ericvonphotography

The Struck’s

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:16:36 +0000

Photos from the Struck Family at beautiful Mayfield Park. We started early in the am…and even then it was HOT not to mention humid. We had a good time chasing the peacocks. Thank you Ellen and Andrew and the kids, Sophie and Henry for putting a smile on my face.

Here is the beautiful Sophie

And a somewhat concerned Henry…he had to warm up a little bit.

Probably one of my favorite all time family shots.

There is that great smile from Henry. He made us work for it but we got it!

Alaska, almost a year later

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:48:35 +0000

This has been a long time coming. Maybe it is the 100 degree heat that got me motivated to get photos from our trip to Alaska last August up on the blog. Alaska was absolutely the most naturally beautiful place I have ever been. There are a LOT of images to see…your lucky, I took over 2000 images and I am showing you about 60 of my absolute faves. That was probably the biggest task and why it has taken this long to get them on the blog. Narrowing them down. I would start to go through them and I would get lost in remembering the trip and then I really like this photo over here…it was one of the hardest projects of mine I have ever had to edit down. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

taking time to…shoot the flowers

admin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:24:11 +0000

Somebody recently asked me what my hobby is. And I replied to them…”Well, it’s photography”. They said, “Well, isn’t that your profession?” And I said, “Well…yeah, but there is a ton of different things out there to photograph”. So photography can still be a hobby even though it is my profession in the way that you can tinker around with it and photograph things you don’t normally do on a daily basis. Take flowers for example…for some reason I love to photograph flowers as my side hobby. I think what I love about flowers is that the closer you see them the more amazing works of art they are. God must have spent a lot of time when he was making flowers. All of the intricate details that flowers develop. Layers of texture and pattern, color palettes and intricacies of the petals. I know…I am going a little overboard. But i find it absolutely amazing that there is so much beauty in such a small package. Just some food for thought. Here are some flowers I picked up at Central Market…can’t remember what they are called, but they look like a cross between a rose and…something. Maybe you know.

I am going to miss 2 of my favorite people

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:25:12 +0000

I am a little on the sad side today. Julie and Steve (sis and bro in law) officially made the move to Colorado Springs this past weekend. That means that two of my favorite people…Emma and Luke aren’t going to be so close any more. I am really going to miss them…all of them. I wish Julie and Steve all the best while they are in Colorado Springs and I know that Kim and I can’t wait to visit. Kim and I got to babysit Emma and Luke a few weekends ago while Julie went up to check out some houses. We got a chance to take them to a museum and have a picnic and make dinner and breakfast with them. We had so much fun. These pics are from Sunday morning…Emma’s hair…well, that’s all I have to say is Emma’s hair. Man, I am already missing these two little squirts.

Kaela

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:12:26 +0000

It has been a challenge lately to do portraits outside in Austin, TX. With it being 100+ degrees outside. Sweat is always a factor and that pesky huge ball of fire in the sky constantly beating down on you. What is the solution? Well shoot later or early in the day. The problem with shooting early is just that…it’s early. During the summer the sun rises right after 6am. Not many people want their portraits taken right after they have rolled out of bed. So go for later in the evening. Sure it makes for a longer day, but that is the sacrifice for being a patient, willing, and professional photographer.

With Kaela we kind of started in between the hot and the magic hour. So for the first part of the shoot we stayed in shaded areas or where the sun would be at her back. Once the sun started to fade and the light got softer we could do a bit more. Kaela needed a few shots for her modeling portfolio and she also just graduated from HS so congrats to her on that milestone. I think there is a future for her as a model…she has a great attitude and such a fun laid back and approachable personality. People can be beautiful but if they have bad attitudes a lot of time it makes them very hard to work with…Kaela was so easy and cool to work with. Have a look.

