Shea, The Bride

I had the distinct pleasure of shooting Shea's bridal portraits, and now that she is married, I can share them here.

This was shot in the Founders Inn lobby in Virginia Beach. My trusty assistant Craig is outside keeping the light stand company. I had an Alien Bee B800 shooting in from the outdoors through a translucent umbrella.

Stephanie

Here's a photo from a highschool senior shoot I had this past weekend in Hampton Roads.

Her name is Stephanie, and she was great in front of the camera. She wasn't shy, she was naturally elegant, and wasn't afraid to look into the lens. She made my job pretty easy.

The Mother Of The Groom

This is an older picture of Patrick dancing with his mother at his wedding last year. The room we were in was not the most photogenic, thus demanding extra creativity in framing.

The Men of Bound4LIFE

I was going through some old photo sessions to find a classy, yet hopeful and inspirational photo of my good friend Ian Kelly for his blogger bio on moraloutcry.com. I stumbled upon a series of photos I took of Matt, Ian, and Craig in downtown Charlotte, NC. These are the men of Bound4LIFE.

At The Picnic Table

Scott Wilcher, one of my former bosses, taught me so much about how to be successful. However, he never told me he was teaching me that. He simply listened, and loved well. Often times, he would listen to what I had to say over lunch or at a picnic table. When I wouldn't have much to say, he would ask questions.

Anyone who has had a picnic table talk with Scott will tell you that it helped shape their life.

Wind-blown

Yes, it was cold, wet, but also windy. Jane is a real pro.

Melody Crane...

...back when she was a Crane.

This is a shot from Melody's bridal portrait session. We got rained on, but we still had some pretty amazing locations.

Now that Melody and Mike have gotten married, I'm able to share these images. I'll post a few more in the next few days and weeks, but this one might be my favorite from the bunch.

Doug and Sara

It's hard to get a photo of my parents. Either my dad is behind the camera, or one of them isn't in the mood. When one is ready, the other is busy, or sleeping.

This was taken at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach during our Thanksgiving vacation weekend. We just wrapped up a family portrait in really cold, windy weather, and I grabbed mom and dad for a couple quick shots.

Lit with one Alien Bee B800 outfitted with a shoot-through umbrella. My very faithful photo assistant Craig Kuhns reminded me that we didn't have any modifiers on this light. It was straight flash to battle the sun.

Belinda At A Bus Stop

This was taken in Fredericksburg, VA in a commuter lot bus shelter. I love that it doesn't even look like glass behind her. It looks more like metal... and blood.

50mm lens, hot-shoe flash, shoot-through umbrella, and a beautiful model. That's pretty much all you need.

Ladies and Gentlemen... Scott Wilcher

I tweeted a few days ago, right after I wrapped my portrait session with Scott Wilcher, that he is the Gandalf to my Frodo.

For those of you who don't know Scott, or are confused by the Lord of the Rings reference, allow me to explain.

I met Scott Wilcher right after I got out of high-school. I visited a youth-group at Kempsville Presbyterian Church at the invitation of a girl I really wanted to date. I started getting involved at that youth group, and eventually attending the church. One thing led to another and I ended up on staff and leading worship every weekend. I was working very closely with Scott in the "Family Ministries" department doing everything from creating advertising for events to calibrating projectors and printing notes. We developed a lot of things together, and they were some of the most fruitful times of my life. Scott pushed me harder than anyone to work hard, take risks, and dive for the Frisbee even when it's not necessary. He was there when I broke up with two girlfriends, and he was there when I met, courted, and married my wife. He was at the hospital with me... more than once, he has been there to listen, talk, and process with me. Most of my best stories involve Scott.

More than anything else though, Scott Wilcher introduced me to the the Macintosh computer. Thank you Scott, for showing me the light.

This portrait of Scott was taken with my "Nifty Fifty" 50mm lens outfitted on the Nikon d200 body. I had my Alien Bees B800 strobe at 1/4 power shot through a large softbox camera-right. I had another B800 camera-left at 1/16 power shooting through a large octabox to add a little fill. I shot this at Scott's home in Chesapeake, VA as part of a personal branding campaign for him as he gets his book published.

UPDATE: For more Scott Wilcher goodness, and for those of you who do know Scott, here is a tribute video I produced years ago celebrating his time at KPC: Big Fun - A Scott Wilcher Tribute

Princess Bride: Bekah & Patrick

When I was prepping for Bekah and Patrick's portrait session before their wedding, I asked them what their favorite movies were. I like to ask those kind of questions to people, just to get a feel for their personal style and taste. I then planned on doing a partial recreation of key poses from their favorite movies.

