If you know me, you know that sunset is the best part of my day. The tranquility, the colors, the mood, the tone…everything about the day – stress, problems, worries, deadlines, drama – seem to melt away like the sun melts into the ocean.

In today’s show, I talk about some tips and tricks for getting that perfect sunset shot with a swimsuit model. I’ve shot many-a-lady in front of the gorgeous sky…and I have to admit they are my favorite kinds of shots.

One of the photographers I mention in the podcast is Christopher Hartman. A genius when it comes to achieving a perfect light balance on his gorgeous models. Check out some of his shots here.

And here’s the show…

Or you can download the episode here.

And here are some pretty sunset shots I’ve taken…

Last summer, I shot the swimsuit issue for Revolt In Style magazine here in San Diego…and even though all the ladies were incredible and the locations were stellar, one of my favorite shoots from the issue was with my buddy, Casie Kimball. The weather was a little weird that day, but if you can remember from my OTHER behind the scenes of the behind the scenes video, it was still an awesome shoot. Casie was breathtaking…the suits we had her in were killer. As a matter of fact, when I drove out to Birdrock Bikini to meet Case, my jaw hit the floor as she walked out in that turquoise bikini. And we had makeup artist extraordinaire, Marisol Garcia, doing makeup for us that day and my talented pal Kyle Karges rockin’ the video cam.

An amazing team to work with…and a super fun shoot.

Kyle cut this little video out from the DVD he produced for the shoots so I could share it with the world, so a HUGE thanks to him for providing this clip.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy watching us photograph the beautiful Casie Kimball with the gorgeous La Jolla backdrop.

Casie – Swimsuit Video from Kyle Karges on Vimeo.

Videographer: Kyle Karges; Jonathan Fraser, editor
Music: Kill the Snake by Spero Lumina
Makeup: Marisol Garcia

I’m not gonna lie, these look pretty cool.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Yesterday, I got to spend some time with my good friend, Jessi, and her fiancé, Mathew. We hung out and snapped some pictures in Laguna Beach…which is actually where Jessi and I first met for a photo shoot a few years ago.

I felt so privileged to have been asked to take their engagement photos…we really had a great time.

Honestly, I do have the tendency to become jaded, what with being single and shooting all the weddings and engagements that I do. But it is truly special to spend time with a couple who you can tell are SO in love with each other.

Here are some shots from the shoot…

Jessi told me this one was her favorite…there is something magical about it…

And here are some others…

A big congratulations to them…and looking forward to the big day later this summer.

I’ve said it once and I will say it again…sometimes, you have to work really hard to get the shot…and I think these are the best kinds of shots. I love the shoots that challenge me.

Headed out to Cardiff by the Sea last weekend to shoot with two of my favorite ladies, Emily and Natalie. We set out to do some fashion/lifestyle stuff…and if it’s something you don’t shoot a lot of, it can sometimes be a struggle. It’s at these times you realize that going through the motions isn’t going to work. It makes you think a lot more about composition, lighting, and all those things you sometimes take for granted when you are doing the same old thing. And honestly, I love it. I love being challenged and thinking a little more than usual. It makes my head hurt, but I love it. :)

These shots were taken at a park near Em’s place…and the totally hot wardrobe are some hot pieces by my gorgeous friend, Elisabeth King.

After shooting at the park, we headed out to Swamis in Encinitas for some sunset beachyness. And even though we got there a little late, we did get some super sexy evening shots…

We always have fun shooting…the next challenge is coming soon, so stay tuned. :)

Now that I have the time, I finally went through some old stuff and put together the behind the scenes video from my shoot with Mallory Clark this past summer.

It’s a little shakey…but she’s so hot, I think you can overlook that. :)

Photo shoot with Mallory from Aaron Riveroll on Vimeo.

With Christmas just a few days away, just wanted to share some holiday goodness with everyone. Recently, had the opportunity to shoot with my good friend, Casie, and as always, we had a blast and took some pretty pictures…

After finding out about my obsession with hot boots, we decided to shoot a little bad-assness too…

Stay tuned for more sexy stuff coming in the new year! oh-ten baby!

