A Beautiful Day in Chappell Hill- Part I- Kate and Garner's Engagement Portraits

One of the tintypes we took in front of Kate's family's home.  The tintype process is a 19th century photographic process where pictures are exposed onto sheet metal.  Check out my blog for some more information about tintypes.

 

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I headed to Chappell Hill, TX to photograph some engagement and family portraits.  Chappell Hill is a beautiful little town located near Brenham, TX (home of Blue Bell Ice Cream!).  Kate's family lives a short walk from downtown, so we started photographing at their beautiful, historic house, then walked down the street into town.  We had beautiful weather, and even took a couple tintypes!  I thought the historic setting was a perfect reason to bust out all of the tintype gear!  Kate and Garner did a great job staying still and not blinking for the 6-8 second exposures!

We were only able to take a couple quick exposures inside this church before we had to leave.  I wish we could have spent a bit more time taking photos inside, but there was a meeting scheduled to take place while we were there, so we took what we could get!  The church, located downtown, is a historical landmark, and is more or less the original structure, with very few changes since it was built.


The first tintype exposure, a bit over-exposed.  Because the "film speed/ISO" of a tintype is so slow, you can't accurately meter the light of a scene like you would with a normal camera.  Trial and error is the best way to get a correct exposure.


Kate's family's home is absolutely gorgeous.  After purchasing the home they did an incredible job restoring this piece of Texas history.

Amanda and Ryan Engagement Portraits






Yesterday afternoon we had wonderful weather in Houston, and I was scheduled to photo
graph Amanda and Ryan, whose wedding date is coming up in January.  Amanda and I actually went to the same high school, and were in a couple of the same photo classes.  Anyhow, we had a very nice time in the cool weather, and light was beautiful.  Their dog, Cajun, was a lot of fun, and added a little twist to the shoot. Wish this was the norm for Houston weather!

Enjoy!  I'll be posting soon with some photos from a "tintype lesson" I gave to Episcopal High School's photo classes, and with some information about what I am doing with Yellowstone Academy and their 6th graders.