This time were working with Callidus model Natalie Minor. She should be a familiar face this is our 5th shoot with Natalie. And the 5th time we got some awesome images with her. Natalie is a very dynamic model so she's very fun to shoot. She has a high fashion vibe about her so she always has some great poses ready.

This shoot was rapid fire with these outfits we just kept throwing stuff on her, and it all worked. I kept the lighting relatively the same throughout most of the shoot. The shoot was actually pretty fast so we decided to switch it for the last outfit and change a few things.

Natalie looked more european after we changed her up for the last look it really suited her. It kind of added an edge to her modeling. It's crazy how important hair is to a shoot it is not to be underestimated its just as important as everything else in the shoot imo. Sense Natalie was giving us Euro High fashion vibes I decided to break the gels out!

I love shooting with gels it's very difficult and frustrating to work with, and I often do a ton of trouble shooting. It's constant problem solving but that's the exciting part at least for me I'm sure the models hate it : ) Nonetheless the end results speak for themselves well worth the effort.

This was such a fun shoot with Natalie we got a lot of different looks and outfits and a ton of great images as well. plus I love using gels so that's always a big plus. I'll be looking forward to our next shoot with Natalie 

Model//Natalie Minor
HMUA//Alayza Casey
Photography//Deon Casey

IG: @deoncasey_photography @_alayzacaseymakeup @nn.minor

Our favorite trouble maker is back in the studio for another shoot! Alayza and Lanette had a revelation that somehow amongst our many shoots together we never did a bronzy look on Lanette, this was a travesty that had to be rectified immediately. So we got her back in the studio as soon as we could. 

This is normally how light testing goes with Lanette, which is awesome, gives me awesome material for the blog. I decided to slightly modify my lighting for this shoot I wanted a softer more natural look on my photos but flawless at the sametime. So I needed a softer light so I changed my moidifer and I think I was able to achieve the look I was after. I'll be doing some minor variations on this setup to get it just right.

Alayza also decided to curl Lanette's hair something else I believe we never did before either. I think the makeup and hair came out great. And of course Lanette was doing an amazing job modeling we breezed through this first look. 

For the second look we wanted do a similar lighting setup from out first shoot with Lanette. This is always one of my favorite lighting setups, It's such a fun type of edgey lighting. Actually Lanette had my most popular photo to date from that shoot I got over 500 likes on instagram!!! It was wild because I only around 1,000 followers at the time if I even had that much. She actually has my next most popular post too at over 400 likes I guess my followers cant get enough of Lanette!

This was another great shoot with Lanette and a successful one at that I feel as we all grew from the experience. I got to wrap up this blog post here so I can give these images to Alayza and Lanette before they yell at me for taking to long! hope you guys enjoyed to read!

Model// Lanette Sok
Makeup// Alayza Casey
Photography// Deon Casey

IG:@L4nette @_alayzacaseymakeup @deoncaseyphotography

This time were working with this local beauty Sarita Garza, we've shot Sarita numerous times and I always love the images. This time was no different, This was actually my first shoot with this backdrop and I was really excited to use it. I tried to hang them(2 different colors) from my DIY PVC backdrop that I use for my smaller paper drops, and it was to heavy so it kept falling over, So I just used the staple gun and put them on the wall. I can't tell you how useful that thing is!

For this first look I decided to use my tan backdrop it has really great texture but I'd never used it so I had no idea how it would look in photos but I think it came out pretty good, Maybe the texture is a bit distracting but that's an easy fix next time I decide to use it. Alayza created this cool fabric top out of colored cloth it was very high fashion feeling and I thought I needed more drama so I decided to go over to the black backdrop. 

The interesting thing about this black backdrop is it's made out of the same material as the tan one, same amount of texture and everything but you can't see any of it. It turned out to be a good thing for this shoot, I liked the look of the solid black. The photos look completely different and the only thing I changed is the backdrop. It really made Sarita and the fabric grab your attention. I really love the textures in the fabric it almost looks like colored smoke. 

Alayza was very determined to make this fabric look the way she envisioned it in her head, that didn't stop me from teasing her and Sarita about taking all day. I'm happy she stuck with it, it definitely paid off the fabric looked really great.  

I like to take test photos while Alayza is putting on her final touches I get a lot of great candids, check out that smile!

This was another great shot with Sarita, she actually brought her little sister who I'm convinced is the first successful human clone they look just alike even though they are years apart crazy how that happens. I think my favorite thing about this shoot was watching Alayza curl Sarita's hair when she sat in the chair it almost went to the floor! But this was definitely a fun shoot and I'm looking forward to the next one with Sarita she's such a great model!

Model// Sarita Garza
Makeup// Alayza Casey
Photography// Deon Casey

IG:@deoncaseyphotography @alayzacaseymakeup @g_sarita

This time were working with published Dallas model Tequila Grant. We first worked with Tequila last April which seems crazy to me we haven't even known each other a year yet because we've worked together so many times. This was our 6th shoot with Tequila and we got another planned this week. Look out for those soon! Tequila is Hampton university grad and one of best friends is as well. they actually knew each other, small world. but let's dive in.

