#leighton dacosta

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Kho'dai's Headshot Session | Leighton DaCosta, San Diego Headshot Photographer

Hello everyone!

Recently I had the pleasure of photographing the beautiful and talented model, Kho'dai. It was an exciting session for me as I had the opportunity to showcase her unique and stunning beauty through my lens.

Kho'dai's beautiful brown skin glows in every shot. Her giant afro added an extra level of individuality and flair to her headshots. She made every shot dynamic and eye-catching.

During our session, Kho'dai posed for modeling and acting headshots and was natural in front of the camera. Her smile lit up the room. Her elegant poses were effortless, making my job as a photographer a breeze.

Kho'dai's headshots are going to be a great addition to her portfolio and I can't wait to see where her modeling and acting career takes her. Her unique beauty and talent make her stand out in the industry and I am confident that she will be a rising star in no time.

Thank you, Kho'dai, for choosing me as your photographer. It was a fantastic experience working with you and I am honored to have captured your beauty.

~LD

[poor-pixie]

- Leighton Dacosta

[officialhs-net]

meet the 1953-54 professors ! (part 3/4)

❝ We teachers are rather good at magic. We've even been known to turn out a worthwhile witch or wizard on occasion.

→ we’ve been expecting you...

[roleplaytipsandadvice]

Hello There, happy to see you back and not flagged anymore. I need help to find a FC for the TV show Leverage, i have an idea of OC, she's a thieft and a princess, my best friends told me to use Keira Knigthley, but i don't know i don't feel it. Do you think you can help me find a FC with ressources that can work for that kind of character. Thanks

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Jessica Parker Kennedy

Sonequa Martin-Green

Leighton Meester

Lyndsy Fonseca

Diane Guerrero

Bianca Lawson

Aja Naomi King

Dianna Agron

Grace Gealey

Yaya DaCosta

Jenna Dewan

Hilarie Burton

Shay Mitchell

Emilia Clarke

Eliza Dushku

Karen David

Doona Bae

Eva Green

[we-eternal-rp]

hi! would you be able to give me some 30+ fc's for hestia? could i also reserve her for cece?

☄ —  anon !

yaaaaas i can !   who doesn’t love our goddess of the hearth? i’ll add the reserve for you, but if you would like to reserve a FC in addition please send in another ask and we’ll amend that for you no worries.   i’m including a few masc fcs too just for good measure !

ming xi 

ni ni

seo yeji 

emmy rossum

amber stevens west

michiel huisman

dichen lachman

emily browning 

yaya dacosta

gemma chan

morena baccarin

lauren german

leighton meester

milo ventimiglia

missy peregrym

keegan allen

golshifteh farahani

parveen kaur

lupita nyong'o

katherine moennig — playable 30-44, due to the bulk of her resources being either early 30s or late 40s, so the muse age would depend mostly on what role/resources you chose!

sarah shahi — playable 35-45, note that she is 44, but her resources are often when she is of late-30s

oded fehr — playable 40-50, this is because he has at least of acting resources muse age would depend mostly on what role/resources you chose!

angela bassett — playable 50-65yo, this is because she has two decades of acting so muse age would depend mostly on what role/resources you chose!

[shantearmstrong]

RED Alert!

A few months ago, I booked a fashion shoot based upon the color RED with two amazing photographers, Leighton DaCosta and Geno Porter.

This shoot was perfectly planned. Despite having to arrive onset, before dawn, for hair and makeup, by the oh-so amazing Rosa Martinez - I had a blast! I look forward to working with the Leighton and Geno, and the beautiful models I met, again.

Photographers website:

Leighton DaCosta, http://www.leightond.com/

Geno Porter, https://www.airealphotographyllc.com/

[leightondphoto]

2023 Revisited | Leighton DaCosta, San Diego Photographer

HAPPY 123123 DAY!

2023 was an amazing year in San Diego. There were way more ups than downs and I am blessed to see another year! Thank you to all the clients and friends, and clients who became friends, and friends who became clients.

We had a blast in Jamaica during Carnival, LA Fashion Week work with BVFW was phenomenal, we went chasing waterfalls and bars in the middle of the ocean to capture some travel portraiture.

The portraits this year were widely varied, from influencer headshots, acting headshots, costume photography for international beauty queens, and beauty shots for music artists, along with some commercial work as well.

Let’s not forget the weddings in Vegas or the trips to the desert!

Cheers to the completion of 2023 and a new start in 2024. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT AS ALWAYS!

