Aaron Riveroll | Photographer

Another gal that brought her A-game during this season of Hooters calendar submissions was Shelley from Hooters of Riverside.

Shelley and I shot a little earlier in the afternoon, which brings about its list of challenges…including, but not limited to, harsh light and shadows. But we definitely made do with what we had and made it work to our advantage. In the shots with the gold bikini, I worked on getting a little lens flare and softer light to create a more “angelic” goddess-like look, which I think came out pretty awesome. :) And of course she rocked the red bikini and animal print bikini too.

Shelley submitted some of the shots to Axtion Magazine… so check out the issue here.

The totally hot swimsuits used in the shoot were provided by Crispy Bikinis.

Here are the shots:

Again, I am going to do my best to try and keep up with this blog thing. I swear I’m not a slacker!:)

Another recent Hooters photo shoot I did was with Chelsea from Hooters of Riverside. She came down to the beach for her calendar submission photo shoot and we got some amazing shots! More on that in a second. I have to just say that occasionally, I suck and make mistakes. Lord knows I ain’t perfect… :)

Now, I’ve mentioned several times that you can’t let the client know about your mistakes or screw ups. You have to know what you’re doing at all times, or at least LOOK like you know what you’re doing. And on this particular day, I had changed camera bags from my usual Crumpler shoulder bag to my DaKine camera backpack. I like the backpack better than the shoulder bag, especially when I’m doing a shoot on location or at the beach because it’s easier to carry all of my camera gear plus lighting equipment on my own. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Crumpler shoulder bag, but it’s a little awkward and heavy. Like your mom.

Well, I had managed to get all of my essential camera equipment into the backpack…except for my CompactFlash cards. Dude, I didn’t even have one in the camera! At this point, everything was set up, but I had no memory cards and I was totally stressed because I had forgotten something so small, yet so essential. I had no idea what I was going to do! Chelsea was getting finishing touches on her hair and makeup and was pretty much ready to shoot. To drive back home and get my CompactFlash cards would have meant losing about 45 min. to an hour of shooting time…not to mention looking like a moron and making my model wait for me. I tried calling friends to see if they could run me out one of their cards, but reception on the beach is terrible and no one was answering their phone anyway. I told everyone I was going to run to my car for a sec…and as I was running back to my car I remembered something. The stereo in my car has the ability to play MP3s. And these MP3s were stored on CompactFlash card. I grabbed the card out of the player, ran back to the beach, reformatted the card, and was ready to go.

The moral of the story: don’t forget your CompactFlash cards. I was really really lucky that day. But don’t ever let your clients see you sweat either. Wear deodorant. :)

Now, about the shoot. I have to say that Chelsea was amazing to work with. For being her first photo shoot ever, she was pretty damn awesome. She definitely brought her A-game. I was totally impressed. You could tell in her attitude and conversations we had in preparation for the shoot that she was really serious about what she was doing. She went and hired one of my best make up artists for the shoot as well as getting a bunch of brand-new, super cute Chynna Dolls bikinis to shoot in. The end result were pictures that I can see definitely being published somewhere. Needless to say, we will definitely be shooting again soon!

Anyway, here are a few shots from the shoot. Hope you enjoy!

One of best, but painful, parts about watching American Idol is getting through the first several episodes. You know, the ones featuring the casting auditions around the country. The show’s ratings thrive on highlighting the not-so-great singers and their sour notes. But the sad thing is a lot of these people *think* they are really, really good.

I may not be American Idol status, but having gone to school for and trained in voice and classical music and having been a singer nearly all of my life, I can honestly say that I can carry a tune much easier than some people. I’ve tried singing off-key on purpose just for fun…and it didn’t work. Call it near perfect pitch or the result of having been trained all my life…it is hard for me to suck. :)

Well, the other day, I tried my hardest to suck. And I think I was successful.

Suck is an exaggeration. But I did try my hardest to make pictures look less than pretty. For a guy that shoots mostly polished fashion and glamour images, it’s hard sometimes to get that gritty, realistic, grungy look in photos. I appreciate photographers that have a polished gritty look when it comes to shots that are dirty, in a good way. :)

My buddy, Monica Renee approached me last week saying a UK-based magazine was in need of some images of her…so we set out to do some shots for them. We looked at their website and put together a shoot that would suit their style, which is more of a real, natural, and unpolished look.

