Conspirare- New York

Last February I had an amazing opportunity through fellow photographer Karen Sacher, to work with a chroal ensemble called Conspirare, lead by Craig Johnson.  The group had traveled to New York to preform around the city, and Karen and I followed them for a couple days, taking photos of their performances and rehearsals.  I also did some portraits of Craig.

Listening to their group was extraordinary and deeply inspirational!  Craig is a very kind person, and is so passionate about what he does.  I loved watching him work and orchestrate the group with such love and intensity.  It was a gift for me to witness an artist so connected to and passionate about his work and craft.  I look back at this trip last February with such fond memories.  Anytime your in New York creating work, it is wonderful, but to accompany Craig and his group, it was an experience I'll never forget.

Please visit their website, www.conspirare.org, to read about their group and mission, and to see a listing of their upcoming shows in Austin, Texas.

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.

Santa Fe At Last!

Well, after two long days of traveling, I'm finally here!  And man, it's good!  Santa Fe is so beautiful, and there is so much I love about spending time here.  The food, the weather, the beautiful scenery everywhere, all of the different people, the art...I'm lucky to be spending some time here this week!

I've come for Katie and Patrick's wedding, which will be held this weekend at the El Encantado Resort.  It is going to be absolutely stunning.  I've come early to take some tintypes of Katie and Patrick.  We've got a shoot early tomorrow in a little town south of Santa Fe called Lamy.  Back in the day you used to have to come through Lamy to catch the train into Santa Fe.  There is an old bar called the Legal Tender, and the train station still runs trips into Santa Fe.  I'm looking forward to a fun morning of photographs tomorrow!

I'll try and post some throughout the week with photographs.  Thought I'd share some from tonight (see below).  I had plans of heading south of town tonight towards Galisteo for sunset, but when I got to my room after spending all day on the road, I decided getting back in the car to drive again was not what I needed to do!  Instead I got settled, then grabbed my camera and headed out to walk around town.  Ended up finding a cool live music concert on the square.  Listened to some music and watched as the light got better and better.  It was wonderful.  Then headed over to the Coyote Cafe for dinner, and ate on the rooftop.  The sunset was incredible.  The whole time while I was eating and watching the sun set, I was feeling guilty that I didn't hit the road to photograph in Galisteo.  O well, more beautiful sunsets to come.

After dinner I returned to my room to find two musicians playing a violin and cello on the street outside my window.  How pleasant that I get to open my windows and listen to them as I write this post. 

Time to rest.  I look forward to a beautiful morning of tintypes and photos with Katie and Patrick tomorrow.

This is how I arrived to my room.  The door was lit up beautifully by the sun.  What a wonderful way to be welcomed.