30 Days

Today is a little less about photos and a little more about who I am!

Doing what I do, I have been to a lot of weddings!  I was even in a few as a bridesmaid, a maid of honor, and once, way back in 1997, I was a bride, though I am not the same person as that 20 year old in the poofy white gown!

I love weddings!  I love that they are the beginnings of fresh chapters in the lives of families and couples.  I love how they have evolved!  I love that the most romantic of legal contracts has become more available to couples of the same sex, and that it has become more and more acceptable to tailor a wedding day to represent the couple whether they are men, women, or one of each!

I love that the ceremony can revolve around deeply held spiritual or religious beliefs, or that it can revolve around a couple's deep reverence for Star Wars or super heroes!  I love that it can also just be a sweet celebration of two people in love and their commitment to each other!

I love that more and more jurisdictions are relaxing the rules on who can officiate, because it allows couples to choose someone meaningful to them.  It's a testament to true religious freedom when a couple can invite someone who represents them to sign on the dotted line of their personal marriage contract.

All that being said, weddings have really been on my mind lately, and not just because I am constantly shooting and editing and assisting with wedding photography!  I've spent the last 8 months planning my wedding, and today marks 30 days until the big day!

These are some unplanned photos that my friend, Melissa Southern, managed to catch when Jeff surprised me with a ring at sunset on top of Grandfather Mountain during the Nature Photography Weekend, back on June 1, 2013!

Now, our April 18 wedding is just 30 days away, and it has been on my mind today what that means. . . Obviously, the most important days are April 19 forward, but for all of the planning that we have done to make the 18th a beautiful beginning, what is something I can do to make the rest of the days that follow just as beautiful and special?

Then I saw this video. . . No really, take the less than 3 minutes and watch it!  Maybe grab a tissue or two!  I'll wait. . . . . . . . . . . 

Photos.  They're what I do.  They're part of who I am.  They are all that is left of moments that make up life after those moments pass.

So, starting April 19, 2014, right here in this space, in addition to the weddings I shoot and the memories I preserve for others, you'll see a photo of Jeff and me. . .  It might be goofy, or sweet, or sweetly goofy, but I think it will be a cool way to honor and commemorate our marriage, even as we do the same for the beginnings of so many others!

All Images ©2013 Melissa Southern
All Text ©2014, Jennifer Tallman, Magnuson Photographic
Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.

Best of 2013 - Portraits

2013 was an exciting year for Magnuson Photographic!  After shooting part-time for a couple of years, I decided that I was going to make the leap into full-time photography.  As I moved forward with that goal in mind, I received some great opportunities to work with some great photographers and some great subjects alike!

Here are some of my favorites from my 2013 portrait work:

This is Johanna Dolan, a masterful financial and business coach who founded Dolan & Associates to help entrepreneurs achieve their business and financial goals.  She was looking for some fun photos to use in her materials and on her website that would convey a bit about who she is as a person and a professional.

We brainstormed a few concepts, and came up with the following looks.  The shoot took place in the studio with 2 Alien Bee 600s in softboxes, and a Nikon D4 with a 105mm f2.8 macro.  I think she looks super!

I also had the opportunity to work with this gorgeous high school senior, who is an amazingly talented artist and a budding musician! She's a natural in front of the camera too!  We did her shoot at outdoor locations in Northern Virginia using natural light, and a reflector for fill.

Some friends of mine agreed to help me out with some portfolio building work in the studio as well this year!  We set up a couple of backdrops and some Profoto Acute B lights with various modifiers, and created some photos that really show off the personalities of these two dynamic ladies!

Also in front of my lens this year were two fellow photographers, an artist, and a Washington Post multimedia journalist!  These photos were shot at the C&O Canal in Georgetown in Washington, DC and around the quaint Baltimore suburb of Elkridge, Maryland using natural light, plus strobes, speed lights and reflectors for fill and separation.  The right equipment and knowledge makes any time of day viable for a successful shoot!

I brought my mobile studio along to shoot these photos to freshen up this gorgeous yoga teacher's social media profiles and website.

