Linnae Designs

More senior pictures from Asheville Christian Academy students

linnae — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:49:25 +0000

Another beautiful teen who was very easy to photograph. G has the most amazing smile! I love these photos.

More urban Senior photos in awesome Asheville

linnae — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:11:58 +0000

You might think that it was a nice day when you see the sun shining on this lovely lady but trust me it was not a great day! It was cold and very windy but these two high school seniors were quite the troopers. They even braved the high wind chills to put on their strapless dresses. Here’s S and check back for another post to see G. They are beautiful girls and were a pleasure to work with.

Senior Portrait session at abandoned train

linnae — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:42:11 +0000

Asheville has the best spots for portrait photographers like myself. This abandoned train has some graffiti, rusted metal and old tracks no longer in use – all perfect backdrops for senior portraits!

I heard that this young man was camera shy however I didn’t see any of that during this session. He was a trooper during this long marathon session and the results speak for themselves.

Urban Senior Pictures at River Arts District, Asheville

linnae — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:02:29 +0000

I have been busy with my teaching schedule at AB Tech so I haven’t had as much editing time as I would like. I photographed quite a few seniors this past weekend and am having a blast working on these images. I love taking their already nice images and adding a grunge texture or cropping on a slant or lowering the color saturation to turn the images into a super hip look. I can create a beautiful and classic look too and will do so if the image calls out for it, but since we work working in a gritty, urban setting for these shots I wanted to edit these to match.

This young lady has a sassy smile and gave me some great funky poses to work with! I love them.

Senior portraits at River Arts District in Asheville

linnae — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:02:37 +0000

The dark clouds and rainy weather cleared just in time for this senior session. I was excited to be able to use my new location that has an abandoned train, a old bridge that the train crossed over once upon a time and lot of tall grasses. Later we explored a couple spots along the River Arts District. This area seems to be filled with colorful walls and textured buildings which all make perfect, grunge backdrops for a photographer like me.

This senior has a easy natural smile and a complexion to die for. She brought her friends along and I’ll be posting their pictures here too in a day or so so check back. They were so much fun to work with!

This Family photographer had a blast during this photo session!

linnae — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:12:46 +0000

I photographed this mother and daughter in the fall. They had their favorite images developed and they created a beautiful handmade scrapbook filled with quotes, art and tons of love. It was the father’s gift for the holiday and I heard that he had tears in his eyes when he looked at it for the first time. The girls saved room at the back of the book to include some photos of him and the whole family together. I wonder which photos they’ll choose.

It’s always a pleasure to photograph a family who feels comfortable around me. The smiles, touching and laughs all came naturally- without instruction from me-which made for these spectacular images.

Introducing my Senior Rep for Asheville Christian Academy

linnae — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:55:05 +0000

I did my first photo shoot for my new Senior Rep (Class of 2013). For those of you who don’t know; I’ll choose a male and female junior from each high school and give them a FREE photo shoot and lots of products. In exchange, he or she will help to promote me at the school by showing others his/her photos and describing his/her experience. This young lady is my new Rep at her school and we have two more fabulous photo sessions planned; one will be downtown and the other will be out in nature in the spring. She was amazingly easy to work with and I wasn’t surprised to learn that she’s done some modelling in her past. Isn’t she gorgeous?????

I can’t decide which pose I like best. They are all so darn good!!!!! Of the three below, which do you like best?

I’m still looking for SENIOR REPS from many schools in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson County. For more info look under “Details”.

Finding cool new locations for photo shoots

linnae — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:16:04 +0000

I love my job! As I drive around town, I am always on the look out for new locations that I can use for photography shoots. The other day I had an extra hour before I had to pick up my kiddos from school, so I decided to try to find this neat, old fashioned gas station that I passed a couple months back. I knew the general location and was able to locate it fairly quickly. It’s a cool lookin’ spot to have your oil changed. What smart marketing. It’s hard to miss when you drive by and I’m sure it attracts the car enthusiast with the old hot rod and sheriff car parked in the front.

It attracted me for an altogether different reason. I’m going to be photographing some high school students soon and I think they may really like this spot for their senior picture session. Imagine a teen guy dressed in a cool James Dean style white tee with slicked back hair and straight legged jeans rolled at the bottom. We can skip the cigarette pack rolled under the sleeve of his t-shirt. I can envision him leaning against the gas pump with his arms crossed.

This is the other spot I found that day. This small junk yard has lots of old rusty cars and trucks…perfect venue for what I have in mind. I met the owner. He is a sweet 80 year old man and he seemed receptive to allowing me to bring my senior clients there to be photographed. I think the guys and the gals will like this spot. Sometimes its nice to have a girl dressed in her fancy prom dress sitting in a beat up truck with her arm hanging out the window. The difference between her dressy outfit and the surroundings can create an interesting contrast. Can you visualize it? I can.

If any of you know of any other spot in or around Asheville, that might make good spot for photo shoots leave a reply below. Thanks.

Playing dress up in Mom’s wedding dress

linnae — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:07:33 +0000

Many families don’t think about having their portrait taken in the winter when the scenery is drab, brown and unappealing. Here in the mountains, there are still some beautiful areas and taking pictures when there’s snow on the ground will be awesome – but for now – indoor shots are a great option. There are so many way I could photograph your family – sitting on the floor in front of your fireplace playing a board game, snuggling close on the love seat during story time or gathered on Mom and Dad’s bed for some giggle and tickle time! Yesterday we choose another indoor option and played dress up in mom’s clothes.

To crop or not to crop….

linnae — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:50:59 +0000

When printing your fabulous photographs, keep in mind that images may look different when printed at different sizes. Below is a great visual of a photo crop comparison chart. This guide is a great reference to show how photos will look at different crops. Many people don’t realize that a lot is taken away when printing an 8×10 image, one of the most popular sizes. Digital images are more square than rectangular, and they do not fit neatly into pre-made frames without cropping.

The explanation: Standard photographic sizes do not all follow the same height/width ratio. The camera takes a photo that, when uncropped, will reproduce to a 2” x 3” ratio (4×6, 6×9, 8×12, 12×18, 16×24, 20×30). The industry standard is to offer 5×7, 8×10, 11×14, 16×20, size frames. So you can see how an 8×10 crops 2” off of an 8×12. This is why the same photo will appear slightly different when printed at different sizes. I keep this in mind when I am out in a session. I tend to stand further away from my subjects so there will space around the borders of the photograph. This way, if you have to crop to fit a particular frame size, you usually will not be cropping out an important detail.

When I edit client images I have to make the decision of what stays and what can go based on composition and what compliments your image best artistically. If I crop at all, great care is taken in cropping each image to maintain its integrity.