Lit with a single Alien Bees B800 strobe at 1/4 power through a beat-up shoot-through umbrella. The sun is high in the sky creating our fill light, and the strobe acted as our rim. We were able to get a partial silhouette out of this set up, and I'm very pleased. Oh, and that lens flare off to the side? That's real. I'd tell you if I was photoshopping these things.

The FRINGE Report

One of my favorite shows on TV right now is FRINGE. I like it so much that myself and my two friends Ian and Craig have started a live internet show where we talk about the previous week, discuss theories, and make predictions about the coming shows. We started this show only a couple weeks ago in conjunction with the starting of the second season of FRINGE. Check us out Wednesdays at 9pm EST at theFRINGEreport.com.

I took these photos and created this composite to help promote our show, as well as provide a classy user icon for the myriad of social networks that allow to you present yourself as a 80-pixel-wide square icon. I modeled the light and composition after the official FRINGE Season 1 DVD cover.

Fear The Beard

This is Matt Lockett. He's the director of Bound4LIFE. You can stalk him on his blog, this twitter, or on facebook... if you dare.

You see, I took a series of photos for myself, and my two friends Ian and Craig (known to our 2 year-old as Neat and Durg, respectively) for a new online venture you shall hear about shortly. Matt saw those photos and wanted something "just as cool, if not cooler".

I think this is pretty much the sweetest profile picture ever. And it's a sample of what I can do with less than 30 minutes of your time. Check out my current rates at my web site.

Zoyenka, Age 1

This is the last post of Zoe for a while. It was her birthday on Friday, so I have to post photos online for the family, right?

A new tradition in the Bethune household is that I will be taking a portrait of my kids on each of their birthdays. While they are kids, it's for me and my wife, but when they get older, it will be for all of us, and when they become adults it will be for them. And when they get married, I'll use it to embarrass them. Because I love them.

Happy Birthday Zoyenka

This is a photo of my beautiful wife Heather holding our daughter Zoyenka a few hours after she was born exactly one year-ago, today.

First birthdays are less about the child, and more about the mother. And, about everyone's reaction to the baby digging into the cake.

Natalie and the Silver Diner

I was really looking forward to Natalie's senior portraits. We had some pretty elaborate plans for an outdoor shoot, but the rain made sure we kept our expectations low. I was able to get permission from the local Silver Diner in Chesapeake, VA and the general manager, Andi, was so gracious and accommodating that she put us in a section they had closed off because they thought we could use the murals.

One of my first prime lenses for the Nikon was the 50mm f/1.8D. For a while, that was the only lens I owned, and I made it work for whatever I had to shoot. I've since gotten a few more lenses that are designed for specific purposes, and sadly, my 50mm often goes neglected. I wanted a load of head-room in this shot because of the mural, but I also didn't want to distort anything on the edge of the frame, so I dug deep into my bag and pulled out my 50.

This was also shot with only one light. I used a hot-shoe flash shot through a 20" umbrella. I really wanted to get the lamp in the frame to give some motivation to the source of light. I think Zack Arias would be proud.

This One is For Lindsay

When I was in Africa this past February, Lindsay asked specifically for pictures of trees. She was on the team as a hygiene training instructor, and she has such a loving heart for the people of Africa.

Why does the sun seem so much bigger in Africa?

Bound4LIFE Wants You

This is a shot I can file away with other happy mistakes.

I was on assignment for Bound4LIFE, taking shots of them praying in front of the Supreme Court in DC during a 40-day intensive last year, and snagged this shot of my very good friend Ian Kelly. Ian is a gentleman of high standards and deep convictions in whom I put a generous amount of trust. His character, candor, charm, and wit make him a brilliant speaker, writer, and thought-provoker. Follow him on twitter.

I highly encourage you to check out the Bound4LIFE blog, and all the exciting stuff that is going on this year.

Right now, I'm working a lot with Bound4LIFE and JHOPDC while I'm in Northern Virginia. I love these people, and especially what they stand for and fight so hard to see accomplished. Tomorrow I'm going to their headquarters on Capitol Hill to shoot some lifestyle photos of the internship there and of the weekly prayer "rumble" they host in the basement of a condo just blocks from the capitol building.

Le Tigre. Use it for footwear.

This is my pudgy little niece, Isabella. I'm not a violent person, but I want to eat her face off, she's so cute.

This was during a family outing to the Norfolk Zoo this past weekend. It was a hectic, and short trip, but one of the best visits to Virginia in a long time. I love my family so much.

Almost Deleted

This is another photo that got mixed in as a test shot that actually turned out well. This is a self portrait done with the remote on my Nikon. I had the camera set to manual focus, and was checking the exposure. I love that hat.

This is why you shouldn't get in the habit of deleting a photo from the camera. Always import it, give it a chance, and then delete it if you need to. I'm trying to get in the habit of checking the photos on the camera less while I'm in a session. I just need to trust the consistency and focus on the subject.