Magical Marfa (TX) | Covington Imagery

I went to Marfa, Texas and found it to be on the of the most amazing places on earth.  My semi last minute decision to go was because of a great friend and fellow photographer, Marissa Welsh owner of Marissa McInnis Photography.  She had told me about this cool workshop going on in a cool town with a cool photographer named Clayton Austin.  Clayton is a wedding photographer and seeing as to how I have three weddings on the books for this year, it sounded like a great idea to join her and have a little photography education vacation.  What neither of realized is that the whole experience was going to be magic.  And that is Marfa.  Marfa Magic.  The air is magic there.  The people are magic there.  The food is magic there.  We even saw the magic marfa lights.  Well, they aren’t magic, but we couldn’t explain them.  They were definitely there.  It was simply awesome and beautiful.    (Clayton’s workshop was as inspiring and beautiful as his photographs are.  Seriously, check him out.  He is amazing and a really cool guy.)

The dog on below is a sweetheart named angel, who clearly had an angel watching over her as she was a rescue from an animal hoarder placed into the loving care of the sweet fella that works at the Marfa Book Company.  

Marissa and I wanted to see a great sunset so we headed up a road that went up figuring that would lead us somewhere!  We knew the sun was setting on the other side of the mountain so up was the best option.  She spotted a pull off point and after a slight detour to make some photos of the mountains, we made it just in time to catch the last little bit of the setting sun as it raced to get dark.  As I was enjoying the view, I noticed a couple holding up an iphone of themselves with the sunset behind them to try and make a photo.  I could see by their disappointed faces each time they looked at the screen that they were getting the sunset but that they were just black shapes blocking part of it.  There was still a few minutes left so I ran to my car and switched out the battery & card, changed the lens and threw on my flash.  I ran over and asked them if they would like me to make a photo that I could email to them.  We snapped three or four images and then they told me their story about living across the country from each other.  Brandon was stationed in El Paso and Michelle lived back in Chicago.   She had two more nights on the visit and then it was back to living on other sides of the country.
It was one of those moments best summed up by Winnie The Pooh,  “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

As I was typing this, I just got an email from Michelle  as I just emailed her copies of the images  “I’m not sure if we mentioned it, but that was the first time we’d gotten to spend time together in 5 months, so these photos will always be very special to us.”

The chance meeting lead us to an area outside of El Paso that we would never have found on our own.  While we were chatting, I asked if there were any spots around that would be cool for chilling out in the desert with our cameras after dark.  He suggested we find our way to Montana Avenue and just drive!  The best advice ever, it was so fortunate that we all met at sunset.  As we were heading out of town on Montana Ave, I spotted a road side stand with these amazing blinking swords.  They were closing up shop but I u-turned it and the gal pulled out her entire supply and I stocked up because you can never have too many blinking swords.

We drove by loads of strip clubs and eventually found ourselves in nowhere with a dirt road leading off to the right.  We spent far too many hours out there making photos and I commend Marissa for making her early flight the next morning.  My flight was 2 hours after hers and I had trouble rousing myself.  Well worth the tired eyes though.

Lily Backlit | a Kitty Story | Covington Imagery

Lily is my ever demanding kitty.  I found her on the streets of NYC and she would prefer us to have been inseparable ever since.  Of course, with my job, I am traveling a lot and she doesn’t approve of me ever leaving her.  She also doesn’t approve of photographs, usually….though on this beautifully sunny day, she had watched me posing a few beautiful ladies in the gorgeous backlight and once everyone left she meowed her insistence on getting a photograph as  well.
So here ya go.
Lily Backlit.

Please spay/neuter your animals..  and heck, grab a few off the streets and TNR them as well.

Moby’s Dance Party | 5/31/13

While I was in LA, I went to Moby’s Dance Party in his Disco Basement.  Woo Hoo!   His Disco Basement is a hotbox of fun with party lighting and black soundproof walls.  The room was long and narrow and lead to Moby’s turntables.  The heat was little deterrent for all the pulsating and grooving bodies, a lot of people fit into that room.  Luckily it was a cool night at the top of the hills in Los Angeles so relief was only a hilltop away with beautiful breezes and view of the Hollywood sign.

One of his kind neighbors (another one wasn’t so forgiving of all the bad parking jobs, as he kept huffing n puffing as I helped direct him through the parking lot on his street, I did feel bad for him but come on, people shouldn’t get so upset over the little things).   The kind neighbor, David, who mirrored my feelings gave me his legal parking space and sent me this image of Mo’s house back in the days when Hollywood was still known as HollywoodLand.  How cool is that.  Before all the houses, there stood the castle.  So beautiful.  And shout out to David – you rock, thanks so much for waiting with me to move the car into your spot, totally appreciate that.  You are awesome.

hand holding for a long exposure at the top of the hill.  I kind of like the results.  

I braved the Disco Basement with my camera for a few shots and was actually surprised at how well they came out considering I was shooting in near darkness and at an iso of 12,800.  The Canon Mark III is an incredible piece of equipment.  She really can shoot in relative darkness.

Moby’s Dance party

Natasha by Covington Imagery

Who doesn’t love a day spent creating photographs with a lovely girl and lots of tulle? Natalya was there to lend her artistry to the makeup and we had several neighbors join in the fun (Thanks Sabine, Cecelia, Brian, & Jordan for helping make awesome happen with Natasha!

5/19/13

Marijani | a Corporate Portrait Story | Covington Imagery

Yesterday started out the perfect day. I remember looking out the window in the morning and thinking ‘oh what a perfect day to create headshots!’ Weather.com had predicted a gorgeous day all week and it started out as just that. The corporate headshot session with Marijani was scheduled at 4pm and everything looked great until about 2:45pm. At that point it started raining. Ugh. I like to do a combination of indoor and outdoor shots during a headshot session. There are such incredible backdrops within 200 feet of my studio and I just get excited using them and I love the way the unique backdrops look in the final images. With the rain coming down that was out. Marijani arrived early and it turned out that the rain was actually a blessing. Things always work out the way that they should. Her headshots are strictly for corporate use and we found that a plain background was ideal. We shot on black and white and were able to get so many more variations in the looks because we were focused only on her. The day that almost turned blah ended up being a laughter filled awesome experience ending with hugs and plans for another type of shoot in June. I am very excited about the June shoot as she will bring along some photographs of her parents caught on the street in Cape Town, South Africa. Back in the day, there used to be street photographers who would capture the comings and goings of the people in Cape Town. They would mail the photographs to the people and if they wanted to keep them, they would pay the photographer when they came round. How cool is that? She said she has some incredible images of her parents and one in particular that her mom says ‘brings back the memories and happenings of that day in an instant.’ And that is what I think is so cool about photography. You see an image and you remember the feelings and happenings around that time in your life. This is why I’ve always valued and loved photography. It saves. It preserves. Photos are our personal time capsules to our lives. Lets cherish and value them.

and drum roll please…. The beautiful Marijani.

Taylor| a Senior Story | Covington Imagery

Taylor brought energy and the best clothes!!!   It felt like I was working with a professional model with her in front of my lens.  Talk about a beauty and her hair.  Wow!  I LOVE her hair.