Portrait Shoot: Welselly at Fred Howard Park

  

   Last week I received a call asking for some fun portrait photos to be taken at the beach.  My favorite kind!
My client and I decided on Fred Howard park in Tarpon Springs, Florida. This is not a park you stumble upon by accident but it is very much worth seeking out. In addition to the park on the main land there is a causeway leading out to a beautiful little island with white sand beaches, large rocks and a killer view of the sunset.  When we got there the first thing I noticed was that someone had taken some sea grass and arranged it in the shape of a heart! No way I could resist a ready made prop like that!!

  There is a wonderful little hill that overlooks the beach in on direction, the water in another, it was used again for the final photos taken as the sun set.

  We walked over to a less populated area on the side of the island and had some fun, this photo was taken in mid spin. I find that asking for my subject to spin around produces unique shots and natural smiles!

  Here we have a little sass! The water provides a nice backdrop for this photo!

  

  Love this one! There are beautiful Black-Eyed Susan flowers all over the place and there was a soft breeze which worked with Welselly's hair in a a good way here. In fact it was a perfect spring day here in Florida, not too hot!

  I love converting images to black and white or sepia, they have such a classy feel to them!  How beautiful are her eyes in this photo?

  I also of course like to find a photo or two to crop square from each session. I love the way her hair is blowing here and also the line of trees trailing out in the background. And of course there are once again those eyes!

  As we got closer to sunset we went back to 'the hill' and pulled out my Gary Fong Lightsphere to work with some off camera flash. It provides a nice even spread of flattering light.  

  Check out that sky and of course the girl in front of it. I love using this park for sunset shots so much!

 I asked Welselly to jump for me so we could get a few fun silo shots, she almost looks like she is suspended in mid air!  I love the free spirited feel of this image.

  

  Beautiful! I leave you with our favorite photo from the shoot which turned out to be the very last one. Great pose, great expression-it really captured Welselly's beauty and spirit!

  Thank you so much Welselly for choosing me to be your photographer! I had a great time and you were a pleasure to work with!

   I am hoping this week to visit both Bok Tower Gardens, and Disney's Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot center to capture the beauty that is bursting out everywhere here in Florida this spring. Also have a baby portrait shoot coming up and am very excited about that! 

Stephanie

  

Sunset at Fred Howard Park

  Saturday I attended at picnic at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs.  I arrived late as it seemed to be raining off and on there all day and it is a 45 minute drive for me. Its a nice drive through past farm land, horses and cows. The park itself is one of my favorites. There is the 'mainland' park and then there is a road/causeway that takes to out to a mini island with a beautiful beach which is a wonderful place to watch the sun set.
  The shot above was actually taken from the mainland. It is a view I have tried to capture every time I go but this is the first time I have been happy with the results. The clouds and the time of day gave me a beautiful quality of light.

  This photo was taken on the mini island as I call it. I love this life guard stand!  I have photographed models at this park before, but this was my first chance to get some nice photos of the place at sunset. I am going to have to just go back and spend a day for fun when the weather cools a bit it is beautiful!

I love this shot. It takes something every day, this clump of grass and turns it into something special. I used a bit of HDR toning in Photo Shop here. I like that you also see the ocean and the people walking on the beach.   It also just shows you how important composition is, not matter what you are taking a photo of.

  I am really starting to like shooting silos like this. A simple grouping of 3 palm trees yet this photo has such a wonderful mood to it!

  Earlier it really didn't look like the sunset would be all that spectacular due to the cloud cover but then just as the sun was about to fully descend for the evening a beautiful strip colors appeared between the ocean and the clouds and I was able to capture this image!  If I lived closer to the coast I think I would be checking out the sunset over the ocean every night!

Stephanie