Buckle Stores Advertising Session - Michael Allen Photography

Here are just a few commercial advertising photographs that I shot this month for "Buckle". For this session we were going for a natural lighting for an edgy fashion look, keeping a bold color palette within Buckles targeted demographics. Sessions like these are a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work. We had over 10 models, 2 hairstylists, 2 makeup artists, 3 fashion designers, and our team. Part of the concept of the shoot was to work in a live store, creating strong public excitement of shooting on location in one of Buckles highly successful stores. The gear used was pretty simple as far as lighting. I got to put my new Canon 5d Mark II to the test and used a variety of lenses from a 15mm fisheye, a 24-105mm IS lens, and a 70-200mm IS lens - in RAW mode at 21 megapixel. Shooting on this camera reminds me of the days when I shot all transparencies for the magazines. The digital capability of this camera is fantastic. I used several reflectors, blended natural light with ambient sunlight, and worked in ISO ranges from 640 to 6200. I also used some flash depending on the spots I choose on the location, bouncing flash into the reflectors to create a full wash effect. We had the ad agency team on location who helped us stay on task and kept the team working at full steam. I've done lots of sessions like these over the years, and working with great models who know what to do takes the session over the top! Hopefully sometime next year some of these will end up in their ad campaigns, I'll keep you posted when they go to press.

Children's Spring Portrait Sessions Now Booking in Memphis

It's a perfect time to book your child for one of our lifestyle portrait sessions. We love to catch kids being themselves and having fun, you get some incredible photographs of the most simple things. Here is one image of a portrait group we are working on for our Spring Portrait Sessions. With Easter just around the corner, what a perfect time to schedule a session. We customize each session to fit your child's personality, and unlike some portrait studios, we shoot over 100 images, so you will have more choices than you can imagine. This image will be great on a 24x36 inch canvas portrait. Instead of buying expensive art for your home, invest in your child as Art.

Baby Sessions

I love the diversity of professional photography especially when I can go one day from shooting wild rock stars, then book a session with a new mom and her sweet new baby. My approach to photographing any subject is to capture some incredible images. Children are an incredible blessing in life, and if you can capture them being themselves and combine those moments with Art, then you have a great session. I did Shannon's wedding a couple of years ago, she recently called me for her maternity session, and now her new 5 month old baby boy. I schedule quite a few baby sessions each month, and love every minute of it. I used the new Canon 5d Mark II with a 24-105mm IS lens. I shot these at ISO 1000 in the studio with a soft box, 4x6 reflector, and a small backlight for the background with some spill on the subject from behind. My studio has a nice full glass wall that brings in lots of daylight, so I shoot everything in daylight mode.

Yung Rip

Last month I got a call from a music industry executive in Australia who represents a new hip hop artist - Yung Rip. He is in Memphis recording his new cd at Ardent Studios. I got a chance to photograph these images with the new Canon 5d MarkII camera. Here are just a few of the images from the session. I'll keep you posted when the cd comes out and which images they choose for the cover. The great thing about working with new artists, they have lots of drive and incredible talent, you never know when you may be working with the next grammy winning artist.

Save The Dress-Memphis Wedding Photographer

Here's our hot new photography feature that everyone's talking about. If you want one for your wedding or engagement session, just ask about our special package offer. Our videos can be downloaded to your Facebook, Wedding Website, or wherever you want. Check out our new video and imagine yourself in these images....pretty cool! You can also get some pretty cool music from a list of great artists in our stock music plan. Tired of the same old boring videos? We can change that!