October 2015 Image Round Up

Here are some of my favorite images from October!

It rained the entire day of Efren's senior session. All except for the actual hour of his session. Luckily, the heavy rains stayed away and we were able to carry on. As we were driving to our next location it started to sprinkle. I pulled over to the side of the road and signaled for Efren to jump out of his car and join me. I love how the rain drops are lit up from the sun in this image. I am super happy I was able to create a photograph for Efren's senior year that cannot be easily repeated. In that way it is just like all the memories he will make this year.

Every family has its own spunk and charm. Which is why I tend to love a less traditional family portrait. Is anyone looking at the camera? Nope. Would I hang this photograph as a 30x40 canvas in my living room? In a second. I love how this image illustrates what this stage of life is like for the Hamm family: on the move.

Brides tend to get all the attention on the wedding day (I mean look at Nicole's killing me softly expression!) but I think it is important to not neglect the groom. I love how Matt is totally owning this photo.

Weddings are by far my favorite to photograph. Within all the chaos and madness my heart sings when I can capture a couple at their happiest moments. This photo of Justine and Adrian is making my heart sing. Just look at those two big old grins. I am also enjoying how the movement in this photo reminds me of the genre of street photography.  

Jorge was gracious enough to play for me at sunset. I wanted to emphasize the shape of his posture as he was playing so I chose to turn those lines into a silhouette. The big New Mexico sky is a pretty good partner. 

Receptions challenge me to come up with more creative celebrating photos. I noticed Patrick and Lenisa literally kicking up their heels so I jumped in front the dancing pack, got low to the ground and was able to create this image. 

This photo of Eylin pretty much sums up most of my childhood dreams: to be pretty and to have a horse. I used a wide angle lens so that I could include the action (Eylin leading her horse towards the camera) and the scene (the gorgeous desert and Organ mountains) into one frame. 

It seems movement was a theme for October. And weddings! Besides the movement and expressions, I am also liking the play between highlight and shadow in this image. Ben is just stepping out of the shadow and into that bright highlight which creates some dynamic tension.

September 2015 Image Round Up

Here is a few of my favorite images from this month's sessions!

This photo from Neriah's newborn session is my favorite because of the way she fills up the frame. Her little squishy features demanded a closer more intimate place in the photograph's composition.

I am really enjoying my new wide angle lens, can you tell? I used the wide lens to emphasize the angle of the trees. By placing Brianna within the trees' lines, her body and precious baby bump repeat the pattern.  

The sky was slightly overcast during Haley's senior session which gave us soft diffused light to work with. I love how the softness of this kind of light lays on a subject's features. The sharp lines and texture of the corn could have given this photograph a dramatic and tough feel if the sun had been shining its brightest. Instead the diffused light softens the texture of the corn and the overall image has a very quiet and peaceful vibe.

Melissa and Ryan got married this month!! I am really drawn to the negative space in this image and how the shapes of the shadow and stucco wall play off each other. I chose a Black and White edit for this photo to accenutate the relationship between negative and positive space in this image.

August 2015 Image Round Up

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from this month's sessions!

I love J.B. and Amy's sweet look of anticipation in this photo from their maternity session. The sun flare adds just a bit of subtle drama to the black and white edit.

Besides this baby being adorable, I enjoy the sense of movement this photo conveys with the folds of the blanket and the diagonal position of his body. 

In this image the bricks do two things quite well. The lines direct the viewer's eye to Giovana and the colors and tones complement her skin.

Thank you August skies! Sometimes I find myself distracted as I am driving by how bold and gorgeous the clouds are during the southwest's monsoon season. The dramatic sky in this image is just a bonus to the natural interaction between Dominique and Ben.

Ashley, you are fiercely beautifully. I love how the books on the shelves bring lots of texture and color to this photograph without making it feel too noisy or busy.

I played with scale in this image by placing Stephanie and Jon in the lower part of the frame. This over emphasizes the pecan trees to create a sense of grandeur.  

July 2015 Image Round Up

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from this month's sessions!

