If you guys haven't heard me say this before, I really love shooting my s-sessions. Seniors (or juniors for that matter) fit right in line with the hip, fashionable, art-driven style that drives my work. My session with Jenilee was another opportunity to build on that. I'm pretty sure she just stepped out of an Anthropologie/J.CREW catalog.

She'd been eyeing this old, abandoned house on her way to school everyday and being a photographer herself, thought it would make a great backdrop for her on-location shoot. Beside it being bitterly cold in the morning, it developed into a beautiful day with great light. We also headed over to a train yard in Grapevine, TX and really took advantage of some harsh lighting conditions in the noonday sun. Four months ago I would've been terrified to shoot at this time of day but I've been working to tame the beast of intimidation. I purposely scheduled Jen's session near noon to challenge myself with this harsh light.

Jen actually knows Lyndzey, a senior of mine I shot earlier in 2006. They roomed together while at Pine Cove Christian Camp. I also worked at Pine Cove as a counselor while in college...oh what a small world! Lastly, Jenilee will be heading the maiden voyage of the Fred Egan internship program this summer (a clever name for the program will soon follow). Anyone who loves Sufjan Stevens and Derek Webb as much as I do are definitely going to get along with me. I wish I could have been as cool as Jen in high school-I would've paid good money for this. It'll be fun and you'll hear more about our educational escapades later.

Almost all of these images were shot with my wickedly awesome Canon 50mm f/1.2L...my absolute favorite lens. The only complaint I have is that it struggles to autofocus in strong backlighting situtations.

TAPA:Troublemaking American Photographers of America
(not the Technology Assest Protection Association)

Absolute craziness has hit the Fred Egan world! Due to some technical mumbo jumbo nobody wants to hear about, www.fredegan.com is mometarily down. What does this mean for you? Well, for one, you can't enjoy my kickin' site right now BUT more importantly, two, any emails you might have sent since yesterday DID NOT GET TO ME. If you sent emails please send them again in a couple of days...this should all be resolved by Saturday.

Just a small housekeeping anouncement today...Behind the Camera has a new address! Just click on the image of the address bar below and then update your bookmark. See you guys at the new address!



In other news...freakin' awesome t-shirts you'll actually want to wear coming your way soon!

This month's photograph of the month for the month of January (ummmm...sorry, I just got done watching The American Dodgeball Association of America in the movie Dodgeball) was from the Bryn Mawr house shoot. Following the vein of textures from the previous two months, I made this from an old leather chair that was in the house...I dig it. It's also pross-crossessed...wait a minute...cross processed-there ya go ;-)

You might have also noticed the new matte for the photographs...the previous style was apparently getting really popular amongst my awesome photographer buddies' blogs-thought I'd change it up a bit.

As some of you may know, a little while back I announced a new online proofing experience was in store at fredegan.com. Not only is it a new online proofing system, but a sick online shopping experience too. I'll also be streamlining some information such as contracts and price lists via online forms that will be available here at Behind the Camera. I'm so excited to report that it's days away from being unveiled! It's been a real challenge putting it all together in a fashion that meets my standard of "sexiness"...and frankly I think I've finally done just that. This thing is slick, easy to purchase from and will be a valuable extension of the Fred Egan brand. I've said too much already but I'll let you all know Behind the Camera when it's ready!

Here is my progress report from nikerunning.com since I started running at the beginning of the year. Ok, before you all start raggin' on me for a 13'08" mile, this is only my 3rd run since coming off a 6 year hiatus-and frankly, it's way tougher than I remember from my soccer days! So evey month I'll post my progress report from Nike so you can all heckle me if I'm not peeling myself away from my editing room.

My goal is to continue to run 30 minute routes until I get down to a 7'30" mile (that's 4 miles in 30 minutes)

As you can see from the graph, I only ran 2.58 miles today...so I've got some work to do-LOL! And you see that big dip near the end of my run? So I walked for a second or so, sue me. No seriously, I've got to get rid of that whole walking while running thing.

If you believe I can do it then leave me a comment rooting me on-if you don't think I can then leave a comment anyways so I can get mad while reading it before I run. GRRRRRRR!

Today my logo went under the knife for a little facelift. I kept my signature blue but trimmed the orange color and "photograper" from my logo in order to move towards simplicity in design + color. A strong brand usually doesn't need an adjective in their logo (or name) to convey what they do. In fact, Apple Computers, Inc. just recently refined their name to just Apple, Inc.  Bands rarely add the word "band" at the end of their name unless it's purposely part of their name (ie Dave Matthews Band)...we just know they are musicians because of their art. Likewise, the fact that I make photographs should make it obvious what I do at Fred Egan.