Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Kensey & Lacey and Hailey, Kensey & Jonathon
Sweetwater was well represented with two different families and two different sessions today. Kensey & Lacey shot this morning and Kensey (yes, that's right- two Kensey's in the same day)&Hailey & Jonathon were in this afternoon. We had fun both sessions. Jonathon gave us the biggest laughs of the day and was a good sport about the joke we played on him.
We also had two baby plan shoots today that I will share with you tomorrow.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
You Could Feel The Love
We have done family and children portraits for three generations of the Jones family since we started Hughes Photography. Recently Tyesha called us and said they wanted to make an appointment to update family pictures with their kids and her mother and dad. The morning of the shoot day, Sondra walked in the studio and said that they had some other family members that were coming into town and would it be OK if they were a part of the shoot. We said "Sure and oh by the way, how many will end up being in the photo.?" She said "about 10 I think".
Some of the family members from out of town had gotten off a little late. So, that evening when the last ones arrived, I did a head count and we had 28 people in our little studio.
It was actually a blast. There was so much love and happiness present that it was invigorating and heart warming. We could not fit that many people at one time in our little camera room. But we did all of the sub family groups and lots of brother, sister, mom, dad grandmom and graddad and grandchildren groupings. This great shoot went on into the night.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Grab It
My second professional camera was a D1x that I literally wore out in several years. When I replaced it, I sent it to Nikon to be reconditioned. Since then, I keep it handy at home and on short trips to grab shots when they present themselves unplanned and unposed.
The first shot was taken at the Tech/Baylor game a couple of weekends ago. I had not been to Jones Stadium since they built the magnificent press box and box seat structure on the west side. The blue theme really represented the cold, shady seats we occupied. Tech trailed the first half of the game and it all felt way too much like the Oklahoma flashbacks and fear that most Tech veterans are way too familiar with. Grahm Harrell (the obvious Heisman trophy winner), with a crushed left hand rallied the team and won the game.
The second grab shot was a group of windmills not too far from my home that was taken on a recent cold, winter day. The available light was really poor for rich colors. However, it turned out fine and represents an image and energy source that we will see much more of in the future.
My next shot was one of the first impressions I received when I drove into Rotan last week. I was asked to speak at career day at Rotan High School. They had students from Roby, Rotan, Anson, Stamford and Hamlin. I would generally rather eat a coffee can full of dirt than speak to a group of people. However, I truly enjoyed sharing my experiences and advice for seeking a career in photography to four large groups of high school seniors.
My next shot was one of the first impressions I received when I drove into Rotan last week. I was asked to speak at career day at Rotan High School. They had students from Roby, Rotan, Anson, Stamford and Hamlin. I would generally rather eat a coffee can full of dirt than speak to a group of people. However, I truly enjoyed sharing my experiences and advice for seeking a career in photography to four large groups of high school seniors.
To get a real feel for these images, click on the photo to see the enlarged version.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Lovely Lillia
Lillia just finished the fifth session of her first year baby plan. It has been a pleasure over the last year to get to know Adriane, Andy and Lillia. Andy is a C130 pilot and a proud pappa. We learned yesterday that he is even a prouder pappa now. They recently found out that we will have another baby plan to start unfolding in about 7 months as they are expecting #2.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Eye See More Clearly Now
Several months ago I started having problems with one of my eyes. An old friend, Russell Dressen who is a great optometrist let me know that I had some kind of retina problem. I did some research and discovered that one of the premier, renouned, world class retina surgeons and researchers in the U.S. is right here in Abilene, Tx. And just so happens to be one of my loyal customers who regularly documents the aging process and moments in time with their great family. Lauri and Sunil Patel have 3 great kids and simply radiate good vibes as such a happy and positive family unit. Lauri is a retired family physician who is a wonderful mother and has a sense of humor that keeps you laughing all the time.
Dr. Sunil Patel is one cool hand luke. He has done laser surgery on one of my eyes twice now. He has brought that eye back to normalcy and I am so appreciative. The retina on one of my eyes decided to mimic my mind and became detached. He has skillfully welded it back to where it should be and I see clearly, now. That is very important to a photographer.
I apologize for being so irregular with keeping this blog updated. We have been booked pretty steady lately and I need to keep everyone posted with these new images. I promise I will share more and more regularly in the future.
Dr. Sunil Patel is one cool hand luke. He has done laser surgery on one of my eyes twice now. He has brought that eye back to normalcy and I am so appreciative. The retina on one of my eyes decided to mimic my mind and became detached. He has skillfully welded it back to where it should be and I see clearly, now. That is very important to a photographer.
I apologize for being so irregular with keeping this blog updated. We have been booked pretty steady lately and I need to keep everyone posted with these new images. I promise I will share more and more regularly in the future.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Aqua Woman
Marlee will graduate this year from McMurry. She has been a competitive swimmer for the last 15 years. I love to do shoots that are out of the ordinary. This shoot was definitely not ordinary and Marlee's personality is extraordinary. Extraordinarily nice.
The pool room was very warm and I ended up getting soaked and did not get in the water. The shoot was well worth breaking a sweat. I had planned on getting in the water to get some water level action shots, but the shallowest part of this competitive swim pool was 5.5'.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Oh, by the way, will you marry me?
Ken visited us over a month ago with a plan to get Christmas photos with his significant other and during the session make a surprise marriage proposal. We had a planning meeting and got our signals and sequence worked out.
The very nervous proposer dropped by the studio about an hour before the shoot to drop off the rock, uh--I mean the ring (but beleive me, it was a rock--Wow!) I attempted to relax him with some black humor and asked him what he is going to do if she said no. Ken found no humor in it and told me not to worry that I would get my session fee. I started laughing and apologizing and he still found little humor in it.
Anyway, the shoot went without a flaw and Margie and I really got caught up in the heavy emotion of the actual proposal. It could not have gone any better. Trisha was blown away and she very quickly said "Yes!".
The very nervous proposer dropped by the studio about an hour before the shoot to drop off the rock, uh--I mean the ring (but beleive me, it was a rock--Wow!) I attempted to relax him with some black humor and asked him what he is going to do if she said no. Ken found no humor in it and told me not to worry that I would get my session fee. I started laughing and apologizing and he still found little humor in it.
Anyway, the shoot went without a flaw and Margie and I really got caught up in the heavy emotion of the actual proposal. It could not have gone any better. Trisha was blown away and she very quickly said "Yes!".
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Alpha Omega
Today was a very sad day in our little part of Elm Valley. We had to turn loose of Lucy, our 11 yr. old Rotweiler. The last several days have been very hard and it will take some time to dull this pain of her absence.
We have a wonderful vet, Barry Eitleman. Over the years, he has made several trips out here for the grim task of putting down our loved pets. We stayed home today to spend Lucy's last hours together. When all of this was finished, we cleaned up and drove in to the studio to try and do some catching up.
I was so bummed I went to some of our most recent shoots to get some examples of new, renewal, fresh start, innocent beginnings and start of life. This helped and I would like to share.
We have a wonderful vet, Barry Eitleman. Over the years, he has made several trips out here for the grim task of putting down our loved pets. We stayed home today to spend Lucy's last hours together. When all of this was finished, we cleaned up and drove in to the studio to try and do some catching up.
I was so bummed I went to some of our most recent shoots to get some examples of new, renewal, fresh start, innocent beginnings and start of life. This helped and I would like to share.
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