Life

31 days of personal work....

That's exactly what the next 31 days will be (including today). I have a ton of images that I shot last summer while traveling that I have really been wanting to share, but just haven't had the time to do it. I thought that by posting an image a day for the month of July, it would allow an opportunity for me to be able to share these images (as well as be inspired to get out and shoot this summer). Every day I will be posting a single image from my trip. Rather than having a story or "tag line" with each image, I am just going to let each image speak for itself. Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about any of them. Also these are all available as prints.

I look forward to finally being able to share images that hardly anyone has seen and I hope that you enjoy them as much as I enjoy sharing them.

Here is the first one...

Blessings. Jason

A Night of Relief - 2504 Creative

This is something that we have been planning for a little bit and am excited to be able to share... As many may know I am fortunate enough to be able to share my office with two of Lafayette's brightest young minds, Valerie Woerner of Southern Fete & Daniel Kedinger of Crucé Design. We have been dreaming up a night to be able to gather some of our closest friends as well as raise some money for a couple good causes. This is all coming together June 28th from 6-8pm where we will be serving up some Café Cohen as well as taking donations for some great organizations/causes (a photo booth will be involved as well :).

Below is the information for the event or you can view it here on the Facebook event page.

I hope that you can come out to join us as we raise money for some friends and neighbors (some a little further than others).

Blessings. Jason

 

 

 

 

Abby Kedinger - 2 weeks

My good friends, Anna & Daniel Kedinger, just had their second bby and I had the chance to photograph her earlier this week. Just wanted to share a few images.

My two favorite images are first....

Blessings. Jason

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abigail Rose Kedinger

My good friend, as well as office mate, Daniel and his wife had their second child last week. The office crew stopped by the hospital to say hey and I snapped a few images. Also my good friend Jamie Orillion post some images on his blog of her as well... Make sure to check them out here

Blessings. Jason

 

 

 

Goodbye Ooti

Tomorrow I leave for Austin to help Ooti move. A chapter is finished for me as a new one starts for him. For the last year I have been fortunate enough to have another great friend, and assistant, be with me on almost all of my shoots. I know that part of the cycle of being in this business is seeing people go on to do greater things. I count myself lucky to have had so many great assistants and be able to see where life takes them after working with me. Ooti is no exception on this. I have been able to see his business grow throughout the last year and a half while working with me, as well as him develop even further as a photographer. He is no longer my assistant. He is my fellow photographer.

Even though I will miss him deeply, I can't wait to see the things that are to come for him in Austin. He is a dreamer. I know that big things are ahead for him. Make sure to keep you eye out.

If Ooti has been with you on your wedding, engagement, commercial shoot, or maybe you are just a friend, I would love for you to leave a comment below for him. I thought it may be a good place for people to be able to say bye who may not otherwise be able to.

Also make sure to stay up to date with what he has going on at his website http://www.ootibilleaud.com/

We will miss you buddy.

Blessings. Jason

 

The two faces of Ooti....

 

 

 

 

Tory & Sean - NOLA Photo School Shoot

Last week I was I had the opportunity to be teaching along side two of my closest friends, Beebe Tran & Mark Eric, for the first NOLA Photo School. During the workshop we had a live shoot and my models were Tory & Sean. I actually photographed their wedding day over two years ago and I now have the pleasure of working with Tory in the office. It was such an amazing afternoon of shooting and I just wanted to share of few of my favorites. Can't wait for the next NOLA Photo School!

Blessings. Jason

My "top secret" personal project......

I have been working on this for a while and am just now having the opportunity to sit down and edit some of the images. I have been searching a while for a personal project. I have bought random domains, thought of hundreds of "cool" things to shoot, and even hopped in the car and driven around to shoot things at random. I was looking for something that would give me #1 something to work on long term (rather than just going out at random to shoot) & #2 something where I could actually give something to someone else (rather than it just being beneficial for myself). I have been intrigued with the idea of creating something that otherwise wouldn't exist.

It wasn't until recently after my grandmother passed away I began to realize the importance of having quality images of the people that are closest to me (or at least then it really sunk in). As I was getting the images together for a slideshow at her funeral I realized that I would have been devastated if I wouldn't have had any. Right about that time it hit me that my personal project was sitting right in front of me. I know there are plenty of people who don't have fantastic images of their grandparents for who they were, and not just in an olan mills church picture.

For the last couple of months I have been asking friends to be able to photograph their grandparents to get me started on this project. In the next couple of weeks I will be  sharing some of those images and I am currently looking for grandparents to photograph in the future.

If you are interested in submitting your grandparent(s) for me to photograph please email me.

Please visit http://friendsgrandparents.com/ to view my new project and check back often for updates.

Blessings. Jason

Aimee + Jacob + Jack

I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph Aimee & Jacob's wedding a couple years ago and I was thrilled when they called to ask me to photograph their family. I had the chance to hang out with them for a little while and wanted to share a few.. Blessings. Jason

End of the year... Some personal images

I am just wanted to have one more post before the end of the year and share some personal work. I had a chance to sit down and go through some personal work, both in terms of not being financially rewarding and photographs of people who are close to me. In the later part of the year I realized how much through the hustle and bustle I have neglected to get behind the camera for pure pleasure. It literally broke my heart to think so much of the year had passed while my camera stayed in the bag I carried daily. I even ended up selling the very camera that I used to carry every day (don't worry I still have a couple ;).

I am not really big on "new year resolutions" but I do have one. Shoot more. Plain and simple. I hope that you see a camera in my hand just as much as you see me behind a computer. I hope that you see me capturing moments as much as you see me talking about or drinking coffee. And most of all I hope that you ask me about it and help me to get behind the camera more.

I am headed out of the door to New Orleans for the next couple days. One camera, one lens, and a bunch of film. Hopefully I can make up for all the shooting I neglected to do this year.

I didn't include the camera or lens information because I thought I would let the images speak for themselves this time around.

I hope you enjoy these.

Blessings. Jason

Kathryn & Taylor are engaged!

I had the honor to be a part of this couples proposal last week and just wanted to share. Although I have only photographed 4 proposals, they have to be one of my favorite things to be a part of. Something about the almost James Bond like tactical planning makes me feel like I am a secret agent hiding around a corner.

For this proposal I was actually sitting in one of the pews of the church "fake praying" as the couple came in. I sat for about 10 minutes with my head in my folded hands peeking though a couple fingers waiting to be able to pick up my camera without Kathryn noticing. I think that my heart beat must been audible from the parking lot it was beating so fast.

Again such a blessing and an honor to asked be a part of such an intimate part of life.

Blessings. Jason

They invited me to the house to celebrate with their families....

Tran Family...

I had a chance to catch up with these guys recently and wanted to post a couple of my favorites from their session. They are such a beautiful family and I am always honored to be able to photograph their family. Thanks to my good friend Mark Eric for coming down and shooting as well. It is always fun getting to shoot side by side with him.

Blessings. Jason

Mark Eric in action....

Saturday morning dance

Just a couple from a recent morning at Café Des Amis in Breaux Bridge, LA. If you ever have the chance to go out for their Saturday morning, "Zydeco Breakfast", it is truly like stepping into the past. It is one of the few places where you get a sense that things have been the same for the last 20 years. Very little other places will you see no division between sex, social status, or color in Louisiana. Just a few of my favorites from the morning.

Blessings. Jason

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400

Leica M4-2 | 24mm Summilux | Kodak TRI-X 400