Ana Isabel Mercado. Job: Anthropologie. Passion: Acting

This is one of my three friends out here in LA. This is Ana Isabel. I met her upon my orientation at Anthropologie back in september. While at a holiday gathering, Ana and I began getting to know one another, and she revealed that similar to me, Anthro was not her passion (ha) it was her day job. She continued to tell about her move here to the US, (she is originally from Colombia) and her study at an American university, Syracuse.

After having spoken for some time I came to learn Ana is into acting. Upon discovering this, I asked her if she needed any portraits or headshot material for her portfolio. I gave her some ideas on a tentative shoot and we got together this morning at a local garden right off fairfax. I was so amped to shoot, I must have looked like a dog on speed wanting to chase that imaginary ball. I recently invested in some pocket wizards and a few light stands for sessions such as today.

Learning how to light different locations has become my ongoing challenge and mission to master. For this shoot, I only incorporated one off camera flash with a shoot through umbrella bounce. It was around 12 PM and surprisingly the natural light was slightly diffused because of the shade that the garden allowed. I think there is a nice balance here between artificial and ambient, I was going for the soft box look (minus the softbox…) I need about $150 to acquire yet another piece of camera equipment. It’s like the never ending abyss of technology.

Anyways, overall the experience was exactly what I needed to get my feet wet. And Anais was the perfect specimen, she put up with my unprofessional lack of knowledge on lighting outdoor portraiture. Thanks Ana. Much appreciated. Looking forward to heading back east this weekend for a little sisterly bonding in Boston. Should be gritty.