One of my friends from high school asked me last week if I was interested in doing a photo shoot for her hip hop artist friend. Besides the photos I took of my musician roommate for fun and practice earlier this year, I haven't done any other music-related shoots. That being said, I was pretty excited to not only photograph Inverse Hip Hop today, but also getting to know the two guys that make up the group: Tunji and Toby. After two hours of shooting around Echo Park and Downtown Los Angeles, it brings me great pleasure to let you know that Tunji and Toby are both high-class, very sincere, and professional guys.

I had a chance to ask them a few questions about their work, i.e. what their music is about, how long they've been together, what plans they have for 2008, etc. I don't know much (more like anything) about the hip hop world, but after listening to some of their tracks, I highly encourage you to check them out. Inverse says their music is "honest, real, and about personal, growing up issues" we all have to deal with. I definitely got that feeling after listening to the lyrics of their songs. So check out their songs and read up on their blog when you have a chance. Enjoy the photos!

Thanks guys for trusting me with the camera today. I hope you enjoyed these photos and find good use for them. Perhaps we can work again together in the near future. Good luck with your music journey!

With permission from Laura herself, I'd like to share with you some of my favorite photos I took of her today. Laura is a Clippers Spirit, whom I officially met at the Clippers Charity Golf Classic several weeks ago. As some of you may know, I'm not really much of a model/people photographer, but Laura was nice (and brave!) enough to let me do a photo shoot of her. I was very surprised when she told me she's never done an outdoor shoot before because she was absolutely a pro at it! I hardly had to provide her any directions or even suggestions. Laura was very comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera, which made my job so much easier and more fun.

We started the day in Claremont, where Laura's regular job is at. She brought several different outfits to the shoot. I asked her to wear this brownish sweater one to start things off since I'd thought it would compliment the urban/rural atmosphere around Claremont. That's pretty much my best attempt at clothing advice because I kinda suck at it :).

We then had a clothing change and went over to a small park in the San Dimas area. Since it was in the early afternoon, I tried to find some nice patches of shade under the trees for some headshots, upper-body, and fully-body looks:

I really like this headshot of Laura!

There were some white fences at the back of the park. Laura and I were trying to go for the fun, casual, summer-love kind of look here:

And this is what the background looked like. I tried to mix up the close-up shots with some wide-angle ones to get a variety of perspectives.

And then we drove alllll the way to Walt Disney Concert Hall for some business looks, like this one here. Laura was very patient with me as I fumbled around with my wireless flash setup for some off-camera lighting to the chagrin of the security guards nearby :). Oh yeah, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the 35/1.4L lens (sorry, that was geeky photog talk there).

We played around with the chair for a few minutes before (and finally!) the security guard kicked us out. I think my flashes scared them a bit ;). But check out Laura's awesome high heels!

So we headed outside and got some cool shots with the metallic building background. I'm really glad the reflection came out quite well here:

Here's the new boss of your company. Whatever you do, don't piss her off ;).

Laura looking over her shoulder:

She welcomes you to her office.

And we'll end this mini-series teaser with a shot of Laura at the Malibu Beach. There's more from this location but you'll have to ask her to see them :).

Note to self: stop wearing long jeans and tennis shoes to the beach! Anywho, I really had a great time photographing Laura today, and more importantly, getting to know that girl behind those amazing dance moves on Staples Center court. I hope she's happy with the photos (crosses fingers).

Here are some shots from my very first photoshoot. Shane is an aspiring musician who's looking to not only sing songs, but also write his own, play the instruments (guitar and piano), and produce them. His genre is R&B with a touch of soft rock.

We went out to the Getty Center when it wasn't too crowded and stopped by Malibu Beach afterwards to get some environmental shots during the golden sunset hour. I tried to make the images look "natural" like from a point-and-shoot camera but at the same time professional. Please let me know what you think!