Meet Lily

My daughter Lily hates that I’m a photographer. Oh how she despises when I pull out the camera, MOST of the time. But there are instances, mostly when she is starts dancing out in public, or when she is running around being her five year old self, that I can capture her free-spirit.

I’ve always thought of her as a wild mustang, hair blowing wildly in the wind, untethered by fences and straps. She is so perfectly beautiful in her stubborn freedom.

I love shooting my children this way, just being themselves, out in their natural environment, not limited to having to look perfect or playing a role in a meticulously planned pose. But I’ll be honest, it’s a challenging concept to apply to my portrait sessions.

We are so used to seeing the beautiful family portraits hanging up in pediatricians’ offices with the Pinterest-worth pose and soft, glowing, even lighting. You know the photos I’m talking about. I’ve pinned so many of them, aspiring one day to be able to take photos like those. Unfortunately, I lack whatever magical skill one needs to produce those types of photos! I’ve tried.

Or maybe it’s because I want hair in the face, shadows and depth, sun flare and funky light points, blur and movement. This isn’t going to land my portraits on a wall at the Ob/Gyn’s office, but that’s who I am as a photographer. I know that my photos just don’t look like the rest. They are different, for better or for worse. I honestly haven’t figured that out yet. This is the journey, right?

Beauty, art, wine, are all in the eye (or palette) of the beholder. I’ve given myself permission, after much internal struggling, to say, “So what if my photos are different?”. I appreciate them. They make me happy. And so, I’ll keep shooting tomorrow!

I leave you with this gem of a photo from Lily’s Pre-K graduation recently. I laughed so hard that my stomach ached captioning this photo.

Let Love In, C

 

 

The Echocentrics – Echo Hotel

A year ago, I had the privilege of photographing The Echocentrics, a cumbia/funk/soul band formed by Adrian Quesada, a friend, local Austin music producer, and Grammy winner with a resume beyond extraordinary that includes Grupo Fantasma, Ocote Soul Sounds, and Brownout.

Natalia Clavier (Thievery Corporation) flew in from New York and joined band members John Speice IV, Arturo Torres, Gerard Larios, and John Branch for this creative shoot in the groovy mirror room at East Austin’s swanky haunt, Justine’s Brasserie.

The zoom burst shot of them and the ceiling selfie (can you find me?) are still some of my favorite photographs to this day.

I loved the artistic collaboration that happened during this shoot. The zoom burst shot was a brainchild of the band, who wanted to play on the word “echo” with the mirrors, and my use of the zoom burst technique and post-processing in infrared.  Talk about a good looking band! I’m feeling groovy, velvety and mystical when I look back at these images, which is a good parallel to their music.

Check them out! Let Love In, C

Art is Everywhere in Austin

I took some time to appreciate the amazing local art at Terra Toys today, the absolute best toy store ever. Art is everywhere in Austin, just like BBQ and Tex Mex. I don’t understand why, but I’m really drawn to bold colors even though some of my favorite colors are earth tones. I wonder what that means? If you’re from Austin, where are some of your favorite places to explore art? Let Love In, C

Meet Nicholas

I took my son to Mt. Bonnell today with pause. It’s touristy, I know. BUT, it was a very purposeful trip. I wanted to 1) enjoy the beautiful weather with him and let him play with my digital mirrorless camera 2) see what it felt like to lug around my new Peak Design Everyday Backpack, packed to the brim with what felt like 30 lbs of my gear. He enjoyed the heck out of our day and didn’t care that it was touristy, and I came home with the realization that I need a better strap for my camera!

When we got to the top, he struck this pose. The nature of his pose and the striking blues and greens in the photo led me to give processing it in infrared a try. I always like to give this a go with my more colorful pictures that have interesting context. It’s fun to play around with the settings in Lightroom to achieve the color and contrast I want to achieve. Not all photographs transition into infrared well, but after a lot of trial and error, I can pretty much tell right of the bat if I’m going to achieve something interesting – in a good way. Or it could be that I’M the only one who finds it interesting, which is totally okay by me:-)

Do you play around with infrared? I’d love to hear about your tips and techniques and see your photos. Drop me a line and let’s connect! Let Love In, C