Behind the Scenes with jenX

Through the years I have occasionally had clients who capture images of me working.  I thought I would share a compilation of some of their captures, to show a hint of what it is like to be hanging out on a session with jen X photography.  Here are some behind the scenes images and the portraits that were shot at the same time.

Alex Baker - Senior Portrait Session

Alex Baker 2 - Senior Portrait Session

Kaitlyn Thompson - Sweet 16 Portrait Session

Kaitlyn Thompson 2 - Sweet 16 Portrait Session

I captured this next shadow of me, shooting on a cattle gate. 

Pierce Family - Family Photography Session

Brennan Milligan - Senior Portrait Session

Erin Fox - Family Photography Session

Special thanks to Cathy Inman, Dawn Cornett, and Eileen Fox for sharing their kids with me, thinking to capture the whole story, and for sharing their images with me.  I don't often have pictures of myself, so I appreciate it greatly.

National Senior Portrait Photographer

Favorite Senior Portrait Session to date!  (No offense to my other Seniors!)

Last weekend, I traveled to San Saba Texas to have a Senior Portrait Session with Alex Baker.  All the stars aligned for this to be one of my favorite shoots.  We had good weather, good light, cool locations, and a good looking subject to boot!  On an average shoot, I usually end up with 25-40 images to choose from.  This one rings in at over 100!  It was tough to pick out my favorites, but here are the ones that made the cut:

Our first location was Harry's boots in downtown San Saba.  I have NEVER seen a selection of boots and hats of this magnitude, and I was born and raised in Dallas!  Their store takes up 5 buildings, and every bit of them are jammed with boots!  If you can't find your perfect pair of boots in this place, then you just don't want any!  Check them out: Harrysboots.com

This one was taken in the upstairs hall of the "Hat Room."  Same rule applies.  If you can't find the right cowboy hat at Harry's, then you just don't want one!

The combination of the hard woods, leather furniture, boots, and great light made for an amazing location.  Best of all, they were super gracious about letting us shoot in their store, even during business hours on a Saturday!

Here is Alex with his proud mom, Dawn.  

Alex's girlfriend Kristen also joined us for most of the shoot.

No need to adjust your monitors...they have boots in every color of the rainbow.  I wasn't exaggerating.  This is about an eight of one of the boot rooms, and there were at least three!

Pure Country.

Howdy Ma'am.

Mostly I am impressed that Alex scouted this location for us.  He says Kristen is due some credit with the idea.  This is the best luck that I have had with a client picking a location for a session, with the exception of Weddings.

Next we moved out to the ally behind Harry's.  There were some cool old doors and corrugated buildings to use for backdrops.  Perfect.

Looks like the sunset, but it is actually just my reflector.  Nice.  Thanks to Alex's mom Dawn for being my assistant with the reflector.

The next location was a stockyard during a cattle auction!  The smell was not awesome, and when the cattle ran we got coated in dust, which I'm sure wasn't just dust...but hey, it looks cool!

I wouldn't want to encourage Alex to smoke, but it looks to me like he could be the next Marlboro Man.  

...or the next Gunslinger!

After the Stockyards, we went to a park next to a river.  Lots of big beautiful trees, and my favorite...Train Tracks.

If you had any issues with heights, you kind of had to ease your way out on the tracks for these shots.  The Trestle  was about 30 feet in the air, and you could see the ground through the ties.  Stomach dropper!

Mom again.

Hangin' out under the Train Trestle.

The End!

Or the Ends, as the case may be.  Loved this Senior Portrait Sitting.

I'm happy for you, and proud of you Alex.  Congratulations!  Thanks for letting me be a part of such a monumental time in your life.  I'll let you know when I have more images to see...but, it's gonna take a while!

DFW Senior Portrait Photographer

I got to spend some time with one of my favorite people on the planet recently during a Senior Portrait Session.  My girl Frances Beauchamp is graduating from College next month!  Frances means the world to my family, and it was an honor to be a part of helping her celebrate this momentous occasion!

Not sure I've seen prettier eyes than this girl has.  They match her spirit.  :)

I love using railroad tracks in Senior Portraits.  I think is an apropos illustration of the transition from one world to another.

You would never know by Frances' expression that my assistant and I were dodging bumble bees the size of my nose!  Impressive that we were able to catch a shot at all, much less one where the subject looks so serene!

I was falling off of the railroad tracks trying to balance for these sunset images.  Trying to get the subject in the frame and the sun in just the right spot takes work when you are standing on a balance beam!

As far as Senior Portrait Sessions go, that was sure a fun one.

Congratulations beautiful girl!  I am happy for you and proud of you.  Awesome stuff!

Frisco Senior Portrait Photographer

Oops, doesn't seem like it's been more than a month since I have posted a blog.  January is data entry time for me.  My least favorite thing about running a business is paperwork.  January is always the time that I have a minute to breath, and can't put off the accounting side for any longer.  Thank goodness that is done...so back to the fun part of a photography business.

Had an exquisite day to do Senior portraits this past weekend.  My dear friend Sarah has the joy of watching her son finish his senior year.  Here is Michael Carey.  He is a really cool and accomplished kid.  I loved getting to shoot portraits of him with his Saxophone.  So amazing.  Wish we had gotten a real concert.  I understand that he is quite brilliant at it.

I absolutely adore shooting sunsets and silhouettes.  This was a cool opportunity to shoot Michael with his sax.  I told him this could be his album cover.  

What I enjoy the most about shooting Senior portraits is the hope, excitement, and the joy in the air.  Ecstatic kids and proud parents.  What an awesome thing to get to be a part of.  Congratulations to the Carey family, and thank you for letting me be a part of this happy occasion in your lives.