This session was commissioned by Harmony, one of my favorite Yoga teachers and one of the most balanced people I know.  In approaching this shoot, Harmony and I collaborated about the look and feel she was wanting in her images.  We agreed to try and do something more whimsical, unique, and creative than traditional yoga photos; something a bit less straight forward.  So with a tripod, timer, and a bunch of different external lights, we went to work.

These images are all straight out of camera…meaning, nothing is Photoshopped.  All of the lighting and coloring was done by me with flashlights and glow sticks with the camera on a tripod and timer.  I chose to photograph on the edge of a negative edge pool to bring more light into the image.  Plus I wanted a visual metaphor for yoga and meditation.  The waters may be calm, but never entirely still.

Each image is about 30 seconds to a minute long, which meant Harmony had to be incredibly still for the time the shutter was open.  We also had to do about 5 to 6 takes before we got it right so she was holding the poses for up to 5-10 minutes.  I loved this session because I felt like I was painting with light and physically creating my image.  My movements were all tracked by the camera and I had to be as conscious of my body as harmony was with hers.  Wearing all black and moving quickly allowed me to be invisible in the background.  It was an amazing practice in patience and awareness which is, in essence, the heart of yoga itself.

I rarely post my personal images but a little bird told me they wanted to see more images on-line from a photo outing I took a couple years ago in Minneapolis.  So here goes…
I chose these two images for a number of reasons but mainly because they go extremely well paired with each other.  The similarities are fairly obvious.  Both are portraits of men holding canes.  They share balancing colors that compliment the clothing (a serendipitous accident I noticed while I was making the images).  And there is a theme of vertical lines mixed with the organic natural elements.   I wanted to be sure to keep the compositional elements balanced and the background simple to allow the subjects to be the real focus of the shot.

That said, I hope that little bird enjoys this post.  Thanks for putting the fire under me to revisit these images!!

This is Jen, my ever so lovely esthetician (did I spell that right?).  We have been doing some trade over the past couple years and she asked if I would do some images of her for her website.  She is not only gorgeous, but amazing at what she does, which if you have no idea what an esthtician does…then you may not have been a bride in the past few years.  She is the one that helps get the skin smooth and tan looking without harmful chemicals and treatments.  Someone every bride should have in their back pocket about 4-6 months before the big day.

Anyhoo, her website should be on-line soon…once it’s posts, I’ll be sure to add a link.

Jen Swink

I photographed Sara and Chad’s wedding just over 7 years ago.  They were one of my first weddings and part of the reason I fell in love with wedding photography.  I saw this gorgeous young couple in love who wanted fun/candid style photos and was willing to let me have free reign over how I was going to do it.  It was also the first and last time I ever saw a “tap off”  (and improvised tap dancing session by the groomsmen) and a bride’s father do a gymnastics routine on the dance floor.  I remember thinking to myself, if this is how all weddings are, “I’m in!”.

We reminisce about the time where I used to work out of my tiny apartment and make-shift studio where I would make potential clients take their shoes off before coming in and be forced to pet my very docile 80lb rescued pit bull, Booda.  Oh, those were the days.

Their wedding was the start of a huge new venture for them as a couple and for me as an independent wedding photographer trying to bridge the gap between being a creative artist and running a studio that paid the bills.

(here are a couple shots from their wedding in 2004)

So here we are…now alomst 8 years later and they are pregnant with twins!  It’s as if everything has come full circle for me.

I’m so proud to be able to feature their shots on my blog and I am overwhelmingly convinced that these guys are going to be amazing parents.  They are both gentle souls with the patience of a saint.  I saw that Sara posted on facebook the other day that her new twins (born just a week ago) have “turned their lives right-side up”.  It was a simple sentiment that brought tears to my eyes.

Congrats on your newest additions and thank you for trusting that the fresh-faced photographer from so many years ago would be able to document so much of your milestones and joy!

After scouting the Lagua beaches for 4 hours last week, I found this tasty location.  I was immediately attracted to the tide pools and loved the angle of the sunset.   It turned out to be a  magical combination.  I was initially going to try and hide Dan’s bare feet but realized that it added an interesting twist that nicely contrasts their attire and posing.

There were so many fantastic images from this Silverleaf wedding in Scottsdale…here is a quick tease while we gather and organize the rest for the blog