In preparation for the shoot, we thought simple wardrobe was best…vintage tees, booty shorts, knee socks. We got some simple props for the shoot like some 45s and decided to shoot at my house with some crappy hand-me-down couches that I got from a friend of mine. I live with two other guys…so needless to say, our apartment is pretty crappy. :)

My thought process was also pretty simple; I was going to use one light to get the job done. Most of the shots on the magazine’s web site featured what I like to call “the boyfriend shot.” You know…shots that look like a guy with no photographic experience grabbed a camera and started taking pictures of his girlfriend…trading expensive lighting equipment for simple, on-camera flash and trading the studio for cheap furtniture in small living room.

I played with a couple different variations: first, on-camera flash. Then a speedlight on camera. I also tried a beauty dish right above my head. I ended up settling on the ringflash since the position of the flash was straight on and harsher than any of the other methods. All the others, including the on-camera flash, looked too “pretty” and professional. The ringflash looked pretty too, but I think it gave me the edginess that I was looking for.

In post, the editing was simple too…basic, but minimal skin retouching, and a few filters to add a little warmth, desaturation, and tinting for a vintage look

And here are the shots. Enjoy. :)

Also, check out Monica’s Facebook fan page when you get the chance. :)

Gianna Mazzon, one of my good friends and homies, and I shot recently for some publications…and she also recently entered Playboy’s Miss Social contest.

Here’s one of the shots from our shoot…and info on how to cast your vote for her. :)

Stay tuned for more pics and video from the shoot. :)

Click here to vote!

So I just noticed that it’s been like two months since I’ve updated this thing. Good grief! Well, I do have excuses, but honestly, do you want to hear em? lol

Anyway, I have been ridiculously busy the last two months shooting Hooters calendar submissions…so while you may have missed my witty prose the last several weeks, at least you get to look forward to checking out some hot pics of beautiful Hooters girls. :)

So, I think we are going to kick things off with two of my favorite Hooters girls…and two of my favorite people ever…Tanya and Camille from Hooters of Mission Valley.

We decided to shake things up a bit and shoot in Ocean Beach…and we had an amazing sunset too….

We also had a chance to do a little behind the scenes video, so check that out too. :)

Photo shoot with Camille and Tanya from Aaron Riveroll on Vimeo.

I don’t get to shoot with her as often as I would like…but let me just say that I really enjoy shooting with Jenica. I can’t really say much about her except for the fact that she is INCREDIBLY beautiful. Oh, and I feel extremely fortunate that she lets me take her picture…modeling isn’t something she does all that often. But she should. :)

I shot these a few months ago when the weather was still good. Got an amazing sunset…and her smile is just amazing. Enjoy!

So, I stumbled upon a really cool post over at the Totally Rad blog by Cathy Empey. A particlar passage really struck me since it is exactly the way I feel about my own photographic journey…and since I suck at putting thoughts into words, I thought I would share Cathy’s words with all of you..

In talking about finding and improving your style, she writes:

“I have come into my own; as I am sure many photographers do when they put their heart and soul into finding their focus. Some days I lack confidence, and that lets me know that its time to take it to another level. Although I feel as though I have found my style, I keep searching and improving. I feel as though you are only as good as your last session, and I strive to do my absolute best for every single client.”

Heart and soul. That really struck me…because without passion, what is the point of doing it? Always working to be the best, striving to be better than the last time, and always working on taking things to another level are qualities I truly admire and try to cultivate in my life.

Anyway, just a little mid-morning inspiration. Read the rest of the post here.

GOING THE DISTANCE BY CATHY EMPEY – GetTotallyRad.com

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to shoot my friend’s engagement photos.

Aside from being a ridiculously good looking couple…my homie Casie and her beau, Jeff, are super cool and lots of fun to hang with. We spent some time right around sunset at Swamis in Encinitas. Not only did we get an amazing sunset, but we got some amazing shots too.

