Samirah Abu-Nasser.

Samirah Abu-Nasser., a photo by Mike Ross. on Flickr.

Through the Facebook group, TC Cinematics, which is a community of filmmakers supporting each other in that art, I became acquainted with 20-year-old film student, Samirah. We decided to get together, and so we met up In St. Paul, MN at Coffee News Cafe. We spent some time talking and getting familiar, challenging one another’s film knowledge. I learned that Samirah is forging her independence, finding confidence from within, and a highly competitive individual. Throughout our session, I was incredibly impressed with her ability to sense the lens as well as adapt to its location with facial expression and body movement. I tried to reveal her inner self, her emotions and feelings during the shoot, rather than going for a glamour-type look. Her experience as an actress in the Twin Cities really came through, as she effortlessly became someone a little different than herself during the session and in the photos. Everything about working with Samirah was a pleasure, from meeting and trusting one another with this project, to making plans and then the getting such fantastic results.

Shannon and Kelly.

Shannon and Kelly., a photo by Mike Ross. on Flickr.

  

 

Working with sisters, Shannon and Kelly, during this portrait session was a lot of fun. We went with three locations in Minneapolis: Joe’s Garage, Loring Park, and Walker Art Center. Each had its quirks, but the girls’ great personalities and their comfort in front of the camera made my work a lot easier. The idea was to create an artsy, but conservative photo gift for their parents, who they will be meeting in Hawaii. I used a Canon 50mm 1.4L and Canon 16-35mm 2.8L to get a nice, soft focus and to also capture what the world looks like around them. Thanks to Shannon and Kelly for the assignment, and I hope to keep in contact with them in the future.

Tree Tree.

Tree Tree., a photo by Mike Ross. on Flickr.

Our family Guinea Pig Tree Tree here after I was taking some photos of some pottery around the house. 

Dominique Joelle.

Dominique Joelle., a photo by Mike Ross. on Flickr.

  










  

















Dominique and I worked together in Uptown Minneapolis as well as Eden Prairie, MN, to capture the sense of a woman who feels isolated in her surroundings, but is serious about her craft. As you can see, she is a natural when it comes to understanding a concept and then applying it to make a statement. I used a Canon 50mm 1.4 lens with a Tiffen 0.9 ND Filter to capture and emphasize the shadows, which is a look that I enjoy and intend to use for future lifestyle portraits. Thanks so much to Dominique, an up-and-coming actress and model, who I will certainly be doing more photo shoots with in the future.

The Weekender.

Floyd’s Bar in Victoria, MN asked me to create a commercial/viral video with a retro look about a regular who enjoys Floyd’s Bloody’s so much that he slams the entire drink. We were inspired by Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party”, from 1963. We want to especially thank actor Arne Johannson, who said so much without speaking a word, and also to Floyd’s Bar for paying me to do something this off the wall.

Old Soul.

Actually how this project came about was that I was going thru the musician Timberwolf album for my video reel and as I went through, I found this song and automatically I was thinking PHOTO REEL!!! So that's what I did and the concept was every photo has some "old soul" to it and also to match the vibe from the song. Special thanks to Timberwolf for the greenlight to use his music, which I been a fan of since we were classmates at Full Sail University studying Film.

Kay.

Kay., a photo by Mike Ross. on Flickr.

Just a random photo of my daughter in our garage doing some Napoleon pose. I been practicing on colors and I found out that a ND filter does the trick. Nice Easter photo for sure.