I go through these cleaning sprees which involve taking out all the crap in my closet and throwing away garbage I haven’t looked at in years. I ALMOST threw away this whole entire binder filled with school papers when I saw the top paper was an article I had written for my conducting class. Reviewing a conducting article entitled A Portrait of Successful Directors, I realized a lot of the points the writer made paralleled what makes a successful photographer…and a successful anything, for that matter.

I thought I would share some of the points here since they are topics I have been talking about with other photographers for the past couple weeks.

No links or notes for the show…but hope everyone has an awesome Christmas this week. Ho, ho, ho!

Or you can download the episode here.

Holy crap, this is too cute not to share…

So, I have a lot of things in the works…I’ve been busy planning over the past week on things that need to get done…I’ve been working on a slight rebranding, a business plan that is going to involve some new things, and a possible redesign of my web site. Also, a much-needed and DEFINITE redesign of my portfolio.

Learned some things…and these things confirmed what I already knew…the portfolio has got to go!

I’ll be fixing it up all nice and purdy over the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

And while you’re at it, listen to the show…

Or download it here.

And while you’re at it, you might want to take a look at some of the cool stuff mentioned in the podcast…

• For instance, the web site of commercial photographer Nick Onken.
• Or you may want to pick up a copy of The Photographer’s Survival Guide: How to Build and Grow a Successful Business
• And finally, you should really give the new Broken Fingers album a listen over at MySpace or ReverbNation (search Broken Fingers)

Funny…

The folks over at Strobist.com had a couple of very cool blog posts on lighting (I mean, aside from their usual posts on lighting. lol)

But seems they took the idea out of my head. :)

For months, I’ve been meaning to talk about lighting options in the podcast…seems the question that most people ask me is what type of lighting I use and what type of lights are the best.

There is no right or wrong answer to this. Every type of studio light out there has it’s pros and cons…and there are reasons why some are better than others.

You have to decide.

But it’s good to know what’s out there and what each one does.

Check out the articles…and stay tuned for some podcasts in the future that will probably repeat some of this information. :)

• Strobist: Choosing Big Lights: AlienBees
• Strobist: Choosing Big Lights: Profoto

I had a GREAT weekend…the highlight of which was a shoot with my pal, Sol.

After our shoot, we got to talking…and she got me thinking about what I love shooting and why it’s so important to shoot things that you like and the stuff that you’re passionate about.

Here’s the show:

Or you can download the show here.

So it’s not surprise that one of my favorite shows on tv is a little ditty by the name of Glee.

Dude, it TOTALLY brings me back to my high school show choir days. Yes, I was a total nerd…but it was SO much fun singing and dancing with my friends. But it’s such a clever and witty show…and the music is phenomenal.

I just picked up the season 1 soundtrack on iTunes…I already had picked up their cover of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing…but I think what sold me is their rendition of Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked.

Not to mention I TOTALLY have a crush on Lea Michele, the actress who plays Rachel Berry…the cute, perky, yet quasi-nerdy lead. But damn, she can sing. *sigh* :)

So I dropped into the Hooters by my office in Rancho Bernardo and saw that my friend Codi, who works at the Hooters in Pacific Beach, is the November Hooters Girl of the Month for West Coast Hooters.

Very very cool.

Here are some more shots of Codi that we took a couple of months ago…

It was a terrible day, weather-wise..but we still got some amazing shots. Codi is awesome.

We also got some AMAZING shots at the Hooters shoot last month…but can’t post those just yet. Stay tuned. ;)

But in the meantime, drop on by to WestCoastHooters.com and check out shots of Codi and other ridiculously hot Hooters girls. :)

There are infinite numbers of ways to use the sun…

On this particular day of shooting, I tried 3 of those ways.

Here are some pretty pictures of Brianne…

Natural light, back-lit…

Natural light, front-lit, with reflector

And here are some with artificial light as my key light and a reflector as an accent edge light….

Some of the geniuses I talked about in the podcast…

• Nick Onken
• Andy McFarland

And here is the show…

Or you can download the episode here.