Halloween Fun {Portraits}

A couple of fun photos I just wanted to share...

St. Paul's Christian Day School Fall Fundraiser {Video}

Always a fun time!

Kat Comedy Showcase {Design}

When I was first asked to do this logo, I wasn't so sure it was going to be very interesting. The requirements were that it was to say "Kat Comedy Showcase" and that they wanted it to contain a microphone.

It's a logo for a program at Sam Houston State, so naturally I wanted to slip Sammy in there  somewhere. I've spent quite a bit of time watching standup comedy, and one of my favorite things to watch is when a comedian and an audience connect so well that they start cracking each other up. So Sammy is holding the mic and laughing so hard he's crying at the same time.

And then there's the brick wall. That was a late addition to this logo. After the first proof, the client wanted something else. They suggested spotlights (which I tried and didn't care for) before I realized one day while driving that a brick wall as a design element would be perfect for a comedy logo.

You see, the brick wall is an almost universal symbol in standup comedy. It symbolizes small, intimate clubs where many of today's great comedians got their start. I've never been to a comedy club where the comedian didn't either perform in front of a brick wall or where they didn't have one (often painted on) somewhere in the club as a testament to their roots.

In the end, the client was very pleased with the result. I don't usually share testimonials, but this one from the client made my day when the logo was approved: "Honestly, this is the best logo I could imagine for this event. You are a logo hero, sir!"

I always enjoy working on logos and illustrations for my alma mater, but especially so when they are fun to work on and are so much appreciated. 

Charlie and Elizabeth {Engaged}

When Elizabeth and Charlie asked me to shoot their engagement photos I knew they were going to be fun. When she mentioned that they wanted to shoot them in Galveston where they had their first date, I got REALLY excited. You see, Elizabeth and her family are about as close to our family as you can be without actually being related. 

Shooting these portraits was a lot of fun, too, all over Galveston. In fact, we were having so much fun that we didn't stop shooting when we planned to when the sun went down. I'm glad we kept going because the last couple of shots of the night are among my favorites.

Thank you, Charlie and Liz for being so awesome and also for allowing me to document this exciting, important part of your lives together (and for not thinking I was crazy when I said things like "let's go into this alley" and "go out in the middle of the street." :)

See more photos from this session on Facebook...

St. Thomas HS Soccer {Portraits}

This is the final installment of the three-part athletic shoot I did last month or St. Thomas High School in Houston. I've previously showed you football (shot earlier in the summer), basketball and wrestling.

We finished the afternoon of shooting with portraits of the soccer team. I really enjoyed shooting the wrestling and basketball teams in their "natural habitat," so we headed outside to the soccer field. And that gave them a completely different feel than the other portraits in this series.

Here are a few of my favorites:

St. Thomas High School Basketball {Portraits}

Yesterday, in the process of posting portraits of St. Thomas wrestling I realized I hadn't actually posted the portraits of their basketball team - only the preview image that I processed to put in the fair.

So here are some of my favorite shots from the St. Thomas High School basketball portrait shoot. In addition to having them just stand for a portrait, I asked each of them to do an action shot, as well. I think that's going to be a standard request now, because I really like how some of those action shots came out.

Thanks again to St. Thomas High School athletics for giving me the opportunity to work with this great group of guys! We had a lot of fun shooting these - so much so, in fact, that it was hard to get them to do their "serious" poses.

St. Thomas HS Wrestling {Portraits}

A few weeks ago, I got the honor of shooting portraits for three mens' sports at St. Thomas High School in Houston - basketball, wrestling and soccer. As you might recall, we had previously done a promotional shoot for the football team and they wanted more in the same style. Yesterday I got to deliver the second batch - wrestling.

I've never shot wrestling before, but it was quite a lot of fun, especially when we asked the guys to get into their stance. It was fascinating to see how each wrestler had their own very unique style and stance.

I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of this kind of session in the future!

Here are a few of my favorite shots from this session:

To order prints from this session, please visit my website.