Samantha & Casey {slideshow!}

Here's the full slideshow of this crazy awesome couple from the post below. Aren't they fun?

Samantha & Casey {engaged!}

Every once in a while you're fortunate enough to meet people and feel like the world is a better place because of them. Meet Casey and Samantha.





I knew just from the first time I talked to them on the phone about a photography session to celebrate their engagement that they were going to be a lot of fun. Lemme tell ya, they are A-W-E-S-O-M-E. God has blessed them with an amazing relationship, and their self-proclaimed "love birds" moniker couldn't be more accurate. The love these two share for each other is just so real and authentic and natural. I was truly inspired by them, and as a photographer one of the many cool things about them is that they're so relaxed and playful and willing to try anything. It doesn't get any better than that.

I think it helps that Casey and Sam are both musicians, so they're used to being in front of other people. In fact, they own and run the Creative Soul School of Modern Music in Watauga, TX, so check it out if you or your kids have ever had any interest in learning how to play cool tunes; music is their passion and their life.

Here's a few sneak peek images from the amazing session we had together. Casey & Sam, you're going to love your images... you guys rocked!

Trace & Kristie {engaged!}

Last weekend before I left town for the week we were able to hook up with Trace & Kristie for a quick engagement session down in the Deep Ellum district. I used to work with Trace at TI and now he and Kristie live in Seattle since she works for a little known software company that makes something called Windows. Being a Mac guy, I'm not familiar with it, but I didn't hold it against her. I think I was subtly being sabotaged for my Apple allegiance, though, as some how my iPhone 'accidentally' ended up face down in a plate full of Mexican food at dinner afterwards. (Sorry, Kristie, it was too funny not to mention).

I love photographing friends since it's easier for me - and I think them - to feel a little more relaxed. We had a lotta fun during this session, and there's so many cool textures, colors & character in Deep Ellum... I could've photographed these guys for hours and not hit all the cool spots. Trace & Kristie are getting married in Bismark, ND on July 5th, and as serendipity would have it, we found a building with a big american flag painted on the side of it that made a perfect backdrop for a save-the-date mailer idea.

Here's a few images from the session. Congrats again, you two!

M & M {engaged!}

Melanie. Mike. Marriage. In May. It's all about the M's. And doesn't this first image scream 'M"? Clever, isn't it? C'mon, it was too easy not to do.

I've known these two for quite a while, and I'm so excited for both of them. Mike (a.k.a. "Hippie" - picture him with longer hair. Much longer. Nope, keep going. There ya go.) and I first met him through Dallas Sport and Social club way back in... well, let's just say way back, and we've been playing flag football together ever since. There were a few forgettable softball teams in there, too, but nothing hall-of-fame worthy. Then along came Mel a few years later, and now he's finally a changed man. Well, at least he's got shorter hair. And a couple of dogs. And I haven't seen him wear those black and white checkerboard clown shoes in a while. So seems like he's headed in the right direction. Thanks, Mel! [grin]

Oh yeah, and Hippie's my back pocket auto mechanic, too. Anytime I've got a car question - like "where's the dip stick thing at?" - he's first on the speed dial list. So if you've got a question, give him a ring... unless it's about battery acid.

Anyway, I digress. These two love sports, especially football. Hey, that's how they met, and that's how they got engaged... Hippie asked Mel the big question at a Texas/Kansas State game... hmmm, wonder if Mel would've said yes if KSU lost that game? So it was only natural that we ended up in a football stadium by the end of the session. He's a big University of Texas guy, and she went to Kansas State (bless your heart, Mel, for your loyal support and misguided belief that KSU will one day have a good football team). While neither of those football stadiums were available, SMU obviously isn't using their field during bowl season - one might argue they don't really use it during the season either - so we snuck in [read: walked right in through an open gate] and had some fun before wrapping up my last session of 2007.

Enjoy the sneak peek of a few images. Click on the images for larger previews.

John & Leanne {slideshow}

Here's a quick slideshow from a recent session with John & Leanne. These two were one of my last sessions of the year, and they made it a good one. So relaxed and fun to work with. Thanks you, too!

Natural Light... Camera... Action!

