Recently, I had the pleasure of joining one of my photography groups for a photo shoot at the historic Tampa Theater. I’ve been a member of The Tampa Bay Strobist Photographers & Models group on Meetup.com since 2015 but never felt comfortable with my skills to be around more experienced photographers. However, one of the best ways to become better is to learn from people with more experience. So I decided to finally join the group, and hoped to pick up a few tips. Upon immediate arrival, I met fellow early-birds Doug Talbott and Dave Lockwood, who made me feel welcomed into the group. Later, I met Tommy Vidal, whose work I was already following on Flickr. I was partnered with John Mullenix, who was a great lead for me to shadow.

The first model I worked with was Jennifer Carter (below). Since John had to finish setting up, I took my shots with her first. After the first few snaps, I was able to relax and get what I think are some of my best photos yet.

The second model was Anja Remsberger. This was both of our first time doing a model shoot in this setting, I felt a little more confident after working with Jennifer, so during my shoot with Anja I felt comfortable giving more direction to her.

Next was Amy Cecile, a fellow Southerner with whom I spent the most time speaking. She is very charming and polished in her craft.

Finally, was Kim. She was very insightful and funny. When the shots weren’t coming out like I hoped, she often would comprise or improvise intuitively. It feels good to work with patient people.

It was great meeting and working with everyone, and I look forward to doing many more photo shoots. Look forward to seeing more posts from upcoming shoots, and feel free to contact me if you’d like me to shoot your photos! For the full gallery, click here.