Environmental Portraiture in Denver

I absolutely LOVED every minute of this shoot last weekend...

How can you go wrong with such a beautiful girl (a dear friend's daughter) who, it turns out, is a natural in front of the camera and enjoyed modeling as much as I enjoy shooting; a great photo assistant (her awesome mom!);  AND great light?

And who doesn't love wandering around Denver Botanic Gardens on a beautiful day in January?

Already excited for my next environmental portrait shoot!

Also, stay tuned... I'm chomping at the bit to share another project on which I've been hard at work for the past few weeks!

New Family Portraits: More in 2012 !

I still consider myself an architectural photographer.  The merging of great design detailing, material, texture and light are all deeply inspiring to me, and creating photographs of beautiful 3 dimensional spaces is a unique thrill.  However, something has been crystalizing for me lately: what began as simply photographing family & friends for fun has slowly begun to teach me how much I LOVE working with people! It fills me with incomparable joy to capture a fleeting smile; to make someone feel their beauty -- and truly -- there is little on the planet more beautiful and precious to me than a pure smile which radiates from a person's eyes and outward onto his or her face.  As I photograph, a smile grows on MY face as people relax into having fun, and again I'm sure people laugh at me as I edit and smile stupidly at my monitor.  It is great fun!

Yes... I love it.  More of this in 2012, please!

Instagram: Sharpening Capture Skills on the Fly

The year 2011 introduced me to a powerful little app called Instagram. I first explored the genius of this simple app with the limitations of an iPod Touch camera, which, unbeknownst to me at the time, isn't even rated with pixels, but rather based on lesser graphics for video.  Not the best for clean, crisp images, but it forced me to really think about the basics of composition in a tiny square, and I found I could still capture compelling images (half of the images above are from my iPod, half from the iPhone 4s).

If you are even mildly interested in bettering your photographic skills, I swear by this simple technology as a way to explore your eye and sharpen your skills at composition.  I am constantly impressed at how this technology is inspiring me - and some 12 million others - to see the 3 dimensions of our every day world through new eyes; to see beauty, backlight, pattern and shadow as more than just passing parts of our periphery, but as subjects of composition and interest in their own right.

If you're in Denver, grab your iPhone or iPod and join us for our our first Instameet on Sunday, January 15th - base of the Clocktower on 16th Street at 2pm.  

Follow @merrittphoto on Instagram for more details!