Visit to LIVESTRONG

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:20:32 +0000

Last Friday I volunteered to do a photo lesson for some of the amazing folks over at the LIVESTRONG office. For those of you who don’t know, I am a 2 time cancer survivor and I continue to try to look for ways I can give back to the cancer community using my talent. When I rolled up to their uber cool office (East 6th Street if you have never been by) there was a ton of activity in the parking lot. Motorcycle Police a fairly large crowd and about 60-70 cyclists. Apparently I was just in time for the kickoff of the Texas 4000. The Texas 4000 is a team of cyclists traveling from Austin to Anchorage Alaska (4500 miles) over the course of 3 months to raise money and awareness for Cancer……WOW…. So right away I grabbed my camera out of my bag and shot a few of the riders as they took off on their journey. Can you imagine 4500 miles on a bike. That is just absolutely inspiring. Check out their website to learn more about their epic ride.

While I was there Amber Wadey, LIVESTRONG’s volunteer coordinator, asked if I could take some photos of a new project they have started. There is a tribute wall that they want to cover with tiles that are either in memory of, in honor of a loved one with cancer or to celebrate a survivor of cancer. You can design your own tribute tile with words or images of your choice and an artist will render your work onto your tile. Only 400 of these tiles will be made and I believe can be purchased for a donation of $500. I can’t wait for them to fill up the entire wall. Find out more about the wall HERE.

Do any of you watch American Choppers on Discovery? Remember a few years back when they did a custom chopper for Lance and LIVESTRONG? Well, the bike is now at the LIVESTRONG office…just got there the day before I was there so of course I had to grab a few photos of this amazing work of art. The thing is seriously unreal.

And lastly walking around the office there are all kind of inspirational phrases and artwork. I couldn’t help grab some from their manifesto wall.

Austin interiors and exteriors

admin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:13:55 +0000

A few weekends back I got the opportunity to photograph the Outdoor Living Tour put on by Launch 787. A fantastic event here in the late spring in Austin. Designed to ramble around town and check out some of the most interesting and well done outdoor living areas. After the tour Kim and I were kind of bummed to go back to our “cookie-cutter” neighborhood…but oh well. Chalk this up to one more reason why we love Austin. Because there are sooo many cool neighborhoods and character within those neighborhoods. It was quite fun to have all access to these gracious homeowner’s retreats. Take a look at what I came back with.

Builders and Designers include:

CG&S Design-Build
Universal Joint
Cass Cheesar Architects
Loop Design
Blue Horse Building & Design
Spaces Designed

Beauty all around us.

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:00:19 +0000

I recently did a shoot here in my neck of the woods. Pflugerville, TX. When driving through Pflugerville (northeast of Austin) beauty isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But that is all in the eye of the beholder…right? Living here for the past 11 years I have come to appreciate the understated beauty that surrounds us here in Pf-ville. I haven’t had the opportunity to do too many shoots up here but when someone wanted a “country-esque” vibe for their photos I jumped at the chance to bring them up this way. Here are some of the results.

Angela in South Congress

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:18:41 +0000

A big part of my job as a portrait photographer is making the subject feel at ease in front of the camera. Feeling comfortable in their own skin to express their true self…or possibly a reflection of who they want to be. To tell you the truth sometimes this can be a challenge. I have had shoots where I didn’t think I really accomplished that (shame on me). But then there are shoots when you have a client who is instantly comfortable and makes that connection. Angela is one of those kind of clients. It helps that she has been doing theater for the past 4 years at Lake Travis HS. She is a natural beauty and in those boots I think she had a height advantage on me. South Congress was a perfect backdrop for her carefree hippie-esque attitude. I don’t know why I am one to show the “serious” photos but with Angela there was no hiding that great smile. It makes you want to smile too. Take a look.

Austin’s city hall

admin — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:30:36 +0000

I was downtown this past Friday and I was early for a shoot at Taverna. So I decided to kill a little time and do a mini photo safari. Austin’s city hall is a very unique architectural building with slanted lines, a dark almost rust colored exterior and a protruding spike that extends out over the street. The sky behind it was pretty great so i took a few frames. exposing for the building first then the clouds in various frames until i liked what i got in my frame. Quick note…usually when doing a composite image like this you should use a tripod. I didn’t have mine so i just took a few deep breaths and shot..changed exposure..shot..changed exposure…you get the point. Luckily 3 of the images matched up pretty nicely. Lucky break.