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.

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.

Michael in the Parking Garage

I like this portrait of my good friend Michael because he is not the first place your eye goes. Naturally, your eye goes to the light, to see if there's anything there, and although Michael is not really in the shadows, I wanted him to not be completely in the light either. My goal was to create the illusion of a dark underground parking garage with some of the lights out. In reality, this was a very well-lit, above-ground garage with plenty of daylight pouring in.

On the technical side of things, I was using a Nikon SB-28 speedlight shot into a 46" reflective umbrella triggered by pocket wizards. I was using my "new" Nikkor 20-35mm f/2.8 lens that I got from UsedCameras.com - This is the first zoom lens I've owned in about 5 years. Primes are still my first love, but I figured, since it's a constant aperture, it will have plenty in common with the other glass in my bag. Plus, it's a preemptive step for more international travel.

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.

Mr. and Mrs. Charlton

I don't usually like posting photos of clients until they have seen them, so now that Mike and Melody have their photos, I am going to blog them. Of course, if you know Mike, and are friends with him on Facebook, you'll probably get to see them all pretty soon.

Here is their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Charlton. I snapped this with the 15mm fisheye lens I try so hard to use sparingly. It was perfect for this shot, but really hard to get away with. I shoot with prime lenses exclusively, which may seem like suicide for wedding photographers, but it's worked out pretty well so far. I use two bodies and four focal lengths to choose from in my shoulder bag. I could use some more telephoto lenses, but my style centers around the wide angle more than the tight crop, as you can see by the photo above.

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.

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

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 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.

CJ

This is a photo of CJ Hardee at Bright City Studios in Charlotte, NC.

CJ wrote and performed a song on an upcoming album that was produced at Bright City, and I am REALLY looking forward to it.

Someone Else's Camera

This was shot at The Norva while Over the Ocean was playing on Sept. 11, 2009. As I'm walking from one side of the crowd to the other, I see some bloke raising his camera in the air to get a shot of Jesse, and I snipe his shot. Ha ha sucker. It's my photo now. Totally mine.

And yours too. I'm sharing it with you here.

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.

Nate At The Norva

My friends are in a band. That band is called Over The Ocean. They are brilliant.

This is a photo of Nate Crawford slaying people with his rock at the Norva in Norfolk, VA on September 11, 2009.

I had one hot-shoe Nikon SB-28 flash mounted on the balcony camera-right, and had my shutter speed somewhere around 1/30th. I used the 15mm Sigma fisheye lens that I bought specifically for Africa, and waited until the lighting guy gave me some really heavy back-light.

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.

A Failed Headshot

Shooting some head shots for my wife Heather, I must have said something to make her laugh. Of course, I probably said it so that she would laugh. I love it when she does that.

This wouldn't work as a headshot, but it's certainly one of my favorite moments of her in front of a camera.

More Hulking Out

In keeping with the previous montage, this is what happens when a young boy sees his friend take off his shirt and make intense faces. Clearly, Samo has had more practice than Isaiah, but there is still time.

Hulking Out

This is Sam. He has an incredible imagination, and if you know him, you know that the words "incredible" and "imagination" don't hold a candle to what Sam is really like.

Heather and I had just finished a little birthday session for Zoe when our kids' friends came to see what all the fuss was about. Naturally, they wanted to see themselves on the screen like Zoe as I was tethering the Nikon D200 to the Mac Pro via a new piece of software I'm trying out called Sofortbild.

I couldn't resist.

Sam, or Samo as we call him, loves The Incredible Hulk. Despite it looking like he's having pants trouble, in this photo, Samo is "hulking out". In his mind, he turns a deep shade of green, his muscles become huge, and his blue jeans turn into purple shorts.

But please don't tell him that his favorite Marvel character just got bought by the same company that brought us Hannah Montana. He'll probably hulk out for real, and you won't like him when he's angry.

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.

Celebrating One Year

I gave Heather a hard time about going to great lengths to decorate a cake for Zoe's first birthday. I can imagine a baby would think of it as an edible punching bag, but Heather treated it like a wedding cake. It really was beautiful.

Every time I would say something about it, Heather would respond, "It's for me" and I would assume she meant that she was putting work into it because she wanted something to do, and perhaps that was the truth, but I realized something else.

Zoe doesn't care about her first birthday. She like the attention, she likes playing with toys, but she really don't understand the concept yet. To her, it's not unlike any other day. However, I can say with certainty that she understands the concept of treats and toys.

Heather, on the other hand, understands the idea of birthdays and anniversaries. Heather understands milestones and accomplishments. Zoyenka turning one-year-old yesterday had less to do about her age, and more to do with what Heather accomplished one year ago, and the 9 months prior.

I love one-year celebrations. "It was one-year-ago since..."

So, my wife had proper reason to go to infinite lengths to decorate the cake and to make it as special for her as possible. And then, we watch as Zoe smears it into oblivion.

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.