Katherine and Bobby - Engagement Portraits

What a fun and amazing couple! I can't say I've ever photographed a couple that giggled so much. I found myself laughing along with them. It was the cutest thing.

Here are some of my favorites from their E-session on St Petersburg Beach. To see the whole session, go to http://www.proofing.mccrystalimage.com

Branded

A few weeks ago I got a call from an old friend, Brian Jones who is involved in a new band. He has been recording and performing solo and in other bands for the past few years. Brian is an amazing musician and an awesome guy. When he asked if I could shoot some location portraits for the new band, "Branded," I jumped at the chance.

John and Jennifer's Engagement Portraits

John and Jennifer are such a sweet couple. There is a wonderful spark between the two of them. For their engagement portraits, we went to the park where he popped the question. John Chestnut Park in Palm Harbor is one of their favorite places, they have spent hours and hours watching sunset and walking on the boardwalks. After spending time there with them, I completely understand why. Amazing!

Here are a few of my favorites from the session. If you would like to see the entire set of images, you can visit them HERE.

Kevin and Honey's E-Session, Passe Grille, Florida

I met with Kevin and Honey this weekend for their engagement portrait session. Honey suggested a new place for me, Passe Grille. This is a beautiful little place. You can walk from one side of the key to the other in 2 minutes. It is quiet and quaint. There are so many places to photograph and there is just an amazing charm to it all.

Kevin and Honey have a charm about them as well. I love getting to spend time with couples before their wedding so I can learn their personalities and and see how they respond to each other. This is a beautiful, playful and funny couple. We laughed so much as we walked around Passe Grille.

Here are a few of my favorites from their session.

And Of Course the Slideshow.

Boston Family Portraits

The Bostons came to me asking if I would do a family portrait for them for their 50th wedding anniversary. "Of Course!" That is a milestone that very few people ever reach. For this awesome portrait we gathered all the children and grandchildren at Legends Farm for some beautiful morning light.

I love these large family portraits. Not many people do them anymore and it is sad. These are the images that people will look back on and share with great grand children and great great grand children and share the family history.

Thank you for including me in your special day!

All Photographs Copyright 2007 Michael J. McCrystal

Didona Family Portrait

I love portraits on the beach. It's a Florida classic and it gives me an excuse to be photographing out in nature. Family portraits are an art form in themselves. I love to see the family dynamics, relationships with parents and kids. This was a beautiful session with an extended family.

To see the entire portrait session, visit my proofing web page.

Here are a few of my favorites.

And a Slideshow...

Erin and Bob's Engagement Session

What a cute couple. When I was discussion ideas for where to shoot their e-session they chose a park close to home. Their community is an important part of their relationship and wanted to have it as the backdrop for their portraits.

Visit my online proofing page to see the entire session.

Mollie's Senior Portraits

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I’ve been crazy lately between shooting, editing and trying to live a normal life and spend time playing baseball in the yard with my kids. I’ll catch you up on a few photographic highlights.

Senior portraits for me are an all day affair, or pretty close to that. I like to spend time with people. No clock running. No maximum number of poses or changes of clothes. It’s the kind of photography that I want to do.

Mollie and I spent a good portion of a day a week or so ago making some incredible senior portraits. After portraits at the house in a few outfits and with her violin we headed south to Bradenton to use my favorite beach (Coquina on the South end of Anna Maria Island) as a backdrop for some more images.

On the way we had to stop at one of my other favorite places, the shake pit for a bite to eat. If you are ever on Manatee avenue in Bradenton, FL, you need to pay them a visit....

You can visit the rest of her sitting online on my

proofing pages

.

Kyle's Senior Portraits

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I did something for Kyle that I don’t do very often. Do two sittings in one day. Luckily Kyle and Mollie have known each other for a hundred years (ok, maybe they haven’t been alive that long...) and they were willing to go tag team with me for the day. It was a lot of fun for me to bounce around a bit while shooting and by the end of the beach session they were both really adept at holding my reflector panel for me.

Just like Mollie’s portraits, you can see Kyle’s on my

proofing page

.

Amanda's Portraits

As promised, I am back. I will try to be better about coming here to share. It just seems like there are too many things going on these days. I guess that happens to all of us - especially at the beginning of the year.

Today I want to share with you Amanda's Senior Portraits. She was amazing, as I expected she would be. The photos are fun and beautiful and very very Amanda. That is a quality I work very hard to maintain in my portraits, a sense of truth about who the subject really is. Most of the portrait sittings I do aver very different from one another. That's part of the fun for me and for my subjects.

