My Blog

My friend, Tracy, is starting a dance company called MarioCo.Dance. She is a contemporary jazz dancer and with the new company, she needed new head shots and dance/fitness photos taken and I had the privilege to shoot it! We shot it using mainly available light and a reflector with exception to the “Box Office” shots which we used 2 flashes for. One 480ex II for the background and a 580ex II in a soft box to light the subject. Thanks to my wife, Chrissy, for having a creative eye for a unique picture and for coming up with the idea to shoot the Box Office shots!

We went to Tempe Center for the Arts last Saturday and braved the 114 degree heat. It was brutal, but I couldn’t complain because Tracy was the one jumping up and down on a trampoline for nearly 3 hours. I still like to whine about it though.

Here are a few of the shots we came up with:

On the subject of children, Chrissy and I are trying to finish up our Natural Family Planning course as part of our certification to get married in the Catholic Church. Anyone thinking of doing it better dust off your TI-83s because it’s one of the most complicated and confusing things I’ve done in a while. There are a lot of numbers and graphs involved. I feel like I’m taking a calculus class. On a completely unrelated note except for the part about children in general, here are some photos I took of Emily and Caroline over Thanksgiving weekend with all the kiddos in town together!

This last one is a little soft, but I liked her laughter here…

Couple pictures of my nephew winding through a maze and roaming the pumpkin patch when we went to The Great Pumpkin Festival at the Desert Botanical Gardens last weekend…

Light! Sweet, sweet light. As my friend, Rick Gayle once said,

Light is all a photographer ultimately has control over and the way he molds its qualities helps define objects and tell stories.

This video is intended to show us poor/hobbyist photographers that you don’t need all the equipment in the world to take a good photograph. You can take beautiful photos with just an iPhone 3GS. While I know that’s true, this video is a little bit contradictory considering he’s got thousands of dollars worth of lighting equipment. That point aside, I like to think of this post as more of a demonstration on how important light is in photography. And what I like most, it shows how he sets up his shots. It’s a great watch…


From the guys at fstoppers.com here is Lee Morris’ iPhone Fashion Photo Shoot:





For the hi-res photos from the shoot check out their blog post with more behind-the-scenes information.

Apparently maintaining a blog is harder than I thought. I haven’t posted in over a month. My subscriber base must be so disappointed. So, let me apologize to all of you for not bringing the content. Sorry Chrissy.

I finally had the opportunity to take pictures of my adorable little niece, Emily. She is my brother’s first child and since they live in California I don’t get to take as many pictures as I’d like. We set up a mini photo shoot on the dining room table and here are a few of the best ones! Don’t you just want to squeeze her cute little cheeks?

We’ll start off with the family shot. My brother, Thai, his wife Linh and baby Emily. There was literally no space in my house and since the only lens I have is a 50mm or a 70-200mm this is the best I can do, so it’s a little tight. I need to buy a studio for my hobby is really what I’m getting at.

A couple more after the jump…

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I try and hunt down as many photography lighting tutorials as I can since I am learning from scratch and I don’t have extra money for real classes (This is how I learn most things actually…online video tutorials. It’s how I learned all the graphic design programs.). In my search, I came across a great instructional DVD called “One Light” by Zack Arias. If you’re just starting out and getting into strobe photography, I highly recommend the DVD. In it, he shows all the things you can do with just one light, hence the name. For me it really put into perspective the minimal amount of equipment you need to make a nice picture. Although it’s nice to have a ton of the best and most expensive gear, fortunately and unfortunately for me, talent plays a majority in obtaining a great photo. If you’ve got some extra cash, Zack also holds a workshop by the same title so you can get instruction in person.


Every year in Dubai there is an event called “Gulf Photo Plus” where professional and amateur photographers gather for workshops and seminars. This year, a few professional photographers were asked to participate in a shoot-out. Zack Arias, David Hobby and Joey Lawrence were given two models, any lights they wanted and 25 minutes to shoot. In the end they would pick one photo. Here is a fun video of what took place. It’s like a reversed version of America’s Next Top Model, instead of the models being challenged you get to see the photographers in action. These are my favorite types of videos. Professional photographers talk you through their thought process while showing you the technical requirements to pull off the photo. It always says a ton to me about a photographer who is willing to share their knowledge. It always tells me they’re not afraid of people stealing their ideas because they’re confident they have even better ones to come. Real progressive thinkers…


That said, I’ve followed David Hobby and Zack Arias for quite some time now and they deserve a GIGANTIC thanks for sharing their knowledge. As they say, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” And these guys are definitely making every one step up their game.

I have pictures of somebody other than Noah! Alright!

Here are a few photos of adorable Mayson and Jonah and their parents Cortney and Tyson. Once again, I got paid in food! See a theme? I’m a fatty… I felt too guilty taking money from them since they’re friends and I’m not confident enough in my own photography to get paid anyways. But, they insisted so I let them buy me food! You’ll see that Mayson is one photogenic little girl and a real ham! And Jonah, surprisingly for how young he is, is very photogenic too. Usually babies as young as him look floppy in pictures. Speaking of floppy babies, I was told by Chrissy’s dad that’s an actual disease so I probably shouldn’t say it any more. Sorry floppy baby syndrome infants, I really didn’t know.

As you can see, I’m still trying to figure out my own style. I’d like to get to a point where I have a little consistency in my photos. I find that I end up trying to over process my images in an effort to make them look “more professional”. I need to work on making the image nearly perfect right out of the camera.

Cameos by the parents, Tyson and Cortney after the jump!

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Oh hey! More photos of Noah and his parents! I need more models.

The rest of the shoot after the break…

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Here’s a quick one of Noah. He’s obsessed with Pororo. It’s a Korean cartoon and it’s a last case scenario to calm him down. Look at that focus! He’s just so damn cute!

I’m beginning to doubt my choice in domain name. Namely because Chrissy doesn’t appear to like it. So, I’m now open to suggestions for a new domain name. I still think the font I chose for “BROTOGRAPHY” at the top of this blog looks awesome. Hopefully it translates to the next domain name I buy.

Here are a few pictures of Noah, my adorable nephew. Chances are most of my pictures I post here will be of him since he’s the only subject who currently doesn’t have a say in whether or not I take his picture.

Anyways, these were taken Super Bowl Sunday 2010. His dad is a huge Colts fan, so now he is by association.

Hit the jump for more pictures…

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