Best of 2009

I feel like I learned more about photography this year than i have in the past decade! So many things just started to click this year and I am really proud of the work I produced.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Summer Family Sessions

Don't let the happy faces in these pictures fool you... ITS HOT OUTSIDE! Don't you just love summer in Texas?

My Family!

These are two of my favorite people to take pictures of! They are growing up way to fast.

Katie's Bridal Session

Katie is an awesome Bride!!! She was very open to doing anything we asked and she even scooted alongside the edge of a train to get to the back for the shot with the Green door. Take a look!!

Fun with lighting and a springtime Bride

These first two images were taken at a recent wedding. I love when the DJ's have crazy lights because it opens up opportunities to capture some amazing images.




I did an impromptu photo-shoot last week for a Photographer friend of mine. Due to all the nasty weather he had run out of time to take the Bridals for this Bride. She only had last weekend to shoot and he was already booked up so I happily stepped in and here are two of my favorite images.

The Island of Cyprus

Cyprus was the last stop on my Trip to Europe. I opened up my time to all of the missionaries on the Island to take family pictures and head shots. I stayed at a discipleship school on the island, www.gatewaysbeyond.org , and what an incredible week it was! God is doing some amazing things on the Island of Cyprus. Take a look!

The Colors of Berlin

Prague at Night

President Obama In Prague

I was blessed with a VIP pass for the Presidential speech in Prague! To hear President Obama speak in person is unreal... he is a great public speaker.

Amanda

Wow! What a great shoot we had today! Amanda was a natural and made it really easy for me.

The Smiling newborn.

I love when Newborns do this! This is Baby Zoe and she is 10 days old here! How cool is that.

Family Session at River Legacy Park

I took family pictures for a good friend today and it was such a beautiful day to shoot! The weather was perfect! The two kids were just awesome and did everything we asked. Take a look!

My Wife... the Photographer??

Well, today she was at least. Abby is known for being my part time posing assistant(and kick ass Hair Stylist) but today she took the next step and became an awesome photographer. I needed some head-shots of myself and the overcast today was too good to pass up.
We learned two things today:

1. taking pictures is a lot harder than it looks and focusing is a "pain in the ass!!" -Abby Shull
2. Posing is extremely difficult and makes you feel slightly sick to your stomach... at least for me anyways. haha

I see this all the time with clients, but now I really understand how they feel. Laughing helps to get past this. I won't get into how Abby was making me laugh, lets just say she was very... creative.
So here they are in all there glory! My first official head-shot taken by the Lovely and talented Abby Shull...

GET THIS BOOK PHOTOGRAPHERS!

Not your usual collection of photographic images, this is more than just a picture book. In it Leibovitz takes you through life as a photographer, what it means to her and the background of some of her famous, and some not so famous, photographs.

It can be fascinating to see one of her shots and read her descriptions of how it came to be: what went through her mind and why she decided to shoot it the way she did. We get to enter the mind of a great portrait photographer. Little bits of information sprinkled throughout the book, the importance of environment, how there is more latitude with digital color than film color (greens photograph too dark without appropriate light on film), the importance of natural light. Not too much technical information here. If you want to know camera settings and lighting set-ups, this will not satisfy you. But she does devote some time to explaining her equipment. She often uses just a single strobe and umbrella to help balance natural light (shades of Strobist!) and is happy with the move to digital, because of the added information it gives to her image. Being tethered to computers leaves her cold; she’s definitely more interested in the creative side. I can totally relate to that last sentence, it gets lonely editing all these pictures! haha.

This book is such a great inspiration for me, makes me want to be better at what i do! I love when something does that. Go get it!

My Favorite pictures... so far!

One of my passions as a photographer is to take pictures in a photojournalistic way. I like to capture the moment without necessarily being part of it (if that makes any sense). Here are some of my favorite photographs in this style.

Brides of 2008

Just wanted to take a look back at all the beautiful brides we photographed last year. So many awesome new locations were discovered while brainstorming for these shoots. Thanks to all the brides of 2008!

Trey and Tiffany's Wedding Album

My Family!

Just some recent Shull Family pictures. Korbin and Sophia are getting so big! 

MATW

Austin and Megan