Austin Portrait and Dance Photographer | Josh Brewster Photography » Blog

04-20-2010

Photoshoot with Emilie

Emilie and I have been wanting to do a photo shoot for a while, but our schedules seem to have a way of deviously scheming behind our backs and making it nearly impossible to find a time to get together.  So, throwing our hands up in the air, we reserved the the first Saturday that we both had free; it was over a month away.

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We decided to make a party out of it and invited our Austin portrait photographer friends Ming Gong and Raychel Deppe.  The plan was to head out to McKinney Falls State Park right out side Austin and to get take photos of Emilie using the waterfalls, trees, rocks and good ole fashioned nature as a backdrop.

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Of course, good ole fashioned nature decided to play us a mean card: rain.  If memory serves correctly, it rained for two days prior to the scheduled shoot and there was a 60% chance (read: 100% chance) of rain  on the day of the shoot.  austin portrait photographer model test ballet tutu

Not wanting to have a soaked and muddy model, let alone soaked and muddy photographers with soaked and malfunctioning cameras, we took evasive action and found a location that could shelter us from both rain and mud.

Enter the parking garage!

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Parking garages are great.  If it is raining, they keep the rain off your head and the mud off your feet.  If the sun is harsh and contrasty
(and hot), you can stay on the lower levels where the light is softer and you can find great light directionality from the windows all around
you.   There are repeating patterns in both light and structure, angled and parallel lines.

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It also helps if the parking garage is relatively empty.  Cars tend to clutter up the place.

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If you are in the market for a nice parking garage as a shooting space, try to find one that backs up to a park or greenbelt.  As parking
garages are naturally rather open spaces (no real outer walls) it is much nicer to have a blurry green foresty background than to have a nice
blurry McDonalds sign mucking up the frame.  If you are a portrait photographer or people photographer in general, keep a mental list of garages in your neighborhood.

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Even though our initial plan was ruined by past, present and future rain, it turns out the rain was a blessing in disguise.  The skies were
overcast all morning long, providing nice even soft illumination everywhere.  It was dreamy… and it kept the temperature cool.
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We started shooting on the roof and headed to lower levels when the rain came splashing down.  We quickly realized that the wet concrete offered an opportunity to work with reflections. Rain, my friends, is a boon.

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After a lot of photographs and a lot of laughing, we broke camp to head out to Trudy’s, one of Austin’s great Mexican restaurants that serves up a mean Mexican Martini.   It was a good day and one soon to be repeated.

 

 

 

 

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Anthony Martinez - Great stuff man. Very great.

Ashleigh - fantastic.

Jody - Wonderful photos of a lovely model. . . especially liked the last one that has a bit of mystery. Proud of you, Josh!!!

Lindsey (Hufnagel) McCarty - She is gorgeous. Do you ever shoot in Houston?

04-13-2010

Photoshoot with Leah

I had the chance to meet up with my friend Leah this weekend to do a photoshoot just for fun.  One thing that is great about living in Austin is that there are so many great locations to shoot, tons of vingettes that are begging to be backdrops for a portrait.

We started the shoot by meeting at a nearby coffee shop and discussing ideas and visions for the shoot.  After suitably caffeinating ourselves, we jumped in the car and headed to low traffic area in the north of Austin near the Domain shopping center.

I was really enjoying the burst of spring that past few weeks, so most of the shots were among trees, long grasses and flowers.  I am having a hard time picking my favorites from the portrait session, but here are a few of them that I have edited already.

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Steve - Great shots. I especially like the third. Very Nice!

03-22-2010

Headshot Photography | Actor Head Shot Session

I had the chance last week to take a number of head shots of aspiring actor Pierre.  He is a great guy with an infectious smile, so it was a lot of fun to get to be a portrait photographer and take photos of him.

Actor Head Shot by Austin Portrait Photographer

It had been raining all morning long and the light outside was just absolutely dismal.  Luckily, I have been working on being able to create an head shot that looks naturally lit, but is actually lit using strobes.  I set up my gear in Pierre’s entryway, tweaked the lighting setup a little and then called Pierre over to get shooting.

Professional headshot of an man in business attire by Austin Portrait Photographer

We did a number of looks for his head shot session.  We were shooting tethered (meaning the images would display on my laptop as soon as they were taken), so we had instant feedback and could quickly dial in the best head shot possible.

Actor Head shot by Austin Portrait Photographer

In the end, we walked away with about three hundred different images to choose from.  These three were some of my favorites, so I am sharing them as a kind of sneak peak to the world. I can’t wait to see which ones Pierre chooses.

If you know of anyone who could use an Austin head shot photographer, please send them my way!

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Ashleigh - these are great! nice use of lighting.

Bryan Griffin - I was thinking about getting new acting headshots. How much do you charge?

03-21-2010

Portrait Photography: Portrait of a Homeless Man

I had my camera with me last week when I was on the University of Texas campus.  It is a very rare occasion that I have time to stroll around campus and take photos of whatever catches my eye.  When I do have the time, I find it is always rewarding in some fashion, and there is always some lesson learned.

