UPDATE 12.10: The final prints have been made and hung in the clients home. I’ll add a photo below of the main print, which ended up being a 70in framed heirloom canvas. The two other scenes were both made as 36in heirloom canvas for other areas of the house.

What a great looking family. And they did a great job as this was no easy task. I just had the privilege of making a portrait of all forty two of them. I won’t say it was easy, but I good a hearty challenge. The planning started well in advance, meeting with Mr & Mrs Chamberlain and then visiting their farm various times to layout and plan the portraits. I even chatted with a few of my mentor photo elders before photo day, discussing options and getting ideas. When the time came, I didn’t even have an assistant, but planning ahead made things come together almost perfectly.

I love a sunset portrait, but this is not a sunset and I still love it. Much of the family was coming from out of town for the weekend and due to schedules sunset simply didn’t happen. We planned for the light we expected to have and made it work using appropriate fill light in the foreground to balance the scene. After processing, the result was this beautiful portrait made round 9:30AM, followed by a few smaller ones to complement it.

I thrilled and thankful to God for the results. Mr & Mrs Chamberlain were in today to make these final choices and I’ve started the printing and framing process, preparing these for their wall. I’m eager (as I’m sure they are) to get these on finished and hung. You can click any image for a larger view. Enjoy… Gav

I wanted to make a quick post about my new Wall Portrait offerings. I’m pretty stoked about them. Like furniture for the wall, our Wall Portraits are all at least twenty four inches and their what you’ll see on the walls at the studio these days. If you look at classical portraits and art you begin to understand that small prints like eight by tens and eleven by fourteens just don’t make sense for the wall.

Every great image deserves to be hung as a high quality canvas. Here’s a photo of me with the latest studio samples. They look more amazing in person so feel free to stop by and get a closeup. We’re offering them to current as well past clients so if you want a timeless print on your wall get in touch… Gav

Score 74:

It’s actually been awhile since I’ve entered competition and it’s time I started doing it. It’s alot of work to prepare, print and submit so it’s easy to let it slide. Here’s the four 16×20 prints I’ll be entering this Spring. Since I do lots of wedding work I decided to enter two, and then one senior and a nature shot (you can only enter four). Here I come world

Score 77:

Score 74:

Score 77:

Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. The blessings of Christ abound around us. I’m thankful for my family, my customers and my colleagues. Here’s a little collage of self portraits we made in the studio yesterday. It would be tough to send cards to everyone since I know so many people, this is our version of a Christmas greeting.

Gavin, Sonrda and Cyrus

Here’s a few shots I took of Sondra recently in our back yard. In staying busy with client jobs I don’t actually get to shoot Sondra that much, but she loves posing for me, and it’s a great way for me to try new ideas. What a beautiful wife I have

Nothing to crazy or revolutionary here. We just got some nice portraits and had a little bit of fun. The group did a great job putting up with my crazy ideas. That always makes things easier. There were lots of separate group shots, as well and some big one’s of the whole family.

I did have a bit of a challenge because of the bright sun. In photography light is great, but direct sun is hard because of the shadows and squinting. I did some corrections in Lightroom starting with some of my own effects, and then a bit more in Photoshop to compensate for the harsh light, and give the shots a bit more mood.

Here’s a few of my favorites. You can click any image for a larger view… Gav

These were taken near Ritzville Washington, on a bridge that spanned this pond. It was getting pretty dark and I needed something dramatic. The clouds had wasted out my dreams a stunning sunset, and I knew we had to try something fast.

Looking around at the light, I got an idea (almost by accident) The car headlights had gone on, and cast light and shadows across their path. I decided to try something I had never done before by parking the car across the road with the lights on Jacob. After editing, and a few of my Lightroom effects I was able to get some super cool results… Gav