Defining Moments

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I shot Matt’s session in the fading window light last Friday, late afternoon. Once again I am thankful for the incredible low-light capabilities of the Nikon D3. He was definitely among my easiest subjects this year, very relaxed and easy-going. Consequently, there were plenty of nice shots. I love the ringlight closeup! Here are a few from the shoot:

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Today is the third session I’ve done with Dean, and the first where he was sitting and standing by himself. Looking forward to more! Here are a few shots from this morning:

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Eamonn is a senior at Regina, a saxophone player and soccer player. I did his sister’s senior photos a couple of years ago, and Eamonn got to be my first senior session of 2010. Very relaxed session, and we got some shots of him and his sister together as well. Here are a few of my favorites:

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Jamie is a good friend (from back in my days working at the Harley shop), and I have photographed Kaylee practically since she was born. Some of you may recognize her from older shots on the site. Jamie wanted some pics of Kaylee in her Christmas dress, and some mother-daughter shots as well. I must say, Kaylee has not always been the most eager subject, but I think she has finally outgrown that, and we all really had a great time with this session, and got tons of good shots. A few of my favorites below. The headshot of Kaylee is among my favorite shots ever, and if you follow photernal.com, you’ve already seen it.

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Lily came in today, and we had a really fun late-season session in the studio. We went a little overtime, but it was worth it, as we got a really nice variety of shots. She is a swimmer at City High, though the ones I chose to post below didn’t include her swimming sweatshirt. Here’s just a few of my favorites from the session:

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This session was an absolute joy. We had fall colors, perfect light, and Abby is just a natural. Very relaxed in front of the camera. Also, my only session so far where we came close to getting arrested. But that’s all I’m sayin’ about THAT. There are some killer studio shots, too, but I was diggin’ on the outdoor stuff, so that’s what you get to see!

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Another West High guy. Skate Punk. Boy Band member wannabe. OK, not really on that last thing, but I did get a pretty good boy band pose out of him for one shot. I assume mom will buy it for future blackmail purposes. Peter is actually the third senior I’ve shot from his family. I must be doing something right. Fall colors were finally coming out, too!

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OK, trying to get caught up now, so hopefully there will be a few posts coming this evening. Here are a couple shots of James, a West High senior. He’s a tuba player. Does he look like a tuba player to you?? Heh…me neither. He actually plays trombone, too, which I played in high school, and I guess I probably don’t look much like a trombone player. This was a pretty relaxed session, James being a low-key kinda guy with good taste in tunes.

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Last month I entered several shots in the Harvest Farm & Preserve photo contest. Final winners were announced today, and I’m proud to announce that one of my images was the overall winner! I was quite honored considering the quality of the other prints in the running. Incidentally, if you don’t know about Harvest Farm & Preserve, you should click on the link and check out their site. It’s a pristine green space right in Iowa City, that I didn’t even know about until recently. Doug and Linda Paul and family are doing a great thing by keeping this land natural and undeveloped. My winning image is posted below, and you can see a larger version, plus some others I submitted, by clicking HERE. Ten contest finalists had their images printed and framed, and they will be on display in the spring at the Englert’s Doug and Linda Paul Gallery, and I believe most of the prints will be for sale.

Also, I am a little behind in blogging my senior sessions this year, but I decided to brag about myself first. Expect more posts in the coming days.

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Wow, what a crappy, gloomy day yesterday! We didn’t let that stop us though, even though it almost seemed like we were shooting in the dark. Matt made it easy, with a great natural smile. Nice guy, and a fun subject to shoot. I totally cranked some music with obscene language. Accidentally. Sorry, mom! We did let the weather interfere a little, though, and have rescheduled the outdoor portion of his session. I’m looking forward to it!