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Category: Portraits | View all recent posts
Jonathan & Jenny
WHAT: Engagements, Portraits | WHEN: May 28, 2013 | WHERE: Deep Ellum Arts District
I've all but stopped posting session images here on the blog because, well, I just got too far behind at one point and decided it was easier to simply bury my head in the sand than keep thinking about the ever-growing to-do list items I couldn't keep up with. Things have finally slowed down a bit now; enough for me to remember I have a blog. And, since Facebook could likely will go away some day (doesn't everything?), I figured I could post a few things over here so I'll have something to look at when all our digital memories disappear with Facebookagheddon.
Soooo.... meet Jonathan and Jenny. I only worked with Jonathan for about a year, but it was plenty of time to figure out he's a pretty talented user interface designer and just an all-around good guy who's fun to be around. I only met Jenny for the first time at their photo session, but I'd heard plenty about her before then when Jonathan would talk about what seemingly new place they went to eat at each weekend, how far they were running that week, and of course when and how he was going to propose. She's a sweet girl and a great fit for him.
These 2 will be starting a new chapter as Jonathan is headed to KC for a new job, and Jenny will join him in a couple months after they get married this fall. We spent a little time last Thursday down in Deep Ellum capturing a few images before Jonathan packed up and headed out of town. Here's some of my favorites.
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The Reames {from the archives]
WHAT: Families, Kids, Portraits | WHEN: May 25, 2012 | WHERE: Dallas, TX
Still playing catch up on blog posts. This one's from last November when my cousin and his wife and 2 kiddos came down and stayed with us for Thanksgiving. We love hangin' out with the Reames clan because they're a ton of fun... and because Aaron is like my brother from another mother; he and I are neck & neck in race to be the most absent-minded. We were both granted book smarts, but we left the building before they handed out common sense.
These guys are also native Ohioans (now living near Boston) and Buckeyes to the bone, so they'll always be welcome in our house. Not that we don't let non-Buckeyes in, they just have work extra hard to earn their keep... or pay us rent. Aaron, Jen and the kids have a lifetime pass.
I love these images, not just because we're related, but because the images are so relaxed and fun and tell a story about who this family is. Without ever meeting them, you know who they are and what their dynamic is like just by glancing at their photos. Their personalities in these images are the same as they are when a camera's not pointed at them. It's hard for some people be themselves in front of the camera. Not these guys.
We loaded up the car one afternoon and headed down to a park near downtown Dallas, and on another day they busted out their OSU gear for a trip to a park in our neighborhood. Here is their story in photos.
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This next image cracks. me. up. Alexandra is layin' down the law, mafia style, on big brother Spencer.
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If I had a photo of Aaron as a kid, it would look exactly like Spencer. Exactly.
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We tried to do a serious pose of Jen and Aaron. Honest. This is about as close as we got.
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Hey, sweet cousin Saige makes an appearance! Wo-hoo! Man, she looks so much younger in this image.
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One day about 8-10 years from now, the kids will regret this next sequence. Kind of an unfortunate anything-you-can-do-we-can-do-better moment. One day they'll learn that there are some things mommies & daddies do that brothers & sisters shouldn't. Hilarious.
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They used this on the Christmas card last year. Ready. Set. Celebrate!
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Jamie
WHO: jamie | WHAT: Portraits | WHEN: March 15, 2011 | WHERE: Dallas, TX (Deep Ellum Arts District)
Meet Jamie. She's a photographer living in Austin who's, in a word, fun... and bubbly... and smiley. Always smiling. In fact, the hardest part about our session last weekend was getting her not to smile in some of her images. Well, that, and pronouncing her last name. Go ahead, give it a try... Lapeyrolerie. See? Anyway, back to the smiling thing. Jamie's got such a sweet and pleasant personality... I'd have a hard time not smiling, too, with a personality like that.
Jamie is in the middle of a rebranding effort for her photography business and website, and she contacted me last year about scheduling a session to create some new images for her website, and I was honored that she drove up to Dallas for a session and more than happy to help. I love photographing photographers. They just 'get it', meaning they're easy to direct and truly a pleasure to work with. And, unlike me who's obviously and visibly awkward when I get in front of the lens anymore, Jamie is a natural.
Here's a few of my favorite images from our session together in downtown Dallas.
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Did I mention Jamie is part Creole? She brought along this killer mask for an image or two. I know, too fun, right?
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Becuase she's such a trooper, you wouldn't know it, but she was freezing by this time. We had temps in the mid 70's all week leading up to the session, but on this particular day, mother nature dealt us a high in the mid 50's when the sun was up, and at this point in the session, it was more like upper 40's.
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New Orleans! (Part Deaux)
WHAT: Families, Kids, Portraits | WHEN: January 31, 2011 | WHERE: New Orleans
Part Deaux.... hahaha, so lame. That's about the extent of my French, though, and for some reason people in New Orleans insist on using "eaux" to spell every word that has a long "O" sound. What can I say. Paris has the Eiffel Tower and amazing art, Venice has charming architecture & beautiful canals, New York has Broadway & glamour galore, and New Orleans has "eaux". Oh, and beignets, which I would argue is just a tad seaux much more impressive.