I admit - I'm a voyeur of sorts. Before you jump to any conclusions and suggest I be put on a national registry list, hear me out for a second. The kind of spying I like to practice is of the public variety. I always enjoy watching how other photographers work and how they capture their breath-taking images. I'm always looking for new ways to challenge my thinking and 'seeing', and observing other photographers in action is sometimes a great source of inspiration.

In that spirit, the following is a short series of images showing first how I like to move around to see different perspectives and secondly the resulting images. It should be noted that I no longer like being photographed which may be partly why I decided I wanted to be the photographer... that way I'm always on the safe side of the lens at parties, events and even family get-togethers where the likelihood of ending up in unflattering or - worse yet - blackmail-worthy images is high. It wasn't always that way; I used to have a smile I was proud of, but somehow over the years it's turned into something that no matter how hard I try ends up looking like somebody asked me to smile a half second after eating a habanero pepper. Painful stuff... in both cases. But in this case, my friend, Tina, was assisting me for this session where we were photographing her friend and co-worker, Leanne, and Leanne's husband John, and Tina captured these images of me while I was photographing this fun couple. BTW, Leanne is another creative, and she graciously offered her amazing talent in writing a lot of the copy in my first brochure earlier this year that Tina designed.

In general, I love details - the things that we often overlook everyday that are so distinctive. I think that's why I like hand photographs so much. Hands are so distinctive and have so much character. You can often identify someone just by looking at their hands. I think that's what makes the resulting photograph such a strong image to me. It's a memorable image now, but just imagine how much more meaning this image will have for Leanne and John 20 years from now in their walk together.

For this kind of image, I used a 60mm micro (macro) f/2.8 lens to get great detail in the rings with a shallow depth of field to blur out everything else.




Although I will occasionally step in to do some light directing, I generally don't like to do a lot of hard posing. It's easy for people to start looking unnatural when you do, so I like to simply suggest for people to do something that's second nature to them. In this case, I think I just asked Leanne and John to walk over and have a seat on the brick ledge by the water and just talk to each other for a little bit. And then I just waited for that moment to happen between them.

Here I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR (Vibration Reduction) lens. This is probably my favorite lens because it allows me to capture those real images without having to get too close. Plus, I love the soft backgrounds with the shallow depth of field you can get with this lens.





Leanne wanted a few close-ups during the session and with the amazing fall colors all around us in this beautiful park near downtown and the sun already just below the tree line to the left of Leanne & John creating perfect light, this was a pretty easy one. As I mentioned, sometimes I will step in and direct just enough to get the image I'm looking for. In this case, they may not normally stand like this, but it's still simple and believable. I just asked Leanne to lean into John and try not to smile. BTW, sometimes asking people not to smile is the best way to get them to smile naturally!

Again, I used the 70-200mm for this close-up so I could photograph it from a distance without Leanne and John feeling like a camera was in their face. I opened the lens all the way to f/2.8 to get the soft background again, so it it was important to have the two of them pretty much on the same plane with such a shallow depth of field or else one of them would've been a tad out of focus. The result:



Well, if you're still reading this, I'm impressed. Kudos to you for your perseverance, and hopefully it was mildly insightful regarding how I like to approach photography. At the very least, hopefully you've decided I'm not the voyeur freak you might have been thinking after that first sentence.

Suzanne and Ryan {slideshow!}

I've gotten so many great comments about Suzanne and Ryan and their images that I wanted ot share their slide show. Suzanne's mom picked out the timeless music by Mary Chapin Carpenter, and it's perfect for these two. Enjoy!

Brett and Jessica [slideshow!]

Here's the slideshow from a recent engagement session with Brett and Jessica in Las Colinas. These two were so much fun and a blessing to work with.

Check it out!

Jessica and Brett [engaged!]

Jessica and Brett recently got engaged and are taking the plunge (in matrimony and then into the ocean) in Tahiti this fall. We went down to the canal district in Las Colinas and spent a little time capturing some fun memories from this exciting time in their lives.

It's getting a bit more challenging to do outdoor photographs this time of year, but both Brett and Jessica were a ton of fun and troopers all the way to the end. Who knew it could get so muggy just standing there... in the shade?? And it's not even July yet!

Thanks so much guys, I can't wait for you to see the rest of your images. Very cool!