Dam do I love portraits! What can seem on the surface as something simple is really quite layered when you start to look deeper. Celebrities, Supermodels, Regular Joes, doesn’t matter. Goal is the same. Create and document a glimpse into who they are as a person, be it contentment, confidence, vision, brilliance, swagger and even goofiness. Part of my process involves taking the time to connect with them. Yes, sometimes with the big fancy people we don’t have much time to become BFFs, but the effort is there just the same. You need to read people quickly. Be observant of hints that can lead you down a path of creative excellence, but most importantly, doesn’t matter who you’re shooting, you need to be yourself. For me that involves taking an internal moment to figure out what I love, yes love, about who I’m shooting. It helps me approach the assignment and/or personal work from a place of excitement and discovery. Think about the Mona Lisa. What does the world find so fascinating about that painting? Some say her smile holds a secret, some say she knows how many licks it will take to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The world may never know but come on, how fun is it to be curious about something?! For me a successful portrait leaves you wanting to be curious and discover more about a person or in this case, a rad agency called Monkeyfoot.

Want more Allison, you can check out additional shots and outtakes on my website.

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I’m in NYC this week, chilling at the apartment before we get started on the final production details for tomorrows shoot with MTV. Check out my twitter, facebook, and tumblr for exclusive behind the scenes action! Now onto the meat and potatoes…

Sometimes you have to sit on photos for a while because the Client wants to share them with the world before you do. Case in point, Full Sail’s Creative Minds shoot. The effort that went into the pre-production and the teamwork on shoot day was incredible. Yep that’s right teamwork! I may have been the one taking the photos but I had a lot of help that day. When you work on a big shoot like this its very satisfying to see a synergy amongst everyone involved, the hustle and bustle of the studio, everyone giving it 110%. I hope you pick up on that in the behind the scenes video. Everyone from Client, Talent and Crew kept saying how smooth everything was going, how much fun they were having, the photos were looking amazing, all in all a totally RAD day!

Project Runway winner Christian Siriano doesn’t just design couture, check out the limited edition t-shirt he designed for HRC/Human Rights Campaign. The photos you see here were used for a national ad campaign, outdoor, print and web.