Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club-Halloween Project!

It has been a while since I've posted about my class at Yellowstone, so I thought I'd make a quick post with our Halloween Project this year.  I've got a new class this school year with 7 new students, and they are eager to learn about photography.  We'll be meeting Monday afternoons this year, and Yellowstone has moved to an all year calendar, so the students are currently on Fall break.  Before they left for Fall break, I wanted to introduce some concepts dealing with shutter speed, but I didn't want to get into too much, as long breaks can lead to forgetfulness.  So, I came up with an idea to take some spooky Halloween photos of our class, and use slow shutter speeds and double exposures to achieve ghostly effects!  All of the students will return to school on Halloween day, so they will come back to Photo Club's terrifying 1st show of the year!

Incendiary-Washington Post Article

My brother has co-directed a documentary film, and it is getting a lot of press and attention right now.  Not only because it is a great film, but also because it deals with an arson case that put a man on death row.  He was executed, but it seems perhaps for a crime that he did not committ.  Rick Perry had an important role in the case, and because of his recent presidential run, this has helped boost national interest in the case and in the film.

The film, Incendiary has been showing in Austin, at the Violet Crown, and opens in Washington D.C. this weekend.  The film will open in NYC the weekend of October 7th, then will travel to Dallas, TX the weekend of October 14th.  After Dallas, the film opens in LA November 18th.   If you haven't seen it, check it out.  It is very interesting, and extremely well done.  Incendiary is already an award winning film!

My brother emailed me a couple of days ago with this link to the Washington Post website, where their movie (and my photo!) was featured in an article.  Nothing like riding the coat tails of your famous brother!  You can check out the article and photo here.  And don't forget to check out the film if you can.  Click here for Incendiary's website, where you can find information about the film and showings.

Savannah Bridal Shoot

In July I did a bridal shoot in Savannah, Georgia.  Wormsloe Plantation and Bethesda were kind enough to let us shoot at their stunning locations.  Bethesda is "the oldest child caring institution in the country," established in 1740.  The history is so incredible in this great city, and I love the oaks and moss everywhere.  Enjoy!

Back in the office, and hitting the ground running!

After an epic road trip to Savannah, Georgia, with stops in Biloxi/Gulfport, MS, and New Orleans, LA, I returned to the office middle of last week with thousands of images to sort through, and senior portrait shoots galore!  The trip was wonderful.  First stop was for a beautiful wedding in Gulfport.  After that I continued onto Savannah where I shot some bridal portraits under the iconic old oaks and moss of the South.  On the way back to Houston, I stopped in New Orleans to photograph an off-shore facility for Tana Exploration, an oil and gas company based in the Woodlands, TX.  After a hot day photographing the various activities at the facility, I flew out in a helicopter, and was able to take some ariels of their facilities that afternoon, before heading to their Lafayette offices the following day.  It was an exciting couple of weeks, and a neat opportunity to cover a wide variety subjects!

The above photo was taken at the Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah, GA.

Kate's Bahamian Bachorlette Bash

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!

 

 

 

 

New York

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.