adam & alex & a very special portrait session | manhattan, ks portrait photographer
This past summer, I had the pleasure of working a couple of times with Alexandra, a local model, doing some fashion shoots, so I was excited when she contacted me wanting to do a portrait session with her husband, Adam. We discussed outfits and the concept she wanted for their shoot, and got all the plans put together.
We met up in one of the fields near their home to make some portraits of them doing what they love to do together: bird-watching. The sun was golden and glorious as we got started.
Out alone, with each other, doing what they love to do. One thing, of course, led to the other… 
Wait…did you hear that?
What? What’s going on?
Don’t you see it?! Over there!
ZOMBIES!!
The rest is just too horrible, much too soon to talk about. The rest of the story, in pictures, after the jump. (more…)
fall portrait specials, going on now!
Hey everyone out there in Internetland! I just wanted to pop in and let you know that we’re running some portrait session specials over on our Facebook page.
What’s that? You didn’t know we had one? We do. It’s here. Come on over and join the fun! We post more images of more recent work over there, so check out what we’ve been up to!
Also, while you’re there, check out the daily portrait session special. Every day this week (9/12-9/17), we’ll be offering a different discount or incentive to a limited number of sessions that book that day. Check back every morning to see the new deal and get on it! Now is the time to plan your holiday portrait session in order to get images and cards back in time to send them out.
See you over on the Book!
(and, just because posts are prettier with pictures, here’s a couple from last fall)
what i learned about light painting
A few years ago, I was introduced to the work of Jeff Newsom, a portrait and wedding photographer out of Southern California. One of the aspects of his work that really struck me was how incredible his night portraits are. Typically, night is a tough time for photographers because, you know, light is kind of important to photography (from Greek, meaning “writing with light”). The kinds of things Jeff does with his wedding couples and portrait subjects amazes me. Here’s the post that really got my attention. I’ll hang on a second until you get back. In particular, check out the last shot of the post.
The way he combines the light trails of light painting with traditional (I should have put that in quotes) portraiture astounds me. Light painting is pretty darn cool to begin with, but when you mix that with people, it starts to get downright epic.
So, on Saturday, I thought I’d give it a try. A handful of photographers and I got together in Wamego to check out the 4th of July carnival and see what sort of trouble we could get ourselves into. It seemed like exactly the kind of crowd to try out light painting with.
I knew the basic principles: Put your camera on a tripod. Use a slow shutter speed, a low ISO, and a small aperture. Use a hand-held light-emitting device to either create trails of light or to illuminate the subject.
What I didn’t know was how tricky it was, exactly, to get things to work out the way you want them to.
And so, I present to you, what I learned about how not to paint with light.
First, make sure your light is bright enough.
Here, my iPod Touch, which is pretty darn bright in a dark room, wasn’t nearly bright enough to leave a light trail.
Second, to leave a thick trail, the light must be not only bright, but large.
Here, I was using the super bright LED flash on my friend’s smartphone. It left a great, crisp, bright trail, but wasn’t nearly as big as I was looking for.
That’s about the time we realized that my friend Terry, who had lent me his phone, had also brought what he called a “very cheap ring light,” which consisted of 20 or so super bright LEDs arranged in a ring that attaches to the front of the camera’s lens. It has its own battery pack, so they’re really bright and can stay on easily for a long time.
Perfect.
Which leads to my third lesson learned: Don’t wave your super bright light in front of where your face will be, or else your face won’t be there at the end.
The green lights in this came from the ring light’s battery pack indicator lights. I really love how each light on the ring light leaves its own trail, which crosses and twists around the trails left by the other lights. There’s such depth and texture to it!
So, the next thing we realized was that, no matter how bright the flash on the subject is, if you’re not standing there for the whole exposure, you’re going to appear as a ghost because the background will already have been partially exposed. You have to have the subject stand in place the whole time the shutter is open.
For this one, I opened the shutter, walked out to our straw spot, triggered the flash, and walked out of the frame. Notice how I’m nearly transparent? That’s because when I wasn’t there, the floodlights for the basketball court continued to illuminate the background and expose the sensor.
So, that meant we needed someone other than the photographer to be the subject. For that, we coerced forced gently persuaded Julie, one of the photographers who came out for the fun, to stand in as our subject.
