I’d been itching for this shoot since Brianna (the model) contacted via email several months prior. She wanted a portrait of herself in her Native American attire alongside a real wolf. She sent me photos of the location: The Wolf Mountain Sanctuary, which was home to several wolves we could work with.

The Wolf Mountain Sanctuary (www.wolfmountain.com) is a short trip down an unpaved road off the 18 highway in Lucerne Valley, California. It was founded in 1976 by Native American, Tonya Littlewolf who is dedicated and devoted to the rescue of wolves in the wild and in captivity.

Although it was one of my more challenging shoots, everything fell into place. The biggest challenge was getting our wolf model, Wayland to cooperate as he was more interested in exploring the desert than sitting still to get his picture made.

Escape to Wolf Mountain Photography Shoot from Luis Aguirre on Vimeo.

The sanctuary is run purely on sponsorship and donations so if you’d like to donate, adopt, visit or become a member, make sure to check out their website at www.wolfmountain.com

I’d like to thank the staff of the sanctuary for their warm hospitality and all their invaluable help. This would not have been possible without it.

Creativity or bust
My job requires me to be creative even on days when I’m not quite feeling it. On those occasions, I need to either jump start my engine or risk losing a paycheck. Unlike most, I believe that creativity can be cultivated, motivated and cajoled and here are a few strategies to do just that:

1. Change your space
There’s no point in drumming your fingers while staring at a blank piece of paper or computer screen. It’s best to just take some time to reset your perspective with new scenery. My locations of choice are bookstores or quick hike or walk with my iPod.

2. Change your tools or medium
Step away from your comfort zone and experiment with different tools. If you do most of your work on a computer, pick up a pencil and draw. If you can’t draw, try interpretive dance, write a poem or take pictures. The point is to get away from your comfort zone so you approach problems in a new way.

3. Chase away your inner critic
Creativity is fueled by experimentation but some of us have an inner critic that keeps us from trying new things. We’re afraid of failure yet a lot of times we need to go through several failures in order to get to that “Aha!” moment. Try to be aware of your meddling, inner critic and shut ‘em down before they pipe up. Remember when brainstorming, there are no bad ideas!

4. Doodle to your favorite music
Doodling alone can be enough to get the engines primed. I find that adding a soundtrack to my scribbles not only add a dimension that inspires visualization, it’s also a great stress reliever. Solutions and fortunes can present themselves in the tangle of swirls and lines, too.

5. Make an inspiration scrabook
While everyone uses their iPhoto application to hold precious family photos of little timmy, I use it to collect any and all inspirational images, color palettes and art I come across on the internet. I also keep a sketchbook of inspiring imagery, designs or colors I’ve torn out of magazines. Any time I look through my collection, I always feel more inspired and creative.

iPhoto is great for collecting an inspirational scrapbook

Now get out there and create!

Facebook, Myspace, Virb, Online personals, Blogs, etc. are full of users and self portraits. This tip will show you how you can shoot a dramatic self portrait with your digital point and shoot camera that will add some polish to your profile.

Photography is about capturing light and we’ll be using the built in flash for ours. The only piece of equipment you’ll need for your studio is a white business card (a 3×5 card or paper cut and folded work well too) and a white wall.

Den ganzen Beitrag lesen…

the talented mr. martinez, originally uploaded by @ aguirre.

Putting together a photography show was a lot of hard work, planning, and late nights. Thankfully, friend and peer Armando (also a talented retoucher and photographer) lent his talent, wisdom and hard work to help make it happen. And to make things even better, I got this shot of him which I really like. What a guy.