Shea's Dress

Shea's dress fit her perfectly. Not just physically fit her, but it fit her personality. You see, Shea is one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. She is bubbly, but not obnoxious, trusting, but not naive, fun, but not pretentious. She is a classic woman, with a modern elegance.

This photo was taken in the back corner of the lobby of Founder's Inn of Virginia Beach. We had an Alien Bee B800 with a translucent umbrella shooting through the window from the outside.

Brother and Bride

This is my brother Jared and his fiance Kelsey. I was honored to be able to provide them with engagement photos that they will be using to announce the date of their wedding.

I'm especially proud of this shot because we only had the sun for about 20 seconds at this location before it ducked behind the clouds again. The one day I want direct sunlight for an outdoor shoot, it decides to hide. I got it though, and that shadow makes this photo.

Special thanks to my beautiful sister Phoebe for assisting me on this shoot. The wind would have surely taken my lighting gear down if it wasn't for her help.

Also, thank you to all the field owners out there who don't have prominently displayed "No Trespassing" signs.

You can browse the entire collection here, and I'll be periodically posting more photos in the coming days/weeks/months...

Midnight Snow

It's been snowing like crazy around here. There was a lull in the snowfall last night so I took advantage of it with a tripod and some boots. I walked around our neighborhood in Northern Virginia to take some long-exposure shots . Thirty seconds is a long time when your feet are frozen.

See the rest of the collection on Facebook.

As of me writing this, it's blizzard-like conditions out there and they are saying that we could be getting another 8-10 inches on top of the 10-12 inches we got late last week.

Turning on the Charm

These are Isaiah's model eyes. He is no stranger to being in front of the camera.

A Dress In The Field

This is another bridal portrait of Melody. I had a lot of fun on this shoot, but not nearly enough time. We got rained on once we started getting comfortable, but we still walked away with several great shots.

I started playing around with textures in a few of these photos, to the prodding of my future sister-in-law Kelsey Essmann. I trust her eye and her taste, so I applied some overlays to this shot to give it a little more depth.

the women

I was hoping that this photo from the Crane/Charlton wedding would compliment the photo of the men that I took earlier in the day.

Going for a Vanity Fair cover idea, this probably would have been easier if it wasn't 20 degrees outside.

The Men

When I'm taking portraits of a group of men, the one thing I use as inspiration for posing and composition is "Oceans Eleven".

Taken with the Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 and lit with an Alien Bees B800 with a shoot-through umbrella and a Nikon SB28 bare as the backlight. This was taken in an almost completely dark room, but the low-light autofocus of Nikon cameras is unmatched.

The Walsh Family

Taken in Historic Yorktown, yet another "Olde Towne" just outside of Newport News, VA, my friend Craig Kuhns, my wife Heather, and our kids assisted me on this family photo shoot. It was a little chilly, but so easy because the Walsh family is so good looking.

I used my Nikon d200 fixed with a 24mm f/2.8 lens. I love the d200, it's a perfect camera for me right now. Of course, I dream about the d3, but I think the next logical step for me is the d300 or d700.

Lying In The Grass

One of my personal favorites from our little "Birthday Session" with our kid, Isaiah. Again, playing around with some creative processing... I'm still not certain on how well I like it... It might not be subtle enough for me. I'm the kind of person who likes clean, simple, and classic. I like to achieve my look in the camera, with light and shadow, and I'm not a fan of "photoshop fads", but... I understand that creative processing can help to accentuate the message in the photo.

In this photo, I wanted to cool down the light a little and make it seem a little older, more colorful, and playful, without destroying the skin tone. I may or may not have succeeded. Let me know what you think in the comments.

See the whole collection at prints.levibethune.com

Isaiah is Three

Here is a little sneak-peek at our photo shoot with Isaiah this past weekend.

The sun was shining, and the park was empty. Perfect.

My plan is to take portraits of all my kids on or around their birthday every year. It will be a fun life-long experiment to see them grow up, and to see my photography evolve. I have more to share, but I need to set aside some time to process the rest of them. This one pretty much sums up the fun time we had at our first location.

This photo was taken with all natural light in the early fall afternoon clear skies and spotty shade make it a challenge. I'm employing a little different processing procedure than normal, but still keeping it vibrant and with the season.

