Sunday, September 11, 2011

Ashlee Taylor Bridal

Posted in Bridal

I was thrilled when Ashlee and Travis asked me to be their wedding photographer and thrilled again when Ashlee decided to do a bridal shoot at Laguna Gloria.  I have always wanted to do a bridal shoot there and finally was going to get the opportunity.   I had to wait until after the wedding so Travis couldn’t peak – and his first look at Ashlee in her dress at the ceremony was priceless.  Look for those images to be posted in about 3 weeks.  For the curious, we put up bridal shoot images in a password protected website on Pictage, so only the bride can see them.  Once the wedding has taken place, we remove the password so everyone can see the images.  And we provide the wedding guests each with an “event card” which is a business sized card with an image of the couple on one side and instructions to access the website to view images and order prints.

As it was very hot on July 24th when we did this shoot, we started in the mansion at Laguna Gloria and shot there for an hour and then spent about 25 minutes outside getting these images.  We always have a plan for shooting so there is not a lot of sitting around or waiting, but even more so when we are shooting outside in the heat.

Laguna Gloria is such a beautiful setting inside and out.  Inside, the decor with iron gate, the upstairs “green room”, the satay, the stairways all provide wonderful areas to shoot.  But more than anything else is the exceptional window light.  Soft directional light is key to beautiful images, and window light can often provide some of the best light, and Laguna Gloria window light is the best of the best.  Large windows and windowed doors with beautiful surroundings provides the photographer with so many options to capture beautiful images.  We do use some flash on occassions to provide a bit of fill light or hair light or just a touch of brightness to the bride.

Ashlee, her Mom, my son Michael who assisted and I had a wonderful time on this shoot.  We played “Modern Bride Model” up in the green room and on the satay.  But as you can see, we also captured beautiful traditional images as well.  Stay tuned for the wedding images in about 3 weeks!

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Posted in Bridal
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Arlette Taylor - September 19, 2011 - 6:00 pm

Patrick great job! My baby girl is a beautiful bride!! Congrats Mrs. Shuler! I can wait to see the wedding photos.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Sunita & Kelly Engagement

Posted in Engagement

I met Sunita and Kelly about a month ago.   I was excited when they booked me to shoot their October 7th wedding in Florence, Texas.   We decided to do Sunita’s Bridal session on August 31 at Laguna Gloria (I can’t post these until after the wedding) and then we did the Enagement session the next day, September 1st, at the Long Center, Butler Park and the Lamar Walking Bridge.   My son Michael assisted.

One set of images I really love were the “flow posing” images with Sunita and Kelly backlit by the sun.  I often look for this type of lighting.  The key is to be able to keep the lens of the camera in the shade so we don’t get sunlight in the lens which will produce lens flare and low contrast images.  At the same time, we need to pretty much have the couple’s back directly to the sun.  I was able to use one of the columns at the long center to shade my lens while having Sunita and Kelly with their backs almost directly at the sun (the slight angle produced a “kiss” of light on the side of Kelly’s face which is an effect I like).  This backlighting produces beautiful hair light and separates the subject from the background (ie. the hairlight makes the subject stand out from the background rather than having dark hair blend in with a dark background).

Another great set of images was taken with the pond in the background and Austin cityscape in the far background.  The lighting here was supplemented with a Canon flash through an umbrella to produce beautiful, diffuse light on Sunita and Kelly (with Michael expertly holding the umbrella).  Using this technique, we can adjust our shutter speed to make the background slightly darker than the subject.  These were incredible images as well.

I enjoyed getting to know Kelly and spending more time with Sunita after our bridal shoot the day before.  We “beat the heat”, had a great time and captured beautiful images.  Now onto the Guest Book design.

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Posted in Engagement
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Sunita Varghees Bridal » Patrick Motola Photography Blog - October 11, 2011 - 9:49 pm

[…] stay tuned for Sunita and Kelly’s wedding images in about 2 weeks and you can click here for Sunita and Kelly’s Engagement Images.    This shoot took place on August 31st at Laguna Gloria.   Each time I shoot there, I love it […]

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Olivia & Neil Engagement

Posted in Engagement

FINALLY!  Olivia and I have been talking for over 2 1/2 years and now the time has finally come.  Olivia and Neil will be getting married November 12, 2011 at Villa Antonia.  I met Olivia and her parents back in January 2009.  Olivia and Neil both attended Anderson High School which my 3 kids (Ryan, Ashlee and Michael) attended as well (Go Trojans!!).   We all hit it off right away.  The issue was timing for Olivia and Neil as she was busy with school and Neil was looking at the military.  But the time has come.

