Aaron Riveroll | Photographer

Obviously if you are a fan of the movie Zoolander, you know what Blue Steel is.

Or is it Magnum?

I love the fact that I get recognized for my infamous and ridiculously good-looking photographs…I love that models can rock the Blue Steel with me. Last night, as a matter of fact, I had a mom come up to me (seriously, this isn’t a mom joke…) and tell me she recognized me from a blue steel photo I took with her daughter, who is a model. :)

But how did it all start?

I have to say it was back in college when the roots of this phenomenon started to take shape…

I think it was around the time my buddies and I started frequenting the Mission Valley Hooters. Now, it’s common knowledge that a dude can’t take a picture with a hot girl and not end up looking like a total dweeb. Seriously dudes, have you ever seen a picture of yourself taken with a gorgeous girl and thought to myself, “Damn, I look good!” It can’t be done. It’s humanly impossible.

Unless, of course, you’re Derek Zoolander.

But I have yet to see a picture of a guy and a hot girl where the guy looks half-way decent. And Hooters is famous for their ridiculously hot ladies.

I had my picture taken back in college with the Ikki Twins. Now, if you know who the Ikki twins are, you know that they are RIDICULOUSLY hot. So ya, multiply that by 2 and divide that by the square number of Aaron-Looks-Like-A-Jackass and you pretty much see my point.

:/

So I started making goofy faces in pictures with hot girls since, well, I already looked goofy anyway, right? And that goofy look, my friends, developed into the Blue Steel look.

I honestly think Derek Zoolander stole the look from me as I was doing it way before he was. He was just more ridiculously good-looking than me…

But what really started it all was I was sitting in the Pacific Beach Hooters visiting my friend Stevie (notice how the epicenter of all things great just happens to be Hooters?)…and I thought to myself, “Self, I think I should make it my life’s work to Blue Steel it up with as many people as I possibly can.” To be a Blue Steel whore, if you will. So right there in that restaurant, my journey began…

And that, my friends, is the story. Pointless? Yes. But if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be an Aaron Riveroll story, now would it?

I’ve been doing a lot more casual and lifestyle shots lately…which contradicts the theory that I don’t shoot girls with clothes on. :)

Honestly, I enjoy lifestyle stuff. It’s a different mindset…not only for me, but for the model as well. It’s not like you go out there and do the whole “Pose. Click.” thing. It’s not about being sexy. It’s about being…a human being. Living life and having your picture taken at the same time.

Last week, I met up with two of my favorite ladies, Emily and Natalie, for a quick casual session. These shots were actually more “posy” and less lifestyle…but some of the concepts are still the same. For one, I used no lighting at all…with the exception of an off-camera hotshoe flash for a little bit of fill in some instances. But for the most part, I opened up the aperture to crush the background and let some of the background light soak in.

Also, these girls are BEAUTIFUL. The pictures took themselves. During one instance, I actually had Emily tell me a story…which ended up with her erupting in laughter halfway through. I’ll have to share those shots in another post. :)

But here are just a few shots from our sesh…