Balls Deep (Patreon)

We had shooting these sets last time I was in Amarillo! :D Wait...I literally JUST realized that Amarillo is yellow in Spanish. And we did an entire night of yellow sets. RAD! I don't think the photographer even planned that!

Here's a little bit about the team on this shoot:

PHOTOGRAPHER

Alan (photographer of Stephens Photo) was the very first photographer I ever shot with. EVER. 10 years ago, I wanted to shoot to do something nice for myself as I had just gone through the worst relationship I've ever been in. My cousin was a model and had worked with Alan several times, so she connected us and he agreed to work together since he just shoots for fun. I was by no means a "model" at this point, so I was thrilled he didn't even want payment. When I met up with him, his wife Lola was also there and my goodness...if they weren't just the nicest people ever. They made me feel so comfortable and helped a ton with posing. They even brought some wardrobe with them so I had lots of extra options. Lola went above and beyond helping me fix my hair and wardrobe and she still continues to do so in every shoot they do to this day. Even though Lola isn't passionate about photography herself, the way she immerses herself into her partner's passion is such an inspiration to me. They are one of my favorite couples in this world. 

MAKEUP ARTIST

Funny thing, I literally just realized ANOTHER coincidence about this shoot. For my very first shoot with Alan, I had the same makeup artist as we did for this shoot - Kim Wood. Kim was my very first cheerleader in this beautiful career I have. We met at MAC when I was 17 or 18 and the counter inside Dillards first opened. I was a young, broke teenager who hadn't heard of MAC yet and fell in love at first sight. I would frequent the counter every time I was at the mall, and trust me, that was a lot because there's not much to do in Amarillo. Kim and Kerry would always seem so happy to see me even though I never bought anything. Thinking back, I probably only bought a small handful of products prior to graduating high school. For my senior prom night, I made an appointment and Kim did my makeup exactly how I wanted it - eye and lip makeup only, NO FOUNDATION OR BLUSH, AND purple star painted over my eye to match my 80's themed attire. She was all about it and she made me feel like a rock star. Over the next two years, I started waitressing in a strip club and started making a lot more money, so my friend and I would go drop tons of cash at MAC weekly. Once I started stripping, of course I started spending even more. I would also get my makeup done pretty often for work or other events. At one point, they were hiring for a freelancer and Kim suggested I apply. I was kind of dumbfounded even though I desperately wanted to work there. By this time I had management experience in retail and wonderful referrals, which I think ultimately landed me the gig. From there I worked up to part time and grew even closer to Kim and learned the majority of what I know in makeup from her. 

This shoot was the first time I've had the pleasure of Kim doing my makeup in years and having all of us together truly felt amazing. As much crap as I talk about Amarillo sometimes, there really are some beautiful, creative souls there and this group proves it.

I hope you enjoy the rest of these yellow themed photos! :D