Catching Up

Model Faerie, © 2008 Terrell Neasley

Sometimes I like to go over previous posts, especially the ones where I talk about future prospects and see if I've stayed true to some of the things I discuss and plan for. I'll give myself a partial excuse in that I only started back to work shooting in May and its been a madhouse here to catch up with projects and prep for my travel to Central America which is now right around the corner. I've decided to not alter those plans and actually launch myself full force into it. So lets see:

Most of everything between January and March was on my recovery from knee surgery. There was not shooting going on, but I did talk about changes and things I wanted to do differently. I touched on it more in the months soon after this. I spoke on focusing on portraiture and self-portraits. I sincerely want to perfect both. In particular, I want to do more of the color portrait. I'm so much more comfortable with Black and White portraiture work. I want to get better at it, but its still a genre within my comfort zone. COLOR portraiture, however is still outside the box for me. Most B&W enthusiasts might refer to color as a distraction in the portrait. I can't say I totally subscribe to that notion. Its just another form of expression.

Model Faerie, © 2008 Terrell Neasley

I talked about embracing change and taking on challenges as they come with fervor instead of disdain. As I mentioned previously, I want to expand beyond my own comfort zone. I've revamped my business plan and goals. Central America will be the start of something new for me. Video production will be a challenge as I learn on the fly. I've switched from Canon gear to Nikon as my primary gear of choice. I still have some Canon stuff, but since the 36 megapixel Nikon D800E was released, I felt I had to make that change. During my recovery time, I kept feeling like I wanted more depth in my images and was considering medium format. Canon's new 5D Mark III was not going to take me where I wanted to go and was not a significant upgrade from my 5D Mark 2. I became even more convinced medium format was the way for me. When Nikon released the D800, I was initially skeptical. I saw it as a ploy to restart the megapixel war again and draw attention from Canon. But then I started looking more at the reviews and a few friends of mine who own the camera showed me work from it. Eventually, I got to shoot with it myself and probably within just a few weeks, I knew I had to have it. This will hopefully be an alternative to medium format with the significantly reduced cost and far less weight at a time when I need to take the pressure of my knees. I ended up with the Nikon D800E, instead of the standard D800.

Model Faerie, © 2008 Terrell Neasley

So along with some new audio gear, I'm heading to Guatemala and Honduras to follow Heather Rae around the jungles and record her excursions, escapades, and adventures as she travels. She's an experienced traveler/writer and you can catch her on her blog, In Search of Squid, (there's a story behind that title) which fabulously documents a new lifestyle of travel and tries to do more promotion of how easy, fun, and rewarding traveling can be. Its right in line of my thinking on the matter which is why we work well together in this regard. She's definitely one of the most inspiring people I've come across in the last 5 years of being in Las Vegas and as a school teacher, educating and encouraging youths is second nature to her. So it was rather fortuitous that I met her and now we've collaborated to see what our combined efforts can produce. If you've ever wondered what a ball of fire inside a woman would look like, check out her blog and track her most recent excursions. I'm telling you, its as if she has a spinning inner core made of molten nickel and iron because she generates her own magnetic field. She's got that much energy locked up in a tiny petite frame. I'll be happy to be able to keep up with her. This entire adventure is being planned out by her and I'm just tagging along for the ride. But my plans extend a little further than her's. I'll be staying down there a little while longer after she leaves Central America. I have no idea just yet as to what I'll be doing, but I'm certainly open to suggestions for any of you who know of little-known "must-see or must-do" stuff in Central America. I was thinking of skipping over to Belize, but I could also backtrack through Guatemala or do some of the mainland Honduras treks, as most of our escapades will be on the island of Utila just off the coast.

Remember Faerie, well, I just spent the weekend shooting her and will update with some of the new edits soon. Til then, enjoy some of these shots of her from a few years ago.

Model Faerie, © 2008 Terrell Neasley