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Anne + Kristen: Austin Fitness Shoot

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2015 is a year for us to build back our fitness portfolio after taking a year off to focus on other areas of our business. We are super excited to work with Anne and Kristen from Rogue Athletic Club on these portraits. They are both phenomenal athletes that have put in countless hours to build their fitness both mentally and physically as they attempt to qualify for the Olympics. At the time of the shoot Kristen had just returned fromhttp://www.usatf.org/News/Team-USA-dominates-at-2015-Bupa-Great-Edinburgh-Cr.aspx Edinburgh, Scotland where she represented winning Team USA in the 2015 Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country Race. Anne photographed with us this day and two weeks later for a super secret chilly session, more on that in later posts.

I love these photos because it shows the strong women doing their thing both as teammates and individuals. At times, the running is lonely and the ancillary workouts are isolating but then you come together as a team to work side by side.

We can make you look Olympic Level too, give us an email at josh@azulox.com to schedule your own fitness shoot.
–JB

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Jenny Lynn in Red: South Austin Creative Portraits

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Sometimes it just all comes together. The weekend of this shoot had us in the possession of a 50 Megapixel medium format beast of a camera called the Pentax 645z. We had it in our posssession for about 36 hours and determined to make the most out it. Saturday night we took it out to Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet for astrophotography, Sunday afternoon we photographed a wedding with it, but Sunday morning I called together a small team that I like to use when testing out something new. My friend Jenny Lynn (I think I am the only one who calls her that, reminds me of an old fiddle tune Jole Blon) has been a muse for me since we met. We struck up a quick conversation about Avedonand Suzy Parker and now she is always first to go when I am trying out new toys such as really expensive cameras.

This little creative project called for red. Red walls, red apple, red hair, red lips, red dress. Jenny Lynn scouted an area not far from her house in South Austin that held promise with red brick walls, aluminum cutouts and other little touches. Adrian with Revelry Beauty arrived at the happy in the morning time of 6am to get started on hair and makeup. I arrived too after shooting star trails the night before. My voice sounded like an old diesel starting up. Adrian however was chipper and awesome as always. After good amounts of caffiene were imbibed off to the location where we had 45 minutes of decent light before Jenny had to go to work and I had to go photograph a wedding.

But sometimes when you have the right creative team, it all justs comes together. Even when the pc sync cable is it’s unreliable self, even when the hotshoe is giving your radio triggers trouble. You just make pictures. And let me tell you, the files from that beastly Pentax 645z are outstandingly detailed and fabulous. We pulled 4 stops of shadow detail, and the dynamic range I feel truly shows off the combined beauty of Adrian’s work on Jenny Lynn. If you ever get the chance to shoot with a camera such as this, you better bring your checkbook with you because it’s going to be hard to give back. I feel bad that these are downsized version, because the originals are 6 times larger! Really impressed with the Pentax. Good menus, well built, weatherproof, and not as heavy or bulky feeling as it looks. We really enjoyed our time with it, putting it through the paces. I hope the lens choices improve in the near future to truly be a complete system.

Back to the photos after that little technical tangent. Most ended up being natural light that you see on the post because we had good morning light filtering in through the trees and privacy fence creating natural “cookies”. On the strobed photograhps we utilized a silver beauty dish for sharp contrasty light. One of the great parts of having working with Jenny Lynn so many times is her ability to find the light. Love models that pose with the light instead of the camera, makes for dynamic photographs I believe.

Well we hoped you enjoyed this little detour into one of our side creative projects. Hoping to have a few big ones this year as well.
–JB

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October Mermaids: Underwater Series in Austin

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The thing about mermaids is, you never quite know when they will show up to haunt you. Our ongoing project of photographing mermaids in the wild stretches back over 2 years now and we are just now refining our process to capturing these rare and unforgiving creatures. This set of photographs captures 3 sessions from one not so warm October day in 2014. Our first set features Kari and David in either a mating dance or perhaps an underwater turf battle. After the two of them swam furiously away, we found a mermaid in bright orange and yellow mysteriously floating across the surface of the water. We could not divine her intentions, so we simply snapped a few photographs of Nicole and awed at her grace. Lastly, we found Jennifer underwater and coaxed her into letting us take a few portraits of her, much like one does as a tourists in a faraway land. After she had her fill of us, off to the school of fishes to retrieve her young.

