Smathers & Branson Shoot: Day 1

So over the course of two-day Smathers & Branson models shoot we took about 5,000 pictures.

I'd never done an official "fashion" shoot before, but Peter had already booked me for his wedding in September and really liked my stuff, and he had faith that my abilities in the wedding and headshot realm would translate.

Not gonna lie...I was a tiny bit nervous. But I'm really happy with how everything turned out!

We started shooting at 8am on Monday.

Golfing took up the first part of the day.






Lots of belt and outfit changes...




And lots of tight butt shots!



The boys got along great and were really easy to work with. Really sweet Southern guys. No model divas.




Our three models were:

Travis, a Casper Van Dien lookalike.

Erik, a better-looking version of Hobbit Elijah Wood, and a former castmate on Survivor China.




And, Jay B., possibly the most beautiful man I've ever seen or photographed in my entire life.

I seriously think he is destined to be the next face of Ralph Lauren or something and am taking it upon myself as a mini-mission to make sure he hits the big time.



After golfing, we hit the shooting range and fired some shotguns...loud and scary!




Oh...fun behind-the-scenes note: because we were shooting belts, we were constantly tucking and re-tucking the models shirts to make sure they fit just right with no weird bunching.

Lots of jamming our fingers right in their pants to adjust things to perfection. Peter was a little apprehensive about it at first. But Michelle and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. ;-)



After a while we wouldn't even warn them that we were about to poke and grope them, we'd just get right up in there and do what we needed to do!




After hunting we hit the stables...



We stripped them down and put them in more riding-appropriate attire...



Can you tell Jay Jay was terrified of the horsies? He hides it well no?



But as he tried to escort the horsie along he had a really hard time controlling it and it yanked and jerked him everywhere trying to eat grass.



Love me some cowboys!



Just look at those sexy belts!



We played some poker...



Did some collegiate drinking...




Grilled some food. (Oh, other side-note: Travis was REALLY sweaty and would constantly sweat through all his clothes. LOL.)



And then went down to the docks.



Finally we ended with some horseshoes!



It was a long but productive day!

South Carolina!

So as I mentioned I'm down in South Carolina these next few days doing a shoot for my friend Peter's company Smathers & Branson.

I'm shooting Peter's wedding in September, so it was fun to get to do this project prior so that I could come hang out with him and his gorgeous halfie fiancee Michelle.



Peter founded Smathers & Branson back in 2004 with his bff Austin. And as you may notice from their website, they're in dire need of a makeover.

So we came down to Spring Island, a private island where his family has a home, complete with golf, fishing, boating, and even hunting. Flew in some models. And are having a fun little shoot.

This is my first official "fashion" shoot so it's kind of scary and fun at the same time.

I often forget this when I'm shooting my "regular" actor clients...but professional models make everything SO much easier!



Although sometimes they fire guns near you and that is scary.



More on this soon.

I'm wiped out from a long day of shooting!