I'm spending the holiday weekend at the plant and Jodi is using her 4 days off to catch up on editing photos, designing print products and doing some ordering.  This evening, I have to go photograph a portion of last weekend's senior session we couldn't do because the school softball field was in use.  I'm going to try using multiple lights to create some cool images while there. 

Well, that was a hot weekend, and the heat spell isn't over yet.  I spent the last two evenings sweating pretty good as we had two senior portrait sessions.  Fortunately, my beautiful clients don't have the same problem this guy does as the older I get, the more I sweat.  Lucky for me that my next session is indoor only.

I didn't book any sessions Labor Day weekend since our makeup artist is unavailable.  I was looking forward to a two day weekend as it is my Saturday to work. Well, now they intend to run production Sunday AND Monday so it doesn't look like I get any days off at all.   The good news is that the weekend generates time and a half for Saturday, double time for Sunday and triple time for Monday.  Not going to turn it down. :)

Most of our work this week has been editing photos, social media work and preparing for sales session.  Our shoot schedule picks back up this weekend as we have shoots on both days.  It's nice to get a break in every once in a while but September and October are peak season and we're going to remain busy until the end of November with order fulfillment.  I think it will be time for a short getaway after this season.

We're just a few weeks away from returning to St. Louis for Pyromania, our annual fireworks event.  Our club show has been finalized and we went over all of the details at a meeting last night.  Our show is about 7 1/2 minutes long and will feature some 12" shells.  Our previous location only allowed for 8" shells.  It's going to be a lot of fun. 

I thought I'd post a few final images from our Great Gatsby shoot.  First is a behind the scenes shot followed by the edited images.  You can click on the image for a larger view.

I've got four photo shoots behind me this week and get to take the night off although I will be creating some slideshows for our View and Choose sessions we have scheduled tomorrow.  I'll be back to shooting on Sunday in the first of three more sessions next week. 

We had a great time on our Great Gatsby themed shoot.  Our hair and makeup artist did an amazing job and the girls looked gorgeous.  One of JD's friends from high school and baseball joined us, although he is a bit older, and he played the role of J. Gatsby for us.  We also had a 1929 Model A as a prop and the hotel gave us exclusive access to a private lounge on an upper floor and even offered us the opportunity to use the Presidential Suite, although I felt it was a bit too modernized for the look I was wanting to portray. 

There won't be much rest this week with a full week scheduled for us.  It's exciting to have this much work but at the same time, it can be a bit overwhelming looking at the schedule and knowing that there won't be any rest after getting off work until about 8:30pm each night. 

Yesterday was JD's 21st birthday and we celebrated it at Outback Steakhouse, which was his choice for dinner.  It had been sometime since I had eaten there and I really enjoyed the food.  JD seemed to enjoy the big steak he was served and we all had a good time while there.  The waiter was quite amusing as well.

We are just a handful of days away from our first Model Themed Shoot of the year.  Not only does it showcase our studio's Model Team, it lets us show off our creativity and try new things that we normally would not do during a client's photo session.

Our shoot next Wednesday will be based on a Great Gatsby theme which is the Roaring 20's era.  We have 4 models who will be treated to hair and makeup prior to the photo session.  They will wear beaded dresses that we acquired at a local vintage clothing store and hand made accessories made by Jodi.  We plan to shoot in studio for a bit before heading to an historic hotel and spa to try to recreate the period.  We will use the hotel's tavern, restaurant, lobby and exterior grounds for shooting purposes and we also have a 1929 Model A that will be used to further represent the era we are trying to recreate.  I'm hopeful that all will go as planned.