For this frame, I attempted to draw angel wings and a halo around her. Besides the fact that I drew the wings upside down, I also learned that you have to get out of the frame before you trigger the flash on the subject.
Once we figured all that out, good things started happening. The good stuff is right after the jump. (more…)
my own – manhattan, ks child photographer
It’s not very often that I go to a wedding as a guest. Being in this business, the odds are just against me. So this past weekend, I found myself in a rather rare position: I was at a wedding, I didn’t have to work it, I had my camera, and my oldest daughter was the flower girl. That last one meant that she was all dressed up and at the wedding venue (the Holiday Inn in Manhattan, KS) early.
While we were waiting for the wedding photographer to finish doing the bride and groom portraits, I asked her if she wouldn’t mind me making a few portraits of her. Amazingly, she agreed! I was so happy that she was willing, because the Holiday Inn has some amazing light and great locations. I’ve shot some wedding receptions there before and have never been disappointed.
We spent all of 13 minutes, and I made less than 70 frames, but am so happy with the results. I don’t normally share personal images on here, but since these were not your run-of-the-mill family snapshots, I figured it was okay. So, if you’ll indulge me, my daughter:
My very favorite ones of her from this mini-session (plus my other two kiddos), after the break.
miss zoey – manhattan ks child photographer
Earlier this month, I had the chance to go hang out with little miss Zoey and her parents at their Manhattan, KS home. I had met them the month before while photographing their adorable home (already sold!), and as we were talking about their upcoming move out of state, Zoey’s mom mentioned that they needed to get Zoey’s portraits made.
Two weeks later, and I got to hang out with Zoey at her home and at nearby Anneberg Park. I spent nearly the whole time laughing and playing with this adorable, energetic, Wiggle-loving little girl.
Everyone, meet Zoey:
Zoey is the typical 2.5-year-old toddler: shy at first, but curious enough about the rabbit on the top of your camera that she will eventually come out of her shell and play.
Besides, she loves her little pink sunglasses.
To see more, check out the full post:
kelli and jay – manhattan photographer
I love my job. I get to meet all kinds of incredible people that let me into their lives for a time. There are so many different kinds of beautiful relationships that I get to share, so much love and passion that I get to witness, and so many people in love that I get to work with to create portraits for them to treasure.
Recently, I got to meet Kelli and Jay. They got married a couple of years ago, but at the time, didn’t get any engagement pictures taken. Luckily for me, they came to me to help them create some portraits of the two of them together along with their little girl.
We got together at Anneberg Park in Manhattan, KS, during spring break on a slightly chilly and fairly breezy afternoon. First, we started with Jay in uniform.
Kelli had brought along something that she wanted to use in her portraits, which is such a great idea! Who knows a couple better than themselves?
After getting a few of them together in uniform, they changed and we set off to a few different parts of the park. They also got their little girl out of the car for a couple of pictures. No worries–their little girl was fine waiting in the car.
Everyone, meet Ada.
While Jay took Ada back to the car, Kelli and I took advantage of the time to create a few quick portraits of her.
When Jay returned, we got back to making magic happen. =]
My absolute favorite of the session. Maybe of the year so far.
I’ve always thought the playhouses in the playground would make for a good session location–so much color!
Finally, Kelli and Jay had gotten a matching set of necklaces to wear while Jay is away, and they wanted to incorporate them somehow in the shoot. Ok…done!
Jay, thank you for your service. We wish you all the best over there and a safe return! Godspeed!
jess + mike
It seems like forever ago, but I guess it was only back in November when Jess and Mike came down to Manhattan from where they’re living in Lincoln so we could make their engagement portraits.
I’ll be honest–I was nervous as the date drew closer. Here in Kansas, outdoor photo sessions in early November don’t typically have the benefit of a pleasant climate. However, as Saturday afternoon arrived, so did an incredibly nice warm front. In short, it was a gorgeous day to hang out with two gorgeous people in love.
Jess and Mike had no particular ties to Manhattan–Jess is from Wamego–so they trusted me to choose a location for our shoot. That kind of trust is one of the best things to give a photographer. =]
We went to a building in Southern Manhattan that I had been eying for a while. The grass was green, and yet the leaves were yellow and falling around the lawn. But, I imagine you didn’t come here for a description of the landscaping, right? Ok…here are the images.