You can see the slideshow with more select images of Amanda's senior portraits HERE

Marks Family

What a week. I've been too busy getting things out to clients to touch back and show off my Saturday morning sitting. I love seeing this family every year. The grandkids are beautiful and I love that the family grows almost every year.

Beach Portraits

This was a busy weekend for me. I had a morning and evening shoot with tow fantastic families that I've been photographing for years. I am always amazed at how the kids grow and it is great to catch up a bit when I do these sessions.

The Sullivans were looking for a beach theme and I said "I know just the place." we went down to Coquina Beach in Bradenton for a fantastic sunset portrait session on the soft white sands. Beautiful!

Christmas Portraits

I had a fantastic family portrait recently. I love getting to do these portraits. Usually they become a family tradition and I get to watch the kids grow up for years to come. I also love getting to know a family during the sitting. Everything is so much more relaxed that way. These are some great kids...

Orlando Portraits

One of the things I do as often as possible is to spend time with other photographers. I find these times to be refreshing and challenging at the same time. I think the Bible calls it "Iron Shapens Iron." I come away from these with a renewed excitement about photography and new ideas to challenge my creative vision. I get together with a gorup of photogrpahers from central Florida almost every month and there is a group forming here in the Brandon/Tampa area that my prove quite good as well.

Last month the central Florida group met in downtown Orlando for a night portrait shoot. I brought a large, experimental light source that I love to use for that shoot. I spent most of the night lighting for others, but did manage to pull my camera out for a few. Here are some of my selects.

Monique

I had a very unusual shoot recently. A Sweet Sixteen Party. A very good friend called me to ask if I would be interested and whie I was still making up my mind she handed the phone to Avis. Avis is one of the most excited people I have ever met. She ads energy to everyone in the room and I was hooked by her personality. I had to meet this family.

This was an amazing and fun day. I love being a photograper. I am blessed to be a part of the best days of so many people's lives. Sometimes I have to thank God for what I do.

To see some of the selects from Monique's party, go to the slide show at www.mccrystalimage.com/mussio or by clicking "Monique" upove - the title of this post. Enjoy!

Blake High School

Last week I had a chance to visit my firned Linda at Blake High School. She has been teaching Photography there since they opened. I've been in and out of that classroom for most of those years teaching lighting and helping with critiques etc. I love going there. The students are amazing. I have seen some unbelievable art come from the students in that program. My visits always leave me inspired and challenged to do more and better work. I get a refreshing peek at how my work as a photographer began.

I spent time with a small group of advanced students talking about portraiture and lighting. These are areas I love to teach. There are so many simple and creative options for lighting and studio work. Very challenging and exciting. I love to see the ideas start to spark while I'm talking and photographing them. It reminds me why I love this so much...

Children's Portraits

I had a fantastic portrait session this week that I have to share with you.

I've always loved children. I get that from my dad. He always seemed to attract little kids like a magnet. Girl Scout cookie season was a financial disaster in the making. They knew he was an easy mark when they saw him coming. I really love the Samoas to this day...

These are some wonderful kids and I loved photographing them. Part of why I love photographing children is that I am in no rush. I spend time laughing with little ones, holding babies and sharing stories with the family. Beautiful images and a refreshing pause in life.

Enjoy

Cristina and Drew - Engagement Portraits

What an amazing couple.

One of my favorite parts of photographing weddings is getting to know young couples and see their romance as it grows. Engagement portraits are a fun way for me to get to know them, help them get used to being relaxed while being photographed and create some amazing portraits for them to share with their family and friends as they get ready for their wedding.

Cristina and Drew are getting married next year. Our E-session in Hyde Park was an adventure. There was a little rain and a lot of walking as we explored the neighborhood and found great little spots to photograph them.

Enjoy!

Portrait Party

Happy Birthday Ladies!

I love variety in my work. It makes things exciting for me and motivates me with constant challenges and opportunities for growth in my art.

This was a great evening of portraits. This lovely group of young ladies gathered for a birthday celebration. What a unique group of girls. I had a ball getting to meet and photograph them all.

Two Very Different Portrait Sittings

Portraits are exciting for me. I love to spend a bit of time with a person to get to know them and see a bit of their personality. That personality must show through the photographs we create - that is success...

Recently I had two very different couple for two Very different sittings in exactly the same location. I think this is a great peek at how different portraits can be depending on the people in them.

***Slideshow***