Portrait: Veronica Vazquez-Jackson

I have known Veronica for over 25 years.  We performed on stages in plays as kids back at Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in the Bronx.  For whatever reason in all the years in between then and now her birthday is one of those days I always remember...lol.

Now as grown folk we are working together again with Dominic Colon and Erica Strubbe-Montalvo on the Broadway musical "In The Heights" with an amazing cast of teens and young adults from Kips Bay.  It is so funny how things come full circle.

For the "Heights" cast I had them all come through the Studio for Headshots this month.   Follow me as I take you through the multiple versions of this portrait of the Billboard recording artist known as Veronica.  Perhaps you can help me pick the best one.

Below is the finalized image I created.  Using a ring light I was able to really capture this beautiful image of V.




Of course I started playing around in the digital darkroom and came out with this Black & White version below.




Then I decided to go OD with the saturation and make more of a pop art ad look.




Finally I went in a totally different direction with this Silver Sand look.




I know each one is unique in its own way.  Which one do you like?

- J

Model: Dami

I love photographing people.  When my friend Najah came to me with a new model looking to work on her portfolio I welcomed the project.  The model, Dami, was originally from Nigeria and came to the States some time ago.  Najah was going to be her fashion stylist for this project while Makeup was being done by Color Me Cream. 

We had a great time collaborating in pre-production and had an even better time during the indoor/outdoor shoot.

Dami definitely wanted to get on the tracks so we designed this as one of the concepts.  What do you think?

Model

Headshot: Ezzy Castellon

In January 2010 I took Ezzy's first headshot.  Around September 2012 as we began preparing for our Florida "Once Upon A Caterpillar" tour I mentioned she needed new headshots.  As her director I thought it would be great to have the updated photo ready as especially as we would be visiting new cities.

After some time Ezzy agreed and we began working on photo concepts.  As I have mentioned it before I am a very collaborative artist.  Ezzy and I had a couple of pre-production meetings and were able to work out three really cool concepts.

My favorite concept is represented here in this image shot at JDP Studios.  This is the new headshot for the writer/director/actress/producer Miss Ezzy Castellon.