Creative Makeup (and pool!) by Lecia Harkins
Mermaid Tails from FinFunMermaid

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Nicole: Commercial Fitness in downtown Austin

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Can you do a headstand? Nicole can!

We are rebuilding our commercial fitness portfolio during this fall and winter. Photographing Nicole at the Thinkery parking garage is our first step in that process to update our fitness genre portfolio. We loved the geometry and color of the parking structure as a complement and a contrast to Nicole’s long lines. Part of our passion in the fitness genre is to showcase strong people, especially women, to serve as a better projection of what we can acheive. Nicole told me she had been doing two a day workouts for the month leading up to this session to get her body in the best shape she could. Love that passion and commitment.

If you are interested in showcasing your fitness this winter please contact us. And if you have a great story behind your achievements even better!
–JB

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Soaked: Fashion in the Wet in Austin

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Continuing in our Soaked Series, we had another fun, windy, wet and stormy session a few weeks ago and I wanted to share a few photographs while explaining our process. First, let me start by thanking our participants Sanchita, Dandie and Cassidy. The temperature dropped and the wind picked and yall were troopers to pose with cold water raining down upon you. Adrian with Revelry Beauty was a big help in doing hair and makeup, plus she held reflectors, water hoses and generally was a big help on set. Andrew with for being a second shooter/helper/inventor/part-time model thanks for your help too.

Our plan going into the day was to shoot again my big black fabric backdrop and to play with shutter speeds to get different length rain drops. The weather had other ideas as we got halfway through our first session with Sanchita and the wind became more than our sandbags could hold a 10×20 foot backdrop. The wind brought clouds and we problem solved by reversing our shooting position from shooting into my garage to shooting into the street. We also utilized my side yard to use my neighbor’s house as a wind screen. We had to shoot pretty tight and the models stood on top of a folding ladder to get enough elevation to clear the row of houses. Look at the last photo to see our setup.

Another big change for me is the use of the beauty dish. I have been shooting mostly with my paul buff long throw reflectors either bare or gridded but I wanted a wider throw and closer range and the beauty dish was a win for that solution. Need to continue exploring the edges of the beauty dish’s light, I think there is an interesting edge there. We also need to get another round of big gel sheets. I had a lumopro 180 with various Rogue Gels on it, but it doesn’t come close enough to the power of an Einstein640 on full power. Next time, I think we will gel the AB800 backlight. Looking to have more fun with color in this series and match the backlit color to the clothes/makeup of the models.

Already have the idea for the next installment of this series, leave a comment if you want to participate or if you have an idea of where a localized rainstorm would make sense.
–JB

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Sophisticloth: Commercial Fashion Shoot

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Bow Ties she said, Fashion she said, See the world she said. Ok, Maybe not the last part. Val with Sophisticloth had a new challenge for us in shooting her new line of bow ties that incorporate vintage silk and organic materials. With these photos and video we wanted to show both close ups of the ties and the general look and mood of the guys that would buy them. We used the Long Center in Austin for it’s skyline view and for it’s glass and metal architecture. My favorite of the shoot is Ken against the dark green wall with a restricted light to set the mood of a modern upscale man.

We also utlized a friend’s condo in downtown Austin for a nightlife feel. I cribbed a light setup gleaned from reading Gregory Heisler’s 50 Portraits and used a green gel from below to anchor Charley into the scene with a believable light from below. My change to the setup was dragging the shutter significantly and adding movement to the photograph to give it more energy. I think I was around 1/8 of a second hand held and the motion is intentional.

Hope yall are enjoying our new website and expanded coverage of some of the work we produce. Let me know your favorites in the comments!

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Modern Sophisticant: Lifestyle Shoot

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Lifestyle Shoot for Jinxedaposed Clothing new menswear collection, “Modern Sophisticant”. Our Models for the evening included: Michael Steven Vail, Kevin Cloud, Logan South, Kalev Clawson and Jenny Lynn Larsen. We explored the area around 4th and Congress in Downtown Austin for its mix of warehouse, skyscraper, and alleyways, all areas that today’s modern Man navigates. Our inspiration for the style of the shoot was a cinematic take on James Dean and the duality of man. I think the first photo exemplifies this the best by showing who is turned on by whom and what turns our eye. Thanks a bunch to trusty assistant Austin for coming up with the blocking for this scene.

