My friend and client and fellow photographer, Jessica Brownell, put together a group of her closest and oldest friends for a portrait session.  We spend an hour in the streets of Shreveport, Louisiana.  I lead the way and the girls laughed and chatted and told a million inside jokes.  A good time was had by all.  Here are my favorites shots of the group.

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Location: Shreveport, Louisiana.

Slideshow Music: Mindy Gledhill, courtesy of Triple Scoop Music.

The Gregston family portraits were taken at the Norton Museum in Shreveport, Louisiana.  The location is zoo heavily wooded that you can take photos there all day long, but the light is perfect in the mid morning and late afternoon.  I have photographed the Gregston family several times before, so I have been able to watch these kids grow up.  I’ve said this before, but it is fun to see a family once a year and watch those immediate changes that we don’t see in the day to day living with our own children.  from year to year, though, there are striking changes that occur and I enjoy seeing them.

Here are my favorite images from the Gregston family portrait shoot.

The simple things in life are enjoyed best by children.

This series makes me laugh.  I love the response she has to her brother’s kiss.

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Location: Shreveport, Louisiana.

Slideshow Music: Mindy Gledhill, courtesy of Triple Scoop Music.

We photographed the Barrow family portrait in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana.  I love the textures of that city, everywhere you turn is a visual feast.  Their son is a little ball of energy and curiosity who never sits still, so we were on the go from start to finish, so it put us in a lot of different places throughout the portrait session.  When you have a portrait session with a child who wants to investigate everything and be on the move, you can’t fight it, you just have to go along for the ride.  So we did.

Yes, that is a tumbleweed bat and a stick ball.  That is true pioneer style baseball.

Like I said, always on the go.

Family Portrait Session Details:

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Location: Shreveport, Louisiana.

Slideshow Music: Kevin Burdick, courtesy of Triple Scoop Music.

Megan is an ASU Cheerleader (was, now se’s graduating), so needless to say she is a big ASU Football fan.  My wife was an ASU Marching Band musician, so I understand the fervor for the Devils.  Go Devils!  So Megan and I took to the streets in Tempe, Arizona to get some ASU Grad shots.  We were after a mixture of school spirit shots and graduation cap and gown type shots.  Here are a few of my favorite images from Megan’s ASU graduation portrait session.

This location is a parking garage on the ASU Campus in Tempe, Arizona.  It provided the open shade with something interesting in the background.  It is only partially covered.  The roof is a latticework of solar panels.

I love this shot with the GO DEVILS block in front and Megan’s got the attitude, so it’s perfect.

This is one of my favorites.  I know, it is just a close up headshot and nothing super fancy, but Megan looks great in it.

We snuck into the basketball arena.  I like to sneak around when taking portraits.  It turns a normal portrait session into a possible security guard chase, which would be exciting…

We parked in a reserved spot next to old main and ran out on to the lawn to get this last set of shots.  Old Main is the only building on the ASU campus that feels like a old style university.  ASU is more of a modern city.  So, I like the feel of Old Main, it makes the shot feel more collegiate.

So now we come to the end of the day.  The sun is down and we are operating on very little ambient light.  Here is where the Canon 1D Mark IV shines.  I am shooting this image at 4600 ISO and leaving them in color (thanks to Lightroom 3‘s incredible noise reduction).  There is a bit of grain in them, but its manageable grain and looks cool (of course I like grain).  You can’t get a better available light scenario than this, but you have to have a serious camera to make use of this light.

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Location: ASU Campus, Tempe, Arizona

Slideshow Music by Mindy Gledhill, Courtesy of Triple Scoop Music

Pat & Laney’s Engagement Portraits from Jared Platt on Vimeo.

For Pat and Laney’s engagement portraits, we met in downtown Chandler, Arizona.  We shot a few images around the downtown area, which has some great shady spots with pillars and brick walls, etc.  And as much as I loved the shots we got in town, the really cool shots were going to happen out in the desert and farm lands south of Chandler.

Perhaps it is because of my childhood, but there is nothing more perfect than a dirt road cutting through a field.  I just wish I had seen the visual potential of this combination growing up working on my grandfather’s ranch.  I only started playing with a camera in my senior year in high school, so I didn’t get the chance to explore the visuals I was living as a teenager.  I suppose that is why I go to the simple and the vacancy now as an adult.

This was a great moment and I love the Jeep in the background.  I have to admit that I was in love with the Jeep.  I have always been a Jeep fan (circa Wrangler) and this Jeep was a tough looking Jeep.  So you will see a lot of images using the Jeep throughout this session.  It is a cool Jeep.

You have to love this one.  I love wheat fields.  I shoot in this area a lot, but the crops always change, so it is something new every time I go down there, which is good for variety and keeps me interested in going down there to shoot.

Project: Engagement Portraits

Location: Chandler, Arizona

Photographer: Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Slideshow Music: Roy Ashen, Courtesy of Triple Scoop Music