Sunday, December 28, 2008

My Niece Ashley


I spent Christmas with my brother and nieces in Bend, Oregon, and it was an incredible white Christmas.

My niece, Ashley, is 17 years old and asked me to take her Senior Portrait. As you can see she is very beautiful and photogenic.

I did not bring all my equipment so had to come up with some creative lighting and backdrops. I originally had envisioned doing this shoot in the downtown area of Bend because it has cool historical buildings but it was in the low 20’s way too cold for an outdoor shot. I had to do it at her home. They have a huge bay window in their living room that as the sun went down it made for some incredible lighting opportunity for me. The walls are painted a deep rich red and there is an armoire that has been in our family for generations that when the light hit them it made the background came alive. I sat Ashley in a chair in front of the wall and armoire. The sun was lighting her face but I still needed more light on her hair. I had brought my SB 800 Speed light without a light stand so I had my other niece hold the light pointing to the ceiling and not at Ashley. I wanted the light to bounce off the ceiling on to her hair to give more definition. I set my shutter speed at a 10th of a second and opened up the aperture. This gave me more light for the background and on Ashley.

I decided to do some of Ashley’s photographs outside, too because she has this jet black hair and I knew the contrast between the snow and her hair would really make some awesome photographs. I got high up above her so the background would all be snow, no trees or cars, etc. We did not last long outside because of the cold. I’m so happy with the end results. Time goes by so quickly, I have seen Ashley as a baby, through childhood years and now she is this lovely, smart and sensitive young lady. I’m very proud of my niece.











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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Baby Caden's First Year




I met Susan and Ross back in early March of this year, when Susan was two weeks away from having their baby. I did their maternity shoot. Baby Caden arrived on March 21st, and in April, I came back to shoot his newborn session. Baby Caden is on my Baby Plan, and I have gotten to see so many changes in him and witness important milestones in his life, like his Baptism. I have gotten to know Susan and Ross, too! They’re great people. Susan is a crusader for animals, always helping out animals in need. I have been privileged to be a part of their photographic memories. Susan wrote to me something that I will always treasure, “When I first saw the photographs of our son, I got chills and had tears in my eyes. We are very grateful to have met you and to make you a part of our son’s life as he grows.” To emotionally move another person through my photography is the ultimate compliment and the best reward I could ever dream of!







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Monday, December 8, 2008

Coast Kids Magazine Debut
























The photographs I took back in September for Coast Kids Magazine have been published in their Winter issue. Here it is online - http://emagazine.orangecountykidsmagazine.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=T0NNS2lkcy8yMDA4LzEyLzAxI0FyMDEwMDA=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-ocr

I just signed an agreement with Coast Kids Magazine to do four photo shoots for them in 2009. I am looking forward to having many more of my photographs printed in such an incredible magazine.
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Wendy, Brian, Baby Audrey and Clancy!

Wendy had seen my photographs of a family that I took this past spring, and loved them. I was very flattered that she wanted me to take photographs of her 10 month old baby, Audrey, her husband, Brian and their dog Clancy. The day of our photo shoot came and we had to postpone due to rain. So two weeks later we finally met and baby Audrey was all smiles enjoying her first professional photo shoot. Photographing a baby and a dog together can be a challenge. Clancy just wanted to explore and smell everything.

















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