Kate's Bahamian Bachorlette Bash

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In February I traveled to the Bahamas to photograph Kate over her bachelorette party weekend.  Kate and her friends had traveled to an island called Green Turtle Cay, and I met up with them for a couple of fun days.  We had such a great time hanging out and getting some fun pictures.

On my second day there, we boarded a boat that left from Brendall's Dive Shop.  Brendall is world famous for his dive tours and his delicious cooking.  Brendall himself was our captain, and we set out with our snorkel gear ready for the day.  I of course had my cameras.

What followed was some of the most beautiful snorkeling I have ever done.  We found a large reef that was full of incredible wildlife.  Shark, stingray, barracuda, and all sorts of colorful fish swam around us.  Some of the girls even saw some baby sea turtles.  While we snorkeled, Brendall swam around and gathered lobsters for us.  It was incredible to see him work.  He would hold his breath and dive down, searching out the nooks and crannies for lobster.  As you can see in the photos below, he caught us a feast!

When we were worn out from snorkeling, we headed back to the boat to break out the rum punches.  Brendall returned with his catch, and took us to a beautiful stretch of beach on a small neighboring island.  We unloaded, and walked the beach, finding an abundance of sand dollars and starfish.  While we enjoyed the waters and wildlife, and took some photos, Brendall was hard at work cooking up an awesome lunch.  After about 45 minutes, he blew his whistle for us to return and eat.  I have never tasted anything more delicious in my life!

We returned that evening late hoping to take some bridals of Kate.  Kate had brought her short wedding dress, one that she was going to change into in the middle of the night at her wedding.  We only had about 5 minutes to shoot before we lost all light, so we moved quickly and got a couple keepers.  The next morning we woke up for sunrise to get some more photos of Kate in her dress.

Here are some of my favorite photos from an incredible weekend in the Bahamas.

Thanks Kate for everything!

 

 

 

 

Kate's Bridal Portraits

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You might remember Kate from her and JJ's ranch engagement shoot late last year or from the short movie I made a couple weeks ago of her wedding ceremony.  Kate has been a dream to work with, and I've had so much fun capturing all of the parts of her and JJ's wedding.

We took Kate's bridals at Shadowhawk Country Club on a windy and cloudy day in February.  When she arrived to Shadowhawk, the weather didn't look good.  We shot with what we had, using some nice soft window light.

After we finished up around the club house, I wasn't totally content.  Kate was wearing her mother's beautiful cathedral length veil, and I really wanted to do something to feature that.  I had come up with some ideas and locations on the course to shoot that would feature her beautifully in the veil, but they didn't really fit the weather we were dealing with.  So I decided we would just head over towards a hill that I had seen earlier, and try to make the best of it.

It was a good thing we decided to give it a try, because right after I posed Kate on top of the hill, the skies began to open up just a bit.  The sun had made its way down, and there was too much cloud cover for a much desired dramatic sunset.  However, the sky opened up just enough to give us a nice, deep blue and purple sky, which was a welcomed sight after having nothing but cold, grey skies all day.  For the next 15 minutes we just played with the wind and light, and had so much fun getting these photos of Kate.

Blayne's Bridal Portraits

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We took Blayne's bridal portraits in February in a stunning home in River Oaks.  It was an absolutely amazing shoot, and Blayne could not have looked more beautiful.  Blayne married in March in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Blayne is an interior designer, and works with Kara Childress.  They helped design this incredible house, full of some of the most beautiful French antiques that I've ever seen.  In the backyard, amongst the gardens, is a chapel that was brought over from the countryside of France.

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

 

New York

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In December, my wife and I got to travel with my family to New York for a little vacation.  It was Regan's first time to visit New York, and was the first time that I got to really experience the city.  I had been to the city on a couple other occasions (once to shoot photography for my brother's thesis on Jazz music...which was a pretty cool experience), but had never really gotten the chance to roam around the city, see shows, eat at resturants, etc.  The trip was amazing, and I loved our time in New York.  I brought along my old Nikon F5, and shot several rolls of film (mostly Ilford Delta 400 black and white).  It felt good to shoot black and white film again.

Regan and I got back and were like, "We've got to get back to New York again soon!"  Well, several weeks ago I got a call from a fellow photographer here in Houston, and it looks like I'll be heading back to New York to do some work with her!

Here are some of my favorites from our trip in December.

This is probably my favorite photo from the trip, I took this one outside of Macy's while Regan shopped.  I just sat at a street corner and tried to find interesting people as they crossed the street.  As soon as I saw this guy and got this shot, I knew I had what I was looking for.

Another one of my favorites.  On our bus ride into the city from Newark airport, we stopped right next to a school bus.  I spotted this kid staring up into the sky out of his window.  That is probably what I looked like most of the bus ride in, looking up at all of the incredible buildings that surrounded us!

My mom and dad.  Mom is going to get mad at me for this one, I'm afraid, because her eyes are closed.  However, this was the only photo that I had of her from the trip (I think she purposely eludes my camera...).  But I actually like it, it is kind of a light, fun moment...it has a good feel to it.

I never got the hang of the Subways.  My brother's wife, Alice, was a pro, and lucky for me, Regan got us from one spot to another when it was just the two of us.

Our awesome view from where we stayed.  Central Park was right outside our window...about 30+ stories down...

A visit to the Empire State Buidling was a lot of fun.

Looking down from the Empire State Building

These were the guards at the Empire State Building.  They did not like being photographed.  There was another guard that I really wanted to photograph, and I almost got the shot I wanted.  He saw me and just said, "NO" and turned away.  I snuck this one in from a bit further way, before he could notice.

I wish we could have stayed at the top longer.  The people were neat to watch, and the light was beautiful.  However, we had to get back to the apartment to get ready for a show, so I left some photos untaken.

This was a pretty funny moment, and I couldn't pass up taking a photograph.  These two guys were loaded down after a shopping spree at Hollister.  Nothing against Hollister, these just weren't the same guys from their ads...

This series is of my brother, Joe.  He grew out a mustache for Movember, and was looking pretty cool.  Joe and his wife, Alice live in Austin.  Joe is now a film maker...check out what he's been working on here.  He has co-directed a documentary film titled Incendiary that will be debuting at SXSW this March in Austin.

Joe's wife, Alice.

My beautiful wife, Regan, laughing with Alice.