Jess (it’s her birthday tomorrow, the 26th–leave her some happy birthday love!):
Mike:
There’s a huge tree in front of this building that had dropped a ton of leaves on the ground. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to get a particular shot. But, to get the shot, I’d need to be up off the ground. High.
It’s a good thing I climbed a lot of trees as a kid.
Here’s the shot.
Oh, and this one too.
They were having a good time down there, so I decided to get down there with them.
Well…not with them. Just on the ground. At the same time.
You know what I mean.
Like this:
Okay…I’ll just be quiet now.
And my personal favorite of the afternoon:
Jess and Mike, I had a blast shooting with you, and I just can’t wait until June for your wedding here in Wamego!
christmas portraits
My family are not usually the greatest models. My kids love to make silly faces or run away whenever they see the camera come out. They have very little patience for any direction, and lose interest in about 3.7 seconds. My wife usually flashes me a smile that lovingly indicates that she will tolerate my antics for just a very little while longer.
In short, my pictures of my family rarely turn out great. I think other photographers know what I mean.
All of that, however, changes when I get them into the studio.
Alan Honey, a wedding photographer in Manhattan that I second shoot for, recently let me use his studio to shoot some Christmas portraits of my family. Amazingly, the kids loved it. My wife, 6 months pregnant as she was, even enjoyed it.
I couldn’t share these until now because we gave a bunch of the prints as presents to grandma’s and grandpa’s this year, and we just didn’t want to spoil the surprise. But now, here they are.
We started with the kids in their Christmas outfits that Grandma sent.
Then we had a quick wardrobe and set change.
This is the one we used for our Christmas cards this year:
One more outfit swap and we even threw Mom into the mix as well, mostly because my mother-in-law threatened bodily harm if I didn’t I love my mother-in-law and think she should have lovely portraits of her daughter.
All told, we were in the studio for about an hour and a half without a single complaint from anyone! I’m super happy with these, too; they’ll be treasured images for me and our family for a long time.
a quick portrait session and an mcd ice cream run
A little bit ago, we hit the park right after work one evening to try and knock out a family portrait for some friends. They have three little monkeys boys, which means that it’s usually quite difficult to do anything in a short amount of time, but we managed a few decent images.
Things got even better once everyone hit the ground.
Poor, poor Valerie…so very outnumbered. Oh well. If you can’t beat ‘em… =P
After total chaos broke out we finished a few images, we hit the local McDonald’s for a bit of ice cream to wrap things up the right way.
No, I just don’t think he’s enjoying that thing enough.
Tired of the camera, perhaps?
You so have to click this one and see it bigger!
Thanks, guys! My family and I had a great time hanging with you guys, and the ice cream was a splendid surprise. =]
derek
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of running out to Derek’s house to do some work for him and his family. They live in a beautifully isolated part of the country that is just close enough to town for convenience sake, and just far enough to be, well far away. They have some gorgeous land surrounding their house and we had a good time looking around to see what we could use.
I had a couple of objectives to take care of while I was there: first, one of their beloved canines is advancing in years and they wanted to make sure they had a family portrait with him before he moved on; second, Derek’s a Senior and rapidly approaching that time when he needs his Senior portraits done.
We took care of the family shots first, but you’ll have to wait a bit for those. =] For the time being, take a look at a couple of my favorites from Derek’s session.
Told you he lived out away from everyone!
Believe it or not, we had him up in a tree for this one!
Derek and his dad have been working on this old truck for a while, so it means something special to him. Can we use it in his portraits? Of course!
Thanks for letting me come hang with you and your family, Derek! And I must say a big “Thanks!” to Derek’s dad–he was an invaluable assistant during the session, holding a reflector (for the tree shot, among others) and being my Voice-Activated Lightstand (in the truck shot). You did awesome!
the L family
A little over three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of getting together with the L family (yes, that’s an L in the title…hard to tell, I know). They basically live right on the shore of the Big Blue River where it spills out of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir, so I knew we’d be in for a great location.
Unfortunately, the location was so great, it was flooded. So, instead of giving up, we headed upstream a bit to a little observation site and had a great time.
Melissa, here’s a little sneak peek that I know you’ve been waiting for.
