Lara Weeks (Model)

I first bumped into Lara when she came to support a model friend of hers (Sasha) at one of my shoots. From there we connected and her eagerness to both be in front of the camera and create something artful was catalyst enough to create some powerful images that were featured in various publications and exhibitions. As a model, she’s incredibly easy going and simply makes art fun, as it should be. As a person, she stood out as an example of what strength and hard work looks like.

When Lara was going through relational hardship, she came to the shoot. When she had a few days break from flight attending, she came to the shoot. When I’d come up with a crazy photoshoot idea (Hunter Vs Hunted), she showed up. Last time we spoke she was pursuing studies in and starting to work as an air traffic controller.

The last shoot we worked on from the date of this writing was for a swimwear company promo (Muna Swimwear). After we’d wrapped up, Lara asked if we could possibly take a couple photos with some dried rose petal remnants she found on the studio floor. Those last few minutes spent playing around with rose petals were where the real magic happened and it stands as my reminder as to how simple art, and photography, should be.

Roy Urbanozo (Actor)

I‘ve worked with Roy when we toured Canada for a couple seasons of VIEW’s dance competition. While our roles never directly crossed paths, we spoke numerous times during our meal breaks and in passing throughout the comp. I’ve observed Roy to be a passionate, do-it-all kind of guy in the back end of production. He dealt with multi-media production and was bouncing around from graphics to the soundboard/music to helping other staff out backstage. Roy was never the loud, outspoken type, which is maybe why I perceived him to be more reserved, yet he always joined in on conversations as they occurred.

It wasn’t until he reached out for headshots that we had the opportunity to speak in depth about life and career. While in the studio for his portrait session, I learned that a great passion of his was background acting, something I knew little about. We spoke about unions, securing roles and what it’s like to go from role to role. We took the standard acting headshots he needed and then transitioned into portraiture of “Roy, the background performer.” The task was showing his reservedness, contemplation, advocacy for background performing and his competency in his multiple back end roles. Knowing how often he has to set things up and wait around both as a technician and an actor, I decided to show him in waiting while maintaining his determination and approachability.