Terra & Megan

Terra and Megan brought one of their babies along for the session, and if you haven't looked at the photo thumbnails yet, know "baby" is code for "dog baby."

He stole the spotlight, that's for sure! I love putting pups and other pets into photos. They're family, after all.

But doggie aside, I had a great time with Terra and Megan. Perhaps one of the coolest parts was discovering that Terra and I went to the same high school, although at different times.

Anyway, once again, I chose White Rock Lake for the session, but we stayed relatively close to Mockingbird Point Dog Park, so their little one could swim and play. We walked across the bridge, took some shots in the blistering sun (or whatever shade we could find) and dodged bikes on the path. It was adventurous, but never dangerous!

Kevin & Larry

If it wasn't 100 degrees out when I met Kevin and Larry, it was close.

But they're wedding is coming up quick, so they powered through the heat for a fun-filled engagement session at White Rock Lake.

We met at the Bath House Cultural Center. I felt the building could be an interesting background (and even provide a bit of shade). Not to mention the bird poles in the lake where egrets and other water fowl tend to perch.

Unfortunately, the birds felt it was too hot to show up! But we managed to get some lovely photos, regardless. I'm very much looking forward to Kevin and Larry's wedding in August ... indoors!

Flyin' High with Doug and Andy

Andy knows how to fly airplanes. And he has the license to do it. How cool is that?

So when they contacted me to shoot some photos of them flying over Dallas, I couldn't say yes fast enough.

However, shooting in a tiny, four-person plane has a unique set of challenges. First, it's tiny and a standard 50mm lens wouldn't cut it. In fact, even a 35mm wouldn't give me the width I'd need in order to fit both front-seat occupants in the photo. At least not in the way I wanted to.

So I picked the widest lens I could find that wasn't a fisheye. Nothing against fisheyes, it just wasn't part of my vision. That and getting my own body in the shot was already a concern, and with a fisheye, I was pretty much guaranteed to get my knees/feet in every shot.

So super wide angle it was. I still had to do some yoga-esque twisting in order to keep myself out of each shot, but the guys were cool with me taking over the back of the plane (which I did).

On the plus side, since we were in a tiny bubble, the light couldn't have been better. Thankfully! I can't even imagine trying to rig up lights for this. They'd have to be aimed in through the outside and this "easy" shoot would have gotten way to extreme and expensive way too quickly.

It was so windy, we ended up shooting on the ground. That worked out for the better, anyway, since I had to get out of my seatbelt to get angles.

Plus, Doug and Andy promised to give me a ride at a future date. I'm going to hold them to it!

James & Miguel Strike a Pose

Posing. Is.

Difficult.

It's difficult for the people in the photos. It's difficult for the photographer.

That's because staring into a lens and pretending to act natural is one of the most unnatural things you can do. That and most of us aren't models.

Well, James and Miguel are making the rest of us look bad. I never had to pose them once. They knew exactly how to stand, where to look, and where the light was.

They were so much fun to work with and I just know they have a really great future to look forward to.

Philip & Greg & Harry

One of the reasons I love Dallas has to be the weather (at least when it's not over 100). This January has had a few spring-like days, which means that shooting Greg and Philip and Harry was almost too easy. We didn't have to carry around tons of coats, my fingers weren't freezing, and we could all focus on Harry (that's the cuddly Corgi in the photo). Not to mention we had the most gorgeous sunset which gave us fantastic light. Who needs to alter tones in PhotoShop? Not this photographer.

Hanging with these guys was too much fun. And my doggie and Harry got along famously. I see pup play dates in the future!