Treasured Moments: Austin Photoshoot With My In-Laws

I find it interesting as a photographer, when my son was born, I captured (and continue to do so) lots of images of him as he grows up.  It makes sense to, children grow up fast.  On the flip-side of that though, we have our parents, both my own and my in-laws.  It's strange that the same notion hasn't struck me to strive and capture as many photos of them as I can.  As much as my mind seems to think that they will always be present in our lives, the truth of it all is, that will not be the case.  So on our recent trip to visit my in-laws, I made it a point to capture some updated photos of them.  

My goal was to capture some fun individual shots of them and work in some paired shots as well.  All the while, making full use of my B1 strobe, mainly to force myself to learn how to use the lights.  I must say, it was quite a challenge, especially when I had become so accustomed to adjusting for just natural light.  

The light was fading fast, I had to juggle a new lighting style and I had my own pressure to produce great images of my in-laws.  Overall, I'm happy to have come out with these lovely images.  Images that I know myself and the rest of the family will enjoy for all time.

Do you have any recent photos captured of your loved ones?  If you answered no, I suggest not waiting a moment longer and look into getting that done.  The Fall season makes for a good time of year to capture those updated family photos and I would love to be the photographer to help captures them for you.  

Imperfect Beauty - It's Exactly Why We Should Be Photographed Now!

What is imperfect beauty?  I stumbled upon this concept while thinking of a personal photography project to work on.  The words just popped up and forced me to dig deeper into why it resonated so profoundly within my core.  Imperfect beauty, as I came to see it was the notion that people initially see the flaws in oneself before they acknowledge the true beauty in themselves.  So why did it connect so well with me?

Growing up, life was pretty good until I hit puberty.  That was when my relationship with moderate-to-severe acne began.  I battled with this disease from the age of thirteen well into my mid-twenties, which was when I was finally able to get the treatment I needed in order to help me control it.  Afterwhich, I can recall the time when I went a week without an outbreak, then a month, then a few months, until finally I was able to not obsess over potentially waking up and feeling a new pimple forming somewhere.  I had broken free from it's grasp, but not fully...the scars from over the years were still there to remind me.  Of what?  In my mind, how ugly I was.  It's amazing how damaging to one's confidence that very thought is.  It is a thought, that fortunately visits my mind less frequently these days and when it does, I know how to quickly let it go.

I want to point out though, that while I was hyper-focused on my external appearance and feeling at times down about it, life was and is still, really good.  Reflecting on it all, I had friends who accepted me for more than who I was on the outside, I managed to get a college education, found a career I loved that paid well, met the love of my life and started a family of our own to lately turning my photography passion into a business.  So many great things, beautiful things, to grace my life and I am grateful to be able to step outside of myself a little to see them and appreciate them.

I share all of this to say, I would love to connect with you and photograph you.  Perceived flaw and all.  For me it was, acne scars made me look ugly, but I still booked a professional portrait session for myself and the talented Gérson Lopes (http://www.gersonlopes.com) helped make me look and feel like a million bucks.  I would like to offer you the same experience as part of my imperfect beauty project.  Would you be up to helping me build a body of work showing the world just how beautiful imperfect beauty is?  If so, I would love to hear from you!  There is no cost to participate, though a model release is required.  Please feel free to reach out to me via email at hello@neonhowe.com to discuss further.  Check out the following images as a sample of the look and feel I'll be aiming for with my project.  Of course I wouldn't ask anyone else to join in on the fun without stepping up to the plate myself :). 

Client Testimonial - Anna

For some people, getting photographed can be a scary experience.  Anna told me during our session, she knew she had to step out of her comfort zone and be photographed, but really she would rather have been in front of a crowd of thousands of people giving a speech than in front of the camera.  I am of course glad, she chose to stick it out and on top of that provide this powerful testimonial for me.  Thank you very much my friend, it was such an honor to photograph you!  

I loved how all Anna's images turned out, but here's a sampling of some of the amazing images captured of her.

Capturing the Important Images

As a photographer, it is natural to want to capture the important moments of my client's lives.  In that process, it's often very easy to overlook the important things in my own life that need capturing.  One of those being, to capture images of my mom, which we have very little of.  I recently had the opportunity to get her in front of the camera and made it happen.

Mom is 60 years young this year and I dare say looking as amazing as ever.  It was great to see her have fun playing dress up and really lighting it up while in front of the camera.  I know these images will be treasured for all time by myself and my siblings and feel fortunate to have been able to capture them.  

How about yourself?  Are you a mom, who has been hiding behind the camera, capturing photos of everyone but yourself?  I highly recommend getting images captured, not just for you but your children.  Don't be worried about how you look, your children love you just the way you are and those images will be of great value to them in the future.  I'd love to be the one to capture them, but ultimately it can be anyone.  Just have them done to capture and have those memories.