Thanks for the fun session, guys! I’ll be in touch soon when the whole session is finished.
nichole and the girls
In between the summer session and the fall semester on campus, my family and I went to southern California to visit family and friends. While there, we went down with my wife’s family to spend a couple of days in San Diego right on the beach.
Frankly, I’m surprised I made it back.
But, while we were there, I had a fun little mini session with my sister-in-law and her two beautiful girls out on the beach. My mother-in-law was my trusty reflector-wielding assistant, which was fun because it was probably the only time I’ve ever been able to tell my mother-in-law what to do.
Ha ha! Just kidding! (Hi Kathy!)
On with the show!
Oh, and if you’re confused at this point because she looks a lot like my wife, it might help if I explained that they are identical twins.
Sorry to make you wait for these, Nichole–I hope they were worth the wait! Shoot me an email (or just call your sister) if you have any questions.
amanda & casey + 2
This summer, some random lady stopped my wife at the library to ask her a couple of questions. She saw that our kids were the same ages as her kids, and she was desperate: she had just moved to our small town from Oklahoma for the summer while her husband got some job training nearby and she was out of her mind for something to do.
Fast forward to the end of the summer and we had to say good-bye to our good friends, Amanda and Casey and their two adorable kids. Luckily, before they left, I got to get them in front of my lens for a family session on campus up at KSU.
Their little girl was such a treat for me! She’s only 7 and already knows how to work it for the camera.
Their little 2.5-year old was missing nothing in the charm department either.
Mom and Dad didn’t do too bad either. 
They may look great individually, but all the magic really happened when I put them together.
And there’s plenty more where these came from. So much so that you might get just a bit sick of them in the next little while!
Thanks you guys! We miss you and hope everyone’s getting settled back in at home.
tim + jodi
If you’ll remember from a couple posts ago, I recently convinced a friend, Jodi, that she really needed to get some maternity portraits done and she agreed. We set out to the Konza Prairie Reserve, stuffed chair in tow, to see what we could do (and boy, did we like what we did!). Since we were going to be out on the prairie, all dressed up nice, Jodi decided to make her husband, Tim, and their two adorable children dress up nicely as well so that, just in case, I could do a family picture or get a couple images of the kids as well.
So, while I was focusing on her and Tim, I did manage to grab a couple of the family as well. Little Miss M decided from the very beginning that she was going to play it cautious around the big guy with the camera, but I still managed to catch her looking once or twice:
Her big brother wasn’t so hard.
It’s so fun to see a couple’s relationship unfold in front of you during a photo session. You get to see how they really are together.
Oops! Wait…I meant this one:
Or this one:
The end of the day came and it was finally time to head home.
Tim, Jodi…you guys know I love you! And congratulations again on your brand new little baby girl! Can’t wait to meet her. =]
kable & sarah + 1 – more
I posted a couple of images from this session a while back, but I just couldn’t let these next few go unposted.
I’ve been experimenting with a slightly new black and white conversion, and I really like the way these turned out:
Thanks again, guys, for the amazing time!
kable and sarah + 1 – preview
Just a couple weeks ago, my family and I were at Manhattan’s City Park. It was a sunny and warm Friday evening around sunset, and there was a classic rock cover band playing at Arts in the Park. What more could I ask for?
Oh yeah: a couple of beautiful friends who wanted some family portraits!
Their little boy was not really into the whole idea of standing there while some big guy behind a camera cracked some very funny jokes that apparently went right over his almost-two-year-old head. Even though the jokes bombed, I still managed to get some great smiles out of him.
We got some absolutely gorgeous light that night.
But I think the greatest part of the session was when we ignored the “Keep Out” signs*.
There’s quite a bit more where these came from, so stay tuned!
*Don’t try this at home kids. And definitely don’t tell my mom and dad on me.
jodi – a sneak peek
On Wednesday, I drove out to the Konza Prairie and met with Jodi and her family for a portrait session. I was particularly excited about this session because Jodi and her husband, Tim, are great friends of ours. Jodi is 36 weeks along in her third pregnancy and had never done maternity portraits before but figured this was as good a time as any. Since neither Jodi nor her husband, Tim, are from Kansas, they thought it would be fun to get some portraits made out on a real Kansas prairie, so we also took a few of the whole family while we were out there.
