For 2016, I'm participating in a 12-month, theme-based photo challenge with fellow North Carolina photographer Sunny Lee and Chicago photographer and studio partner Bill Whitmire.

The first month theme is Levitation, and above is what I came up with.

The story behind the image is not exacted like I would like. The image is kind of documentation in a way. You see, we've decided to leave our studio space for another one, and this is a way to honor our studio with a going-away hurrah.

We move into our new space February 1.

For this image, I worked with model Danielle Maddox. I've wanted to work with her for about a year now, and finally got up enough nerve to ask her to be a part of this project. I knew I wanted someone athletic, as the process here is having her jump in the air and land on an air mattress.

Plus, I love Danielle's sense of humor than comes across in a lot of her work. She's got that sassy, fun, somethin' somethin' that shines through, and I love working with people like that.

I bought and used Atmosphere Aerosol for this shoot, but the way I did my lighting ended up overpowering it, so it doesn't read in these images.

I lighted the scene using a large stripbox over head and some front fill and a light in the rear left-hand corner to embellish the sun rays.

Below are behind the scenes photos taken by Bill Whitmire.