our godson, kian came for a visit today.

It was nice to see his parents too.

This is Amy’s sister Emily. Emily lives in Istanbul, turkey, where she teaches English. She was home for a few weeks this summer, and we made the trip to East Texas a few weeks ago to see her.

The east texas woods are always so pretty, it’s hard not to want to get out and take photos, so we took Emily out for some photos.

You guys, how talented is my wife? I’ve been trying to convince her to pick up a camera for awhile. She’s invaluable to me on shoots, helping make styling and creative decisions, helping clients with posing, and helping me make editing decisions. She’s got a natural gift, so i’ve been trying to get her to learn camera technique for awhile. I’ve finally convinced her to pick up the camera, and on this shoot, Amy really took the lead. I was the second-shooter, and a lot of these images came from Amy’s camera.

A couple of weeks ago I did some publicity stills for the Bel Cuore Quartet, a professional saxophone quartet based here in Austin. This is an exceptionally talented group of guys, and you’ve never heard true saxophone music until you’ve heard them play Smooth Criminal.

We spent the morning bumming all around Downtown Austin, and it was so much fun the morning snuck away from us. We did some running, some playing on the street corner, got some coffee. We also ran into Conan O’Brien. I didn’t take his picture, and he didn’t ask for Smooth Criminal. He can’t win ‘em all.

You might recognize the soprano sax player. That’s none other than Rami, from Kathryn & Rami, whose wedding I shot over memorial day, so you’ll be seeing him again real soon.

I met up with Brett a few weeks ago to get some photos for his website. You see, Brett is a composer. And when I say he’s a composer, I mean he’s the real deal. He’s not a singer-songwriter, and he’s not a “composer.” He sits down with staff paper and a pencil (okay, probably with Finale and a computer) and comes out with some serious art music. The first time I heard his stuff, I was blown away by the ingenuity of his work. And if that’s not enough talent for one person, he’s an incredible french horn player, and has a killer sense of humor. Unfair, right?

Brett is still working on his site, so I can’t send you over there, but be on the lookout for some amazing music by a certain Brett Kroening to grace concert halls across the world.

Ben is a conductor who is doing graduate work at The University of Texas. He needed some new headshots for some upcoming concerts he’ll be conducting, so we met up for a quick shoot. We did some formal photos; you know, tuxedo, neutral background, black and white, etc. etc. We also dressed down a little and did some that were a little more casual. I like these shots with a little more environment to them. They’re just so approachable. And I love the white couch.

Okay, so these are just for the pure fun of it.

If you’ve followed my blog with any regularity, You already know Kendi and Bryan. I shot a bridal for Kendi last summer and did a couple shoot for them as well. they are some of our favorite people in the entire world, and last year they moved to the Texas Hill country, not too far from Austin so since then we’ve seen a lot of each other. Weekends for them in Austin. Weekends for us in Kerrville. Funny thing about them is that after we’ve spent a few days with them, and everyone heads home, and we’ve all group hugged and said our sappy goodbyes, it takes about an hour and a half before Amy and I start wishing that we were all still together. This is what we have come to call the post-Skeen slump, which can last several days and four or five bottles of wine.

We were in Kerrville in January, and while we weren’t there specifically to see Bryan and Kendi, we did have dinner with them. Before dinner though, they had to go out and do their nightly photo shoot for Kendi’s fashion blog, Kendi Everyday. Kendi’s blog is absolutely amazing and all you fashionistas out there who don’t already know about it should go visit it right now (er…right after you finish this post). Bryan, who himself is an incredible photographer, does all the photography for her, and she posts almost daily. We were happy to go along for the shoot and I brought my camera, snapped a few shots, and then promptly forgot all about them.

Yesterday I was cleaning off some memory cards, and I found a wonderful little surprise. These behind-the-scenes shots of Bryan and Kendi at work.

Oh Man. The weather. Sometimes it just doesn’t cooperate.

I’d planned a shoot with Lizzie and her mom Seanna for this morning about a month ago. But it’s been so cold and rainy and stormy, and for a week the forecast was promising that Sunday was going to be cold and wet. When Tuesday got here and there was no change, I called Seanna and we bumped the shoot up to Saturday morning. Turns out that was going to work better for everybody, and as luck would have it, Lizzie’s cousin, and one of my favorite little heartbreakers, Evan was going to be in town on Saturday too.

So we met up saturday morning and guess what? Cold and rainy. By the time we met up, the rain was starting to really come down, and there was no way things were going to end well. Soooooooo, I checked the forecast. Which was promising a nice overcast day for Sunday. We all agreed to meet up in the late morning, since it was going to be overcast, we wouldn’t need to worry about dealing with the ugly mid-day sun.