Normally, I don’t turn images around in two days, but seriously, I’m just so excited about these, I could hardly wait. You’ll still have to wait just a bit for the rest, but don’t worry…they’re coming.
And yes, before you ask, we did drag a stuffed armchair out into the middle of the prairie.
Working it like a freakin’ model!
And my absolute favorite from the night:
ben + emily
Okay, so this one was really a long time in the making. Back in April—yes, April—I assisted Alan Honey on my second wedding. Before we got there, Alan told me that Ben and Emily were two of the nicest people I’d ever meet, and he was right. It turned out that I had already met them when they came into Alan’s studio for their engagement session, though it took us all a while to figure that out!
One of the many great things about Ben and Emily’s wedding was that it was in Wamego! Probably the only time in my life I’ll be able to walk to work. =]
Here are some of my favorite images from before the ceremony. Ben was such a nervous ball of energy waiting to see his future wife. He simply could not wait one more second to see her. The longing was evident and moving. This is Emily’s reaction as Ben opened his eyes:
Just before the ceremony, we stole Ben and Emily away and did some more relaxed portraits outside the church.
I just adore the love you can see between them in this totally candid moment:
The reception was held at the historic Columbian Theater, across the street from the church. The couple had asked to do a picture of the whole wedding party as they were crossing the street, all holding hands. Alan took it a step further:
And I just had to include this one detail shot from the reception:
Stay tuned for more incredibly delayed wedding posts, as well as the most recent weddings and a couple of family sessions I’m super excited about!
smiley little s
I can now officially announce that I have finally checked the last portrait session off my to-do list. I’m all caught up in that department…yay! Now I just have four or five weddings to get up here on the blog* and I’ll be a happy man.
Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of having one of my maternity clients come back with an adorable little bundle of joy ready for his own portraits. We were only able to squeeze in a little time together, but boy, was he cooperative.
He and his mom weren’t able to make it out during his first 10 days (really, the ideal time for newborn portraits), so instead, we did more of a 6-week portrait session. I was so amazed that, at 6 weeks, this little guy was already smiling! He really beamed a couple of them for me.
His mom brought along a teddy bear that his sister had held during some of her own baby portraits.
Just a few days after our session, my family was invited to attend his blessing at church and a lunch afterwards. Naturally, I brought my camera and managed to pick up a few more images for the family. Here’s little S with his grandpa.
I had such a hard time with these last two, trying to decide whether I liked it better in black and white or in color. In the end, I couldn’t decide, so you get both!
Keep smiling, little guy! I look forward to watching you grow. =]
*As a second shooter, all I need to do is edit out all the really bad shots and give the good ones to my boss, and that just takes me an hour or two and I’m done. Once I hand over the DVD, I don’t have to worry about processing the images for clients at all, so the pictures sit on my hard drive for weeks at a time. Don’t worry though, they’ll be up here soon!
olivia + mac
Oh boy…I am excited to be posting today. As I’ve been going down my checklist of sessions to process and post, I was really looking forward to this one. This is Olivia and Mac’s engagement session, which we shot back in mid-May at the K-State Botanical Gardens. Olivia is the brave soul that hired me to shoot her wedding before I had ever shot anything wedding-related. Since then, I’ve been assisting Alan Honey at a number of weddings, and this weekend I’ll be working for another good friend of mine, Nicole Coleman of Nicoleman Photography, second shooting for her. I still have a bunch of Alan’s weddings left to assist at this summer as well, but Olivia’s will be my first solo wedding.
As (hopefully!) every wedding photographer would tell you, their first solo wedding is probably their most terrifying, their most sleep robbing, their most nerve wracking. I’m sure mine will be the same, but after this engagement session, I am super excited to be there for them!
This, incidentally, is the best reason to get an engagement session done if you’re planning a wedding: if you and your photographer have a good relationship, that will make the day of the wedding go all that much more smoothly. It’s tough to develop that relationship, that trust, if the first time you’re in front of your photographer’s lens is the big day. An engagement session allows you to get to know each other, to discuss your style, what you’d like to see, and to allow your photographer the chance to earn your trust ahead of time.
Back to the session: I knew I was in for a great day when I got there and discovered just about the most beautiful day ever.
