Leslie : Kid Shoot

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of shooting Leslie here. I love shooting kids at weddings! They always give you the best natural expressions and are genuinely fun to be around. Whenever I see them playing on the dance floor or digging into a slice of cake, my finger goes trigger happy on the shutter. I love kids!

Leslie was very fun to work with. She was shy at first but after she loosened up, we got some really cool shots!

Isn't this fun:





Very pretty smile :)




She can take a relaxed shot to though. These were some my favs!

Kathryn & Jamie : Engagement

Last weekend I shot an Engagement Shoot for Kathryn & Jamie, a cool couple who's wedding I'll be shooting in July. It was a great day outside and we walked around Herman Park sharing stories about how they met at Texas A&M University. I get a lot of Aggie weddings for some reason, I think I might even know their school song by heart now! Needless to say, they smiled when I asked them if it would be played at their wedding...oh well :)

Here a a couple of my favorites from their session:



Nice light!

Texas Primary

Well I'm off to wait in the 3 hours lines to vote for my favorite candidate today!! Hopefully most of you here in Texas have already voted earlier this week and can avoid the lines. My unfortunate talent of procrastination however has lead me to wait till the last possible moment to go vote and now I must suffer the consequences.

I just read online that Clinton and Obama are neck-and-neck in the polls right now so whoever is your favorite could use your support. I hate it when people try to tell me who to vote for so I'm not going to tell you to go out and vote for Obama :) Nope i'm not going to do it. Oh well haha, happy voting!!

Ashley : Senior Session

Wow, this will be my third post in a row! I'm on a roll right now. So many exciting things are happening and I just feel the need to share what's been going on!

Earlier this week I shot a senior session for the lovely Ashley here. She sums up everything that I want to embody in my senior sessions... fun, cute, and cool! I had so much fun working with her on this shoot, we were laughing all day! She was very relaxed in front of the camera and I got some killer shots! Check these out:

First two shots of the day. It doesn't get any better than this:





I love the natural expression in this shot:







I saw this neat little bench with awesome light all around it. I had to shoot here:





Ashley brought along a few outfits so we did a wardrobe change. I love how she kept her theme cool but still very stylish:



J.Crew catalog anyone:





Nice sun flare:



Last few of my favs:




If there are any seniors out there that want their super cool and hip senior photos taken, leave me a comment or send me an email! Good luck next year at UT Ashley!!

Joe Photo...Movie Star???

For those of you who don't know who Joe Photo is, ummm.. where have you been? J/K, Joe is another talented California photographer. He runs in the same circle as Becker, Mike Colon, Jessica Claire... you know, just about all the photographers that I look up to. Well apparently Joe has started his own mini series sponsored by WPPI. It pretty funny, here it is:



What's great too is if you embed this video in your blog and fill out this form on Joe's site, you'll get free admission to WPPI in 2009! I don't know about you but that's $250 that I would love to keep to use for gear or other marketing materials. So unless you're made out of money, put this video on your blog. You'll get a chance to attend one of the largest trade shows for photographer in the world and meet some really cool people! Oh yeah, I'll be attending for my first time this year so if anybody else is going, leave me a comment and maybe we can meet up!

Mastering Your Craft

This past weekend I attended the Mastering Your Craft Seminar hosted by Super-Talented Celebrity Photographers Mike Colon and Bob Davis. Some of their most recent celebrity weddings include Usher, Eddie Murphy, and Tony Parker & Eva Longoria! I have been so excited all week that I would finally get to meet these guys and they were awesome.

Mike's sense of humor alone would have been worth going to watch. He's really laid back and I could genuinely tell that he was really there to share his knowledge and to help us. I learned so much from him and not just things about photography. Some of the things he spoke on can be applied to life in general and I am very grateful that I was able to attend.

Mike also felt the need to use me in a few lighting demonstrations. I got to hold his flash up high while they created a mock first dance. Yay for me, I got to hold Mike Colon's flash! Seriously, I was embarrassed because I turned his flash the wrong way after he had fixed it and he told the class (after trying to fire his flash numerous times with no success), that the speakers he usually sits his flashes on at weddings don't usually turn the flashes around! Everyone laughed at me and I was totally embarrassed. It was all in good fun though... hopefully!

I don't know what I can say about Bob. His technical skills go way beyond that of any photographer that I know. He has had his images published in Time magazine and he shoots work for Oprah all the time. His ability to not only capture the moment, but tell a story is what separates him from the rest. His philosophy is one that I plan on working harder on in my own work.

There are 2 dates left on their tour, both in California. If you are able to attend this workshop you should!



Oh yeah, while I was in Dallas this weekend I was able to catch the Oscars from my hotel! How about the Coen brothers? They came up big winning for Best Picture, Best Achievement in Directing, & Best Writing-Screenplay for No Country for Old Men! I felt that Juno was snubbed, and should have won in a few more categories. John Stewart was hilarious though and he made the Oscars all worth watching!

**EDIT...

Here are a couple of shots I pulled from Mike's blog! After ruining Mike's flash demonstration, he decided torture me more by puting me behind the lens. That's Bob holding the video light over my head, haha.

New Offering

I've thought about adding a new addition to my wedding packages for a while, and now I think is the perfect time to do so. I love working with my clients! I honestly believe that I get some of the best brides and grooms in the world. Many times I book brides off of my website and blog alone, without having ever met them in person. My blog and website give them a good feel of who I am, what I'm like, and they feel comfortable booking me. I think that it is very important that you feel comfortable with your photographer and to like them! The pictures always turn out better, trust me.

With that being said, Engagement Sessions will now be included with every Akil Bennett Wedding Package. It's a great way for us to get to know each other better!  In addition, it will help both of you feel more comfortable in front of the camera so that on the wedding day, you're at ease. If you are an out of town bride or or having a tough time scheduling the session because of work, we can always do it the week before the wedding. When I show up to the wedding I want the bride and groom to feel like I'm just a friend with a cool camera! This will help me to more effectively capture their wedding day.