This is the second portrait I took for the Down Syndrome Association of Texas (DSACT) calendar in 2012. Brian Sharples is the celebrity, and Sam with his brother spent time together painting in the art studio enjoying each other immensely. Our shared passion for the portrait session was “Painting”, and that extended to painting each other. Pretty fun. I so enjoyed getting to see them interacting and having fun; Brian was all about engaging these brothers and I think he succeeded! I absolutely love the connection between Brian and Sam; they really hit it off and enjoyed their time together.

2012 DSACT calendar session with Brian Sharples, Ben and his brother in the art studio.

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A beautiful wedding at Chapel Dulcinea and reception at Tuscan Hall! Austin and the Central texas area are the home of many wedding venues, but this one is special; it’s free!

Allie waits before walking down the aisle, at Chapel Dulcinea.

Allie walks down the aisle at Chapel Dulcinea.

David and Allie at the alter in Chapel Dulcinea.

David and Allie were married in a wedding at Chapel Dulcinea, one of the most popular wedding venues in the Central Texas area. It was a beautiful afternoon, and family and friends all gather around the couple as they went through their vows together. We had a good bit of a breeze, which in many cases helped with the photography; Allie’s veil looked really nice as it flowed out beside her or behind her.

Just Married – Already Making Plans

The reception was held at the nearby Tuscan Hall, with a great band and lots of fun. The hall is decorated beautifully, with lots of interesting things around. My understanding is that it is all about Don Quixote.

David and Allie in the first dance.

A highlight of the evening for me was the bouquet toss; there was quite the tussle for the winner to get the flowers as they flew across the room. It’s always fun to photograph events where everyone is really engaged in the activity!

As Hannah and I sometimes do, we brought along a third photographer to capture some of the day; he got some wonderful photographs! One of my favorites is that image of the fight over the bouquet. It always helps to have more than one photographer at a wedding; we work to get different parts of the overall story so the day is preserved. Go check out Gary’s work over at grhookphoto.com.

Previously, we photographed the couple at the chapel for their engagement photographs.

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Fine Art Photography

From time to time I create images in the fine art photography genre to allow me to explore God’s creation and express something of beauty, or interest to me. This past Spring I spent a little time with my image catalog of things I had photographed and tried something new; composite photography. In each of these three images, O took several items I had photographed in the past several years and combined them to help tell a story of significance to me. The three pieces have a common theme; the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as given in the Christian faith. So, that means there are some common elements in the photographs. The images are now on display at the Open Doors Gallery of the Hill Country Bible Church in NW Austin.

Here are a few words about each:

Communion

Christian communion can be a very solemn and formal celebration, as we remember our Lord’s ultimate sacrifice for us. Photographs from several Maundy Thursday and Good Friday celebrations are combined to emphasize the Love Jesus poured out on us in His death on the cross.

Worship

Worship is a focus on Who is at the center of our affection, transcending our acts of singing, playing instruments, dancing and motion. This composite brings several elements together to show our worship even as it combines with the heavenly angels around the throne of God in magnificent color and glory.

The Elements

Here are some of the elements that might be found in a Christian remembrance of Christ’s suffering on the cross, celebrated in communion; the bread, wine, the cross, prayer and quiet.

And here are the images. Each is a framed 11×14 print in a 16×20 mat.

imageclectic Fine Art Photography

imageclectic Fine Art Photography

imageclectic Fine Art Photography

Invitation to Exhibit

I was pleased to be invited to exhibit these images in the “Fully Alive” art exhibit; here is the physical invitation:

imageclectic Fine Art Photography a part of exhibit

imageclectic Fine Art Photography a part of exhibit

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Wedding photography with Tom and Hannah

Yes, there really is an Industry, Tx. And yes, there is a cool place to get married there; it’s called the Welcome Hall, and has that name because the hall was moved there from Welcome, Tx. What a great old place, with awesome wood all on the interior of the hall and a fantastic wood floor. In fact, I used the wall as the backdrop for my award-winning portrait of the sound guy.

We started our work with Hannah at the home of a family friend, where she dressed and the bridesmaids prayed over her for blessing. We photographed a few portraits outside as the sun began to set. Then it was off to the Welcome Hall for the wedding and reception. At the hall, we prepared for the ceremony by setting up our lights near the ceremony site and working with the bride and her maids in a couple of extra spots for portraits. Then it was off the the ceremony.

After the ceremony, we had to have a little fun with the wedding party and family by photographing them under the outdoor heater; they were all kinda cold in the evening air.

After the few posed portraits the family wanted were taken, we moved on to the reception, with dancing, fellowship and fun. A great way to spend the evening before heading off to the honeymoon. We typically set up our lights in the corners of the reception hall; we really needed them here since the interior was so dark and the ceiling so high.

