I wish I had made this image sooner to make it a part of my post on Silhouettes and Wedding Photography

Eric

As with most art forms, there are always good times to break rules. Whether it be lighting, composition, focus, movement, etc., it is sometimes a good idea to do something out of the ordinary to produce a photograph that is extraordinary. One of the tools in my bag is the silhouette and when the lighting allows for it, I do my best to use it. Silhouette photographs are strongly backlit with very little front lighting. The irony here is that this situation is typically considered problematic for photographers. Indeed, I long considered it the same until I had a personal breakthrough and began to use this “apparent” disadvantage to make an image that proved far more engaging and appealing than had I otherwise tried to shoehorn the scene into something that didn’t fit. What comes out of this approach is generally very artistic and interesting; not to mention that I absolutely LOVE turning a problem into its own solution

I don’t do it all the time as that would diminish the effect. But when given a strongly backlit environment that works in this manner, I find it to be icing on the cake of already enjoyable photography. Not to mention I love the “ooo’s” and “ahhh’s” I get from my clients when I show them a wonderfully artsy silhouette shot when they weren’t expecting it.

With this in mind I think brides should pay as much attention as possible to how their event location will be lit if they are able. By bringing in colored wall lighting, you can change the entire look of a room. In some cases we will even use gel colored flashes to create this effect if desired. This will let the photographer work with the walls rather than fight them (nobody likes ugly walls) and the effect is fabulous:

Thanks for looking everybody.

Ciao!

Your friendly Austin wedding photographer – Eric Kotara

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Meiling and Paul’s wedding at their Austin home on one of the loveliest days that could grace a February. Their wedding day originally had rain in the forecast. It was cloudy and wet leading up to Sunday. It was even rainy Sunday morning. And then, just like that, the clouds broke and the day truly became the perfect day for a wedding. Two days later, it was frozen and snowing How’s that for a window of opportunity?

It was a very relaxed and comfortable wedding and party. Everyone was in great spirits and happy the sun was out. Good drinks, good friends, and some delicious pastries made for a fabulous time.

Enjoy the pictures. And special thanks to my second photographer and assistant for the day, Kristi Wright!

They topped their cupcakes with custom screen printed cookies! Really neat.

These were Delicious!!!!

And you know how I love ring photographs.

Ciao!

This is a bit of a random post, but I guess that is keeping in line with the theme of the post.

I love random stuff like this, and Austin seems to be replete with great, colorful little happenings like this all over the place. This is one I’d like to share will all of my internet buddies.

It sits underneath the Mopac, in the creek bed that leads to the Town Lake Trail. I kept seeing it thru the trees while running and finally took my camera down there one day to spend a moment photographing it. Someone spent a ton of time doing this and I am glad they did. It is a great piece of random environmental art:

In other news, Canon released a redonculously priced new camera that I will never own, Apple released my next computer the 27″ iMac (swoon), and there’s a wedding from Mercury Hall in Austin coming up next on the blog; check back soon for it.

I did a wedding at a country club that had its own resident longhorn (in the background) and longhorn friend. Shooting this beautiful bovine was obligatory, and with a wide-angle lens was down right mandatory. There is this great story tied to this shot and if we ever meet in person I will be glad to tell it. In short, it involved another photographer trying to imitate me and a resultant very gooey lens The longhorn in the background was somewhat shy, so no super close shots of that guy.

This was the result of a long night alone while my wife was on call at the hospital, a lot of light, some incense, beers, confused cats, and a bit of photoshop. Done as a gift for a friend that takes his college football VERY seriously. For Sale, too.

Ciao!

It was a great wedding that we photographed in the springtime in San Antonio. Steph and Brian were loads of fun and the whole party was glowing. Definitely a grand time and we look forward to seeing them again in the mountains one day.

I really liked Steph’s dress. It was very unique and beautiful. Along with the hat below it was a great look.

It’s these little things we catch at weddings that I really love.

Such a fun a lively group of youngsters.

By far and away the coolest groom’s cake I have ever seen, ever!

I had been wanting to do this shot for a while now just never had the right circumstances. I love it!

A very appropriate tattoo.

Hope you enjoyed the wedding photos, we certainly enjoyed taking them. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Ciao!

Just a quick announcement about a new feature to the website. Since this is a new blog for a not so new wedding photographer, I have pondered about how to show my work from previous weddings I’ve photographed. Rather than send you to my old site and blog for all of eternity, I have set up a page with galleries here to let new visitors see work that occurred before I put the blog up. With time I will probably back post some of the more memorable posts from the old blog.

These are new galleries and it will take time for them to fill up as I move stuff over so don’t worry if you stumble upon a new gallery with nothing in it. If that does happen, click here to visit the old wedding photography blog.

There is a link below this line and one in the menu for the blog up top.

Wedding Photography Portfolio

Ciao