snow top

Sorry I haven't posted anything new lately, but I haven't been shooting. I had a three day weekend-which is rare-so I decided to take it. For today I'll post one of my favorite images from my last trip to Louisiana. I'm working on a project documenting the people and places that exist in Livingston Parish, the Parish I grew up in. Eventually I'd like to see it in book form, but for now I simply keep busy making trips back home, and getting the images I want. It's an ongoing project I've given myself three years to finish, but I think I may extend my own deadline to four to five, simply so I get the opportunity to photograph everything, and everyone I want to. So, here's a sneek peek at one of the images from the project.

holy black jack bat-man!

This photograph deserves a caption of some kind. I thought of "Did I leave my costume on again?!" or "What would Superman do in this situation?" but I'm sure some of you could do better. Anyway, this is from a 'guys and dolls' dance (a.k.a. casino night) I was shooting this evening. The seniors at the high school dress in costume every year. So, actually, this felt less like work and more like entertainment. Tonight I photographed Sunny and Cher, Mrs. Piggy, the Ghostbusters, as well as Santa and Mrs. Clause. The costumes were great!

frost

The title pretty much says it all. It was 18 degrees this morning as me and my son sat in the car letting it warm up before he went to school. Frost covered the car in tiny little snow flake crystal patterns, I grabbed the camera and took a few from inside the car.

three brushes

I conjured these shots up while remodeling the studio. We finished painting the walls and the floor today, it looks like a completely different place! Anyway, I sharpened these a lot in photoshop to give it a hard, intense look, and added a bit of contrast. I wanted the brushes to look gritty and worn. Then I used a hasselblad film border (I know it's cheating, but it just looks so much cooler) on each photograph and then fused them together to make a compilation image. The result is a paintbrush portrait, complete with traces of sets, backdrops, and props that it has helped to create or maintain.

o brother-in-law, where art thou?

My brother-in-law contacted me a few weeks ago for some portraits. He said he was really just looking to take some updated pictures. I had other things in mind, and I think he got more than he bargained for. The session went really well though. I had a good time...the locations worked out great...and the rain held off one more day just for us.

just before dusk

I'm always looking around for a good photograph. Just a stroll from my front door is a park that extends through pretty much the whole neighborhood. I pass these trees often as I drive home from work. I've always wanted to photograph them and finally, one day, mustered up the initiative and did. I like to shoot a lot of my fine art photography on film. So this originally was captured on film, scanned, and uploaded onto my computer. I doctored it up in photoshop wanting to increase the mood of the photograph, and give it more of fine art or painterly look. It was almost sunset, but had I waited until actual sunset, I couldn't have captured the sun hitting the tops of the trees.

at the lake

Sorry it's been so long since a post, but my internet was down for a few days. I'm happy to post with some recent pictures of my son. The last time I did "professional portraits" was Easter...almost a year ago. These were taken on the edge of Lake Worth. I had forgotten about this park, but glad to have found it again. My favorite is the bottom one.

on the ol' plantation

I photographed bridals at the Houmas House, a plantation home in south Louisiana, this was actually the middle of last year. But, I'm currently updating and re-tooling my portfolio and have been processing images in photoshop for that vintage look of the old tintype photographs that you see in old books about the west. I am especially happy with how this picture turned out, taken on the porch of the old plantation.

running circles

Jennifer, a co-photographer, was running circles during our shoot today to stay warm. We were shooting a high school baseball team out on their field and it was about 32 degrees with a bit of a breeze blowing. I snapped these two after we had talked about how good a cup of hot chocolate would be!

snow day

It snowed today! But not for long, and it didn't stick...this picture was actually from early this year when it did. I didn't really get out and get a picture of it today, so I posted this one instead to mark the occasion.