As I've mastered various technical elements of photography it's become less about what should I do vs what I want to create. As a result of that it seems lately I've been going through these photographic mood swings. Most well known photographers are known for doing one thing very well. you can recognize a photo of theirs almost instantly because they have a style and they stick with it for most of, if not all of their career. So as a photographer I feel the need to develop (photography pun) my own style. and Tequila is the perfect model to help me whether she knew it or not.

Tequila is an amazing model, and Ive shoot with her enough times to see the many incarnations of myself over the last 10 or so months. These edits were particularly frustrating for me I have 9 different folders of edited pictures of this shoot with many different version of the same image. Some have over 10 different variations, but I was determined to get a handle on my style. The biggest help for me came from instagram, I took a tip from Dani Diamond and Jake Hicks and had a trial by fire social media style. I've been making minor tweeks every shoot and seeing what elicits the best response. 

To be clear these images are not that...yet, but I feel closer. There are things now I must do to every photo, but there's so much more to try things I haven't even considered. I guess that's why I love photography so much it's the endless pursuit of perfection, I'm really excited to share these images as I'am every shoot to quote the rapper Logic " Progress is the motto." 

Also Tequila is hosting a networking event on the 18th, visit her instagram for more information.

Model// Tequila Grant 
Makeup// Alayza Casey
Photography// Deon Casey

IG: @deoncaseyphotography @alayzacaseymakeup @pricelesspatron

This time were working with a good friend of ours, amazing model, and Real estate agent Alexis Poarch. This is our 7th shoot with Alexis I believe, and every shoot with her has been awesome. Alexis always brings it every shoot this was gonna be no different. 

For this first series of shots we focused on Alexis. Nothing in the photos are distracting the viewer from Alexis there's no jewelry or props or clothing (that you can see) very minimalist approach to a portrait and the results are beautiful.

For this second set of images we decided to add some props Alayza had a pink bow and I added a magenta color gel as well. It's always fun to shoot with gels its something I don't do often but it's something I might do more of in the future. Gels are tricky to shoot with but if you get it right it's really effective. I'm still getting used to gels but I really like how these came out. Alexis was able to pull off that giant bow with no problem!

The last set of images were a full blown gel shoot. I think hardest thing was just finding the right complimentary colors to use. I really like the classic cinematic teal and orange, The background color was just what I had on the flash from the 2nd set of images and I decided to use it for a background color I think it looks pretty good, but I like the second image better I just took the magenta gel off the background. I think I'm just a minimalist at heart and that background was a little to distracting even though I still think its a very cool image!

This was another great shoot with Alexis she's an amazing model you can find more of her work on her instagram page, and if you need to sell or buy a house she's the person to go see!

Model// Alexis Poarch
Makeup// Alayza Casey
Photography// Deon Casey

​IG: @deoncaseyphotography @alayzacaseymakeup @alexispoarch

This time were working with Campbell agency model Sierra Loren. This was our first shoot with Sierra and hopefully it won't be the last. Sierra was amazing and we got some great images from this shoot!

I love BTS shots, hopefully you guys do too! 

Alayza told me she wanted to do a mauve look on Sierra after we debated over the proper way to pronounce it : ). Shout out to anybody who remembers the mauve avenger from "Hey Arnold!" but I've been going for more moody portraits lately so mauve was a great color to use.

We thought it be would cool to add a headpiece onto Sierra, and we were right! It made the photos much more interesting. The images with headpiece were some of my favorites from this shoot. of course Sierra modeled like a pro through the whole shoot. This was a great first shoot with Sierra and well be looking to build on it for the next shoot!

Model// Sierra Loren
Makeup// Alayza Casey
Photography// Deon Casey

IG: @deoncaseyphotography @alayzacaseyphotography @sierrafav

This shoot were working with Diane Dick Legends model Keshia Daniels. This was our first shoot with Keshia and we were excited to meet her. And hopefully she was excited to meet us as well. 

Shooting so many different models you really got flex those creativity muscles to come up with a concept for a shoot but, I'm a big fan of less is more when it comes to photography so we wanted to keep things simple for this shoot.

We decided to focus on beauty shots for this shoot so we could save something for next shoot. Keshia has a great face and a ton of hair that we wanted to put up so its out of her face. It totally changed the shape of her face it was like looking at a different model.

This was a great first shoot with Keshia and we can't wait to get her back in the studio for another one. I'm already brainstorming ideas for our next shoot, and I'm sure Alayza is too.

Model// Keshia Daniels 
Makeup// Alayza Casey
Photography// Deon Casey

IG:@keshiadaniels @alayzacaseymakeup @deoncaseyphotography