Baby Sophia
I have fallen way behind in keeping up with posts but it’s for the best reason – really busy – rather than just slacking off. Things have been rather non-stop for months and looking to stay that way, for which I am immensely grateful.
On to the post: there’s just something about black and white photography for newborns that I can’t resist. With digital everything is color but there are beautiful software tools that can take that color data and correctly interpret it in B&W – and yes I do say interpret deliberately, because just stripping out the color data from an image often results in muddy, flat tones. I learned photography by shooting black and white film – Tri-X Pan for those who remember it. By default rather than talent I ended up as photo editor of my college paper which basically meant I shot the every assignment no one else wanted…so maybe I still have a little muscle memory for seeing black and white rather than color.
In any case, here’s a couple of my favorite images from a newborn shoot with Sophia a couple of weeks ago, all converted to black and white in Photoshop using Nik Software’s Silver Efex. That’s proud papa Tony holding her in probably my favorite image from the set.
Congrats to Tony and Carrie and welcome Sophia!
Annelise – Suite 7-818 Set #2
The second set from my shoot with Annelise last month in Las Vegas.
As a side note to the fact that Annelise is a strikingly beautiful girl, this was shot at 9am on a Sunday morning – the lighting is all strobe, through a single 10″x36″ strip box. To me, one of the things that makes this set nice is the directionality and quality of the light. A beautiful girl lit badly is going to give you a bad image, but a beautiful girl with beautiful light is magic. Enjoy.
Glamorous Kayla
At this year’s WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) convention, I had the opportunity to take a workshop with talented boudoir photographer Robin Owen. Boudoir photography means a lot of things and the word has some baggage that I don’t necessarily like, but one cool trend that has emerged in the last couple of years is that it has become a way for any woman to celebrate her own beauty – no matter her size, age, height, weight, or any of the other things that tend to make people worry about their appearance. The process of hair, makeup, wardrobe, lighting, posing, and location can be transformative and amazingly positive.
Here are some shots from the afternoon, with model Kayla Love.
Annelise – Suite 7-817 Set #1
A set I shot in Las Vegas during WPPI last week. Wanted to do something with kind of an editorial fashion feel…
The other kind of senior portraits
Over the holidays I spent some time with family on the East Coast, and one of the things I wanted to do while I was there was shoot formal portraits of my parents. Like all of us, I have a lot of pictures of my parents but they’re all very casual. I wanted to make some real portraits, with an eye towards black and white prints, that would really capture them as they are. Yes, as my mother said when she saw them, “who are those wrinkly people?” – these photos show age. My parents are in their 70′s. They show character as well, and time, and travel, and a lifetime of experience. That’s what I really wanted to capture in these images.
Site migration…
I’ve moved the site over to a new web host, but now have to rebuild a lot of the content – so all the images are currently missing from posts and the portfolio. I’m in the process of adding everything back in but it’ll take a few days…
Recent work
Seattle is a limited market for aspiring models – there’s a small fashion industry and some local runway work for Nordstrom and the the like, but overall there’s not a tremendous amount of work to be had. If you’re from the Pacific Northwest and serious about pursuing a career in the biz, the path is to get some national exposure and move on to a bigger market. In any case, it’s always interesting to work with people who are interested in seeing what it’s about and helping them put together a portfolio of images to help get them on their way. Here are some images from a test shoot last weekend with Cari. She’s never done any modeling and this was her first time being shot professionally.
Santa Fe Workshops – Portraits
I took a little break to do some learning last week – spent 4 days in Santa Fe at a portrait workshop taught by Austin-based photographer Michael O’Brien. Michael has photographed everyone from Bill Cosby to Willie Nelson, and has a distinctive style of portraiture and lighting that he shared with us over the course of the workshop. It was a fantastic 4 days – learned a lot, pushed myself creatively, and overall was really impressed with the quality of the Santa Fe Workshops experience. Some of my best shots from the workshop below.
Golden Gardens Wedding
An October afternoon for a beach wedding in Seattle? Rain is a safe bet, but for this wedding we got beautiful weather, chilly but clear once the marine layer pulled back. It was a joyous, intimate ceremony of laughter and friends – beauty all around. A pleasure to photograph.
