Manual Focus

Audrey on the rooftop

well well well

today was yet another trip into NYC - upper west side, to be exact - where it was overcast, drizzly, and a little nippy.  Not to fear!

Audrey was a power champ an toughed the outdoors for some awesome new headshots. We actually shot in the apartment and balcony of the number one Georgio Armani salesman.  It was kind of awesome to have these coat racks of unbearably expensive suits just hanging around the place...

Audrey was going to be an Opera singer... but then she decided that that was a little boring.  So instead she majored in theatre at Swathmore, went to massage therapy school, and started writing her own one woman shows.  So basically she's a performing, teaching, and healing artist.  Coolness. And she has AWESOME HAIR.  Look at that mane.  That thing is sweet. 

You know what they say [they being me]... rain is only liquid sunshine!

seek the joy

:e:

eric laurits | NYC Headshot Photographer

Blowin in the Wind

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Steve and his sister out in Brooklyn Heights.

We were pretty lucky to be able to get a decently warm day so that he wasn't freezing his butt off... but being right on the water does bring with it HOLY CRAP WIND.  So we hung out on the boardwalk for a little bit, admiring the views, getting blown around, and then retreated into the brownstones to shoot...

Things you may want to know about Steve.  He's a Colorado boy.  Yet ANOTHER actor from the land of the Rockies [Go Red Sox] out here in the Big Apple ready to make it big.  Steve also runs Starbucks.  Pretty much all of it.  If you ever have any questions about anything Starbuck-related, he's your man to ask.  When we stopped in there to get something and take a little break from shooting he ordered this super secret agent Red-Eye-surprise-Black-dipped-stealth thing in a Large cup.  It was crazy.  Not even on the menu.  Also, Steve just finished playing in Dead Man Walking - Tim Robbins adapted it for the stage.  From what I hear it was a pretty life altering theatre experience.

On with the pics!

seek the joy.

:e:

eric laurits | NYC Headshot Photographer

Anna in the Not-So-Tropics

It didn't seem so cold when I walked out the door.  I swear.  But, then again, I was dressed for the weather... Anna had to get her headshots taken... no sweater and scarf for her!!!

Today's destination was Astoria Park - fun fact: in NYC ever gets the Summer Olympics the High Dive competition will be held at the Astoria Park Pool.  For those of you who have seen the pool, it's about 3% chlorinated water, 97% little kid pee.  Go Louganis.

Anywho, Anna is awesome.  Maybe my new favorite Astorian [yeah, she lives here too.] Quite possibly the most coolest thing about her is that she runs professional scavenger hunts for grownups.  Hotness, I know.  She's the middle child in a family of FOUR GIRLS!!! Poor dad. Anyway, one of her sisters just got engaged - YAY!  Congrats to her...

So despite the fact that she spent the entire session shivering, she took some fantastic pictures... check them out:

this is hilarious... oh, so cold.

Yeah.  Good times.

Seek the joy.

:e:

eric laurits | NYC Headshot Photographer

Codey and John and

Today actually ended up being a little bit colder than any of us expected... that's OK, though.

Codey and John are Indiana boys.  Unfortunately [for them] the Pats are playing the Colts this weekend.  That's OK, though.  They're still pretty cool dudes all in all.

We met up on the Upper West Side and stepped into the brisk afternoon NYC atmosphere to snap off a few rounds.

Fun facts :

John met his wife in Colorado.  On stage.  He was playing the Wolf and she was playing Little Red Riding Hood in Sondheim's Into the Woods.

Codey wrote [and starred in] a sick musical using all Foo Fighters music.. definitely wouldn't mind seeing that one...

enjoy the shots!

John

Codey

seek the joy!

:e:

eric laurits | NYC Headshot Photographer

Yellow Garters

Vince is one of the funniest guys I know. 

And he is the best actor I have ever seen live. [He's tied with Larry Hecht]

I was actually in a show with Vince.  He was playing Malvolio in Twelfth Night.  I was playing this peon [I can't even remember his name... isn't that sad?] who came on in the beginning, had about four lines of plot divulgence, then i went off backstage and spent the rest of the show watching Vince from the wings and rolling hysterically.  Not only can he make high schoolers actually sit up an pay attention to Shakespeare he can actually have them [gasp] laughing out loud.  Part of that may be due to the fact that he was prancing around in yellow knee-highs half the time, but I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was because he is just incredible.

Here are some pictures of Vince... yeah, he cleans up OK.

then we played a game.  I think this game is gonna be my new favorite game to play at shoots.  It's called the "OK, now make a face that represents how I made you feel this shoot."  Here's what he came up with.

ha ha ha ha ha haa

Seek the joy!

:e:

eric laurits | New York Headshot Photographer

Diana the Awesome

Diana and I  [and Lisa, of course...] hung out on the upper west side getting in some shooting for her new fabulous career... coming to a Broadway playhouse near you.

