2010, I had a grand total of 4 model shoots, 1 roller derby bout shoot, and one a capella concert shoot for RAMifications of Virginia Commonwealth University.

2011 started slowly with my first shoot being some new headshots for local actor Jessica Dole's comp cards on January 17th.

A week and a half later things started speeding up when I journeyed to Virginia Beach to photograph the VIP Exclusive runway fashion show and then a roller derby double header the next night on January 29th.

Finally last night I was scheduled to shoot a boudoir-themed shoot with a model from Maryland that would be in town for one night. This fell through yesterday afternoon when the model found out we were forecasted to get some snow. I certainly couldn't fault her for not making the trip under these circumstances. I was in a quandary though, as I had already secured a location to shoot.

So I turned lemons into lemonade. I started reaching out to many of my local model contacts that I thought might be interested. To make a long story short I had not only one but TWO great boudoir shoots back to back to replace the one that fell through. No samples yet since I got home WAY too late to work on them.

I do like lemonade.

I know it's been awhile since my last update, so let me catch you up a bit.

In the last month alone I've had 11 photoshoots of various types, including a wedding in Nashville, two family shoots, two events (Run to the River 10K and River City Rollergirls doubleheader bouts), a toddler shoot, business headshots, and four models. Whew!

What's next? Well, let me tell you!

Tomorrow I will be photographing the RAMifications A Capella Invitational with a model shoot Sunday night.

I'll also be hitting the road with my good buddy Jeff next weekend to join up with my friend Kelsey in DC for an edgy, urban photoshoot in an old rundown warehouse.

Finally, I'm in the process of gearing up for the holidays. You should be seeing some specials coming your way soon for shoots perfect for holiday cards or framed gifts.

North of Seligman, AZ

You may think to yourself that Arizona isn't that large of a state that we couldn't get from one end to the other in a whole day, and you'd ordinarily be right. I'd pupils drove straight through anyway.

We took a very circuitous route, however. When we left Flagstaff we took a detour down to Sedona before continuing on our journey. The red rocks are spectacular! I didn't get many good photos though because I was feeling ill.

Later in the day we did drive the longest unbroken stretch of Route 66...from Seligman, AZ (the inspiration for Radiator Springs in the movie "Cars") up through Hackberry and Peach Springs and back down to Kingman on the border between AZ and CA...all in all an 85 mile expanse of unbroken Route 66.

The funny thing is that when Burma Shave actually existed as a product and put these signs up all over the place, there were never any placed in Arizona. Yet now this is precisely where they put signs as part of the movement drawing attention to the history of the Mother Road.

Near the Painted Desert, AZ

There were so many for me to choose from for this date! What you get is an OLD pickup truck that had been abandoned in a fried up gully decades ago. This particular location is about 1/4 mile from the dead end of a section of the original Route 66.

Also nearby is the old Painted Desert Trading Post. I may put up a bonus shot of that in a few days.

Laguna Pueblo, NM

Laguna is a Native American tribe of the Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico, USA. The name, Laguna, is Spanish (meaning "lake") and derives from the lake located on their reservation. The population of the tribe exceeds 7,000, making it the largest Keresan speaking tribe. Mission San José de la Laguna was erected by the Spanish at the old pueblo (now Old Laguna), finished around July 4, 1699.

I must say that the lighting in the Richmond Convention Center was absolutely horrid this time around. Definitely the worst of the three times the River City Rollergirls have played there. No matter. It was an amazing time and their Poe's Punishers squad defeated the Rocktown Rollers handily.

Also on facebook.

You can also see this photo on facebook.