off to Canada

i head to the great north on Monday for a week. i’ll be shooting images for that production chemical company out of Houston again. be on the lookout for some new stuff when i return.

here are a few selects from the houston trip i took a couple weeks ago; you can see a broader selection by clicking here.

mother’s day

i just found out that imagekind is offering free shipping between now and May 11th for Mother’s Day. so, head over to my imagekind store, pick out something that your mom or wife would like and take advantage of free shipping.

all you have to do is use the promo code Mday2008 at checkout.

the unexpected

everything about my session at Jennifer and Brandon’s house was unexpected… from my late arrival due to some, um – how do you say – car trouble to the amazing light in their dining room that forced me to rearrange the furniture.

…oh, and I learned that an empty dining room with beautiful light prompts little girls to dance like there is no tomorrow.

i’m not finished with the processing, but i’m pretty stoked about the results so far… here’s a little sneak peek.

jeni & ben

a couple posts back i wrote about how i had the great pleasure of photographing Jeni and Jessica, both are 7 and a half months pregnant. the session was pretty unique for me because i’d never done a pregnancy portrait* before (let alone 2 at once) and they brought their husbands.

anyway, we had a blast – at least, i did. here are a few of my favorite Jeni & Ben images.

the great smoky mountains

my dad used to have a place up in North Carolina; these are a selection of images from my time there. several of these images are available as giclee prints through imagekind, however, if you see one you love and want that isn’t in the store at imagekind, let me know and i’ll make arrangements.

foothills

some production stills

week before last i was hired to do some photograpy alongside a video crew for a production chemical company out of Houston. between setups I would hunt and pick for photo opportunities and in the process fell back in love with on-set photography. there’s something about a production still that really grabs me.

three books and a stick of gum puts the camera in the perfect spot. no joke about the gum.

a sneak peak at this weekends session

i really enjoy making portraits. i mean, i really, really like it. i enjoy spending time with people, learning about them and finding a way to capture the essence of who they are. before the day ever arrives, i spend alot of time considering locations and looking at images from photographers i love for inspiration, but the ancillary details aren’t my primary focus.

the most important thing, in my opinion, is a great story.

Jeni & Jessica have a great story.

they’ve been best friends since the 6th grade, their husbands are now friends and they’re both pregnant – the due dates only a couple days apart. when Jessica told me they wanted to do their sessions together, i thought it was a brilliant idea.

as i thought about the phase of life they’re in, i kept coming back to the notion of young love; being newly married and expecting a child, it’s a really romantic time. i didn’t want that idea to get lost, so i picked a spot i’d normally take engaged couples.

i was really excited about the images we got.

Jason & Jessica

Jeni & Ben

congrats to BJ

just wanted to congratulate my buddy BJ on his recent engagement. i’m excited for you and hope that i’m there, camera in hand (again).

this is BJ and his dog Drake hunting in Ninga this past fall. he was part of the group that I did a photo essay on for JPG magazine. the essay wasn’t published, but a portrait i did of the group was selected in the outtakes of the Fanatic theme.

the inaugural

this has been a long time coming. the blogtographic extension of my website. things will likely be changing quite a bit in the coming days and weeks as i begin to suss out exactly how to work this thing. please excuse any messes in the meantime.

so, here we are.

after a slow winter, it seems things are picking up. i hope to be posting some images from a really fun session i did this weekend and i have a trip in late April to Canada that should yield some gold. but, to get us started, i thought i’d share something a little closer to home – my favorite portrait subjects, brendan & sarah.

these are my kids, ages 4 & 2.