Back in the studio, a couple of my local photographer friends and I traded headshots. . . and did some playing around with lighting!  These two are just as good in front of the camera as they are behind the camera!

Brand new, and super exciting, for me this year, was getting to work with some of the area's fashion models!  It was great collaborating with them on some fun lighting and creative concepts!

2014 bookings are coming in like crazy now that spring is here!  Check back soon for an upcoming family shoot, high school seniors, engagements, some shots from a recent destination wedding that I second shot with renowned DC photographer, Moshe Zusman, and some fresh and fun professional head shots!

All text and images ©Jennifer Tallman, Magnuson Photographic, All Rights Reserved.

Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.

Naples Botanical Garden - A Personal Project

Every year, my fiancé, Jeff, and I take a road trip to Florida in February to visit his parents.  It's right on time too, because February is right about the time when I can't stand another minute of the freezing cold temperatures in DC.  This year was particularly frustrating though, as we had some record lows, and lots of hyped up snow events.

Florida was a welcome escape, and I had to opportunity to spend a day photographing at the Naples Botanical Garden with Jeff and his mom and dad!  Jeff's mom and I share a love of photography, so that makes visiting them even more of a treat!

I started out the day with my 60mm macro lens, because the light was really harsh, so I wanted to get in close on some shady spots where I could use the sunlight to my advantage like here, where I positioned myself to backlight the petals of these flowers.

 Here I took advantage of mother nature's best light modifier, a puffy passing cloud!

Jeff often assists me on engagement and portrait shoots by holding reflectors, scrims and lights.  He also carries bags like a champ!  He's even been picking up my backup camera every now and then!  Who knows, maybe he will work his way up to associate photographer!

One of my favorite parts of the day was the butterfly house!  I had to be pretty patient waiting for these guys to settle, but it was worth the wait!

I even got to see the food chain in action, as this lizard made a meal out of one of the butterflies!

I was fascinated by the defense system on this tree trunk!  This is one of the reasons that it's so much fun to shoot macro!  I see so many things that I wouldn't normally notice!

There are a ton of exotic looking birds in South Florida, and though this isn't one of them, I thought he was pretty cool, and he was close enough for me to shoot with my relatively short 70-200mm zoom lens, which is my workhorse for weddings and portraits, but doesn't really do that well for birds and wildlife!  I discovered that while getting closer than I wanted to to an alligator, but that's a story for another post!

I managed to grab this shot just before the wind grabbed the little purple flower!

And these were just too cute, and in perfect open shade!  As you might have guessed, my favorite color is purple!

I think my favorite shot of the day was this one though.  The pattern and the light caught my eye, and I may just have to hang a print of it. . . if I can find some wall space!

Thanks for visiting!  Check back soon for some of my favorite studio portraits from the past few months!

All text and images ©Jennifer Tallman, Magnuson Photographic, All Rights Reserved.

Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.

Launching Magnuson Photographic

Photography has been a constant in my life since that day in August of 1981 when my mom first handed me her Kodak Instamatic X-15 and let me use a precious frame of that 126 film to snap a shot of her, my dad, and my baby sister in front of a waterfall along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  She had no idea that her permission to snap that photo would lead to an obsession of sorts, leading her and my father to find their film cartridges finished, their Magicubes and flip flashes burned up, and their kid on the roof of the house in search of an unobstructed sunset shot.

The years that followed allowed me to learn SLR photography, film processing, and finally digital workflow!  Both the world of photography and my skills have come a long way since 1981!

It was a winding road, but I now hold a certificate of professional photography from the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University, and from The Portfolio Center, and am launching Magnuson Photographic!

Right now, we are a Washington, DC based wedding, portrait and event photography outfit, and come this summer, we will be relocating to the Denver/Boulder area in Colorado!

So much excitement to come!!

Check back, as we will be revisiting some of the best of our past work, and we have a full slate of sessions coming up now that the weather is getting warmer!

Thanks for being part of our launch!

All text and images ©2014 Jennifer Tallman, Magnuson Photographic, All Rights Reserved.

Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.