On Location Portraiture's Jpeg Blog

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Alright, I didn't do this, obviously, and it ends as a commercial for a cell phone - but some things are just too cool not to share. BTW, I'll be Bach shortly with more updates.

Thunder

Dallas Thunder is a basketball team composed of home-schooled teens in the Dallas area. I photographed them in December at Prairie Creek in Richardson.

 

Brandenburg Band

I photographed the Classical Center at Brandenburg Middle School's band again this year! We did two different group photos - one with a race car generously loaned by Young Chevrolet and another formal portrait in front of the school.

 

Jazzed about Corner Pocket

I've photographed the band Corner Pocket several times over the past few years. They had a concert at the City of Plano's Historic Courtyard Theater in November and asked me to document it.

 

 

 

 

Art Project by Google

I'm not a huge fan of massive companies, but Google knocked my socks off this week.

They've developed a system for showing artwork from several art galleries all over the world. It's called Art Project, and a viewer can choose to view the gallery much as using the 'Street View' feature in Google Maps. But the real kicker is that each gallery has a number of artworks that are professionally scanned or photographed, and a viewer can choose to see them even at a minute level - for instance, you can see the individual brush strokes in Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night'. 

Each artwork has information about it, such as the size of the work, the artist, the history of the piece, and viewing notes. Some select artworks even have video features to watch. You can also create your own favorite 'Artwork Collection'. 

The system isn't perfect right now. The main difficulty I found was in navigating around the actual galleries - the system isn't even close to being as seamless as Street View. There are also only a handful of artworks per gallery that can be seen as professionally photographed and in detail. It'd be nice to get a thumbnail view of each piece in each gallery's main pulldown menu. I'd also like to see more galleries and a better search feature (you can search for images in each gallery - but there really should be a universal search for all galleries). 

But, I'm assuming this is the start of something beautiful, and I'm looking forward to visiting museums in places like Amsterdam and St. Petersburg - even if I can't make the flight there.

 

A Great Venue

The Hickory Street Annex hosted an open house for wedding vendors in October. It's an excellent venue for weddings and receptions!

 

 

Noah the Fifer

In August, I travelled to Williamsburg, Virginia to photograph my best friend's family. I've known Mark and Nancy Mollner since I met Mark in college as freshman roommates. Mark's son, Noah, is now a part of Colonial Williamsburg's Fife and Drum Corps - I photographed their march down Duke of Gloucester Street on the weekend I visited.

 

 

Arlington High School Class of 1980

In July, I photographed the class reunion for Arlington High School '80 at the Hilton DFW Lakes.

 

Hawa

Hawa AG is a company based in Switzerland that designs and builds high quality sliding systems for doors and furniture. They recently opened their first American branch right here in Dallas, and I was asked to photograph their showroom.

 

Victoria at SMU

I photographed Victoria Brooks's high school senior portraits four years ago - now she's graduating from SMU! Wow! I created her graduation portraits on the SMU campus.

 

 

A New Day

Hi. After a lot of thought, I decided to move out of my studio space in the Hickory Street Annex. I did so at the end of June. It was a business decision, and I think of it in the same way sports owners and players must feel during free agency - they may not want to make a change, but feel they must do so in their best interest.

The world of professional photography has seen massive changes in the past decade, and all photographers in the field are struggling to adapt to the times. I'm doing the same.

I'll be working from home for the next 1-2 years, but I'll be always shooting 'on location'. I'll still be photographing at the Hickory Street Annex, and I've already had several portrait sessions there since my move. Portrait and wedding orders will either be mailed or delivered in person to the home of my clients (which should be more convenient for many).

Thank you for believing in me, and I hope to continue to earn your trust!

Before I moved out of the Annex, I photographed this time-lapse video:

 

Artistic Lighting

In late March I taught a photographic lighting class with Richard Sturdevant. We photographed Caitey Fritz, the daughter of our mutual friend Karyn Sarganis Fritz, at the Hickory Street Annex and Fair Park in Dallas during the day and the West End at night. Here are some of the images I created during the class:

 

Malicious Snitch

I photographed promotional photos for a website and upcoming TV show called 'Malicious Snitch' at the studio and in the West End in February.

 

Artistic Lighting & Photoshop Magic 2-Day Class

Richard Sturdevant and I are hosting a not-to-be-missed 2-day Artistic Lighting & Photoshop Magic Class in Dallas on Sunday, March 21st and Monday, March 22nd. Topics will include creating montage work in Photoshop, shooting for montage work, and studio and location lighting – including a ‘night shoot’ in downtown Dallas!

