August, Precision Camera Portrait – Austin, Texas

Here’s the second portrait from Precision Camera’s south store grand opening. I met August for the first time and discovered that she drove up from San Antonio. Given that this new store is south of downtown on Interstate 35, the drive up shouldn’t be too bad — somewhere around 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I feel like I have a closer connection to San Antonio since my older son goes there for college. It’s always been the larger neighbor to the south. Though, with Austin’s booming growth, we may get more press coverage.

I find the process of making portraits differs considerably for each person. Even using the same setup and camera. Maybe that’s because I’m a relatively inexperienced portrait photographer.

Unlike other types of photography, so much of portrait photography depends on human interaction. How well do the subject and photographer work together? August seemed like a very professional model, which made it easy to take great pictures. Her radiant smile certainly helped. For others, it was a lot more challenging.

I mentioned that I prefer black and white portraits, and that’s become my signature style. However, the session with August swayed me to use color as the leade for these posts.

The pink outfit worked so well against the gray, not to mention her color coordination with the lipstick. The black and white certainly looks good, but I prefer the color for this portrait. Overall, I think this may be my favorite picture of the series. Though I’m satisfied with the way the others came out.

August’s Instagram: @augusthemodel

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