I always refer to shooting portraits of kids as “cheating”. As long as I have a crisp, clean, well-exposed shot, then the rest is just pointing the camera at a cute kid. Sure they can be fussy, but when you have the luxury of blocking out 1-2 hours for a portrait shoot, being able to take time and wait for the good moods and real smiles is just a matter of patience. The Delp kids were not even fussy at all so getting good shots felt even more like “cheating”.

-Michael

UPDATE: Tami and Andrew’s personalized website is now live! Sit back and enjoy a few more favorites in the introductory slideshow, see the Signature Print, and click the “Purchase Images” link to register to be notified as soon as the album design and proofs go live.

Tami and Andrew’s wedding brings a close to my wedding season for the year. What a great wedding to end on! Tami and Drew were friends of friends when they first hired me a year ago. Today I am privileged to just call them friends.

If Tami or Andrew were nervous at all on the day neither of them showed any of it. I don’t think they would have been rattled even if the day had gone off schedule, but of course it never did… unless you count the unity candle near miss, but Tami was not about to walk away from the altar without lighting that bad boy!

The Lafayette Country Club blew me away this weekend. I have known the venue to be visually quite beautiful, and the shots I get are always great in there. What caught me off guard this time was the food and service. I have always attended buffet style weddings at the club in the past. The plated service was something else entirely. It was some of the best catering I have had in Lafayette or Indy. Oh, and of course the flash mob for Tami was a great personal touch.

Stay tuned to this post. At the end of the week we will have a link for Tami and Andrew’s personalized web page with a slide show of more images including the flash mob, toasts, and more!

-Michael

The props that Mari and Don brought on their session helped to tell their story and make the session a personal one. Don once took Mari on a picnic in horticulture park, so we recreated that event in the same park. The little details of the basket and pumpkin help sell the scene. As you can tell from the uniform, Don is in the Army. While Don was away they wrote letters. Mari is holding Don’s letters to her in the last few shots. Add to these emotional items a little bit of studio light, a killer fall sunset and you get some powerful, romantic images.

-Michael

Working with lens flare is a bit like working with a wild animal. You never are quite sure what the light is going to do. Sure, if you know what you are doing the results can be mostly predictable, but there is always an unknown element that surprises. If you follow my work over the past year you may have noticed the increased prevalence of lens flare and back lighting in my work. As I have become more and more experienced at controlling and predicting shooting and editing with this style in mind, I’m loving the results I am getting more and more. Riley’s senior portraits are some of my favorites yet with these particular techniques.

-Michael

UPDATE: Mitzi and Ron’s personal website is up. See more favorites, their Signature Edition Print, and click the “Purchase Images” link to see the Engagement Session images and register to see all of the photos when they go online. You’ll also be notified as soon as the album design is available to view.

The combination of Mitzi and Ron’s families mingling together in one house was powerful. Last Saturday there was way too much food for the kitchen, and the aromas filled the house. Way too many people for the space, and the hum of conversation and laughter was constant. No matter where you went you could not escape the sense of family, family, family. I have been a fan of the backyard weddings since the very first wedding I shot years ago, and after last weekend I am an even bigger fan.

Stay tuned to this post as the weeks go by. We will have a personalized web page up with a slideshow on Friday, followed by an album design 10 days after that.

-Michael

I should be getting a check from the Starbucks corporate office any day now! Two engagement shoots at Starbucks in the same year, both for completely different reasons done in two different ways. Mitzi is marrying Ron Starbuck, so in just a few months they will be ” The Starbucks”. Cute, right?

Most of our time was spent at a small garden next to the horticulture building on Purdue’s Campus. This garden’s open nature made it easy to work in with my long lens. It also has a nice variety of structures to help break up the images. Ron did a fantastic job of keeping things fun, he knows exactly how to make Mitzi laugh. I have said it many times but I will say it again, if the expressions are real then anything I do is almost secondary. So thanks Ron, and thanks Mitzi for finding such a funny guy.

-Michael

A local musician and friend of the studio, Chris June, helped a great deal with the renovation of our space, pulling the millions of staples from the wood floor in the studio. The best way we can say ‘thank you’ is with a hook up on press photos for his new solo project.

Chris came in with fairly specific ideas of what he wanted. This is always great for me. It frees up my brain to simply worry about light, angles, and composition. Chris wanted a shot showing himself simply playing for himself, maybe before a gig. Our dressing room has a “green room” feel to it, so I dragged the large softbox over and lit it up! Shooting candid shots in a mirror is a common wedding tool for us. Using the mirror here not only added striking visual interest from the circle shape of the mirror, it also added a candid, voyeuristic feel that sells the mood Chris wanted.

The third shot is a pose that Chris had wanted to use, and I liked it. Originally it was more militaristic,but  as most poses go on a photo shoot the planned one evolved and fell into something similar but slightly more natural.

Check out Chris’s new tunes at his web page.

-Michael

The downtown area here is so great for taking a quick photo walk. For this session we went down Main Street just across the walking bridge to Tapawingo Park, a great location for shooting kids and families. I love working in spots where you can get many different looks in the same place. Simply changing an angle or walking 20 feet can get a whole new feel. Tapawingo does exactly this.

I have shot there many times now and I keep finding new little spots. My big discovery on this shoot was simply a picnic table with that was catching a nice balance of direct highlights and soft bounced light. The result being even shadows on most of the face with a large highlight, giving the faces some shape and warmth.

-Michael

If you follow our blog at all you will recall our Virtual Easter Egg Hunt from back in April. The morning after the the hunt was announced I got a phone call from Dave:

Dave-”Are you sure you hid all your eggs?”
Me-”Ya, I triple checked it…”
Dave-”Well Tressa Heath has been emailing me saying she has looked every where and they are not all there.”
Me-”That’s no good… let me pull up the page… ya they are all there Dave, I can send you the Posts and image numbers.”
Dave-”No, No I’m sure its fine. I think she just really wants to win…”

Well Tressa was not only first to enter, but by a stroke of Karma was the the drawing’s Big Winner! Here are a few images from her winning session.

-Michael