The event will be at the Hickory Street Annex in downtown Dallas, and is hosted by BWC Photo Imaging and Competitive Cameras.

More info can be found on the SturDaVinci Art Tools website – there’s a sign-up form on the website, too. I hope to see you there!

Brandenburg Music

I've photographed the Classical Center at Brandenburg Middle School's band several times - this year we went to the Meyerson in downtown Dallas for group photos.

 

Rockwall-Heath High School's New Theatre

I was hired recently by LRL Inc. to photograph Rockwall-Heath High School's amazing new theatre - LRL had installed all the drywall.

 

Water as Art

I photographed a bunch of Greenscape Pump Services amazing water features again this past year. The first two images are Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, the next is Enterprise Plaza in Houston, the next three are the amazing Esplanade fountain in Fair Park in Dallas, the next is Herman Park in Houston, the next to last is the Dallas Opera, and the last is TCU in Ft. Worth. You can see previously photographed water fountains here and here.

 

Haunted HSA

On Halloween, the Hickory Street Annex hosted a fundraiser event for Heroes for Children. It featured some amazing lighting and design by A Stylish Soiree and Colby Logan.

 

Naaman's Color Guard

I photographed the Naaman Forest Color Guard at Crowley Park in Richardson in early October. The second photo shows Natalie Myers, Christine Anderson, and Emily Sires - I photographed all three for their senior portraits. The last one is something a parent requested and I thought would be fun for this blog - the girls are wearing their Halloween outfits.

An Early Spring?

Because I rely on weather and the climate for a living, I tend to follow the seasons closely here in Dallas, Texas. I started On Location Portraiture in September of 2000, and from the very beginning I've taken notes on when spring starts, when it's the hottest in the summer, and when the leaves fall. The past 7-8 years have been pretty much like clockwork: leaves begin to form in the middle of March, we have 80-90% full tree cover by the 1st of April, the full press of summer heat seems to form around July 4th and can continue until the middle of September, and fall color starts in late October, peaks in the second week of November, and the leaves are 80-90% gone by the end of November.

The past six months have seemed different to me. I'll admit that I'm not claiming my observations are scientific data, but we've had an unusually warm winter. I thought the fall lasted a little longer in 2008 - the tree cover lasted well into December. And this spring seems different, too. I started seeing buds 7-10 days ago and I'm already seeing some trees begin to bloom. I think we'll see 80-90% full tree cover by the 21st of March - a good week or two before what I've seen the past 7-8 years.

On one hand, it's great for me - it means I'll have an earlier start to prime shooting conditions. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder what this year's summer will be like.

Here's a photo I took a few minutes ago:

The Pitmans' First

I photographed Jake and Kellie Pitman's wedding earlier in the year - and now they're expecting their first child! Kellie's maternity session was photographed at the studio.

 

The Show

In November, the Hickory Street Annex hosted a three day art exhibition. Several local artists displayed their work - the show consisted of hand-crafted furniture and photography. The artists were linked by working for The Container Store (a furniture maker was one of its founders). Here are some images from 'The Show'. The first image is one of the artists and the second is Michelle Meyer (who runs the events at the Annex) and Gary Kaelson (who owns the Annex).

 

 

The Hay Group

In November, I photographed 22 executive headshots for the Hay Group in Dallas at their office. Basically, I bring my full studio gear - lights, backdrops, and even a sitting stool - then set up just as if I was photographing in a working studio. The first image is an example from that session. It's Michael Lamb, who later called me to photograph him and his wife, Jennifer, at their home with their dogs. The second image was chosen for their holiday cards.

 

Gift Certificates

Me being the super duper salesman that I am, I think I'll mention a few days after Christmas that yes, we do sell gift certificates. Cindy and Barry Hampson were given a gift certificate from their children last year, and here is the result - their portraits were created at the Dallas Arboretum.

 

Try a Dublin Dr. Pepper!

I decided earlier in the year to always offer Dublin Dr. Peppers to my clients. I have a huge stock on hand, so just ask for one any time you're here!

My grandfather grew up in Dublin, Texas. He was raised with Dr. Pepper, and thus, so was I. Dublin Dr. Pepper is a small bottling plant in Dublin that's known for brewing Dr. Pepper according to the original recipe - which calls for pure cane sugar instead of corn sweetener. You can taste the difference!

If you're ever in Dublin, Texas, which is in the Hill Country near Stephenville, stop by Old Doc's Soda Shop and order a fountain Dr. Pepper. Believe me, you'll never drink a better soda.