Do-Over

This family was my do-over from the Galveston sunrise session that was rained out. It also took place at the cool location where I had tried to hunt down the land owner to get permission and in the end just knocked on the door to the nearby house and asked. Thanks Mr. Frank for not thinking I was crazy for knocking on your door and asking if I could have a portrait session on your property. :D

If you ask me it was totally worth it! What a fun session! Mom decided to do something a little more urban and with some clothing suggestions and a new funky location, urban it was!

I L-O-V-E this color! Doesn't "A" looks oh so cool?!

My favorite! Ha! LOVE IT! (plus a little vintage processing)

Peek A Boo!

My Display

After several months of planning, I can now say, I'm finished! There are now two beautiful 18x24s hung in two of Dr. Glymph's patient rooms. They look great too! (if I do say so myself :D ) Thanks to Erin and Jodi for graciously allowing me to photograph them and their beautiful newborn baby girls, and then allowing me to hang the prints for all to see. You girls are great!

Sunrise? What Sunrise?

Last night I realized I had absolutely nothing planned this weekend. Wow! A whole weekend where I could do or plan to do just about anything. So last night I decided I needed to have some one on one portrait time with my three year old. I have fewer images of him than my other two children, mostly because he would rather run and play than follow instructions. ;) When I told him last night that we were going to go, just the two of us, and take pictures he was so excited. He kept telling his older sister and younger brother, "Sorry, you can't go. Just me and mommy are going."

While driving down University Drive a few times this week, I noticed these huge cargo containers and kept thinking... that would be an awesome background. So, as I fell asleep last night I imagined how great the warm sunrise light would look bouncing off these colorful containers and lighting up my son's blond hair. Well, unfortunately it was a dreary drizzly morning when I awoke. Ugh! Oh well, if I wait, we might not have another chance. Who knows how long the containers will stay there?

Here are two of my favorite images from the morning:

Lighting Challenge of the Day for Me: Cloudy days are typically great days for portrait sessions because you don't need shade. You can photograph just about anywhere. The sun is filtered by the clouds and falls softer on your subject. However, you have to be careful of raccoon eyes and other shadows and pay close attention the the direction your subject is facing. I thought it'd be fun to try to make my three year old seem taller than he really is, so I had him stand tall against one of the container, then I lay down at his feet.

Cool idea, awful light. When he looked down, all the light in his eyes, disappeared.

I took just a second to retreive my trusty reflector, layed it open on the ground and then layed down on it, leaving most of the area open to bounce light back into his face.

Success!

I'm really enjoying these urban style sessions. I'll be on the look out for more fun and unusual locations with this type of style. It's fun and different from the formal feel of my typical family sessions. Well, as formal as you can call a family session with me! Ha!

Rain Rain Go Away

The weather wasn't looking good on our way down to Houston this weekend, and it wasn't any better in Galveston by sunrise on Saturday. Mom and I decided to go ahead and try, and well, we had about 10 minutes of no rain or drizzle. The kids were great! I was slightly concerned the baby might be carried off by the mammoth sized mosquitoes that were feeding off of us, but she made it safely back into the van.

I honestly left this session disappointed. Disappointed for mom, who had been looking forward to this for weeks. Disappointed for the children who wanted to run and play in the water.

Disappointed for me because I had envisioned my first beach session much differently and I wanted to be able to bring the portrait in my mind's eye, to life. None of this was reality, except mom and dad were awesome and took the kids to play in the waves afterward (yes! even in the rain!). Kudos to them!

However, I was very excited to come home and find there are a handful of very good images in this group. Here are a few of my favorites captured in those precious 10 minutes.