Ode to a Mentor

The great thing about being a photographer is you never know what you’re next project is going to be. It’s one of the most fun aspects of this career. Every phone call that I receive is a possibility to create something unique and exciting! The following images reflect this quite well. There is a twist, however -GASP!- The twist to these images for me isn’t just the fact that they are images of a unique subject but the fact that the subject is my mentor, Master Photographer Van Frazier. Well, I call him my mentor but he might refer to me as a big pest… 🙂

Van was the original owner of the Las Vegas portrait studio, Photography by Van. While working there he taught me the finer parts of portraiture and helped lift my work out of the dark abyss that it once slithered and crawled in. I remember being a human sponge whenever we would speak together about lighting, expression, posing, composition, business, marketing, language and anything else we would invest our time in verbalizing. It was so much fun having my work torn apart and dissected over and over again so that I could improve. I have a pretty thick skin so it wasn’t hard to take the constructive criticism. I was just thrilled to have someone share their 30+ years of knowledge with me. Up until that point, I had taught myself photography through reading books and researching online and being critiqued by a few photographer on forums. My style was basically a mix of what I saw others doing and a lot (ok, too much) Photoshop work. I knew nothing about real portraiture until Van whipped me into shape. Fast forward a few years and I’ve now photographed his family, his son’s family and grandchildren, his bagpiping band ( http://www.desertskye.org/ ) and now Van by himself with his bagpipes.

When Van first told me about this session I immediately thought we should go find a a green forest with lush mountains and big skies. He quickly told me how every piper on earth does that but no piper that he knew of had ever taken any at our very own Red Rock Canyon. Van’s definitely a man who knows what he likes. 🙂 Enjoy! Leave a comment!

Van is available for all sorts of events including eagle court of honors, weddings, and more. He even teaches how to play the bagpipes!

Check out his website: http://www.bagpipingbyvan.com/