Rolland and Larissa: Family Portrait Session

Larissa wanted some family photos at a local Japanese garden in Moses Lake, Washington, but the gate was locked and we couldn’t get in.  So, instead of jumping the fence, we decided to just shoot some photos in the lawn outside the park.  In this first photo you can see the sculpture outside the entrance into the Japanese garden.  

In the second photo I told the girls to “tickle your Dad in the side.”  Their reactions made for one of my favorite photos from the session.

Night Fishin’ with Grandpa

Photographed this image last night.  Exposed for the reflected light off the water to create a strong silhouette of 6 year old Jackson and his Grandpa getting a little night fishing in.

Night Sky

I arrived in Moses Lake, Washington last night.  My brother and I decided to go out and take some evening landscape shots.  Heavy cloud cover made for some dramatic images.  I took this photo of Rod with my Canon 5D Mark II.

A girl and a guitar

My daughter Courtney headed downtown with me for some  urban location shots.  The shoot would have gone faster but I had to keep explaining to a curious homeless guy that “no… she’s not a model… she’s my daughter.”

Back roads and Alleys

Today I wanted to have some fun and try some artistic portrait photography, the kind some people like and other people seem to hate.  So I headed off in search of  an interesting location to shoot and found myself in the the shadowy alleyways that bisect Reno’s downtown.  If you are brave enough to venture into these areas you can find some great  settings for portraits.  Here are a few HDR images from that shoot.  They have a gritty, urban feel to them that I think is kind of cool.

Prom Night

My daughter started a tradition a couple of years ago where she has friends over to the house for pictures before they head off to the dance.  Last Saturday was prom night so we set up a white background in the studio.  Now that the weather is warming up a little, we were also able to take a few shots in the stairwell outside the studio as well.  Good times!

That Ah…ha… Moment

This photo is the first image you see when you visit my website and blog because it defines that “ah… ha…” moment for me as a photographer.

What do I mean by “ah… ha…” moment?  It was this image that made me realize a photo can be so much more then a simple picture.  A successful image evokes emotion and feeling, not only through the actions of the subjects, but by the strength of the lighting. Lighting is extremely important to the overall success of an image.  This image conveys the love and guidance of an older brother as he imparts his wisdom on his younger brother. 

My goal as a photographer is to capture this type of feeling and emotion in all of the images I take.