Inessential Stuff

Did another senior portrait shoot. Lots of fun. Here’s a sample.

I thought I might put up a few images from the last month or so.  I have been so busy with weddings, and other photoshoots, that I haven’t had time to keep things updated.  This will give you a little taste.

Above you see Rachel.  We did her portraits at the skate park under the freeway just south of downtown.  Lots of graffiti.  Lots of skateboarders.  Lots of good places for pictures.  I plan to shoot there again.  I really liked the contrast of the graffiti with Rachel, who appears so innocent and wholesome.

To the side you’ll seeKatrina.  She wanted something urban.  She also likes pink.  So we shot in the Riverfront Parking Garage.

Then below is a shot from an engagement session with Shayley and Ryne.  They wanted their pictures at Bowl and Pitcher.  We shot there for quite a while, partly because I wanted to wait until it started to get dark to try some off-camera lighting with a brand new battery pack.

They were good sports, and we ended up with some fun stuff.  I like this photo mostly because of the light and the architecture of the bridge, but it also captures some of playfulness between Shayley and Ryne.

The common thread in all these pictures (besides attractive models)?  Off-camera lighting.  I’m really loving it.  Expect to see more, and hopefully fairly soon.

So after Kelsey and Doug’s wedding–after the ceremony had ended and the portraits were done–the newlyweds and their families stood around outside the church, talking, joking, celebrating. While I was taking pictures, I found myself smiling. I enjoyed watching Kelsey and Doug interact. They had an easy, playful manner along with a clear affection. It occurred to me that they would be perfect for an idea I had been thinking about for a while: a “trash the dress” shoot.

So on a whim, I asked Kelsey if she had any plans for the dress. She said she didn’t. They were about to run off to their reception, then honeymoon, but I said I’d email them a proposal.

When they arrived back from their Hawaiian honeymoon, jetlagged, she wrote back (at 1:40 AM!), eager to give it a try. They were as excited about the idea as I was and were game for whatever I suggested.

So a week later we headed out for Bear Lake, north of Spokane, at around 6:30 in the morning. We shared the lake with a fisherman or two and many singing red-winged blackbirds. Kelsy, Doug and I all went into the lake–not as cold as we feared–and we had a great time (photographic proof here). I know that sounds like a standard line, but it was an experience that I’ll carry with me for a long time, and every one of my memories will be happy ones.

I did a shoot a couple weeks ago with Valerie, and we got a lot of good stuff. I decided to split the images into several different galleries. So this is the first set–the first shots we took. Kind of warm-up shots. We took them against a wall. Thus the name.
I was also playing around with some new equipment I picked up from the WPPI trade show I had attended the week before, including an umbrella, some pocket wizards, and my new 12-24 mm lens. With this wide-angle, I discovered that when setting up a vertical shot, I had to make sure my toes were out of the frame. Delightful! I would also, unknowingly, get so close to Valerie that she would say, “How close do I look, anyway!” I love the new lens.

Early on a foggy Sunday morning, Carrie and James and I met up at Riverfront Park for their engagement pictures. We had a good time, leisurely strolling the park and trying out different locations. It was great fun to watch their affection for each other. If, after a long while of shooting, their smiles started to seem a little less than authentic, all I had to do was ask them to look at each other, and the natural, glowing smiles returned. Here’s a little slideshow of some of my favorites.

I was asked to do a family portrait for Jim and Elizabeth Holmes and their 5 children, 4 children-in-law, and five (I think) grandchildren on the occasion of Jim and Elizabeth’s 40th anniversary. They held the celebration at the Glover Mansion. A tiny gallery is here.

I’ve been a little behind in my posting, but I just finished a trio of engagement shoots.

Jeanette and William don’t look tired in their pictures, though it would be understandable if they did. We shot at 7:00 in the morning on a Sunday, and they had to drive in from Pullman to do it.

Sometimes I’d make suggestions for poses, but mostly I let them be themselves: they naturally made loving gestures–a gentle touch, a graceful draping of an arm, an inclination of the head. I just had to shoot–all the affection and elegance were already there.

By the end of Laura and James’ shoot, it was getting dark and late and I wouldn’t have blamed Laura or James being impatient, but gamely went along to one last location: the gazebo. And that’s where, for me, things finally came together photographically. I am glad they were so patient with me.

My son watches me edit pictures sometimes. While editing the pictures of Amanda and Anthony, he said, “Those people aren’t real.” He says strange things sometimes. “Why aren’t they real?” I asked. “They look too good,” he answered.

Well, he was right and he was wrong: Amanda and Anthony are real, but they do look good. We did our shoot early in the morning, and while driving to the location, I passed Canon Hill Park, which I thought looked particularly peaceful. After an hour of shooting, I suggested we drop by the park for a few more poses. After 380 pictures, I got this shot. I only took three more. I didn’t think I could do any better.
The fun thing about engagement sessions is that it lets me get to know the couple better as people, which makes me even more excited about shooting their weddings.

Stephanie and Steve wondered if I’d be willing to drive over to some railroad tracks, where they frequently go for walks, for their engagement pictures. They didn’t know that I love railroad tracks. They asked me at one point if I had ever taken engagement pictures on a railroad before. Only once: 16 years ago, when I took pictures that Bonnie and I would use for our engagement pictures.

So we met at the tracks at the end of a week, at the end of a day, on the kind of early spring evening where one might–lured by the clean, crisp blue sky after a rain–go out to take pictures, not quite prepared for the chill in the air. As best they could, Stephanie and Steve ignored me, and just walked along the tracks, occasionally stopping to look across a field or watch the sunset, relaxed and comfortable in each other’s company.