A few months ago, I had the pleasure of hosting a good friend and fellow photographer in my studio for a special project—a pinup-style photoshoot featuring the stunning Sarah. It’s a collaboration that’s become a regular occurrence between us over the past decade, and this time, we were capturing some truly timeless moments.

So, this was another amazing year. But I do have to say it was not without its challenges, from burnout to getting back to the heart of my photography.  It was my first year going to ShutterFest, and it was the first year I had not gone to ClickCon since ClickCon started in 2019.  I had a few clients, but I learned a lot for 2025.  I had to let the Magazine go after three years of not publishing an issue, but I am working more with video and video editing.  So with that being said it was an over all an amazing year. Thanks to everyone who made it possible.

When a new model expresses interest in working with me, one of my initial tasks is to determine their level of commitment to modeling. This involves understanding whether they are seeking free photos or are genuinely interested in pursuing a modeling career.

Honestly, this is a trick ground to travel because they will not be upfront with you. So, I have to research the person by looking at their social media pages, and this

is what I'm looking for. Have they worked with a photographer before, and or do they have a lot of body photos on their page? So what if this don't?

I ask a couple of questions. 1. what type of modeling are you looking to do? If they don't or can't answer this first question. Then it's possible they are not interested in modeling. 2. What inspires you to model. 3. Do you know any models? 4. What is your budget for a photoshoot? This question will be your 2 or 4 questions on how they answer the first question. Okay, so, for example.

First, I’m going to say depression is a real thing and should not be taken lightly. It would be best if you talked to a professional therapist.

But today, I went to talk about having what is call: a creative block or creative burnout. I've had this happen a few times, but I never really overthought it. I was thinking; I really wasn’t into it. So, what is a creative block or creative burnout? I did a Google search by typing in (creative block depression), and this was my search result.

. Are creatives more likely to be depressed?

Creative blocks are periods of reduced creative thinking and productivity. Such blocks can occur at any stage of a project. During these, designers experience difficulties in generating fresh ideas or executing existing ideas creatively. However, they can take a variety of approaches to overcome such blocks.

What are the symptoms of creative block?

I have wanted to do this shoot for a long time, so when a fellow photographer asked me if I wanted to collaborate with him on an office shoot, I was totally in.

For my idea for this shoot, I wanted to be sexy and elegant and not slutty. I wanted to have a little sophisticated, sexy look. (Haha, I’m trying to keep the word sexy to about five times.)

My color palette for this shoot was black and grey, and for the wardrobe, I went with a black sheer blouse, leather skirt, and black tights. The second look was a black blazer, lace bodysuit, and plaid skirt. So, I searched Amazon and ordered the wardrobe.

I know this would push the seductive look slightly, but it would also have a touch of elegance.

This photo came up in my memories on Facebook, and I was thinking, ‘Why didn’t I straighten it up? Oh man, and the color balance was off. So, I was thinking about what it would look like if I edited with the software I use today.

Lightroom and Photoshop have come a long way since then. I think I spent about 4 to 5 hours editing that image. Yup, them was the times.

2014 edit: Lightroom and Photoshop

2024 edit: Lightroom, Photoshop, and Luminar Neo.

As a photographer or aka digital creator. As we can’t control our images being edited. We pride myself with the work we put out in the world ( social media). With the point showcasing another masterpiece. But what happens when someone change our work. This is not a good thing. Some photographers including myself spend hours if not days editing an image. But what happens when someone else edits one of your images? Well, there is nothing that you can really do. You can send a message to the person and let them know what they have done. But I can guarantee they already aware of what they have done. So, why is it that people re-edit a photographer's photo? Okay, so let me throw out some hypotheticals.

The Idea

I got the idea for this year's shoot early from a fellow photographer named Steve. Hernandez showed me this amazing AI art that he found on Instagram that was very interesting. It gave me a beetle juice look with a Harley Quinn vibe. Steve was thinking about doing this for his shoot. But it was one of the ideas he had in mind. So I asked if it was okay if I did that look.

Shooting with Cyn-Ean, aka Blueberry Girl

I’ve been working with Cyn-Ean for about two years now, and she is amazing to work with. But up until last month, I learned how to pronounce her name. Her name sounds like Cyan, the color, but with an S sound. But come to think of it. The two letters sound similar. But to keep from messing up her name, I would just call her Blueberry Girl.

I have to say, Aliana is one of the most high fashion models I have had a chance to shoot with. I met Aliana in 2019 at a car shoot I was doing. A fellow photographer invited her to the shoot. During that time, her style of modeling was more of an urban style of modeling. But felt she had more of a fashion/runway look. But during that shoot, lowkey, I really didn’t like most of the images with her. But I seen a lot of potential in her. So, I asked her to do a shoot at my studio.

The shoot was inspired by a shot I saw on Instagram as I was strolling through my feed. I liked the idea and felt I could add my own spin to it. I was hoping to make a little income from this concept with other photographers looking to rent my space for this idea. Spoiler alert, No one was interested.

I had this red backdrop in my studio for over two years and only used it once. So you can say it’s about time to use it again. But I didn’t want to use to use it. I want to do something creative.

((Editing))

Ok, ok, ok, over these last 15 days, I have shot about 9,000 images, and for some photographers, that’s nothing. But for me, that's insane.

With 6,854 from ClickCon. You best believe I’m NOT no spray, and pray Photographer. So, from three classes a day to shooting bays, and the icing on the cake, after-hours shoots. My camera was on fire.

I don’t understand why photographers like not to add the model's name and or location when they post. But I’ll save that for a rant later on.

But there was an amazing location to shoot at over the weekend. I remember shooting with Kim at this location some years back and again last year with Kaira. Now this year, with Karla’s daughter.

For over the last couple of weeks, I have been working overtime at the studio to get it back up and running and also marking it Ny-Ke Image Studio home. This is not coming without a price, and with that, I have been pickup extra jobs. But have to say, I’m loving the new place so far and have put the love back into my photography and videography. Drop three new Vlogs in the new studio within this month.

This year was not really up to trying to get photos of the Auto Show cars trucks etc. so, I didn’t bring my camera. Got to say, I’m glad I didn’t. Three more days until the show end, and it was pack. But here are some shots with my IPhone 13 Pro Max.

A fellow photographer ask me about an image he saw online with someone wearing fishnet stocking, but the person was invisible. He ask me how this shot was done. Was it shot in camera or edited in photoshop? At the time I had no idea how this shot was done. This is very interesting, and it made me curious to know how this was done. Was it heavenly photoshop, or was it some type of lighting technique?

Victoria is an amazing model to work with. She is on my top list of models I love to work with, and she is amazing with her elegance that brings any image to life. Counting this shoot, this is our four projects of the year.

2022 was amazing, and I almost made my goal for the year. So if I almost made my goal, why was it amazing? So let’s talk about why I didn’t meet my goals.

It’s funny how media can inspire you in one way or another. I was catching up on what was going on YouTube, lol. More like binge-watching YouTube. I watch one of Lindsay Adler’s videos about reflection. This got the wheels spinning on how I could use a material like that for a shoot, and what came to mind was a mirroring effect—something you would see at a circus Funhouse.