Kaitlin

Kaitlin, originally uploaded by austinspace.

I might have a touch of SAD--Seasonal Affective Disorder--to go along with all the other crap of getting older. Photography in the winter gets harder and harder for me to bring myself to do, and though I can always shoot in my cozy warm studio, there is nothing like a warm summer evening when the light gets perfect and even the insects dance in delight.

This shot of Kait was taken in July, but thanks to so many photoshoots the last three months I'm just now editing all her photos. Fortunately Kait is one of the coolest people I know and doesn't mind...too much...how long it takes me to go through the photos.

I think part of the beauty of this shot is the fact that my lenses are always dirty, causing the light refraction in the lower two/thirds of this pic. Ha.

San Diego Comic-Con

San Diego Comic-Con, originally uploaded by austinspace.

Silver at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. We've shot each year for the last four years after I spotted her as the Corpse Bride and she found the photo on my Flickr stream. It's always a pleasure to see her and her friend Kit at the Con, and no matter how crazy and busy it gets there, we manage to find each other.

This shot is taken between two large blue vents on the upper level of the Convention Center in San Diego. The light when she moved there was just perfect. People compare it to the painted comic book art of Alex Ross, and though I agree with the lighting, Silver is way more beautiful than the version Ross does of Power Girl.

Autumn and Eve

Autumn and Eve, originally uploaded by austinspace.

Erin came to me with the concept, and even brought the apple and a lot of leaves which I supplemented with leaves from my front yard.

Lighting with Alien Bees in front of her and behind her. I edited out my foot, which was visible on the right as I'm standing near the apple and shooting this without looking through the viewfinder. A simple crop and image rotation finished this off.

No, she's not nude; there is a hint of the orange/red fabric above her shoulders that kept her strategically covered during the shoot.
More to come from this shoot!

Sister

Sister, originally uploaded by austinspace.

All hail natural light! All hail the Magic Hour!

Rested and Ready

Heather, originally uploaded by austinspace.

My hiatus over, I've slowly ramped up shooting again. It was good to recharge the batteries and take care of other business for a few months but towards the end, as the weather improved, I have to admit I got anxious to start up again.

Heather and I shot once before inside the studio when the weather forced us inside, so it was nice to take advantage of our Spring weather and get out for our second shoot. This is at Manito Park. Heather really wanted to shoot in these arches (in the summer wedding parties are often coming through them) and using the 10-22mm lens we kind of took it to the next level.

Aren't those shoes killer?

Erin

Erin, originally uploaded by austinspace.

This is amongst the last portraits I'm going to do for awhile. An idea brewing in my head for some time finally popped out during the holiday season and I've decided to move in a different direction photographically for the next few months. Hopefully I'll return to portraiture reinvigorated!

Erin is a delightful young woman who had had very particular ideas she wanted to achieve, and she called me yesterday thanking me again for the results. The black and white choice in these shots were to focus on the form and I'm really happy with them. She has the two studio lights on her here, the one on the left turned down low. In Photoshop I used the black and white filter with the reds and yellows turned up to get this almost marble finish.

Nicole and Jessica

Nicole and Jessica, originally uploaded by austinspace.

I've really slowed down in the quantity of photoshoots I've done lately. The combination of cold weather, new responsibilities at work and the desire to catch up has resulted in only two or three shoots the last month. This shoot with perennial favorite Jessica and her friend Nicole wass absolutely fun and so many good shots resulted from it that now, two weeks later, I'm still working on them.

This shoot was a day or two after I finally received a replacement for my 17-85mm lens that I took to a shop four months ago (long dull story, but I'm never going to that shop again) and was finally told couldn't be fixed. However this particular shot was done with the 10-22mm wide angle lens, which is why Nicole is so...lengthy in this shot.

The light on this one is interesting. If you look at colors, you'll notice how on the left side of the photo it's orange and yellow, and on the right it's white and blue. The models are laying on a futon and I'm using my two Alien Bees lights on the left, hence the more yellowy cast. On the right just off screen is a window, letting in grey/white/blue late afternoon light.