Portrait

Actor & Dancer Shawn Carter

in ,

Meet Shawn Carter. He dances. And acts. And he's one of the few people that can say that they were in all three High School Musical films. He helped pull a prank on Zac Efron. It was wet. "[Vanessa] was mad."

These shots were taken as part of a "fashion spread" to help promote Shawn's new movie Scout Camp, which he stars in, alongside local favorite Kirby Heyborne. The idea behind the shoot was all about how to look cool in khakis this summer. I think Shawn pulled it off nicely.

Shawn becomes your friend as soon as you meet him. And he is just as others describe him - professional, humble, hard working and a real nice guy.

After I told him the idea behind the shoot, and that my goal was to turn him into a heartthrob, he let me know that he was ready for whatever I had planned. "I love dressing up. S

o I'll do whatever you need me to. I'm just excited to do this."

The owner of the car was six years-old when his dad bought it. It's as original as it gets, even the color. It was a beauty. Shawn and I where like kids in a candy store when it arrived.

These were shot at Parker's Drive-In, on the corner of State St. and 500 East in American Fork. One of my favorite places. Shawn loves attention, so needless to say he enjoyed every whistle and car horn that came his way.

"Real men wear pink" was Shawn's response as soon as I pulled out the pink shirt. I knew I liked this kid.

Clothing by Gap and Old Navy.

More clothing details here.

Special thanks to Craig M. for the use of his beautiful car, Derek P. for the car tip, and my cousin Eric for saving the parking spaces.

Purchase your own copy of Scout Camp here.

Jeremy Jones

in

I'll spare you the journal entry I could write about my time with pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones. But, I will say this, Jeremy Jones is an A+ guy. Humble, confident, gracious...and awesome. My writer, assistant and I were so impressed with how down-to-earth he was.

I'll share a couple things from my 45 minute session with Jeremy. I would love to share more, but there were a lot of "You had to be there" kinda moments.

We set up in Jeremy's garage. Both of his kids hung around to watch dad. Jeremy's son was so memorized by the lights that Jeremy picked him up to give him a better look. Jeremy's wife was behind me trying to get her son to look at the camera. I kept my mouth shut and fired away.

The first thing Jeremy told me was to not ask him to smile. He said that he hated his "photo smile." So these are 100% natural Jeremy Jone smiles.

"Here you go. I'm giving it to you Matt."

When I think about capturing a genuine emotion, I hope to always remember this image. Jeremy's daughter was just to the right of me, on her tricycle, watching. Jeremy had just asked her what her favorite Disney Princess was. It was Cinderella.

Jeremy has had his picture taken a number of times for magazines and ad campaigns, so he had challenged me to come up with a pose that he hadn't done before (no pressure right?). This had been a running joke during the shoot, so towards the end of our time I had asked him to run his hands through his hair.

"Ah, The Push," he responded.

"Oh no, [you] even [have] a name for it." I said.

We laughed.

To read Jeremy's article in the latest issue of Square Magazine visit here.

Kyle Beckerman

in

How cool is Kyle Beckerman? So cool that he's willing to spend an evening with my writer and I (on his own time), detour to pick up an official ball before meeting us, get dressed in everything that I've brought for him and do whatever I tell him (without a single question), change in a parking garage, risk impending sprinklers and hang out long after we've finished. That's how cool Mr. Beckerman is. I was so impressed with how cool and easy Kyle was to work with. So much so that I'm going to use the word 'cool' again, because he was just that cool. Cool?

These were taken at the Xango practice field in Lehi. My body fed about 20 mosquitoes that night.

 
 
 
 

While tying Kyle's bow tie.

Me: Kyle this is the first time I've ever tied a bow tie.

Kyle: This is the first time I've ever worn a bow tie.

Post updated Jan '12