We started with this fun engagement shoot at the University of Texas.  Both Olivia and Neil played in the UT band.  Neil actually proposed on the 50 yard line of the football field.  While we couldn’t get on the field, we got some fun shots of Neil proposing right in front of the stadium (see below).  We concluded the engagement shoot down at the Long Center, Butler Park and the Lamar walking bridge which provide for spectacular Austin cityscapes and incredible sunsets.  This day was no exception.  Thanks to Olivia’s parents and my son Michael for assisting on the shoot!  We managed to stay cool even though it was almost 100 even at 7pm.

We will also be doing a Bridal Shoot at Villa Antonia in October (but we won’t be posting those until after the wedding – no peaking Neil!).

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Posted in Engagement
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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Jessica & Roddy Wedding

Posted in Wedding

A wedding at the Oasis overlooking Lake Travis at sunset is a recipe for beautiful, picturesque skies, vistas and views of the lake.   Jessica and Roddy’s wedding was held against this beautiful background along with the wonderful nooks and crannies for shooting around the Oasis itself as you can see from the images below.    The cake was a big hit.  It was a “fairy tale” cake complete with castle on the top.  The grooms cake came with a frog, which of course, is now Roddy the prince after the magic kiss of Princess Jessica.

Jessica and Roddy came to me over a year ago having been referred to me by Emily and Spencer Chow.  Emily works at Griffiths Animal Hospital where we take Petey, our lovable Yorkie.  Spencer is an Austin policeman.  As Spencer tells the story, when Jessica and Roddy were visiting, they loved Emily and Spencer’s Guest Book we had made from their engagement shoot.   To which Spencer replied, “Well then wait ’til you see our Album!”  I guess that sold Jessica and Roddy.   This story makes a point that I believe is important.  Invest in an Album.   Most of my clients do invest in Albums as they often come to Patrick Motola Photography specifically for that reason.   In every case when I visit their home, they have their Guest Book (with all the yearbook style messages left by their guests) and their Album visibly displayed in their living rooms.  They all comment on how proud they are of their album and how much fun they have showing their friends and reliving the memories of their Wedding Day.

Another point to be made about this wedding is the need for an experienced, capable photographer (in our case a PPA Certified Professional Photographer).   While the views are beautiful, you are shooting directly into a setting sun.  Done properly, you can use this to create spectacular images.  If you don’t have the right skills, you will get very poor images.   For those who care to know more, the key is to get enough light on the subjects to counter / balance the light of the sun using off camera flash (in this case, 3 of them).  In addition, you must be careful about getting flare from the sun directly hitting your lens.  For some shots, we want to see the sun or a kiss of light from the sun in which case we are OK with some flare that we leave in for creative purposes or can remove in postprocessing.

My congratulations to Jessica and Roddy!  They were so much fun to work with.  You can click here if you would like to see their engagement images.

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Posted in Wedding
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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Jordan-Anne and Will

Posted in Engagement

I am always deeply honored when a couple selects me and one of them is clearly a skilled photographer.  Will attended photography school in New York City and according to Jordan-Anne, he said I was one of the few photographers he was willing to meet with based on the quality of our portfolio.  Well, I know there are many good photographers in Austin, but again, his praise was very flattering.  No pressure…

For this shoot my son Michael assisted and we started at the Long Center, walked to Lady Bird Lake where Will had proposed to Jordan-Anne (yes we did some proposal shots), walked to Butler Park for more shots and then to the Lamar walking bridge for sunset images.  As you can see from the images, this area allows for some stunning downtown Austin skyline images as well as beautiful sunset over Lady Bird Lake images.

Jordan-Anne and Will were great to work with and as always, Michael is a great help.  Next step, designing Jordan-Anne and Will’s Guest Book…

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Posted in Engagement
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