lifestyle

Ballet Dogs – Adoptable Pets

May 25, 2018 by afritz

We love pets. My wife and I volunteer at the City of Taylor Animal Shelter. Mostly we walk dogs and help out with pet photography around the shelter. Nothing special, but it gets the job done and helps get pets adopted.

My wife however, has started instigating more elaborate pet photography shoots to raise the profile of the shelter. She gets the credit for producing this shoot. She was also adamant that I credit her for building the dog tutu.

Claire Bear

Claire Bear is a 1-2 year old pittie mix who is looking for a real home. Claire excels at sitting pretty and waiting patiently! She’s had a lot of practice; she’s been at the shelter for months waiting for just the right family to find her. Claire loves playing in the water, learning new moves, and snuggling with her favorite people.

Dottie

Dottie is a new arrival at the Taylor Animal Shelter. Her family surrendered her and she just can’t figure out why. Dottie is pretty chill mastiff heeler mix. She loves hanging out with other dogs and humans. Dottie will happily accept a hug from little and big humans alike. She is particularly skilled at cuddling and not drooling while her tongue hangs out.

The Kittens

OMG KITTENS! It’s kitten season and that means that the Taylor Animal Shelter, like most animal shelters, has a never-ending supply of kittens. This time of year folks find kittens wandering on the streets, hiding in infrequently used buildings and sometimes kittens even seem to grow on trees! These two kittens, Prada and Gucci were recently found with their siblings Tic, Tac, and Toe. They have come the the Taylor animal shelter to get fattened up and socialized so that they will be awesome happy healthy pets.

The Cast

This is a pro bono shoot. Everyone that participated donated their skill, time and supplies, all in an effort to get these pets adopted.

Pets: City of Taylor, Texas Animal Shelter (a no kill shelter)
Ballerina: Eryn Hanes
Photographer: Andrew Fritz (that’s me)
Producer/Instigator/Tutu Maker: Adrian Dahood-Fritz
Hair and Makeup: Adrian Hernandez of Revelry Beauty
Assistants: Stacy and Sophie
Location: Mccrory Timmerman Building

Beautiful Machines: The GT-R

August 29, 2017 by Kari Burke

Power, metal, and shine: there’s so much to love about an expertly crafted machine, and capturing this GT-R was a treat. It’s owned by professional snowboarder and car enthusiast Nick Langkamp in Austin, Texas.

Nick and his GT-R regularly showed up at Cars and Coffee at the Oasis on Lake Travis. Cars and Coffee is a charity based show sponsored by ELITE Motorsports. The “cruise-in” is the largest monthly show in Texas, and is open to cars of all types.

The GT-R, made by Nissan and assembled in Japan, is a fairly new high performance vehicle (unveiled in 2007.) While most other high performance vehicles are rear powered, The GT-R is all wheel drive. This gives it more power and earned it the nickname Godzilla.

Like most high performance cars, Nick’s is a work in progress. When we saw it last, it had a 800awhp boostlogic package on it. If you don’t know what that means, all you need to know is it goes really, really fast.

GTR Automotive Photographer

Not only did we get to shoot this gorgeous model, we got to take it for a spin. We found a great neighborhood outside of the Oasis (we weren’t supposed to be there, but we just couldnt resist – look at that perfect winding road!) Seeing the GT-R in action was amazing.

We added multi-talented and faceted model Adrian Hale into the mix. She’s been a member of teamBlue with AzulOx for years behind the scenes styling our models. (She’s also an author.) We finally got her in front of the camera for some creative fun with the GT-R.

This car is gorgeously crafted, inside and out. It’s rare that we get so much time with a subject to shoot, and we got to style the GT-R still, in motion, and with a model. We had so much fun capturing its beauty and power.

The Combine – Commercial Headshots

July 25, 2017 by Kari Burke

We work with amazing clients who do cool and interesting things; the Combine commercial head shot session was another of the same. We got to know the great coaches at The Combine when they brought us in on a cold Austin day. They’re a strength and conditioning gym, as well as a CSC Crossfit gym, located off of Highway 290 servicing Westlake, Oak Hill, Circle C, and Bellterra neighborhoods in Austin.

The facility itself was interesting and fun to shoot in. It’s inside an old oil field supply warehouse built in 1938 that was moved from Snyder, Texas. They completely renovated the inside to make it a state of the art fitness facility.

