February of 2006, co-worker Ana Liza asked me to photograph her showing off her new tattoos and generally looking hot in bluejeans. Shot in downtown McAllen one Saturday afternoon, Ana Liza wanted to show her “real” self, so she naturally wanted to convey a rocker sort of attitude. I figured she wanted dirty, gritty and urban, as well, so the hard lines and graffiti-lined walls of the back alleys and a place called The Ice House I decided to use really helped the look. We then moved to a train car depot and switching station to shoot around a box car and a warehouse exterior. I was shooting in natural light with a little fill flash provided by my 420EX. I also purposely shot at ISO 1600 to give the pictures a natural graininess. This was probably my very first shoot with my new Canon 20D which I had just received earlier that month. Slight work was done to each image in Apple iPhoto at the time. I’ve rediscovered the images and have archived them here at Flickr. Ana Liza has since moved to New York City and I will probably never be able to shoot her again. This was one (if not my actual first) of my concentrated efforts to do a model shoot. These images are still inspiring for me today.
© 2006 Jason R. Johnston
