I had the opportunity to shoot a local actor, soon-to-be model last week. Dustin McKamie went to New York a few weeks back for auditions with over a thousand other talents, including my good friend, DJ Rouse.

Dustin came back from the event having been voted Actor of the Year and Male Fitness Model of the Year by the judging panel. The funny thing is, Dustin hadn’t ever modeled before! Now, armed with a full Steller portfolio, he is on his way to L.A. to start his new career.

We shot down on the Plaza…yet again. I think I shoot there too often!…Anyway, we got everything he needed to kick-start his portfolio and had a blast doing it.

Notes: Shot natural light, Nikon D200 with 50mm 1.4, processed in Adobe Lightroom with my exclusive Steller set of presets (coming soon to photographers everywhere!). Touch-ups in Photoshop.

This was Dustin’s Headshot choice:

Cool it, ladies….just cool it…

Stefanie is awesome. She is fun, very intelligent and, as you can see from the photos, very pretty too! We shot on the Country Club Plaza and at her gorgeous home by a local lake. Her parents rock! Her mother and grandma accompanied her for the shoot and I had the opportunity to meet dad at their home. He even let me hold his new iPhone…oh, and they are “mac” people, too! These are folks I can relate to. Too fun!

Oh, and Stefanie is a super good pal with Jamie, another cool senior I shot with last year.

Adrian Zaragoza, Artistic Director at Beauty Brands on the Plaza, did her hair before our shoot. We promptly went out into the humid hotness of the evening and began the shoot! Boy, it was hot out. I was perspiring…no, I was sweating…like crazy (can’t wait for Fall!), but I didn’t melt, so I guess my mom was wrong about me being sugary sweet, huh?

Without further ado, here are the results from the joy that was Stefanie’s session.

And a couple photos for me…

When you need a smile – just watch this. It is rare that I send a link along to friends and family, but this was worth the minute of my day and I had to share.