The Combine – Commercial Head Shots

We shot right there in the warehouse, and decided to create a dramatic look with the lighting. We don’t always use such dramatic shadow on a head shot, but the contrast is perfect to highlights the athletes’ physique. Their warehouse is both clean and gritty because of the intense work they do. We re-created the same tone in the head shots. We included details of the warehouse in the background that give context, but don’t detract attention away from each coach in the shot.

Don’t let their strength intimidate you – the coaches are all amazing people and a pleasure to work with.

After the head shots, we stuck around to get a few shots of the workout.

Custom Stock Photography for Urban Airship

July 10, 2017 by Kari Burke

AzulOx traveled to Portland, OR to work with Urban Airship. We shot custom stock images for use on their website, and used editorial lifestyle photography styles to capture it.

Urban Airship provides mobile engagement services companies to keep in contact with their customers in a personal way.

Editorial Lifestyle Photography

Editorial lifestyle photography is fun; we used clean lines and bright colors with great models to advertise their product. Lifestyle photography aims to capture people doing real life things in an artistic way. A great lifestyle photo is simple, eye-catching, and interesting. A great editorial photo tells a story. With a skilled photographer, a picture of two women looking at a phone suddenly turns into an interesting story. Even though it seems like a simple scene, you can see the interaction happening between the women.

Fun fact: the woman on the left wasn’t a hired model, but rather a staff member of Urban Airship. She stepped in front of the camera because we were short a person the day of the shoot, and she did an amazing job.

Because Urban Airship is a Portland startup company, we incorporated a professional yet relaxed and carefree style into the photos. Doing an editorial shoot means a little bit more artistic freedom. The use of negative space makes the model in the picture stand out, and the lines in the wall give the eye something to follow towards the woman as an off-centered focal point.

You may have noticed the green on the electronics in some of the pictures. We shot all of the electronics with green tape on the screen. If you’ve ever heard of a green screen, it’s the same concept. This way, Urban Airship could easily edit the devices in the pictures with screenshots of their products or services in action.

We had a great team all around for this shoot, and had so much fun working in Portland. We can’t wait to go back!

Spectrum Trail Racing at Sky Island

July 3, 2017 by Kari Burke

Spectrum Trail Racing specializes in stunning cross country trail races across Texas. Runners get a beautiful experience as they’re doing what they love. Spectrum Trail Racing offer many different races and locations; this gorgeous landscape is appropriately named Sky Island at the beautiful Davis Mountain State Park in west Texas. For this race, our goal was editorial sports photographs like you would see in a national magazine.

The Races

Spectrum Trail provides the whole experience for runners. A 50k or 25k expertly mapped out, amazing people to run with, and a “stellar after party.” Few people can smile after running such a long distance, but these runners clearly enjoyed themselves and the stunning views.

It’s impossible not to smile while traversing some of Texas’ most picture perfect terrain.

Editorial Sports Photography

Often we shoot “full coverage” for race photography. Our goal is to take a picture of every runner at one or more places along the race course. Coverage is about capturing an important moment for each runner as they hit milestones in the race. Because Sky Island is so gorgeous, we put a twist on the sports photography and shot it editorial style. This scenery just begged for amazing pictures, and we still captured each runner performing amazing feats.

The Terrain

Sky Island is a part of historic Davis Mountains State Park in Fort Davis, Texas. Spectrum Trail hosts the only footrace in these gorgeous mountains, and runners pass through hills, up switchbacks, and down rocky terrain. The area also hosts lots of other fantastic attractions, such as Balmorea Springs, art and camping in Marfa, or star gazing at McDonald Observatory.

We love that our job brings us to incredible places. As the sun set, the colors grew more vibrant and stunning. Can’t you just smell the fresh air and feel the warm sun on your face?

Lysts on the Lake 2017

June 26, 2017 by Kari Burke

Lysts on the Lake is one of our longest returning clients for combat sports photography. Started in 2011, this action-packed tournament happens every year. It takes place on the estate of Austin game developer and entrepreneur Richard Garriott. Lysts on the Lake is the largest competitive joust tournament in the world.

Combat Sports Photography: The Tournament

At Lysts on the Lake, contestants compete in different forms of western martial arts. The most recognized of the tournament is jousting. Competitors ride on horseback and attempt striking once another with a tip of a long spear. The riders use frangible tips that break easily when striking an opponent. Made from spiral cut pine, the tips shatter upon contact. There is high respect when competing, and as a result much work goes into ensuring safety of every rider.