Hailing from the DC/Alexandria area, Diana is no stranger to the dance floor.  Her mother, a dancer and choreographer herself, raised her eldest daughter on a healthy diet of Fosse, ballet, jazz, tap... the usual.  All the while prancing around she was listening to her dad do a pretty "tight" Sinatra impersonation.  Thus, the megastar was born. A certified tripple threat Diana can do it all from Shakespeare to Sondheim.  Keep your eyes open.  She's on her way...

Also, a very special congrats to her little sister who just got engaged!  Yay! 

OK.  Time for some hotness.

what goes into a shot like this, you may ask?  Well thank you for asking.  I'll tell you.  Actually, I'll show you.  It's not all glitz and glam, people.  I think Diana looks beautiful in the shot above, but you gotta have all the elements working for you.  Some ingredients for success?  See below...

seek the joy!

:e:

eric laurits | NYC Headshot Photographer

Billerica, NY

Kachina lives in Billerica.

What part of New York City, you might ask, is Billerica?  It's actually in Massachusetts, dude.

I was in town shooting a fabulous wedding this weekend [Blog coming soon.... get excited...] and Kachina was gonna come down to NYC to get some shots done. 

But then I was all, "yo, I'm gonna be up there.  I'll just swing by on my way back to NYC and shoot you in the face."

and she was all "Sweet. Let's do it."

So Some things you should know about Kachina.  She is lil Ms. Fixit.  She runs her own construction company [sorta] and is pretty dang handy with a hammer and nail.  Her mom is in Dido's band. AND she has a signed picture of Avril.  [She says it doesn't mean anything but I know better...]  She now has a small baby chipmunk living in her garage that ran in while we were shooting and decided to set up camp there.  I will call it Alvin.

so on with the photos!

Best of luck!  I had an awesome time today...

seek the joy.

:e:

erc laurits | New England Headshot Photographer

A New Life

Today was all about Susan.

Susan wears about forty three different hats...  and you can check out some of them here.  In addition to being totally cool, and great friends with the fabulous Lisa [makeup artist extrodinaire] Susan is at the beginning of a most exciting turn of events.  With her planning business booming, and her other companies all doing extremely well, she's heading back out onto the playing field herself!

If you ever meet Susan [on the street, in the club, wherever] ask her to sing you a little ditty.  I would swear her voice is divinely inspired.  And then ask her if you can go stay with her in Italy.  Yes, she owns a place in the beautiful Italian cityscape... awesome. So anywho... she's back out hitting the cabaret and commercial circuit... that's where :e: comes in.  In addition to getting some standard commercial headshots, Susan wanted a new hipper shot for her site, as well as some cabaret shots as well...  and she did great!

check these out...

who's that foxy lady?

Are you at a crossroads?  Maybe.  or maybe you should just go and try something new.  I bet it'll be amazing.  Just a guess...

seek the joy!

:e:

eric laurits | First Day of the Rest of the Days Photographer

Alliwa

Today was extra special...

Great friend, teacher, mentor, actor, and fellow NTC Grad Allison dragged me out of bed at, like, 5am and we got to snap off some new headshots.

In addition to being a great actor and a comic genius, Allison is also an incredible teacher.  For the past two years I've taught a Music and Character class with her and she is nothing short of brilliant.  There were times [albeit, rare] when I actually was not loathing every musical ever written [Sondheim excluded].  Those moments were fleeting, though, so no sweat.

Other things Allison likes... twins, punting small dogs, techies, and making kids not cross their arms when they're on stage.

AND she gave me a B&H gift certificate!  Talk about knowing the direct path to a boy's heart!

here she is...

I had a great morning, Al.  Thanks!

seek the joy!

:e:

eric laurits | NYC Headshot Photographer

Tyra Says

"Tyra says I should always have something going in my mind."

"Tyra says not to be stingy with showing neck."

"Tyra says this is hot but THIS is fierce."

And so it went today... Shane's pretty convinced he's going to be America's Next Top Male Model and after spending the day with him and his fantastic roommate, Carissa, I just think he may pull it off...

So Shane called me up 'cause he needed some new headshots for his dancing stuff [Shane is a SICK dancer by the way.. if you ever need lessons, drop him a line.  I showed him my port de bras and he said it was pretty good.  sweeeeeeeeeet.]  So we spent the day shooting some really great headshots.

Then, he said he wanted some stuff for a comp card as he was headed into the print modeling world, so we kicked it up a notch and shot some hotness.  It was almost as if Tyra was his personal teacher... mucho props go to the "art director" [aka headshot coach, aka supportive roommate] and member of the :e: family Carissa.

Shane

as you can tell, Shane has a really awful body. he really needs to lay off the donuts.

this looks familiar...

[this was Shane at Carissa's shoot!]

Shane and me! [not to worry folks, the beard's coming off soon... I just literally haven't had enough time to shave.  I need about 30min... life has been crazy]

Shane, it was an absolute blast hanging with you today... go get 'em!

seek the joy!

:e:

eric laurits | America's Next Top Male Model Photographer