LD

And here’s some quick shots from BVFW LA…

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Taiwan: A Photo Essay | Leighton DaCosta, San Diego Photographer

Location: Taiwan Photographer: Leighton DaCosta @LeightonDPhoto Camera: Nikon Df

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Eryn's Headshots | Leighton DaCosta, San Diego Headshot Photographer

Model: Eryn R. @erynalexa_ MUA: Jasmine Sanchez @transition_queen0626 Photographer: Leighton DaCosta @LeightonDPhoto Location: San Diego, California 92108

See more here: https://leightond.shootproof.com/gallery/22953786/

[leightondphoto]

Bovtiqve Fashion Week LA BVFW Day 1 | Leighton DaCosta Photographer

Bovtiqve Fashion Week (BVFW) Volume 7 has arrived in the City of Angels! A five-day event, BVFW uses a variety of locations and events to showcase the 5 (V) fundamentals of BVFW. What is BVFW? BVFW is partnership of independent fashion designers, boutique owners, merchandisers, producers, influencers, and models. Bovtiqve Fashion Week was created to establish a foundation of fashion and business trade, increase the economic and creative development in the areas of fashion design, clothing, merchandising, event production, and modeling. BVFW is held twice a year during the months of February and September. By rotating cities for every edition, BVFW provides a major American city the platform to make a significant impression on a critical sector of the fashion industry. It also highlights a city's capacity to thrive within the growth of one of the most profitable industries in the world.

High up in a high rise tower located at the corner of Sunset and Vine, Volume VII of BVFW kicked off. A great industry panel, band, and awesome venue served as the conduit for this industry mixer of professionals. BVFW continues until 10/1.

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2021 | Leighton DaCosta, Portrait Artist

Happy 2021 everyone! I want to say, first of all, thank you to every single one of you who has supported me throughout the years. 2021 will prove to be a change for many of us, and I hope for all of you reading this it will be for the better. Stay tuned for updates and changes as we do our transition to California and the American West! I look forward to sharing the looks and stories of people and places along the journey. Portraits, Boudoir, Experiences, and yes, more fine artwork along the way. I can’t wait!

See you soon!

LD

[leightondphoto]

Back To Business Basics Workshop Recap & 3 quick lessons | Leighton DaCosta, Charleston Photography Instructor

Let me start off by saying THANK YOU to all those who attended the Back to Business Basics (B3) workshop this past weekend. I was honored by your presence. To those who were unable to attend, I look forward to you attending future business workshops.

I have always believed in “Community over Competition” when it comes to the photography industry, because on the business side, I feel our responsibility is to serve the market and the market is HUGE! By aligning our individual reasons of why we do this, it helps us persevere in serving clients who share our love in what we photograph!

Lesson #1: Don’t try and do it all by yourself!

Back in December, during a networking event, several photographers reached out to me about doing a workshop. Fellow Photographer, Geno Porter (AirReal Photography) had been encouraging me to do just that for the longest. If it wasn’t for his encouragement and shared financial backing, this workshop might never have happened.

This was one of the lessons that I shared when starting out and you have limited resources. Find someone or a group of individuals who are willing to share the responsibilities and work together for a common good. You’d be surprised how much lighter the burdens are.

Lesson #2: Provide value by solving problems

Many photographers face the challenges of doing things the “right” way. By that, I mean, legal hurdles such as going through the business license process. Having the right permits at the right locations. Whether or not to have a studio or not, even down to insurance requirements, and lets not get started on what gear we need and how to get it!

Similar in my quest to help photographers solve these problems, we learned that we have to do more than just take “pretty pictures” for clients but solve their core problems, wants, desires, and needs while always striving to provide additional value.

Sometimes that value is additional time. Other times that value is access to a location that a client ordinarily wouldn’t be able to go to. We learned how our pricing is not about just what we charge, but is based on our economic philosophy as well. Making a choice to provide premium products to offer premium quality, or the choice to offer different levels of quality in products and services in order to serve a wider client base. Finding the solutions to problem and knowing WHY you want to solve that problem is critical to finding the people who want YOU to solve that problem.

Lesson #3: Continuously Improve

As expressed in the portion of learning about finding out the unknown unknowns, we learned that no one person has all the answers. Not even myself, but we should continuously strive to find the answers. Challenges arise and change everyday, as well as the solutions to them. The importance is understanding and being prepared for those changes. Our presentation, service/product offerings, workflows can all be continuously improved, but need to have a solid foundation.

A distinctive “Why.”

Special Thanks to:

Maple Street Biscuit Company - James Island

The Restoration Hotel

Mellow Mushroom on King

…and all the attendees!

To find out about future training events, please visit HERE

The next Charleston workshop is scheduled for Sunday, June 30th 2019 and tickets can be found HERE

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Model Session: Shante | Leighton DaCosta, Charleston Fine Art Photographer

CONFESSION: I don't usually post nude/fine art work online. But since it is a blue moon, why not? 

Seriously, I don't like posting nude work and projects online. One, because of privacy and discretion, but two because I honestly feel that fine art work should be printed, savored, and enjoyed. It is intended to live longer than a snap or a gram, but for many years. 

