Candid Kids Portraits - Pensacola Beach Photographer
Living as close as I do to Pensacola Beach, truthfully advertised as the World's Whitest Beach, most of my family photo sessions every summer come from vacationing families who want beach portraits while they're in town. This family won my heart because they asked for something different than the usual postcard photos in front of the Gulf of Mexico. They preferred candid, B&W shots of the kids just being themselves, and I am pleased with the results. There is a time and a place for traditional, posed family shots. You should get one or two of them. Too often though, parents become near-obsessed with making sure that the kids are smiling, sitting still and looking up for the entire session. While well intentioned, focusing too much on perfect smiles tends to wear kids out sooner than if you back off a little bit and give the child and the photographer a chance to establish some rapport. A good family photographer will be good with kids, and the results will be better smiles, real laughter and a very true and beautiful capture of your kids in the final photos.
Jimmy and Arien - Pensacola Beach Wedding Photography
Much of my work every year comes from vacationers and out of town families who visit the sugar-white sands of Pensacola Beach every year. Having grown up swimming and diving around Pensacola Beach, I don't usually think of my old stomping grounds as a destination for weddings, but it is. And a beautiful one.
Jimmy and Arien found this website and contacted me to cover their intimate family wedding at a vacation home on the beach. It was a great day, with a ceremony involving both Jimmy and Arien's respective children, with a beautiful sunset to cap of the day.
Pensacola Wedding Photography - Jehan and Nancy
Ceremony: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Reception: Heritage Hall
Music: Sarah Mac Band
Pensacola Wedding Photography: Steven Gray Photography
Last year, when I worked for Hill-Kelly, I met Jehan Clark, the brains behind the relaunch of Pensacola's long-running summer concert series, Evenings in Old Seville Square. Hill-Kelly was (and still is) a major sponsor of the event, and I talked with Jehan quite a bit throughout the summer as I brought vehicles every week and drew raffle tickets on the stage to promote the company.
We kept in touch after my departure from Hill-Kelly and Jehan after he became engaged to the lovely Nancy, Jehan asked me to photograph his engagement photos and wedding.
The photos speak for themselves. It was a great day, with plenty of smiles, plenty of dancing and music by the superlative Sarah Mac Band.
And I think you will agree that this is the best groom's cake ever. I think I put down about a dozen of those things...
Pensacola Graduation Photography - Raegan
Pensacola Graduation Photography
It's that time of the year again. Commencement gowns rustled, mortarboards went airborne and job markets at home and abroad flooded with fresh applicants as the latest crop of graduates strode proudly out of their university corridors. I took that walk myself not too long ago, and I still remember that incredible feeling of relief that comes with the end of your final school term.
On December 15th, the University of West Florida held their winter commencement, and less than an hour later I met up with Raegan and her parents and friends to take some photos in Seville Park to commemorate the day.
As a photographer, I'm very pleased with the way that Pensacola has revamped its downtown scene over the past few years. What was once a park, a church and a few bars has been revived with restored homes, public buildings and photo-friendly business, like the Pensacola Bay Brewery where we swung in for some photos and a pint at the end of our session.
Congratulations, Raegan, and the rest of UWF's graduating class of 2012.
Pensacola Family Portraits - Steven Gray Photography
Pensacola Family Portraits
Beaches, matching white shirts and jeans, the fountain downtown...these are all trademarks of Pensacola family portraits. With our proximity to the beach and the ready availability of spectacular sunsets, families in this area tend to default to the beach without considering all the other options nearby. However, when I am consulted on a good location for family portraits, I try to steer clients away from the areas where everyone else goes. Part of this is my professional responsibility--to give people something different than the Joneses down the street--but part of it is also selfish on my part, because the last thing I want to do to is go back to the beach and take the same images as every other photographer in town.
This is especially true when fall rolls around. I love this time of year. With the changing colors on the ground and in the trees (even Florida's green landscape experiences a little bit of change) the sunsets are warmer and richer. The season almost removes the divide between landscapes and portraiture; outdoor scenes look amazing and people look amazing standing in them. My job becomes very easy.
When my dear friend Karena, with whom I have worked in India for several years, asked me to take portraits of her family. The crew included Karena, her husband John, their daughters Brittney and Jordan, and Britney's boyfriend Brandon and his little girl, Kendall. When the subject of location came up, I suggested that we skip the beach and honor the season and visit a location that looks great this time of year. I used to wander all over the area to find unique places for family portraits, landscapes and even music videos and short films, and I found a location north of town several years ago that swiftly became one of my favorites. It seemed like the perfect place to shoot family portraits in November.
And, you know what?
It was!
