Fall colors Archives - Masqueman Creative | Graphic Design & Photography

Jan 19

Family Portraits of Baby Lukas and His Parents

By Andrew Hughes Andrew Hughes, Atlanta, Fall colors, family portraits, Masqueman Photography, maternity photos, portraits

In 2012, I had the opportunity to photograph my good friends Justinas and Marie before they were going to have a baby. Looking back now, I think Marie was literally gonna pop. That maternity photo gallery can be seen in an earlier post here.

Later in 2013, I contacted them to see if they would return to the same spot where we took the previous pictures for a followup session.

My plan was to take the photos in the same location so when Lukas grew up he could see himself in a unique series of photo shoots…. “in the belly” and “in the world”. I would like to say at this time that I am not responsible if these photos lead to the “where do babies come from?” question.

Young Lukas was not even a year old and already that boy had so much charm and charisma
that he wowed me during the photo shoot. He is incredibly smart and alert for his age.

He would almost smile on command and respond to all the silly noises I was making.
Getting the attention of a child this young is not always successful.

Lukas is the perfect blend between Mom and Dad.

The kid was a dream to work with, but that is what one might expect from a
child who has a model-like mother and a photographer for a father?

In fact, if Lukas picks up at camera he will be the

third generation of photographer in the Bartkevicius family.

Dad is a giant so you gotta wonder how tall Lukas will be.

When I was packing up, I showed Lukas my camera. He knowingly
touched the shutter button, and I swear that kid winked at me. This just
proves that my photographic competition just gets younger every year.

Maybe we will keep shooting a new portrait set annually until it is time for me
to hand the camera over to him.

I think this is how Lukas drives his dad around. Just tug the ears to steer in the right direction…

Jan 15

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Blood, Sweat and Tears of Photography

By Andrew Hughes accident, Fall colors, family portraits, Masqueman Photography, portrait photography, portraits

The old saying about putting blood, sweat, and tears into one’s work actually came true for me during a particularly windy family photo shoot. A powerful gust of wind upended my heavy studio flash and whacked me in the back of the head like Thor’s hammer. The timing was perfect since I was bending over my camera bag changing lenses.

Even though I almost blacked out, we finished the photoshoot. My friend, Ken, had some colorful language to describe the seemingly unstoppable bleeding, but I’ll keep this PG-13. My head ended up looking like a prop form the Walking Dead.

Working alone without an assistant can have its disadvantages such as having no one to hold the stand when the wind really picks up. Even having a bag of weights on the bottom in this case probably would not have changed the outcome. That will teach me to take shortcuts and think that taking one of the legs into the soft ground would be sufficient. This post should be files under “WHAT NOT TO DO”. Lesson learned…

Jan 11

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Family Portraits of the Distant Cousin of Al Capone

By Andrew Hughes Fall colors, family portraits, Masqueman Photography, portraits

What does a photographer do when the rumored distant relative of Al Capone asks you to take photos of his family? You say yes sir… especially when he brings his beautiful pregnant wife, Amber, and adorable daughter, Allessandra.

We had been planning a family session for a while. Spring turned into summer and then summer into fall. If we waited much longer, it was going to get cold and ugly outside.

We met in my favorite local photo spot and proceeded to try and tire Alessandra out. This was difficult to do since she was literally running circles around us. Ah… youth… can you bottle that energy?

It’s important to capture special moments with children when they are young because you’ll never get this close to them when they become teenagers.

There is no question who Allessandra looks like.

Backlit fall trees provided a spectacular background.

I love to mix natural and manmade things in my scenes with walls helping to bring some structure to the composition.

Alessandra found a wondrous treasure and wanted to show it to everyone.

A belly contest ended the day. Jason was trying extra hard to stick his gut out since he is a skinny guy. I guess he should have had a bigger lunch.

Jan 04

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Nissan 370ZX in an Beautiful Fall Setting

By Andrew Hughes automobiles, Fall colors

My boss just bought a new automobile after years of nursing his aging convertible. It was time for an upgrade after dealing with the decreasing reliability of his old ride.

After weeks of eluding our questions… he FINALLY answered by driving up in a shiny new Nissan 370Z. I am so glad that he bought this version. The design is as stunning as any car on the road today… at least ones that normal people can afford.

I would not consider myself an automotive photographer by a long shot, but I never miss the opportunity to try to shoot something new. One day after work, we went out to the back of our parking lot where some of the fall foliage was starting to catch fire. Between all the cars leaving work and the fading sun I was able to catch a few angles of the car.

I quickly realized that this particular car is so shiny that it reflects everything in the near vicinity. To my eye, that caused a lot of messy reflections which break of the distinct lines of the 370Z as seen below.

My most successful photographs of the car used the cloudy sky as a big soft box which clearly defines its muscular lines. They are also free of street and branch reflections which cause visual confusion.

Next time I would love to photograph this car in a more controlled setting without having to worry about getting run over while I lay prone in the parking lot.

Dec 27

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Maternity Photos with Marie & Justinas

By Andrew Hughes Andrew Hughes, couples photography, Fall colors, Masqueman Photography, maternity photos, pregnancy photography

Justinas and Marie are two of my oldest friends in Atlanta. I have know them since the days when riding motorcycles in the north Georgia mountains was a weekly event. We spent many a mile together and had some great adventures. It was wonderful when they got married and then pregnant later on.

Justinas and his brother, Paulius, are photographers just like their father back in Lithuania. The love of photography is something that we all have in common. Justinas was making a movie of the shoot.

