For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Tortuga Twins, they are an amazing comedy troupe specializing in Renaissance Festivals across the states. I’m not the easiest person to make laugh and they get me every damn time…

See some of the pictures from the shoot below:

Art Director, hair, makeup, stylist, magician: Suzu Tran
Models: The Tortuga Twins – Riki Robinson, Ronn Bauman, Jef Hall
Wardrobe/Props: Excalibur Leather (Special thanks to Kelly)

Art Director/Makeup Artist/Stylist: Suzu Tran

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Comments?

Thanks for bringing so much joy to my life and being an amazing collaborator in business and personal!

I’m most comfortable in a studio environment with all of  my equipment. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and play with the basics of capturing an image. The further I get down this path, the more I see beauty in simplicity and more “organic” photography. Although, I admit it’s not always easy to stay away from the Photoshop. I’m trying dammit…

Below is the first image from the first set. I’ll be posting a new image every day for the next week from this set. Enjoy!

Hair\Makeup and Styling: Suzu Tran
Models: Daphne, Larry the Lemur, Caleb the Cat and Ernie the Elephant (real names of supporting cast withheld to protect their reputation)

It was a shitty job. The first thing I was told was that I wasn’t to do anything creative. Center the kids head and snap. 2 pictures per child and move on. Make sure the lighting was flat so the green screen software could work properly. There were days when I shot 300 kids in 3 hours. I had to deal with little wanna be middle school gangsters telling me to fuck off with their middle finger as I tried to capture their ungrateful asses on my memory card. The owner treated the photographers like they were a necessary evil that he had to deal with in order to turn a profit. Some of the guys that I worked with had been school photographers for 40+ years and many were bitter and hated what they did. And, after 9 months, I knew I had to leave.

I was thinking about that experience this morning when I was taking Taylor to school. The fact is that, as much as I hated that job, I needed that experience to evolve as a photographer and human. What did I gain from that experience you ask? I actually gained a lot that I didn’t see at the time.

1. The first (and most obvious) thing I learned was what I did NOT want to do for a living. Those guys who had been at it for so long were right to be bitter. The pay was the worst, there is nothing less creative in the photography world, and it was a completely thankless job.
2. I learned efficiency. The only way to be successful in that business was to take a lot of pictures quickly. I learned how to create an assembly line of subjects and by the end I was one of the most efficient shooters they had. This has served me well when I’ve been contracted to shoot many people in one day.
3. I learned lighting. While the lighting for the most part was standard and boring, I didn’t know much about studio lighting prior to that gig. I learned about different types of lighting, shooting with strobes outdoors, and technically how everything came together. It gave me a good foundation on which I could expand.
4. Care for equipment was a big one. On some jobs I had to use John’s equipment. He had been in the biz for many years and he was more than a little OCD about his equipment. I feared not putting a cord back correctly or God forbid I break something of his by mistake. At first I just thought John was an anal retentive ass but I learned probably more from John than anyone. He taught me about caring for equipment and the importance of being organized which brings me to #5.
5. Organization – I learned how best to organize a large operation. Everything had a place in the warehouse. We had checklists to ensure that we had a complete rig and everything we needed for the job. I learned the importance of containers, bags, how to efficiently pack a truck, and how organization helped me set up a job quickly and more importantly how to get the hell out fast when I was done.

I couldn’t see at the time how important this job would be in setting a good foundation for future endeavors but I do now. I’m glad I left when I did. I was seriously in danger of losing my passion for photography. Maybe that’s the most important thing I learned; to cherish and protect this thing I love so much.

Can you relate? What do you think?