Well guess what? Today we had a warm, clear, sunny, day. Natch. Sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate. I don’t love shooting in the middle of the day, but Lizzie and Evan are both so cute, I don’t think it matters much. Can’t wait to show you guys the finished shots, but in the meantime, here’s a flip book of the raw shots. The last flip book I did was pretty popular, so I thought I’d give it another go. Maybe it’ll become a thing…

Okay, so last of the vacation photos, before I get back to posting client pictures.

Amy and I spent Christmas with her parents in East Texas. I’ve posted before about their sleepy little town, and how much I love to spend a few days there. The nostalgic Americana thing is so thick you can taste it. It’s especially nice at the holidays, where there’s lots of time to just hang around in your pajamas, and play games together, and watch old christmas movies, and eat a lot.

This year, I’m not sure exactly what was going on, but at one point Amy and her mom emerged from a back room with a ton of fabulous old cloths. This amazing Faux-fur coat, and pretty awesome cape, some lovely gloves. I’d of course brought my camera along, because I really wanted to get back in the East Texas woods to experiment with this idea I had. When Amy found the fabulous wardrobe stash, she suddenly was really into the idea of doing a shoot for fun. So off we went. It’s pretty great to be married to someone who’s willing to model any time I want her to. And she must have been feeling super inspired by the clothes, because she really got her model face on.

So without further commentary, here are some of my favorite shots of Amy’s Christmas glamour shoot.

We started off at this old shack we found.

the light was still a little strong for what I really wanted to do there, but it was about perfect for getting some shots back in the trees, so we hit the road and found a good place to take a little hike.

The sun was heading down fast enough I wanted to try my hand back at the shack, so we headed back into town. Stopped off at this old theatre.

And finally back at the shack. These are directly inspired by one of my favorite Tori Amos songs.

I know it’s a little weird. In fact, both my sister and my wife are Amy Elizabeths. We’re aware of how spooky it is, but honestly it’s just a nutty coincidence. The family copes mostly by referring to my wife as her maiden name only, Prien. I like it cause it’s like she’s on some kind of a sports team. If you know Amy, you understand why I find this amusing. My sister and I have always been pretty close. sure I picked on her a little, but overall we always got along. She’s one of the most tender-hearted people I’ve ever known, and she loves bacon, probably more than I do, so you know she’s a good person. Also, as you’ll see, she’s got some really amazing jumping skills that sort of came out of nowhere. I had no idea.

Anyway, while we were home visiting my family, my sister Amy really wanted to get some updated photos of herself, and she pulled that whole sister card to get herself some free goods. It was our last day there, and we were trying to get a lot of stuff done, so we had limited time, and very limited locations. I was a little reluctant at one point to even do it, because I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get anything usable in the time and space we had to work with. Boy am I glad I didn’t go with my gut on that one. I really adore these photos.

I mean look at the height! the perfect form!

It’s been quiet around the blog the past couple of weeks, and I’m sorry for the neglect. It hasn’t been quiet around here at all, but you know how the holidays go. Lots going on=less time to sit in front of the computer. Amy and I managed to get out of town for a couple of weeks and have a real, live vacation of sorts, and spend some time with family. After spending Christmas with Amy’s parents, we celebrated the new year with my family up in the snow. It was a great way to close out the year and ring in 2010, and I’ve got some fantastic photos to share from both trips so stay tuned.

2009 was a challenging year for a lot of people, and I can’t help but notice what seems like an extra surge of optimism as we close out the year and say hello to 2010. For Amy and I personally, 2009 was a real landmark year, and we’re looking really forward to what is going to come in 2010. To that end, we’ve got some pretty awesome announcements to make in the next few weeks as we start the year, so keep an eye on your rss feed and email inbox.

But for now, I wanted to share a few images from a shoot I did early in December. Sharon found me on my Facebook page, and wanted to get some photos done. She’s in the Army and has been stationed in San Antonio, but she only had a couple of days before she was re-stationed to the east coast, and she wanted to get some portraits done for her family before she deploys to Afghanistan in a couple of months. She came up to Austin and we did sort of a whirlwind photoshoot one afternoon. We had a good time.

On a personal note, I really appreciate the courage and sacrifice that people like Sharon and their families make for our country. At one point I asked sharon about her career in the military and she said to me “It’s the best job in the world. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.” To me, that’s amazing statement. My brother deploys in just a couple of days for his fifth tour in the Middle East, and I know first-hand what that sacrifice means to soldiers and their families. It’s a job I know I could never do, and I admire all the soldiers out there who volunteer to put themselves in harm’s way on behalf of us here at home. Thank you sharon for what you do. We will keep you in our thoughts during your time overseas, and await your safe return home.