I was honored to be able to take some of these photos of Marie, but I wanted to include Justinas in some too. He is always behind the camera so this time, the roles would be reversed for him. I also thought it would be important to show them as a couple. I love the negative space between them in the next photo.

We decided to meet at my office where we could take advantage of an open studio and also the last remaining Fall foliage outside. Many trees had already lost their vibrancy at this point, but I put my secret weapon to good use… I simply call it the THE TREE. This one always has incredible color.

My favorite tree in Atlanta still had a little Fall color left… but only if the sun hit it just right. The same tree is in the background of the image above and below. The only difference is that sun peeked out for a few brief moments on the latter one. I call this “boom pow” because this kind of color knocks me out.

Pretty soon the evening light was toast so we headed indoors to try a few different scenarios. The first was to photograph Marie against a painted blue wall using a ring flash. If you have never seen one of those, it would look similar to sticking your camera lens through the hole of a large doughnut shaped flash. It creates a signature ring highlight in the eyes and a soft shadow around a subject who is in close proximity to a wall. This look is not for everyone, but Marie pulls it off.

Then I wanted to try some dark background portraits with strong directional light. We used a sheer mesh here.

I wanted a very strong rim light to help define her against the dark background.

She then changed into something a little less comfortable. How she wrapped herself in this thing is a mystery, but I think I saw her twirling into it while Justinas held the end.

This is one of my favorites because of the modeling on that perfect belly, and the expectant look of motherhood. She will make an incredible mom.

Dec 24

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Family Photos with the Humphreys in Atlanta

By Andrew Hughes Andrew Hughes, Fall colors, family, group photography, Masqueman Photography, portrait photography

I have known Lisa since the 90’s when I worked with her at my day job at Graphic Works. A lot has happened since those days, but one thing has remained the same. She is one of the nicest people that you will meet, and she has a zest for life. She’s Italian… what did you expect.

Her two children, Graham and Marissa, have the same adventurous spirit, and they are just fun to be around. Every couple of years we get together for a photoshoot and to compare how much bigger the kids have gotten. I do not know what she is feeding them, but they are growing like weeds.

Here are a few photos from that day. The Fall colors were not really in “bloom” yet in Atlanta, but they were on the verge of changing. The day was very overcast which I prefer over too-strong sunlight. This can give a hazy feel to the photos and the colors don’t pop as much as would strongly backlit leaves.

I hope to keep doing this with them for many years to come. It will be great to look back and remember the journey. To see last time’s photos, check out the previous Gallery Link here.

It is not hard to figure out who Marissa will look like when she grows up.

It was a very nice day spent with old friends.

The full 2012 gallery set can be found here.

Oct 28

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My Honda S2000 With My Favorite Fall Tree

By Andrew Hughes Fall colors, photography

The Fall season is the only time my bright yellow Honda S2000 does not look like the most colorful thing in the parking lot. In particular, there is one maple tree that I look forward to watching every October when it changes its lush green foliage to the the color of fire. I make it a point to take photos of it right when the sun is setting behind it. This gives maximun impact to the colors!

See some of the past photos of this incredible tree here:

• http://www.masqueman.com/galleries/2008.apophia/view.html
• http://masqueman.blogspot.com/2009/11/dull-year-for-leaves.html
• http://masqueman.blogspot.com/2010/11/colors-of-fall-2010.html
• https://masqueman.com/galleries/2008.fall_colors/view.html
• https://masqueman.com/galleries/2008.struve.sti/view.html

Apr 18

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Fall Portraits of Children with a Scarecrow

By Andrew Hughes Andrew Hughes, child phtotography, Fall colors, family, Halloween, Masqueman Photography, portrait photography

My friends Josh and Michelle have one of those beautiful yards that we all wish we had. It is well manicured and during holidays, seasonal decorations come out. I have been taking photos of their children for many years now, and we had been talking about incorporating the Fall scarecrows. Look at the size of this display compared to Little Josh. He could almost get lost in it…

Josh Jr. might have thought the pumpkins were toys… he kept tossing them.

Did I mention that the family is made of 4 redheads? The perfect hair color for fall photos.

Josh would walk through fire for his wife and kids… This tough guys is a softy around the little ones.

Mom got into the act too. Josh is 1 year old here.

I know some people hate when kids make funny faces, but I like those the best.

Nov 22

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Watching Fall Leaves

By Andrew Hughes Fall colors, time lapse

Have you ever wondered how leaves change their colors? We all have seen trees that go from green to gold to brown in a matter of days, but how do the individual leaves actually make that transition? That was what I was wondering when I set up a little experiment using a scanner and some leaves collected in the yard.

My process was to scan the leaves daily and then make a time-lapse movie of the transformation. If I was being totally scientific, I would have scanned them at exact intervals of time. I got busy during the week and skipped a day or two, but one can clearly see the amazing transformation.

Each leaf represents a specific kind of tree and each changes differently from the others. All of them seem to lose moisture and dry up. Some whither a little and others a lot. One even seems to rot pretty quickly. If I was a scientist I would be interested in the structure of the leaf, the water content, bacteria or microbes present etc. Since I am not, I’ll just marvel at nature’s beauty.

Nov 03

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The Colors of Fall 2010

By Andrew Hughes Atlanta, Fall colors, photography

Every year I make a habit of enjoying the incredible fall colors of Atlanta. I am amazed at the combination of hues that come and go in just a few weeks. Here are a few photos taken right behind the studio.