Singer Nikki Jean

I missed my chance to see a new artist Nikki Jean. :( Beautiful and she has such a nice voice, and a 60ish sound that reminds me of Raphael Saddiq. . Why am I not hearing her on the radio??



 I'll have to settle for youtube until I catch a live performance, or hopefully around philly.


Have a listen to some of her songs.

Philadelphia Burger Brawl 2012

 Eating! Sometimes all I want to do is eat, and I love a good hamburger. So when I found out about the Burger Brawl event, 25 of Philadelphia's restaurants and bars competing for the title of best burger, I had to be there.

Fortunately for me and my cholesterol, they didn't serve full sized burgers; the contestants served sliders, halves, or quarters, which was good so you could eat and move on to the next booth without needing a nap.

  

 

 I met a stunning woman named Kate. I hope we can shoot together soon.

I look forward to going next year, and showing up at a few of these places to sample the full size burgers, at Square Peg, and my favorite, North 3rd.

My Lens: Kaya Casper

While I was on vacation last month, one of my priorities was to shoot with Kaya again. The last time we shot, I just got some studio lights (el cheapos), and I didn't know what I was really doing. Some of the photos came out great, but like anything you don't practice at, the rest were inconsistent with exposure, focus etc. ruining many of them.

I wanted to shoot her with better results, so we hooked up last month for a short test session.
It was fitting that I test out my new strobe I bought from Calumet, more powerful than both my old lights combined. I want to explore using one studio light and umbrella to light my subjects.

We took some liberties (I wasn't looking to duplicate it) and I think it came out good. What resulted was an image that reminded me of an1600 English Victorian style portrait painting. Kaya's slight smile and expression gives off that knowing, regal look.

The inspiration for the shoot was this black and white image I found on gallerexquistie.com. I loved the woman expression, cropping, and I thought Kaya could pull this concept off (sans see-thru top).

 Read about Kaya's adventures and artwork at Kayacasper.com