hey, guys. my name's josh. i used to be pretty active on here...about a year and a half ago, if not more. i had a montego 135i convertible.
while i was on here, i was just starting out in photography. i remember quite a few of the names of the guys on here, and there's certainly a whole bunch of awesome photogs here. i remember alex starting up autophotog, i joined there and was there while it was at least a little active. then i started becoming more active on local forums (I live in VA Beach, VA.) I was always more active in this section of the forum than anywhere else...but then last May I sold my car.
i bought this for the space and reliability...while it's no BMW, it's still fun.
anyway, a lot has changed since then. i used to manage a car wash. last summer, i got pretty sick...had issues with partial complex seizures and migraine related vertigo. the end result was that I couldn't (and still can't) do intense manual labor in the heat, so I had to quit the car wash. photography has been a passion of mine for a little while now, and that's when it really picked up. i started working for a small company doing school & sports photography doing candids and action shots as a way to boost my resume and get industry experience. i was still a full time student at christopher newport university. my passion and drive is in portraiture photography, and really not much else. I used to go in several different directions, but portraiture is what I want to do.
so, since last november, i've opened up a small studio and built up a decent business for myself working with models and other various clients in the area. nothing major, but enough to pay the bills along with the other job. i only started working with off camera flash last november. exclusively used my speedlites until about April, then I started using 'Bees. Bought my own in late may/early june. i mostly process using lightroom3, occasionally portrait pro 10. i'm a very WYSIWYG kinda guy, i mostly only do RAW enhancements and facial enhancements (not always very well), only opening photoshop if I really really have to.
i dropped out of CNU...hated it. i can't stand the typical college experience, i mostly associate with older people. i'm 21 and can't stand many people my age. maybe i'm just a dick...haha.
anyway, i'm now in the process of transferring to the Brooks Institute to get a degree in photography. it's a pretty major change, and I understand that a lot of people don't care for the school at all. what it comes down to for me is that I need a bachelor's degree (especially to please my family). I don't think I can motivate myself to complete at another 4 year school. I've tried 2 already...but Brooks, I can do. if i fail as a photographer, I have a job with my family no matter what kind of bachelor's i have.
on to the current gear list:
Canon 5Dii.
Canon 1DiiN.
Canon 70-200 2.8L
Canon 24-70L
Canon 17-40L
Canon 35L
Canon 135L
Canon 50 1.4
Canon 100 2.8 Macro
3x Speedlite 430exii
1x Speedlite 580exii
Paul C. Buff stuff...
2x B800
1x B1600
1x ABR800
Giant Softbox
Large Softbox
Medium Gridded Octabox
Gridded Stripbox
Vagabond Mini Lithium
DIY Beauty Dish (pretty awesome, I'd recommend anyone try and make one if they could use it. pretty rewarding.)
5x PW Plus II
6x Yongnuo RF-602
a bunch of stands, a couple pelican cases, and the usual studio stuff round it out.
so...enough talk. here's some of my work since I was last here. comments, critique welcomed. i've got a lot to learn. if anyone wants to see more, you can go to flickr.com/jsophoto. i obviously can't share it all here, but talking and sharing with other photogs is always awesome. if anyone on here is in VA, check out
www.vaphotogs.org
*also, i know my watermark can be kinda annoying, please just disregard it. i changed it up recently.
last summer, puerto rico.
last summer. East Coast Surf Championship.
Rapper Big Sean performing at the University of Virginia
snow day.