So I guess I'll let the cat out the bag. I've been working for the past few months with a model from Jacksonville, Florida. Shante has been a blast to work with as we work through this project, but recently while reviewing the images from a session, one image jumped right out at me. 

The call time was 5 am, where I met Shante at her hotel that she was staying in for her weekend in Charleston, SC, along with fellow photographer, Jerrica Smith-McKune of Jerrica SM Photography. We ventured out to an area of Edisto Beach that is well known for its driftwood beach. I was extremely nervous about coming out to this beach, because I had not been since the summer before the hurricanes. I heard there was bad erosion, and the beach was closed. Came to find out that the beach is only closed for the 2 hours before and after high tide. 

So with an overcast sky, and temperatures in the 50's, we set out to do an outdoor shoot consisting of fine art nudes, along with a little editorial fashion. Shante and Jerrica were great to work with, and proved to be the ideal team to try new concepts of lighting and looks with. 

About a half-mile away from our "camp site," we decided to get a little bohemian type look going. While shooting, I must have made a joke that was so funny that Shante laughed out loud. Reviewing the look on her face in the image below, reminded me on how liberating a shoot like this can be. You're out in the public. Bare for all to see. Cold. Yet you are having fun without a care in the world. 

After the boho look, the shoot started to warm up, even with the cold temperatures. We did a few other looks before going to a fully nude bodyscape.  I really have to give Shante a lot of credit for she was willing to stand in very cold water, in the brisk air to get the shot.

The experience was great for all, and I can't wait to finish the collection of fine art work. 

[leightondphoto]

Karmen | Leighton DaCosta, Charleston Lifestyle Photographer

I had a great time working with Karmen this past year as we did a quick shoot in the Avondale area of Charleston, SC. Coming down on a Sunday all the way from Gaffney, SC, I was assisted with the great help of her parents while capturing Karmen. As she continues to build her portfolio during her senior year of high school, I wish Karmen continued success. Until next time.

LD

Model: Karmen Location: Gaffney, SC Photographer: Leighton DaCosta Photographer’s Assistant: Bernard Foster Retouched by Picsera

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'Rights vs. Reputation | Leighton DaCosta, Charleston Photographer

I remember hearing the phrase, "Photographers may own the copyrights, but our clients own our reputations."

Sometimes in the world of photography, we photographers can get caught up in our artistic abilities to create great images. Many photographers, myself included, participate in many photo shoots where our subjects are upcoming models building a portfolio. Sometimes these sessions fall into a more informal arrangement between photographer and model, collaborating on different themes and looks. These sessions can be for monetary compensation, but often they are for a trade of image usage to prints, or model/photographer time, for the use of images (TFP). 

In these TFP situations, it seems that we often forget that there is still a client/service provider relationship. Both the model and the photographer are clients and providers. For the focus of this post, I will direct this to photographers.  

The reality is that regardless of the compensation currency, the person that is in front of the camera is either the client, or a potential future client. With many photographers being on the similar skill levels, and even having similar equipment, what often separates us from each other is the commitment to service. That's right, customer service.

Keeping the client in mind, we need to understand that everyone on our sets are the foundation of our reputations. Do people like working with you? Do they feel challenged? Respected? Valued? What about if they feel marginalized, threatened, or unsafe? 

Recently, a local photographer had some damning allegations levied towards him. Some of the accusations were inappropriate conversations during late hours, unwanted touching, and even unwanted undressing during photo sessions. Charges continued along the lines of the photographer threatening to post images online that were not intended to be for public viewing. So what do you do if you are a photographer and true, or not, find yourself in a similar predicament? Personally, I feel that you have two choices. 

IGNORE IT. That's right. Do not dignify an allegation with a response. This is a tactic that many companies, politicians, and businesses take, because saying nothing is better than saying the wrong thing. The challenge with this strategy is it does not allow you to take accountability for wrong doing or a misunderstanding.

OWN UP TO IT. Sometimes a misunderstanding is just that. Hiding from it may make a photographer seem guilty or "creepy." When the person might have just a different personality than others. Owning up to it keeps a lot of the rumors at bay, and lets you set the narrative. The challenge with owning up to it, is that the rumors might be true, and liability can be attached. While this can be a hit on business, clients will still often maintain your trust.  Don't believe me? Look at all the blunders by companies like United Airlines, Starbucks, Denny's, Delta, and other companies, yet we still patronize them. 

Its about integrity, not perfection.

LD

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Ankara Swim 2017: Fabian and Mom | Leighton DaCosta Miami Fashion Photographer

Website: www.fabianandmom.com

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The wonderful showcase of Fabian and Mom during Ankara Swim 2017 in Miami Florida. July 22, 2017