Today was all about practicing composition and using the sunny f/16 rule to get a correct exposure; it is nice to not have to rely on the camera to get a correct exposure.  Cameras try to be smart but most the time you have to be smarter than the camera.  I suppose this is what I learned at UT.

University of Texas Tower

I had to keep my eye on the watch, unfortunately.  Time was running low, so I decided to run into the nearest coffee house to get a cup of liquid energy before heading on my merry way.  I stopped inside Cafe Medici which once was Metro on The Drag (aka Guadalupe St).

For those of you out there who are not familiar with The Drag, it is the commercial strip that spearates campus from the residential West Campus.  It has the Co-op bookstore, a number of places to eat, a tobacco lounge and clothing boutiques.  There are certain stretches of this street that historically (meaning as far as I can remember in the past 7 years) have always had a congregational hubs for the homeless and vagrants.  Interactions can range from mere disregard to begging for change to heckling when you say that all you have is a credit card.

I left the coffee shop and walk by one of these hubs.  I wasn’t paying too much attention; my objective the parking garage was in site, my camera was turned off and slung over my shoulder and my mind was tinkering with a joke whose punchline just wasn’t quite working out.

“You can take my picture!” a voice volunteered.

Slightly started, I grabbed for my camera while flicking my eyes towards the surroundings…. sunny day… in the shade…. plus 1/3 exposure for taste. My fingers started dialing in the settings as I approached the man who had spoken.

He was smiling, but with a shyness and a sense of disbelief that he had drawn attention to himself.    I took a few snaps, smiled and said thank you after showing him my favorite of the bunch.  I turned to leave when he began talking again.

It took me a few seconds to realize why exactly I couldn’t understand him.  He is speaking English? Yes, those are English words.  He is speaking in actual sentences? Yes that is English syntax.  Then why doesn’t it all fit together?

He was rhyming at me. Free-flowing as he called it later.  Speaking in verse.  I couldn’t understand him at first because I wasn’t expecting to hear the sounds of poetic rhythm and prosody.

He was telling me a bit of his story, how he couldn’t read or write that well, how he wanted to go to college but didn’t know how to even begin, how he had a dream to get signed and record some of his work for others.

I talked with him and he rhymed back at me.  A barista from the coffee shop who came out for a smoke break gave me a look that asked if I needed help to escape my new friend.  I smiled and made a small shake of my head.

It turns out his name was Brandon, though he hasn’t gone by this name very long.  When he left the gangs he decided to forge a new identity for himself.    He was a nice guy, and I wanted to do something for him.  I told him to wait for a minute and I would be back.  Some people give money; some people would buy food;  on this day, I had my camera.

I ran into the CVS nearby and popped my memory card into the photo kiosk.  Approximately three minutes and thirty one cents later, I walk back out of the CVS with a 4×6 print in my hand.

But Brandon was gone.  I looked up and down the street, but I couldn’t see him among the throngs of college students.

Slightly bummed, I headed back towards the parking garage.  Passing by an old church, I look over and see Brandon leaning against one of the church walls.  He was looking at me, puzzled.  Perhaps he had already forgotten me?   I don’t know.

I walked up to him and gave him the 4×6.  He looked at it for a few moments, then broke into one of the biggest smiles I had seen in a long time.  He gave me a big ole high five and a enthusiastic handshake for good measure.  I told him to take care of himself and he called me a “Cool Cat.”

Head Shot of a Homeless Man by Austin Portrait Photographer

I left him then.  I’m not sure if I will ever see him again, but I sure am glad I met him.

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Art - You gave him two gifts – you gave him a picture of himself and you treated him like a human being. Most people would have walked on by.

BTW – what was the joke you were tinkering with?

03-07-2010

Lighting Essentials Workshop in Houston

Being a primarily self-taught photographer, I jump at any chance to learn from the established photographers.  The most available way to learn from others is to buy their books, read their blog, reverse-engineer their photographs.  Books are great, but I jump at any opportunity to attend a workshop and learn directly from the horse’s mouth.

Last weekend I attended the Lighting Essentials Workshop put on by Don Giannatti.

Don Gianatti at the Lighting Essentials Workshop in Houston

Not only is Don a great fashion, beauty, editorial and commercial photographer, he is also a fantastic instructor.   Don realizes that we all learn differently, so he made every effort to insure that all workshop attendees were able to comprehend the lighting and photographic concepts.

Portrait fashion photo of a girl in the brush

The best part of the entire experience wasn’t the gear or the photos or the models or even the knowledge that Don presented (though these were all exquisite); the undeniably best part of the Lighting Essentials experience was Don’s desire and passion to make sure that we succeed in our photographic endeavors.  Whether we were hobbyists, full time photographers or if we were preparing to “go pro,” Don had realistic, update advice that would help us succeed.   This alone was worth the cost of the workshop.

Portrait taken at the Lighting Essentials Workshop

Headshot of a model using clamshell lighting

Don demonstrated a slew of lighting setups, both in studio and out on location.  He showed us not only how to see the light, but how to use the light to fulfill our vision.

Portrait taken at the Lighting Essentials Workshop

Headshot of a model using natural light

If anyone were on the fence about attending, I wouldn’t hesitate to endorse Don and his workshop.  To see more on Don and his work, visit his blog and his portfolio.

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