Scissorhands: Bekah & Patrick

My wife and I had the pleasure of shooting the wedding of our two friends, Rebekah and Patrick. This is from our whirlwind portrait session. We were trying to escape from direct sunlight and have a healthy amount of portraits from the 45 minutes we had with them.

This pose is inspired by one of their favorite movies, Edward Scissorhands.

If you're getting married and need a photographer, let me know. I'm currently looking to fill up my calendar and my portfolio.

Drive-by Sunset

My wife and I were in Muncie, Indiana last week shooting a wedding. We had our friend Craig in the car, and when I saw this sunset, I just had to pull over.

"Heather, you stand here. Craig, hold this light up over your head and point it at Heather's face."

About 30 seconds later, an Indiana State Trooper pulls up behind us about 100 feet away and turns on his hazard lights. I'm thinking he's going to ask us what we're doing, tell us that we're not allowed to take pictures... but no, instead, someone gets out of the passenger seat... and starts taking pictures of the sunset.

They didn't have a beautiful model and off-camera lighting though.

Derek and The Space Shuttle

Can I just say, I think that is the coolest wall hanging, ever?

This is from a portrait shoot this past weekend in Hampton Roads. I'm still working on getting some more bookings down in that area of Virginia, so if you're interested in family portraits, head shots, or press photos, let me know.

The Actual Moment

Michael proposed to Melody while I was taking photos of it all going down.

Yes, this is the actual moment that Michael showed Melody the ring. No, this is not a reenactment. You know it's love when that index finger pops up like that.

Lady In The Water

This is from an older photo session with Sara. We were losing the sun very quickly on the beach that evening, and I was juggling two models and one light in the sand. I'm so glad I didn't have to worry about cables. That is worth the price of the Pocket Wizards.

I did a lot of post production to this image. I'm not usually a fan of over "Photochopping" an image, but I like how this almost looks out of this era.

Old Man And The Bride

One of my favorite shots from a wedding I was second-shooter for. Not much to say about this one except how much I love his little "I (heart) Jesus" button. Old people are so cute.

This was shot in a gymnasium with a really really high cream-colored ceiling. I bounced my little battery-powered SB-28 strobe straight up to get some bounce. I had that little guy turned all the way up for the whole reception, and I was just going through batteries like a hot knife through butter.

Proposal Session

This is my beautiful sister-in-law Melody with her now-fiance, and my good friend, Mike. This photo session was actually just a device that Mike used in order to propose to Melody. We shot several set-ups all around Lions Bridge in Newport News, VA and finally settled under a big canopy tree by the water for the last set. It was here that Mike handed Melody a letter while I pretended to adjust settings or something. When she was finished reading, he asked her to be his wife and handed her a ring. It was precious and romantic, and surprising, and all captured with nice, balanced, soft lighting.

I like the story this photo tells, or rather, the story that this photo reflects. Mike had been interested in Melody for years, but Melody didn't know. Mike was doing what he had to do to ensure he could be with her, trusting that she would return his feelings after he wooed her. And woo her is did. And then Melody knew. Mike remained patient throughout the process, and never kept his eyes off the goal. He never kept his eyes off of Melody.

This shot was taken with an Alien Bees B800 light being shot through a 48" umbrella fired with Pocket Wizards in the shade of the bridge.

I'll post more photos from their engagement, but you can see the whole story unfold on Facebook for now.

It's Not About The Dress

I don't shoot weddings that often, but this was a snapshot of a bridal portrait session that I was assisting on. It's not the bride, the dress, or even the flowers that are the subject in this shot, it's the composition. The framing of this shot is what makes the shot.

Olde Towne

Why do historical parts of a city have to add an 'e' to the end of everything? Ye Olde Towne? Come on.

This was taken in Olde Towne Portsmouth(e) for an engagement shoot with Shea and Kevin. They were a ton of fun, and we had a bucket of laughs. They actually walked away from this shoot with a free bottle of wine.

Pepsi Vs. Coke

Ready? Fight.

This was snapped in Clemmons, NC at an old mechanic's shop. If there are any Winston-Salem artists or musicians who want their portrait done, let me know. I'll come down there just to shoot at this location.