Jeremy Young’s Blog

In an attempt to make my photography website cleaner and easier to use, I updated it with a new look and feel.

You can view my new website at www.jyoungphoto.com. The template I used was a basic flash template from a company named bludomain. I typically don’t like to use flash because of their drawbacks in size, compatibility, and online search ability, but I loved the simplicity of this one and it was cheap. If you have any suggestions or find any bugs let me know. The main question I am struggling with is if I want the music to start automatically or not.

I also updated the website that my clients use to view their images and purchase prints. The new website can be found at pics.jyoungphoto.com This part of my website is hosted by a company called SmugMug which has been amazing and easy to work with. They give you full customization to change the look and feel of the site, and take care of all the printing, billing and shipping of products for my customers at a really low price. It is also provides a great way for my clients to share their images with friends and family. My clients all get a unique URL just for them to find all of their events and galleries. If you have any questions about it or anything else on my site let me know. I always love geeking out to web stuff.

All the best,

Jeremy

What do I know about photographing models? Simply put… Nothing. An old friend of mine is an aspiring model and wanted some shots done to send out to potential agencies. I told her I’d help out and we met at the beach for about 30 minutes to see what we can do. In true San Diego fashion, it was a beautiful warm night with a beautiful sunset. The beach we went to was just down the street from my house. I spent most of the time trying to work around the bright light when I decided to embrace it instead and we started shooting some really neat backlit photography.

At one point, some tourists came over and asked if they could take their picture with the “models”. With 3 helpers, a big diffuser and me barking orders I guess we must have looked pretty legitimate.

A coworker of my roommates contacted me about doing a family portrait shoot. His wife has just given birth and they wanted some (dare I say) professional pictures to remember the event.

On the day of the shoot, the baby was only 12 days old! Eyes could barely open, unsure of the world, but completely at peace. I brought Bobby (my brother) along as a second shooter/ assistant. He did a great job and took many of the best shots of the day, including the first one you see here. We played around with lighting and backdrops in the house before moving outside for some family shots.

I love this next picture. They have a two-year old son who is just amazing and loved the camera. In this shot he is giving me his “and let me tell you another thing” speech.

So just to set the scene, in college I lived in an apartment with my buddy Zach. Living next to us were two girls by the name of Jenny and Chandra. We all became good friends and spent the year making dinners, watching movies, etc. Jenny met my friend Nate and they got married and are now in the process of popping out babies (good job Nate). Chandra got married to a great guy named Chris and also started popping out babies (good job Chris). Last year, I did a pregnancy shoot with Chandra and her husband when she was 8 months pregnant. It was a lot of fun and having pictures ended up being a great gift for Chris who was deployed before the baby was born.

Fast-forward over a year and what used to be a big bump is now a 12 month-old baby with beautiful eyes who is not shy of the camera. We did a little photo-shoot to celebrate her first of existence. Check them out.

This shot took a few tried before we got it right but the kid didn’t seem to mind. I just love this moment with the tongue sticking out. I wonder if I was so fearless at 1-year.

I love this next picture. I’m sure it is not one that Chandra will want to keep but the expression is priceless. I call this the “Aren’t you done taking pictures of me yet” look. Looks funny now, but when she’s an adult she’ll love it.

This last picture has Chandra calling me in tears to thank me. That is by far the best compliment you can give a photographer and I am very proud to have been a part of it. Thanks Chandra, don’t forget to call me when she’s 2.