AzulOx Commercial Photography

Commercial, Stock, Food and Advertising Photography for Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Texas

Business Headshots and Executive Portraits

The Combine – Commercial Headshots

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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. 

Combine Crossfit Commercial Headshots - Portrait Photography

Combine Crossfit Commercial Headshot - Portrait Photography

Combine Crossfit Commercial Headshot - Portrait Photography

Combine Crossfit Commercial Headshot - Portrait Photography

Downtown Austin Editorial Portraits

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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.

Editorial Portraits - Downtown Austin - Professional Portraits

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. 

  Editorial Portraits - Downtown Austin - Professional Portraits

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.

Editorial Portraits - Downtown Austin - Professional Portraits

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. 

Editorial Portraits - Downtown Austin - Professional Portraits

Sole’renity Spa Business Headshots

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We created professional business headshots for Sole’renity Spa at the Artisan Hotel in Sulphur, Oklahoma. It’s founder, Rhonda Mordecai, did an amazing job designing the spa and on first step inside it feels fresh and inviting. The spa hosts neutral tones with a touch of sparkle to keep it modern and open. They offer a full menu of spa services, and even have a children’s spa called Little Soles.

Professional Business Headshots - Business Photography

Professional Business Headshots – The Spa and Staff

We brought the feel of the spa through the pictures: cool, calm, inviting, and friendly. We chose a soft background with neutral colors to highlight natural beauty in each person. Capturing personality is important, and we kept the portraits bright and simple to let it show. We love that everyone had a friendly personality with unique style. The staff at Sole’renity was so fantastic that it was easy to capture beautiful portraits. 

Professional Headshot Photography - Business Photography

Professional Business Headshots - Business Photography

Professional Business Headshots - Business Photography

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Editorial Portraits

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Cosplayers don’t generally experience full portrait photography at Cons. We decided to change that at Tacticon 2016 and set up a full studio style photo-booth in a corner. We were traveling light so we had to get inventive with the lights.  We brought only a single 9′ roll of gray paper and changed the colors of the lights to achieve the desired look instead. Bonus: changing a flash gel is much easier and faster than changing the background paper.

We recently started doing onsite fine art prints for the people we’re shooting. We bring a printer and print the photos right there. Like the professional portrait setup, this is a change from the normal photography usually done in a hall without any consideration for light or background. The cos-players seemed to appreciate the change. It felt great to give these professional costumes the pictures they deserved with the instant gratification of onsite printing. 

Official Cos-play

Many of the cos-players belong to a group called the 501st and the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club. Both of these groups are non-profits that volunteer in their communities and donate to charities across the country. Their costumes are approved by LucasFilms and painstakingly accurate.  One 501st members told us that his speeder bike storm trooper costume wasn’t initially approved because he was missing a single red button on his backpack. These costumes were gorgeous to see.

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Imperial Guard

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay PhotoboothStorm Trooper

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

This setup is so convenient for events. Just change the gel and you’ve got a new backdrop.

Tie Fighter Pilot

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

AT-AT Operator with R2D2

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Chewbacca

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Mandalorian Merc

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Mandalorian Bounty Hunter

We also got to shoot some cosplayers that were invited to the convention. Check out the incredible detail of this Mass Effect makeup and headpiece. The dedication and hours put into getting every detail just right sets these cosplayers high above the rest.

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Mass Effect

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Mass Effect

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

We don’t know who she is, but we know we wouldn’t want to fight her.

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Professor Charles Xavier

Tacticon 2016 Cosplay Photobooth

Wolverine

Hillbilly Honeymoon

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Sometimes you have a concept and you just have to run with it. That’s what happened for this conceptual lifestyle shoot. We wanted to tell a story through pictures that take the audience on a ride. On our Hillbilly Honeymoon shoot, a silly idea turned into a fun story with beautiful images.

The Inspiration

Because Travis and Stacy are married, and both extremely comfortable in front of the camera. Travis models professional from time to time and the pair had a lot of charisma on camera. We loved the “his and hers” sized shot guns and wrote characters around them. Everyone involved collaborated to create the characters; add a western dress and dirty long johns, and our hillbilly couple was born. 

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The Story

The great thing about a styled commercial shoot is that you have the freedom to create versatile images to tell your story in many different ways. Our first few shots took a serious tone with the landscape and skyline.

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As we continued, the hillbilly grew stronger and the quirks of Travis’ character revealed themselves. Our favorite touch? Somewhere along the journey, our hillbilly lost a sock. 

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A hillbilly Blows His Top

Some times the best ideas are spontaneous. We made a bunch of the static portraits and then the wind picked up. Travis’s hat blew off. Andrew had an idea: Why don’t we have you “chase” the viewer and loose his hat in the process? A little toss of the hat with the ultra wide angle lens and the crazy comes out. Even with all of that, our favorite part is Stacy’s expression in the background.

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