HS Seniors — James Studio Photography | Madison Wisconsin Wedding Photography

HS Senior Session — Vilas Park

September 19, 2011 By Jim Leave a Comment

Ken attends West High School and is an ace vocalist. He told me that he will be attending a university that is known for training professional vocalists. I am certain he will do very well.

The first three pictures were taken across from James Studio, on the tracks on the other side of University Ave. Though it was an overcast day the clouds still look interesting.

HS Senior Shoot Vilas Park 1 HS Senior Session Vilas Park

Ken has some very photogenic features. This is the more serious look of Ken.

HS Senior Shoot Vilas Park 2 HS Senior Session Vilas Park

Next we went to Vilas Park. I love this drive over bridge in the background.

HS Senior Shoot Vilas Park 3 HS Senior Session Vilas Park

For the grunge look I had Ken on this tank. Nothing says grunge quite like a rusty old fuel tank.

HS Senior Shoot Vilas Park 4 HS Senior Session Vilas Park

The walk over bridge was a great back drop for this close up.

HS Senior Shoot Vilas Park 5 HS Senior Session Vilas Park

I love the angle on the following photo and all the great colors in the background. This is my favorite picture from the session.

HS Senior Shoot Vilas Park 6 HS Senior Session Vilas Park

Possibly you or someone you know is looking for a professional senior portrait photographer. James Studio offers flat fees for 1 or 2 hour sessions and they include the pictures on a DVD. Go HERE to learn more of the details.

Filed Under: HS Seniors, Portraits Tagged With: High School Senior Photography, HS Senior Portraits, Kenneth James Lyons, Vilas Park

Studio & UW-Madison Arboretum

October 3, 2010 By Jim Leave a Comment

Saturday, October 3, 2010 I had a photography session with Katie Thompto. Katie is currently a student at UW Stout, but her family lives here in Madison.

The following are some of my favorite shots from the day. In fact, this first image is a great shot of her face, eyes, and her peaceful countenance.

Katie 1 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

Doesn’t she have a beautiful smile? I think it really shines in this pose.

Katie 2 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

She is a sweet young lady who enjoys being photographed. She had taken some modeling classes, so she knew just what to do with her arms by keeping them away from her body. Keeping the arms away from the body reveals more of a woman’s shape and is generally a more pleasing look.

Katie 3 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

I like the subject in the prone position. I think it is flattering. It provides an interesting shallow-depth-of-field look. In this picture the face is in focus while the legs and feet are out of focus.

Katie 4 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

Katie is leaning against the barn-wood wall that is in the studio. The barn wood is all natural and provides a variety of interesting looks for my subjects.

Katie 5 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

Next we went to the UW-Madison Arboretum. There are many beautiful spots in the Arboretum; this one is extra special and is complete with several ducks that have temporarily made it their home.

Katie 6 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

In this photo you can see that the ducks were really cooperating quite nicely–they decided to visit us on our side of the pond.

Katie 7 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

I thought Katie would look great among the weeds, so we journeyed to another part of the Arboretum for some shots just after sundown. Notice the rosy sky in the background. Now if you are wondering if Katie really had to walk out into the the weeds, she did not. There is a path for people to walk on so no damage is done to the foliage. But the natural look is still very good.

Katie 8 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

Here is another look. I really like this image a lot except for one thing. It looks like Katie’s hips are shifted toward the camera, which is to her best advantage. The subject’s weight should be on the back leg and the hips shifted away from the camera to help show her slender shape.

Katie 9 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

Katie was a great sport, as she was willing to do lots of jumps for me. She really enjoyed this part, but I think part of her enjoyment came from the fact that it helped to warm her up when it was getting quite chilly. In another picture I could clearly see goosebumps on her arms!

Jump 1 Studio & UW Madison Arboretum

Filed Under: HS Seniors, New Photos, Portraits, Singles Tagged With: James Studio Portraits, Katie Thompto, Madison Wisconsin Portrait photography, UW Stout, UW-Madison Arboretum

James Studio Madison Wisconsin Senior Photography of Matthew

August 2, 2010 By Jim 1 Comment

On July 22, 2010 Matthew came into the studio with his dad for some basic senior photos. Taking pictures was not Matthew’s favorite thing to do during his summer vacation. But with dad’s help in getting him here, we did get it done.

After a few shots, Matthew warmed up.

I also got some shots of Matthew with his dad against the high key wall. The white wall provides an uncluttered look that is often seen in magazines and websites.

Senior pictures are due at the beginning of October, so Matthew and his mom set up a time for a second shoot. This time they went shopping first, so Matthew was prepared. Here is Matthew sporting his favorite shifrt with the barn-wood background.

I also took some pictures of Matthew with his mom.

Matthew was kind of touchy about pictures of his mom kissing him. So in the following she just gets close.

Across the street from the studio is a very nice set of railroad tracks. So we all took a short drive to the other side of the tracks. We found a good place to park and got some terrific pictures with Matthew on the curved tracks.

These tracks are still in use. As we were parking, a train was going by. I regret to say I did not get a shot of Matthew with the train in the background. Maybe with the next senior.

I have been at the studio doing some late-night editing. Though the traffic noise is hardly noticable, when the freight train goes by it makes a great amount of racket. The students in the nearby appartments must be very good sleepers or they get greatly annoyed. The wheels make a high-pitched screech as the train goes by.

Matthew has this hot car. It’s a BMW and I have been told that it was a race car. As you could imagine, Matt enjoys his car. He was pretty shy about showing it off in pictures, but with his mother’s encouragement, he was willing to do it. This spot is close to Hoyt Park. I think it worked out very well. Here are a couple of the angles I got on Matthew and his red BMW race car.

The following is my favorite shot of the day.

This is a cool shot of Matthew’s mother fading away.

Here are a few with just Matthew.

I asked Matthew to give me the tough-guy look. He was not into it. But we did get a nice photo.

Filed Under: Blog, Family Portraits, HS Seniors, New Photos, Portraits Tagged With: High School Senior Photography, Matthew Cooper, Studio Photography Madison WI

Stevens Street park and in studio photography

July 31, 2010 By Jim Leave a Comment

This first photo is from a set of images taken at Stevens Street park in Madison, Wisconsin. It is just a few blocks from the studio. This shoot took place on July 19, 2010.