Other categories included mounted skill at arms where contests demonstrate superior horse control while performing various tasks. These riders and their horses spend hundreds of hours training for the competition. One of our favorites is an event we call “wack bonk,” or the melee a’cheval (mounted melee.) Contestants fight each other with wooden maces.

It’s exciting for us as photographers to shoot an event like this. Not only do we get to showcase our photographic skill, we get a front row seat to an exiting sport and tradition. The contestants take on this tradition with much honor, and it shows; everything is as accurate as possible. Specialized artisans create most of the armor, and some of the competitors even hand make their own. Every contestant is highly skilled because of the high level of respect for their craft.

We used different types of photography to shoot this event. We took action shots as the competition was underway. Between competitions, we made portraits for the contestants. We noticed and captured meticulously crafted ensembles. Many of the athletes spend hundreds of hours painstakingly crafting, maintaining, and upgrading their armor, but don’t have professional photos.

It’s been fun every year photographing this event, and we can’t wait to join in on the action again next year.

Downtown Austin Editorial Portraits

May 30, 2017 by afritz 2 Comments

Editorial portraits set a tone and tell a story about the subject. We chose black and white for this shoot to accentuate Brock’s crisp new suit and his rugged handsomeness. A good suit should look classic and timeless, and we shot each portrait in the same style. Brock has incredible features and a face that tells an intriguing story, so it was easy to capture his intrigue in every shot.

Why Shoot Editorial Portraits in Black and White?

Black and white creates contrast that is exciting to look at. Some backgrounds can be messy, distracting, or dingy, but by capturing in black and white it highlights clean details.

Brock’s eyes speak directly through the picture. By making the background nondescript, almost abstract, the photos are timeless; the wonder and uncertainty let your own mind fill in the details. Great art doesn’t tell you what to think, but rather sparks a journey of thought that is unique to each viewer.

Shooting in black and white also focuses on crisp lines and details that color can otherwise distract from. It gives power to the negative space, creating a strong focal point. These details just can’t help but add story and intrigue.

Lifestyle Sports Photography with Lone Star Wake Rentals

June 17, 2016 by afritz Leave a Comment

We spent a glorious Austin afternoon with Jacob Cope of Lone Star Wake Rentals for some high speed lifestyle sports photography. Lone Star Wake rentals provides rentals and wakeboard lessons for athletes of all skill level. Jacob brought some friends and we got to watch the pros in action during our shoot.

Lifestyle Sports Photography: Wakeboarding

Sports photography is exciting because of the speed. You never know exactly where your subject will be at any given time, and there are many unknowns to deal with. A steady hand and quick reflexes are necessary to capture the action as it happens. We shot from the boat as the athletes surfed behind.

Lake Austin is the perfect location for wakeboarding. The calm waters make it easy and predictable for the rider and driver alike. The weather was gorgeous and the entertainment was amazing. The wakeboarders showcased their skill with ease, and we showcased our photographic talent capturing the moments.

Jacob’s friends were incredible wakeboarders. They flipped, surfed, and rode with ease and finesse. We love how the water looks like it has a mind of its own in the next picture.

What better way to spend a gorgeous Austin afternoon, than on a boat snapping pictures of awesome athletes? We’ll go anywhere to capture an amazing photo.

lifestyle

Ballet Dogs – Adoptable Pets

Claire Bear

Dottie

The Kittens

The Cast

Beautiful Machines: The GT-R

GTR Automotive Photographer

The Combine – Commercial Headshots

The Combine – Commercial Head Shots

Custom Stock Photography for Urban Airship

Editorial Lifestyle Photography

Spectrum Trail Racing at Sky Island

The Races

Editorial Sports Photography

The Terrain

Lysts on the Lake 2017

Combat Sports Photography: The Tournament

Downtown Austin Editorial Portraits

Why Shoot Editorial Portraits in Black and White?

Lifestyle Sports Photography with Lone Star Wake Rentals

Lifestyle Sports Photography: Wakeboarding

AzulOx Commercial Photography

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Claire Bear

Dottie

The Kittens

The Cast

GTR Automotive Photographer

The Combine – Commercial Head Shots

Editorial Lifestyle Photography

The Races

Editorial Sports Photography

The Terrain

Combat Sports Photography: The Tournament

Why Shoot Editorial Portraits in Black and White?

Lifestyle Sports Photography: Wakeboarding

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