Here are my workshop images from last week in New Orleans. In some cases we had some models for the hands-on shooting sessions, and in other cases we just photographed each other. About the first two thirds of these were photographed using just available light and reflectors, and towards the end of this post are some off-camera flash images using a simple one or two flash setup.
Lindey, one of the photogs in New Orleans, brought her two adorable kiddos out for a mock children's shoot. Both Ben and Pailyn were fantastic!
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Haley photographing Kelly.
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All direct sunlight in the middle of the afternoon with a silver reflector to the right of Ben to provide some fill light.
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Loved this light on Haley. Very simple setup with the sun lighting her from behind and a silver reflector off to her right to provide some directional light.
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Isn't Pailyn ridiculously cute?
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We serendipitously stumbled upon this little spot between two houses with sunlight coming through to light up this spot on the wall. Thanks to Tim for adding a little more light with a reflector to Karen's right.
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Loved this setup. Karen dresses it up pretty well, too.
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The rest of the images in this post were photographed with off-camera flash providing the light to separate the model from the background.
BTW, we totally scored a fantastic model in Simi. She was the MC the night before at the Cat's Meow and graciously didn't kick Tim and I off the stage during our hideous karaoke butchering of Friends in Low Places. Tim asked her if she would model for us the next day, and she was fantastic. So natural and fun in front of the camera.
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Love this series on the we side walk and street. This was lit with a flash in from of Simi with a 22 " soft box modifier attached to it and then another flash on the ground behind her to provide a little light to separate her from the background. In fact, if you look above her right boot, you can see a cable peeking out that connected the 2nd flash to a Pocket Wizard wireless transceiver. Oops. Photochop musta missed that.
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Really dig the vintage b&w feel of this one.
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Again a two flash set up. One in front and to Simi's right with a 22" soft box and a second flash behind and to her left to help separate her from the scene behind her.
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A single flash laying on the ground abour 10 ft in front of Simi and pointed up right at her.
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Probably my favorite image of Simi.
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New Orleans! (Part 1)
WHAT: Cityscapes & Landscapes, Portraits | WHEN: January 30, 2011 | WHERE: New Orleans
Wow. Major dust has settled on the blog. It's been nearly 2 weeks since I've posted anything here, and I'm not gonna lie... it's been great. I a little break from the blog and client work has been exactly what the photography doctor ordered. Oh... and there was this little trip to New Orleans that was pretty fantastic, too.
One of the on-line photography forums I'm a member of decided several months ago that it'd be great to get together for a few days and talk about/demo/share topics and ideas around any and all things photography, and an idea was born. Last week was the culmination of this plan as the first edition of the workshop took place in New Orleans. And one of the best parts about this whole gig was that other than hotel conference rooms (cost split by 17 people) and travel accommodations, there was no workshop fee. Everyone checked their egos at the door and came with an open mind, an eagerness to learn, and a willingness to share. Prior to arriving, we voted on a few topics to cover and had people volunteer to teach/demo on those topics with plenty of time built in for hands-on shooting to practice what was shared.
Another thing that totally rocked was how well everyone got along. It was kinda cool to show up and feel like I already knew everyone even though I'd only met just a couple of the people in person prior to that. The group really meshed incredibly well, and I'm excited about some of the the new things I learned and, more importantly, the new friendships that were formed. I mean, the other 16 photogs even threw me a surprise baby shower with killer gifts one day at lunch. Totally unexpected, and ridiculously awesome!
Here's a few non-workshop images from the first day when my friends Karen & Michele and I were walking around the French Quarter. All images were created with available light. I'll share images from some of the hands-on workshop shoots in part 2 post.
Here's Michele. I went to an Austin workshop a couple years ago and have become good friends with a couple people from that workshop, and Michele is one of them.
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And here's Karen. I met her in Austin as well. BTW, Karen makes some of the most creative, fun lunches for her kiddos that I've ever seen. She even brought me a couple animal shaped sandwich cutters so I can try out making some cool lunches for baby Nicolosi one day. My favorite was the unicorn.
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We spent a fair amount of the day being models for each other while doing some available-light shooting. Obviously both Karen and Michele were easy to work with. (Sorry, ladies, I couldn't return the favor).
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This dude was awe. some. The guy holdin' the strings was pretty talented, too.
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A few steps across the street from the big church a couple images up.
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This reminds me of an image I took on our honeymoon in Italy.
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Meet Giovanni. This guy was a sweet/scary/talkative local artist we met down near the church. He had a ton of character, and a TON of things to say. Here he was framing up my mug.
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Love this black and white of him.
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That evening we were walking down near Pat O'briens, and thre was this really cool old wall right next door. There were a couple groups doing a haunted New Orleans walking tour, and I grabbed this image as a few members from one of the groups were walking by. I thought it kinda had an appropriately spooky feel to it.
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