Congratulations to the happy couple!!

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to shoot with the AMAZING Heather Shanholtz.

Heather is a ridiculously sexy glamour model from Florida…and let me tell you, no one is more up for an adventure than she is. We headed out to Malibu for our shoot…made some friends along the way…and had an amazing time taking pictures. She is totally cool…and totally hot…all at the same time. :)

Anyway…definitely shooting again sometime soon, so stay tuned for that…but in the meantime, check out her site for more shots of her and all her latest publications and news: HeatherShanholtz.com

But before you go, check out a few shots from our shoot. :)

Yesterday, I had a great shoot with model Janice Michele up in Oxnard, California of all places. Seriously…Oxnard? It’s pretty funny just saying it, ya? :) Anywho…I met some AMAZING people…and Janice is pretty amazing herself…beautiful, motivated, and super fun to shoot with. We got some amazing shots…which, of course, aren’t ready yet. But stay tuned for those. :)

But Janice reminded me of something yesterday that I thought I’d share with a lot of you photographers and/or models who are shooting portfolio content or fun projects. This could also apply to commercial work…but more often than not, when there is money involved, people want their cut. And that’s understandable. But this is more for those fun, personal projects or portfolio shoots.

So, a few years ago, I was out in my hometown of Ramona with my good friend Ennis and our friend Laura. We were planning on doing a “country girl” themed shoot and since I had spent most of my young life in this little country town, I thought it would be a good place to start. We scouted around for a little bit until we stumbled upon this farm, complete with hay, cows, and a few barns.

We drove up the driveway and found the owner and offered him a couple Andrew Jacksons if he would let us shoot there. His response was a pleasant, “Sure!” but it didn’t come without a brief look of confusion, as if to say, “why would you want to shoot HERE?” His daughter was helping tend to the animals and she offered to move bails of hay for us or get us anything we needed. It was pretty amazing how nice and accomodating these people were for a few random strangers who wanted to shoot on their farm.

But the moral of the story is this: it doesn’t hurt to ask.

A lot of photo portfolios have gorgeous models…all shot in the same location. To me, this shows that yes, you can take a good picture of a beautiful model…but do you have any creativity to make something different? Think outside the box? Make something that someone hasn’t seen before? Yes, I realize that many concepts have been done…but that doesn’t mean you can’t do them differently…and one of the ways to do that is by trying to find new and different places to shoot. For instance, I do a lot of beach photography. It’s pretty straightforward…and there are several different locations that I LOVE shooting. But it’s the beach. It looks pretty much the same no matter where you are…but there is so much beach to shoot at and when I shoot, I always try to shoot at new places along the way. One of my favorite spots in La Jolla, California, has about a mile or so of beach…and so I try to change things up once in a while by picking different spots along the stretch. You’d be surprised the way you can make the shots look different.

So yesterday, Janice wanted to shoot in a boxing gym. She had an idea for some super sexy and colorful shots. So she called up a local boxing gym and said, “Hey, I want to take some shots in your gym!” So the owner gave the okay and we made it happen. The guy that was running the gym was super accomodating and helpful and might be hiring me for some other shoots down the road. Janice also wanted to shoot some stuff in an old fashioned ice cream parlor. So…she found one in her town, called the owner, and asked if we could shoot there. The owner said “yes,” and we got it done. The girl behind the counter was totally sweet and basically helped us with anything we needed. She made us tasty ice cream cones for shoot props…and to eat, of course…and had her iPod going with some cool tunes too. :) When the owner came in later, he was super cool, loved the shots we took, and also may be calling for future work.

I learned that honestly, it really doesn’t hurt to ask someone if you can use their store, house, or even ice cream shop for a short, fun shoot. If you can get it done quick, fast, and in a hurry, most people don’t mind the small inconvenience…and may even enjoy watching the makings of some fun pictures. :) And when you think about it, what is the worst that can happen? They can say, “No.” No biggie. No harm, no foul.

But if they say “yes,” you’ve got a fun place to shoot something different…and you usually meet some really super cool people too.