Sven and Jan celebrated 30 happy years of marriage with an Anniversary Photo Session. Well done, you two.

What do you do when family is in town? Create a beautiful portrait with backlighting in some wonderful morning light of course.

I had such a hard time choosing a favorite from Juliette's baby photo session. Her sweet expression and the dreamy bokeh won me over on this image.

Speaking of dreamy bokeh and sweet expressions....Life goals: Follow the good light and create a photograph just like this of Melody and Skye. Sisters forever.

Jade, you are killing me. I am in love with the moodiness of this image and the subtle teenage angst just screamed for a black and white edit.

I created these portraits with Andrew to document and celebrate the awesome fitness goals he has accomplished. I used an HDR edit on this image to accentuate the muscles tones and create a monumental feel to the image.

We Forgot One Thing When Expecting a Baby

We had a bag sitting in our closet, full of a change of clothes for both Elise and I, personal hygiene items like toothpaste and toothbrushes, and we even had newborn clothes. That bag sat there for over a week, waiting for a little piece of sunshine to enter this world and join our family.

Of course we had a bassinet in our room next to our bed and a crib we assembled ourselves with instructions that made no sense to me. Elise had to translate the pictures for me to understand. They don’t make furniture the way I would make it. We had a rocking chair. We had a changing table with a padded changing cushion, a box of diapers, baby wipes, and even a diaper genie. We painted a bookshelf and dresser white symbolic of our pure love for our baby girl. The book shelf had stuffed animals and a small collection of books ready to be read for the first time. We labeled the dresser drawers with Dr. Seuss fish pictures, “1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish”, and we filled the drawers with clothes so small they could only be described as cute. We painted the walls with rolling hills and blue skies, long tall Lorax trees, and the elephant Horton next to the quote “A person’s a person no matter how small”. We even hung custom wall art; framed Dr. Seuss vintage Lorax cards Elise found online. Most importantly we hung 6 wooden painted letters on the wall that spelled Melody.

Melody over five years.

We had all the important things ready. We were excited for our little girl to come into this world. I remember the effort we put into getting every little detail ready for her. I remember waiting for her to be born and then it was time. Elise demanded I take her to the hospital. The nurses at the hospital were surprised how far along Elise was. I thought it could happen any minute. After 6 hours of Elise’s labor, blood, sweat, and tears, she came into the world. My little sweetheart. Everyone said that was a fast birth. To me watching my wife screaming in pain, and being overwhelmingly polite to me in between contractions, it seemed to drag a little. Everyone says time flies, and as you get older it just moves along faster. I never got it, until now. Melody is 5 years old. Where did the time go? It didn’t seem to be flying by but now it is gone. All I have left is the memories I went out of the way to make. And now I am telling people time flies and the older you get the faster it goes.

Skye baby year one.

We had all the important things ready, all the things a little baby girl could never know she needed. But what about the things she would want later? Or the things I want now. She wouldn’t remember the look in Elise’s eyes when they first made contact with hers. Or the way Elise held her, the youngest baby Elise and I had ever held. She won’t ever get to see how much I didn’t want to cut her umbilical cord, the mean look I gave the unaware doctor that forced me to do it, how scared I was when she almost put her foot right in the way, or how nervous I was the first time I held her like a little fragile egg. Melody will never see the panic that hit when we stepped out of the hospital realizing all of the support we had for the last two days was staying there and we weren’t even given an instruction manual. We spent the next few months worrying about getting sleep while Melody grew up. She learned how to smile before she had hair. She was my cuddle buddy; we took naps all over the house. I sang the same song to her every night “As I have loved you”. She crawled, she walked, she talked, and we witnessed our little helpless baby turn into a social butterfly. I will remember. Elise will remember. But those memories although they happened slowly, went by fast. And other than in our minds, those memories were only recorded with pictures taken from time to time. We don’t have video of those moments, and I know it is a luxury and not a necessity, but I want it, and I know Melody wants it to. Life happens whether or not we record any of it. To watch later is up to us.  

We had all the important things ready, but we forgot that someday we were going to want to sit down with our daughter and watch the beginning of her story together.