Without the lights that we brought and set up, we would not have had the capability to create the photographs of the day that were possible; it was simply dark. Since the wedding was outside, and started after sunset, it was dark. And since the interior of the hall was dark, and the hall lights were not really capable of lighting the whole room, the reception was dark. So, we used our own lights to augment the evening. I think this is one of several key values that I, as a professional photographer, can bring to a wedding; we can make beautiful light in almost any circumstance as long as the bride and the minister allow it. And with light, we can make great photographs.

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This month I entered a variation on my photograph The Sound Guy in the local Austin PPA print competition and it won first place. How exciting. I’m printing all my own prints now, and backing each as well for competition. I am very pleased with the results and certainly with the ribbon. It is certainly gratifying to be recognized as an award winning portrait photographer in the greater Austin area.

The Austin PPA is a group of local photographers who get together each month to inspire each other and grow in the art and craft of photography as a profession. Each month we study business, art, photography and each other’s work. This month we heard an excellent talk from renowned artist Edward Povey.

Stephanie Sharif came in second place; and tied for third place were Marta Gulbe and Jenny Rhea Eisenhauer. Congratulations to all the winners.

Award winning portrait photographer Bill Ledbetter, Jr. wins first place at the Austin PPA February Print Competition

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David and Allie are getting married in March, and we photographed them at their home as well as at Chapel Dulcinea for some engagement portraits. It was a beautiful and somewhat breezy cool winter day here in Austin, and we have a great time capturing a few images. Engagement photos are always fun for us; there’s great excitement for the future and we get to try lots of fun poses and scenes.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

On the Porch

At Chapel Dulcinea

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At the recent wedding of Tom and Hannah, there was a band playing. And the band had a sound guy in the very back. Now most people probably didn’t even see him, but as I worked the room capturing all the guests so the bride and groom could remember everyone who attended, I wandered over to his area. I don’t think he even saw me; either he was busy working on his live mix for the band, or he was just not so into people watching. Anyway, I quickly set up my off-camera flash nearby and grabbed a couple of portraits. This one is my absolute favorite from those few moments! Serendipity!

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The print “Eli and Isaac, Ready For a Bath” won second place last night at the local Austin PPA meeting! Congratulations to the boys for being so cute! Here I am posing with the first place APPA winner John R. Rogers and third-place APPA winner Brandi Nellis. It’s good to be listed among such talented photographers in the Austin area.

Bill ledbetter, Jr., showing his winning portrait of Eli and Isaac in their yard.

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For a family Christmas present this year, Hannah and I wanted to try out some new props, and she had this amazing field of grass in her yard. So, we set up in the grass and we could both tell we were going to end up with some wonderful photographs even before we started photographing. The boys were having fun and smiling and the grass was just amazing. Isaac was totally engaged with the process, and Eli thought it was pretty cool too. Willing subjects, beautiful setting, fun props, great ideas… Doesn’t get much better than that! I spent the whole day with them, and even got to help Eli learn to ride a bike without training wheel that day. Being a granddad is pretty neat.

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A couple of months back we photographed the wedding of Ben and Sarah at Hope Chapel. Some amazingly important moments fill out the day of any wedding, and this wedding certainly had some great moments to photograph. Here are my selections from the day!

While the bride’s party and the groomsmen are still getting dressed, Hannah and I shuffled back and forth capturing some individual portraits. Here’s a pretty cool one in the youth annex:

To start, when the bridal party was all ready, we created some fun portraits of Sarah with her maids and Ben with his guys around the church. There’s this really cool wall in the lobby with lines and it just seemed right to use them as a “line-up” wall. And out back (so we could keep the guys separate from the gals) we used the thin rock wall as a place to create some great portraits of the girls.

And I love catching the look on the groom’s face when his bride comes in the door. It’s a trick keeping the cameras pointed in every direction at once; everything happens fast right about this time!

And then there’s the handoff; dad is very pleased.

For the photography during the ceremony I had set up my flashes in the sanctuary so we could augment the beautiful light coming through the skylight. You can see the wedding party up front, lit from above by the skylight and in front by two flashes within the draped tulle. It’s a beautiful ceremony!

A friend could not make it to the wedding, so another friend used her iPad to FaceTime the ceremony to her. That is a pretty cool use of technology!

Once the ceremony was over and the happy couple had left the sanctuary, all the rest of the wedding party and family danced out of the room. Everyone enjoyed the fun.

Before the reception we took Ben and Sarah out front to play around with the rock wall again and while I was photographing them I looked and saw Sarah’s niece watching from behind the doorway. I was elated to capture this portrait.

The sendoff was done with bubbles, which always make for fun photographs:

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