Visit Jinxedaposed and buy their clothes!

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Kinetic Romance: Wedding Style Shoot

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I want to start by talking about our design theme: Kinetic Romance. We wanted to design a style shoot that showcased what a Texas Elegant wedding could be beyond mason jars and burlap. We felt that martini glasses, bauhaus design elements, and a splash of James Bond debonair cool can become elements that you will see in the future of Texas Weddings. As you look through the photographs, notice the bold, dramatic color pairings: Red, Black and Yellow, like a Texas coral snake. Also notice the squared bouquet, I have never seen that before. One last thing to notice is the super cool Photo Wall with cutouts for couples to get photographed in with monogrammed initials and details such as the wedding invitation. How awesome is that! Let me now go into throwing out heaping praise on people and give a backstory into how this shoot came about.

The Kinetic artwork that led to this whole shoot
The Kinetic artwork that led to this whole shoot

I have been waiting to share the photographs from this shoot since the moment I pressed the shutter. We made these photographs for the just released issue of Bliss Bridal Magazine to showcase new ideas and talents in the Central Texas area. The whole genesis of the shoot started from a kinetic sculpture on the grounds of TerrAdorna in Manor, Texas. This whirling, twirling metallic peice of shiny moving art got our heads around the theme of Kinetic Romance. The decisions that followed were based upon and inspired by the artwork. Dory, owner and operator of TerrAdorna, had an idea for a jumping groom to seated bride photograph featuring the artwork and we went off and running from there.

Details Everywhere! Slinky's, Martini Menu's, Red, Black!
Details Everywhere! Slinky’s, Martini Menu’s, Red, Black!
Elegant Photo Wall!
Elegant Photo Wall!

To complete the vision we brought in Michelle from Here to Help event planning and worked with Maddie from Bliss. Michelle took our notion and got the caterer, rentals and all the super details to mesh together in completing our vision. Michelle did great work in listening to our intent and turning it into a reality. One of her decisions was to bring in Robin from Gilded Petals . I was apprehensive at first but I had no reason to nervous, because Robin took it to the next level. One of my ideas was a square bouquet, and no one had really seen one before until Robin debuted her red and yellow square masterpiece, I had to stop myself from taking pictures of it all day. Thanks for your work Robin!

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We had two great models to work with that day as well, Jenny Lynn Larsen as our bride and Michael Steven Vail as our groom. Michael was kind enough to jump onto the rock island about 20 times in dress shoes and look cool doing it, no easy task. Jenny Lynn just waltzed around looking stunning all day, also no easy task. Jenny Lynn and I have worked together on at least ten projects so to have her there was a nice bedrock to our photographs. We more or less knew what to expect from each other. Michael was new to me, but it won’t be the last time we work together.

The grounds of TerrAdorna
The grounds of TerrAdorna
Long Exposure, Mercedes, Gorgeous Bride, yeah what else do you need?
Long Exposure, Mercedes, Gorgeous Bride, yeah what else do you need?

Another guy that needs a big shoutout is Matthew from Illussions. He came up with these super cool bright red race-car thrones for our couple to sit on during their long-exposure shots. He also setup a red-chaired lounge for our couple sit and stare and each other on. Furniture pieces like these really pull the shoot together. Also, on the guy list is my assistant Austin, who braved strong winds on a tall ladder while holding an octobox and for being the source behind the cool long exposure shots as well.

The Romance part of the Kinetic Roman shoot
The Romance part of the Kinetic Roman shoot

Finishing up, I am so overwhelmed with all the people who put in a bunch of hours to get this project off the ground. Thanks to all the vendors who stepped up to the challenge of creating something new! Big thanks to the Bliss Bridal Magazine family for supporting our vision and having such great vendors to work with. For all my brides out there, go check out their magazine and all the hard work they do in bringing you the freshest wedding ideas in Austin.