Shooting models, family’s, and weddings has started to make my portfolio look a little to soft and cuddly lately. Now comes in the tough guy shoot at an abandoned warehouse nearby my home.

Kayla Hernandez, one of my favorite people to shoot with, introduced me to the concept of a GOYA (Get Off You Ass) shoot. We as photographers get scatterbrained in our fun time for shooting, and end up shooting the same crap again and again.

Kayla suggested here friend Greg Mitchell, a local MUA. Meeting him the day of the shoot, I was quite surprised that he stood a good 6 foot 8 inches, and is one big tough dude. Since I’m only 5’7, I may have had to stand on a Gatorade cooler a few times to get high enough for the angle I needed. With tattoos and a thick beard, and a direct request to ‘get really dirty’, we were in for a fun shoot.

Time for the giant studio strobes this tiime, with my new Manfrotto boom. No wimpy hot shoe flashes this time; instead, we had two Alien Bee 1600s hooked to a Vagabond II (essentially a car battery in a pretty case). Massive power to blast out the sun.

This was also my second shoot using my new prime lenses from Canon. I’ve been selling off my 2 pound Luxery zoom lenses, and focusing on lighter, sharper, less flexible lenses. After another shoot or two, I’ll have more conclusions on this practice.

Before you get to the photos below, one important point: these are almost completely unedited. Thats right! I’m getting good enough positioning the lights and adjusting ratios that it takes out the post process agony entirely. In one night, the photos were ready for posting. Check them out below and leave a comment!