Tara, Pandas, Great Vibes, Oh My! | @taraleightyler | May 29, 2014 (revisited)
I always revisit this shoot with Tara when I can’t navigate through the difficulty of reconciling my passions and the commerce of professional photography.
It’s May 2014, I’ve been photographing nightlife and people for about 6 months, to some level of success, and things are looking pretty damn fantastic. I’m still working 60+ hours a week at Ogilvy, AND doing all of this photography. I can’t remember exactly how it came up, but my friend W. Kamau Bell’s manager, Kerry, somehow had or had access to a panda costume. I don’t remember the exact inspiration for even asking, but somehow I wound up with this panda costume, sitting in my apartment.
”Anyone wanna shoot with a panda costume?!”
The response was almost immediate. Tara was in. While the details of how it all happened are a bit of a blur, the energy and vibe that day is one that I return to in my head over and over again.
I’ve been going through some kind of creative struggle lately…. What is my style? How can I reconcile my passion and my commerce. Without fail, my mind returns to this day. Tara and I made something together…. so much fun. Not for Instagram. Not for the likes. Not for anyone or anything other than us and for the sheer joy of making something. A pure energy of absurdity & fun. The rest was autopilot. We did a total of three shoots, and the others were similar in vibe (coming soon!) yet Tara always has & will always have a place in my heart and mind because of how fantastic this experience was.
THIS is the kind of work I want to do. There is so much beauty here…. but more importantly, there is a positivity. There’s fun. Nobody is taking anything too seriously, and you can feel it.
Hit me up if you can get together with me and just not give a shit what happens. Hit me up if you won’t worry that every shot has to be serious, or every angle perfect. Hit me up if you can smile, or act a fool, and still feel handsome or beautiful.
These 40 images are either re-edits (the original color palate I used was a bit more blue/gray) or edits of images I had overlooked the first time I went through them. Thank you, Tara. We’re way overdue for another care-free photoshoot!
Why So Serious, Jeffrey? | Jeffrey Hayzlett | August 18, 2015
A brief photoshoot in Financial District, Manhattan, with Jeffrey Hayzlett.
I met Jeffrey Hayzlett at a networking event back in the early days of Twitter & businesses trepidatiously dipping their feet into unknown waters. He was the first Fortune 500 CMO to invest company time and money into social marketing at such a high level. You might recognize him from his myriad television appearances. Over the years, Jeffrey has been a friend and truly magnanimous supporter of my work and career path. From my old fledgling podcast, to my advertising career, to my life as a professional photographer, Jeffrey has always been supportive, to say the least. I can’t believe I’m sharing this, but here is the first on-location podcast interview I ever did, with Jeffrey and my good friend and ex-cohost, Ohdoctah. Here are small handful of images we briefly shot, back in 2015 for his upcoming book release. I look forward to more great images and projects with Jeffrey.
Hijinks with Harper | Harper SEEN | May 7, 2015
Lana Haper SEEN is a force of nature.
Harper is a force of nature. This one was a bit of a blur. I just know she’s absolutely fearless & full of life. You can check out her music here.
