Well…. I am sure glad that this past weekend is over! Might I suggest to anyone considering photographing three proms and one corporate event in one evening to reconsider, as it is as risky as jumping into a bull ring with a raging bull with no protection! Coordinating all the people and equipment needed for one prom alone is no small feat, but multiply that by three and throw in a huge corporate party with a famous country singer needing more than 500 5×7′s delivered that night, and you have a logistical nightmare!

But don’t get me wrong… we pulled it off! Of course it has taken me three days to even start to recover physically and mentally from the ordeal, but we really did pull it off… with flying colors! All three proms photographed more than 100 kids each, and we delivered 539 prints onsite at our corporate party. AND…. everyone was happy… ecstatic even! It was a total rush having everything work so well. BUT… I do not recommend it. There are just too many things that can go wrong. We spent the entire week prepping equipment and arranging people and setup schedules to be able to accomodate everything, and we still had things go wrong. Luckily, we had factored in enough time to solve the problems that inevitably came up.

My favorite part was how great the photographs turned out. These proms had some of the coolest backgrounds we have ever used. The virtual background system that we used at each allowed us to offer custom backgrounds for the students to choose from. My prom was especially awesome! I photographed about 200 kids on three different background choices. Today, I created their prom book using photos from their posed portraits as well as from the candid photos that were taken that night. I would like to especially thank Eric Hegwer, a local photographer and friend of ours who helped us out by photographing the candids. He did a great job, and the prom book for Akins High School is going to be spectacular, in part, because of him.

The other two proms did great too, and Francisco and Gabe did a fabulous job photographing them! Vista Ridge and Bowie also got some amazing images because of them.

Above is a video with portraits from each prom. Enjoy!

Kate

Charles

Charles & Kate

Photographing the United Way Day of Caring event on Friday was one of the most unique and inspirational photography experiences I have ever had. The people from The United Way were so nice and generous with me… even including buying me breakfast tacos and sharing their drinks. I spent the morning taking pictures of the various groups formed by local Austin business employees. These people generously volunteered their day to help clean up and beautify local parks and schools. It was really inspring! Later I photographed the mayor, Lee Leffingwell, who provided a very motivating and appreciative speach to the volunteers. Afterwards volunteer Evan and I drove around to various sites where the business volunteers kept busy on projects that helped and enhanced the local community. It was a great day! Thanks to The United Way for having me be a part of it!

Charles

Convention photography can sometimes be monotonous work. Photographing room after breakout room of speakers talking about subjects you have either no interest in or are so far over your head that you can’t follow them, can sometimes make the hours go slowly. Not so with our latest convention. The American College of Sports Medicine held their convention in Austin last week, and we had the pleasure of photographing it. Break out sessions were filled with participants working out or learning new exercise techniques…. dancing or doing yoga. And the speakers were quite interesting and easy to understand. What a treat! Not only did we get to do what we love to do… take photographs… but we also got to learn a lot in the process. Thanks again to the American College of Sports Medicine for having us! Hopefully we can work with you again next time!

Kate

This time the client selected an Austin Cityscape, their conference logo and a crazy art piece for their theme of keeping Austin weird. The cityscape was very popular, with the “keep Austin weird” guy coming in a close second.

With very limited space to setup our background we ended up shooting with only one light in an area that was only about 8′x8′. If you are going to attempt to shoot green screen at an event, I highly recommend you allow for more space than this (our client’s event was limited in the amount of space they were able to provide this time) because green screen done with people right up against the background will not result in very realistic images. They will often have a green haze around them… especially the blondes.

Even with the limited space and lighting that we were given, the guests just loved their pictures! We can’t wait to work with them again.

Kate

We had a great time last week taking portraits in our new office studio.
Portrait photography is so much fun when you’ve got great kids to work with.
Here’s a short video from the family of three.

Kate

Every year ISES Austin puts on it’s annual fundraiser…. Culinart. The International Special Events Society is comprised of caterers, photographers, event planners, djs, party rental companies and other event industry professionals. Once a year we all come together to donate our services to raise money for the Wright House Wellness Center here in Austin, TX. The Wright House Wellness Center provides holistic health care and educational programs to persons living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. Thursday night we all filled our wallets and put on our dancing shoes to attend this very special event. Michelle Bromley and Stacey Hoyt co-chaired the event, and dozens of our friends and colleagues donated their time, their money and their talent to support this great cause.

Charles and I took along our 3 month old Max. It was great to get to see everyone again. I have been missing many of the recent events to stay home with my new baby. So it was great fun to get out and dine, drink and dance with all of our old friends. Get The Picture took photographs using a special background using artwork created by Austin artist Paul McGuire. Please visit Paul’s site at http://www.fractallography.com/ to see this and other beautiful images. To view how awesome his art works as a background, click on the video above.

Kate & Charles

Last night I had the pleasure of photographing the German American Chamber of Commerce’s event. As I was taking pictures of the speakers, I was also listening to their stories. The spoke of being start-up businesses that needed an ideal location that would allow them to be central to their clients. They also talked about the world of nanotechnology. This is where it really got interesting. I had no idea how vital and important this technology is to everyday life as well as to potentially saving lives. Apparently Germany is a hotbed for this type of technology, and companies in the US that are pioneers in that arena are being attracted to Germany based on this fact as well as the the lifestyle advantages, lower business costs and ability to easily attract and retain talent for their companies.

The GACC needed photographs of the event for marketing to the American companies that they are attracting. I was the roaming photographer for the event’s reception, dinner and program. To view photos from the event, click play on the video above. Thanks!

Charles

Have you ever heard of the Spazmatics? They are an amazing 80′s cover band here in Austin, Texas. They played at a recent convention we photographed at the Austin Convention Center. We have seen them before, and we really like them, but it’s still always fun to run into them again at events. The thing that’s so cool about them is that they dress like 80′s nerds… with highwater pants, a neck brace, a helmet, and pocket protectors galore. They did a fantastic job keeping the guests entertained at this teacher’s conference while we took virtual background photos on our two photography lines. If you want to check out the Spazmatics, their web site address is www.spazmatics.org.

Here’s a short video of some of the photographs that our photographers took at their party.

Charles