Music in the Garden
It’s the time of year when high-school seniors get their portraits taken to celebrate a major milestone in their lives. I love being a photographer; I get to work with young adults as they make the huge leap out of high school and on into the rest of their lives. It is great fun to be able to find something in their personality and interests that we can put into a unique portrait. Allison loves music and plays the guitar so we incorporated a wonderful, peaceful scene with her instrument and lovely personality to create this portrait:
Music in the Garden
One of my favorite aspects of this particular image is the reflection of the trees and surrounding texture in the body of the guitar. This is a high dynamic range image, processed specifically to increase the natural texture in the scene around Allison while keeping her skin soft and clear. I enjoy bringing out structure and texture in the world; it’s something I am always on the lookout for with my eyes and it is so pleasing to be able to create it in the portraiture that I do.
Mayfield Park and the Gardens are a unique treasure in Austin and I really like working there.
Olympic Medal Winner
Sandie is a certified physical trainer with an Austin treatment center, and as it turns out she is also an Olympic and World Championship 400m relay medal winner as well! She told me something like “I have several of these medals, but I wasn’t able to find them all”; she seemed very humble… A pretty amazing person and set of physical accomplishments. You can see her Wikipedia page for more details.
I was brought in to photograph her for some marketing work and so I went to her gym and we set up several different shots of her working out and posing with the equipment. We had a lot of fun, well, at least I did; she was doing all the workouts… I really enjoyed getting to meet her and working together; even her friends and clients that came in during our time together were watching and enjoying it.
Here is my favorite from the day, along with a pose including two of her medals:
Working Out with 15 Pounds
A portrait of Sandie along with just a couple of her many medals
Pflugerville Senior Portrait
Cody graduates in May from Pflugerville High School and I was asked to photograph him for his senior invitations. We went to Pfluger Park to see what we could find and came across several pretty cool locations for an outdoor portrait.
Here is the family favorites from the session; I love the light greens and shapes that are behind him in the photograph!
A portrait of a high school senior at Pfluger Park
Portrait of a Violist
Laura will be graduating from the University of Texas this Spring and she wanted a portrait she could use with upcoming performances. So we got together in my studio for a session with her instrument. I love the rich wood color her on the viola, which matches the rich, deep string sound of this beautiful instrument. Laura has a joyous personality and was great to work with and I think we created a great portrait of her and the viola, showing the fun in her smile and eyes matched with the seriousness of her craft.
Family Portrait at Mayfield Park
A while back I had the opportunity to photograph a family together at Mayfield park, one of my favorite places to go. It’s such a quiet, non-city kind of place, with an amazing garden and beautiful flowers. The garden is situated in a very nice nature preserve as well. I just love going there. The family was back together with the kids home from college, and they hadn’t had a portrait together for 10 years. Mom and dad wanted to create an image that had the feel of an image from their previous family portrait so they could be displayed together and show the progression of time in the family. A great idea, and getting the kids home from college is a perfect time to get together and create a memory! Here is one of their favorites from the day:
First Time in Ten Years
Fun at a Wedding
Sometimes, I get to photograph things that are just plain fun. This is an image from the recent wedding of Ben and Sarah; Sarah’s mom is shepherding a couple of little folk who really like music. The band is kind enough to let them play around on the drums, so I was kinda watching them while shooting the crowd and saw this happening. I rushed over to get a shot or two to seal the moment.
Portrait of a Director
As a member of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce (a great organization!), I get to meet and interact with a lot of great people in the area. Recently I met the director of a local university and had the opportunity to work with him to create a portrait that he can use on his web site. These shoots are always fun and give me an opportunity to get to know people and their work a little bit. He has taught in several places around the globe, and has come here to open the new campus of the National American University in Georgetown. We have some amazing educational opportunities here in Central Texas, especially for people who want alternative approaches like night courses and online.
Here is his favorite from the session.
Portrait of a Horse
I have a friend who owns a horse that she rides and I wanted to do a little practice photographing them together. We spent a fair bit of time allowing Bella to get used to my flash and my presence with the camera, and she eventually warmed up to me and allowed us to make this photograph. The sky wasn’t so beautiful that day, so I wasn’t able to really use much in the way of riding shots, which was my initial thought about what I was there to work on. We did do a bunch; I just don’t really love them because of the sky. But I love the emotion between Donna and Bella in this image; they have a special bond that you can really feel when you look at this shot. It was a great experience for me as I was learning how to work in a horse -friendly way and I gathered a lot of ideas for working with horses in the future. I have a session coming up in a week or so that will include a horse and a couple of people and I plan to use several of these ideas. I won’t be able to show any images until later in the year, so you’ll just have to wait before you get to see what I make. I am really looking forward to the session!
Beautiful Wedding at the Mansion at Judges’ Hill
Sarah and Ben held a perfect ceremony in the courtyard at the Mansion at Judges’ Hill; I say perfect because the weather was just right, the temperature was awesome and the bride and groom were beautiful. We gathered in the morning in the middle of the week; a great time to have a wedding as the family has so many more options available to them for all the wedding day needs. We grabbed a few photographs of the party gathering and getting ready, then quickly set up for the main ceremony. I set up my portable flashes to bounce off the wall behind the arbor; this is how we get the best light on the bride and groom. Of course Hannah and I also add fill flash from our camera when it makes sense. As the wedding location was outside we really had an abundance of pretty light around; the goal was to manage it a bit in the deep shadows and strong highlights. I love it when the family says something to the effect of “Do whatever you need, make us look beautiful and capture the best images!”.
After the ceremony, we grabbed a few portraits with the family outside on the stairs and we spent a little time with the couple by themselves on the balcony while the guests all went into the main ballroom and started eating lunch. We always enjoy that time since we can really focus on getting some keepsake portraits the couple will love forever. Then, into the reception for dancing and fun for several hours in the early afternoon. My favorite time during the reception is almost always the father / daughter dance. I have such strong emotions wrapped around giving my own daughter away on her wedding day and I get to remember them as I photograph. Pretty cool. Then, before we knew it, it was time for the couple to head out so we set up the bubbles over on the other side of the Mansion. I always love getting a photograph of the couple running throughout the bubble cloud.
Here are some of my favorite images from the day:
Congratulations to you both and may you live a blessed life together!
Georgetown Bridal Show 2012!
Sunday, February 26th from 12pm-5pm the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce is putting on their annual Bridal Show and we’ll be a part of it! It’ll be held at the East View High School in Georgetown and there will be something like 80 different wedding professionals there to talk to about your wedding day and how they can help. There will be businesses from all the following areas: photographers, event centers, catering services, cake services, invitation services, flower services, travel services, hair & spa services, dress & tuxedo rental, music services and event planners. You’ll be able to get ideas and inspiration from all the booths, find options, select from different styles, and the best part is you’ll get to meet the people who can make your day amazing. Check out the FAQ on the show site and get a great start on your list of things to make sure and do while you are there.