In September 2012, I had just moved to the beautiful state of Colorado after retiring from the Marine Corps. I was living in a hotel, and awaiting to close on my new home. During that time at the hotel, I was trying to meet people in my area, and reached out to another fitness photographer via social media to meet up. That weekend I drove and met up with the other photographer and they were doing high-key, “pin-up” shoots with his clients.

Well…I met one of the young ladies at the photo shoot and shortly later connected to work together, then immediately we grew as friends. Her name is Mandy Martin. Mandy was wearing a, “Sailor” type outfit for her pin-up shoot, and she truly looked the part. The biggest feature that’ll catch your attention with Mandy is her eyes. Besides her goofy sense of humor and her laugh, she’s got these electric blue eyes that make you pay attention to her every word. Oh man, I forgot to mention that Mandy was the first fitness model athlete that I had ever worked with. So big kudos to her contributing to my photography journey for allowing me to develop and grow within my industry. You probably are laughing or wondering why however, when you’re a beginning photographer, NOBODY wants to really work with you; especially on the fitness side of the house. Some folks can really crush your ego with their own. Thankfully Mandy didn’t have that issue.

As I was still a beginner at the time, still learning about lighting, my camera and how to build my business, I had reached out to Mandy to see if she would like to help me develop my lighting skills with a test shoot. She agreed and we did a shoot. The shoot didn’t turn out too bad for a beginner however I won’t be showing those because that would take me digging through my archived images on one of my 12 different hard drives, besides, I want you guys to see where we are now. If you’d like to see those photos, you’ll have to ask Mandy to dig them up. LOL!

Since that first time, we had done a few other shoots whenever I was testing out lighting for something fitness related. Well, this time was completely different and a lot of time had passed, and I had grown as a photographer. Mandy contacted me about hiring me to do an outdoor photo shoot with her, I immediately said, “I have this great spot in mind that I’ve never used with anyone else”! Now I’d be lying if she didn’t hesitate after explaining to her that it was at a skateboard park. The weather was still a bit cold however we kicked it up a notch as the sun came out and BOOM!!! MAGIC!

After our shoot, I asked Mandy if she’d allow me to send them off to potentially be published in a magazine (It’s never guaranteed). She agreed and lo and behold we were approved to be featured in Men’s Muscle & Health Magazine. To them and Mandy, I am forever grateful! Thank you Mandy for having faith and confidence in my abilities. Below I added some addition photos that we’ve taken from some other shoots, please enjoy!

Semper Fidelis!

Mike Conley of MikeCon Photography
Instagram: @mikeconphoto #mikeconphoto
www.mikeconphoto.com