Zach

This post is about one of my favorite people, my nephew Zach. He's really fun and not camera shy so it made for a fun afternoon.

This may look like a tiny, harmless fist but I've caught enough of them to know better.
But he's also taken his fair share. He has two older brothers, one of which (Tyler) gladly helped with this photo.
If the UFC had an Under 12 Division he would own it.
Zach you're the man!

Boys & Girls Club Christmas Party 2010

This past Friday Santa invited me to help him at the annual Boys and Girls Club Christmas Party. Every year he comes to the Fort Worth Northside location to talk to the kids and find out what they want for Christmas. The past few years I've been fortunate enough to take the photos. Every kid gets to sit with Santa and have their photo taken. It's a fun event.

After all the kids were done Santa took a few minutes to speak with this nice girl. Neither new I was watching. This was my favorite shot from the night.

Here's an example of the shot we took. Santa took around 200 photos that night.

In addition to seeing Santa, volunteers from BNSF Railway have different activities for the kids. This little guy just finished decorating and eating a cupcake.

Merry Christmas,
Brian

Porter Family Christmas Video

A few posts ago I showed you the photos I took with the Porter family at the Stockyards Christmas parade. In addition to taking stills I also shot a lot of video while we were hanging out. The video really came together and I hope everyone enjoys it. The weather was a little cold, but the light was just perfect. I used my Canon 5DMKII and Canon 35mm f1.4 with my Glidecam to make the video. The song is Better Together by Jack Johnson.


For Best Results, pause the movie until it fully loads.To view a larger version click "Vimeo" below the video.

Porter Family Christmas from Blevo on Vimeo.

Thanks to the Porters for being making this video fun.


Brian

The Stickel's

On Saturday I photographed the Stickel's. They're a very nice couple who live in Dallas. When I spoke with Geoff on the phone he told me he really wanted some great black and white photos of he and his wife. I really enjoy black and white photography so I knew it was going to be fun.

They are a very cool couple and have a great sense of style so that really added to the photos. There was a slight wind that really moved her hair back and made this photo.



The next two photos are not in black and white, but the light setup and background I was using really worked with these effects.



A lot of times when I'm shooting I know people want "perfectly" lit photos. This usually means to pull all of the shadow off of the subject and the background. But for black and white photography I think it's more important to shoot for the shadows. In the next two photos I used one light to the right of the camera and pulled the exposure down. This really gave some good shadows on the right side of the photos.
I like deep contrast and deep blacks in my black and white photographs. Their facial expressions combined with the b&w really make this photo feel timeless.

Thanks to the Stickel's for having me over and being great models. I really enjoyed shooting with both of you.

Brian

Amira

Sunday afternoon I was able to shoot with my friends Justin, Farah and Amira. This was my second shoot with them. The first time was too hot to go outside, so I wanted another chance. We went to the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. We really had a good time and as you'll see we got some great photos.

Amira likes peek-a-boo.


There was a beautiful Japanese Maple that we shot with. The red was awesome. Amira seemed to like it too.

This was my favorite shot of the afternoon.
I asked Farah to bring the bear hat.

This shot was Farah's idea. I really like the perspective.
Thanks to Justin, Farah and especially Amira for a fun afternoon.

Brian

Porter Family

Saturday I had the opportunity to hang out with the Porter family in the Stockyards. It was fun. There was a Christmas parade, armadillo races and chicken lassoing.


Just a great looking family.

Papa

If you ask any portrait photographer who they would they like to photograph, I bet they'll have a list of at least 10 people. I know I do. Well here's someone I have wanted to photograph for a while, my grandfather. We call him Papa.


I always think of him as being outside, or wanting to get outside. So I made sure to get a couple of outdoor shots with him.
I really liked his smile in this photo.

My mom asked him to wear this blue shirt. I think it's a great choice for him. I gelled my strobe on the background to make it blue.
Thanks Papa for letting me take your photo today.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
Brian

Lisandra

Last week I had the opportunity to take some head shots for Lisandra. She's an acting student and needed a few shots. It was lot of fun and I was able to test out some new seamless paper.

Olympic National Park

I had the opportunity to spend some time in Seattle this week. I've been once before, but it was a few years ago. It's an awesome city. Lots of water. But the best part of this trip is that I had time to make a short trip to Olympic National Park. I was only there for a few hours, but it is a spectacular place. I'm already thinking about going back in the spring to hit a few other National Parks in the area.




I'm no Ansel Adams, but I like landscape shots in black and white. Plus this was taken at midday and not the greatest light.
Off shore there are a lot of small islands. The amazing thing is just how tall they are out of the water and the trees growing on top of them. The clouds in these photos were great against the ocean.
This was the only tree I saw actually growing at the waters edge.
I like the moss growing on everything. This image was shot using my Canon 35mm f1.4 at f1.4.
This tree really had great fall colors. The lake is called Crescent Lake. The fog just hung halfway up the mountains. In certain spots it hung on the lake. While we were driving around the lake we saw a Bald Eagle fly over with a fish. I was in such amazement I didn't even think to take a photo.


If you would like to see a brief video I made follow this link:
http://vimeo.com/16707727

Jessica and Andrew

On October 23rd I photographed Jessica and Andrew's wedding. They were married at the WildCatter Ranch in Graham, TX. It was a great wedding and I had a lot of fun photographing it.

The sun was really great in the room Jessica got ready in. I liked the perspective of the dress with her in the background.
Straight out of a magazine.

While I was setting up my lights for the wedding party and family portraits they were joking around about someone they knew and I caught this great moment of everyone laughing. The groomsmen on the far right was telling the joke and it seems like he's laughing the hardest. This might be my favorite from the night.

My favorite thing about photographing weddings is shooting the reception. People are relaxed and I can just move around shooting natural moments. This was one of those where Andrew and Jessica were dancing and didn't know I was around.
Congratulations to Jessica and Andrew. Thanks for letting me photograph your wedding. I had a great time.

Thanks,
Brian

Welth & Lee

This past Sunday I had a great time shooting with Welth and Lee. We went to the Dallas Arboretum, then walked around White Rock Lake. We had perfect weather.

I liked the colors they coordinated. The orange color is great.
The Arboretum had pumpkins every where for Fall and Halloween.

I liked how the lake and sky fit right in with their outfits.
The OU shirts got quite a few reactions.
Thanks Welth and Lee for letting me hang out with you guys and take some great photos.

Thanks,
Brian