This is where Olivia really wanted to get married, but when she called to find out if it was available, she was told that they don’t schedule any events here during football home games. So, we planned to do her engagement pictures here, even though they said it was the same day as graduation and that the grounds would probably be full of people. We decided to risk it and go ahead with the shoot.
We hardly saw another soul the whole time we were there.
Soon after Olivia and Mac showed up, we had a great time exploring the grounds and getting comfortable with each other. And let me tell you, they wasted no time getting comfortable.
Look at how easy these two are on the eyes!
They really wanted to make sure that we were able to make use of the fountain, and who am I to say no?
We made good use of the rest of the grounds and flora as well.
We also made good use of my Polaroid.
They were such an awesome couple to work with. Here’s a few more of my favorites:
I just love the feeling of this last one:
Olivia and Mac, thanks for such an incredible session! I had a blast, and I am just jazzed about your wedding in September!
sweet little d
Two weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of driving down to Pillsbury Crossing to meet young master D, a brand-new, 11-day-old little boy. His family has some beautiful farmland just around the corner from the river crossing, which almost made me late getting there. You would think that Google could put on their map if your directions take you, oh, I don’t know, through a river! I did end up getting there safe and sound after calling little D’s mom, just to confirm that all of the signs reading “Warning! Do not cross the river! You will die!” weren’t really all that serious.
We had a fantastic session. It was my first session with a newborn, but since it was D’s first session too, we were all able to relax and have a great time.
Here are a few of my favorites from the session:
Eventually, we got D’s big sister, little miss A, involved as well.
I think she’s a natural.
Finally, my two big faves from the session:
Sweet little D, thanks for sharing your time and your family with me. And thanks for not “christening” me,your mom, or any of my blankets or gear! You’ve got a wonderful family. Welcome to the world!
lotus – maternity
A week or so before I went to New York, I got a call late one Friday from a friend of ours. She had been expecting to give birth any day (actually, a couple of days prior to that), so we expected the call to be the big news that her baby had been born. That wasn’t the case. But, she thought, since she was still pregnant with nothing to do, would I want to do a maternity shoot with her and her family the next day?
Of course!
We went to an old house in Manhattan for a fun shoot with her, her husband, and their daughter. I was apprehensive going into the shoot because I typically like to do my shooting outside, with all the wonderful natural light. I found, though, that there is lots of lovely light inside, too, so long as you know where to look. In this house, we started upstairs by a big window, moved our way to the staircase, and then eventually to the front room with its massive windows and yummy light.
Here are a few of my favorites:
I especially love the light on her belly in this one:
Their daughter, the lovely Miss M, was all too eager to get in on all the fun!
We got a couple of nice family portraits while we were there, too.
And, of course, we got some great belly shots:
Lotus, Charles, and little Miss M, I had such a fun time with you and your family! And it was great to get to see young Master S at conference this past weekend. All my best to you and your growing family!
becky
This may be embarrassingly late in being posted, but I just had to post some images from the awesome session I had with Becky. Back in the fall, Becky and I got together for a fun, early morning (7 a.m.!) shoot around downtown Wamego. I was excited that she was so willing to try out all sorts of fun locations that I had scouted out.
Here are some of my favorite images from the shoot:
We found some very cool concrete pipes all stacked up that made for a fun background.
She loved both of these, and I just loved what the funky processing did with her eyes:
(More after the jump) (more…)
jenny – maternity
This summer, while on vacation, I had the pleasure of meeting one of my sister’s friends, Jenny. At the time, she was about 35 weeks along in her first pregnancy and I had never shot a maternity session before, so I offered to shoot some images of her. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our schedules to work so that both her and her husband, Rob, could be there, so we went ahead and did the session with just her (since a maternity session with just the husband doesn’t really have the same appeal).
She was a beautiful model to shoot and wonderfully open to my suggestions. Here are some of my favorite images from the session.
She was staying at her parents’ house at the time, and there was a super cool little spot in the dining room that we merrily took advantage of.
As we were shooting in her parents’ front yard, her sweet little sister came home.
My two most favorite images:
Thanks, Jenny! And Rob, I’m sorry we couldn’t quite meet up all three of us. I hope the little man arrived happy and healthy!
