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Sarah and Nick’s Engagement

Sarah and Nick’s Engagement

We met at High Cliff State Park late in the afternoon. High Cliff is one of my favorite portrait locations. It offers a great variety of settings all within a few minutes driving time. Our session started right next to the parking lot then moved into the woods and some of the rock formations. We finally ended up on a hill overlooking Lake Winnebago right at sunset. So our pictures ranged from romantic to fun and quirky, with a few cinematic images at the end. One thing I knew for sure, all the fun and laughter at the engagement picture…

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Stephanie and Cody Engagement

Stephanie and Cody Engagement

We had a wonderful time on a cold (and a little bit snowy) January day at High Cliff State Park. A few pictures caught the light snow and made a magical setting! Here are some of the favorite pictures of a beautiful couple. Related galleries http://jalanlee.com/wedding/grace-lucas-engagement/ http://jalanlee.com/wedding/emmy-and-weiwei/ http://jalanlee.com/wedding/ryan-kayla/ More wedding pages Emmy and WeiweiLily and Eric’s 1st AnniversaryRyan and KaylaLacey & Arthur’s WeddingGrace & LucasMelissa and AaronGrace and Lucas’ Engagement PhotosSarah and Nick’s Awesome Wedding – with Pictures!Carly & Ryan’s WeddingLily and Eric’s WeddingFriends and Family Portraits

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Waterfall Tintypes Portraits with Amber

Waterfall Tintypes Portraits with Amber

Spent a wonderful morning capturing waterfall tintype portraits with Amber. Wequiock Falls was so beautiful with just the right amount of water coming over - dramatic without being dangerous. Of course, the water was a bit chilly in the dark little gorge. But sometimes you have to suffer a little bit to make some nice images! The bulk of our time together was spent capturing some amazing Tintype 8x10's. You can see those images on my Victorian Photography website SunandSilver.photo After the tintype session we decided to have some fun with digital image. Just played around by the waterfall and…

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Spring Portraits are in The Air

Spring Portraits are in The Air

Spring portraits are in the air in Wisconsin. The weather can be like a teenager - up and down and back and forth! But when it is nice you have to take advantage and get out to take portraits. Here is a sample of a recent portrait session with Nataly. Sunset in downtown Neenah is a great time for a Spring portrait and we did a lot of wonderful looks. Of course, we also had some fun with colored flash to give a dramatic flair! The biggest challenge for portraits at sunset is balancing the light. The sky can be…

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Neenah Sunset with Nataly – Part II

Neenah Sunset with Nataly – Part II

In your eyesThe light, the heat, in your eyesI am complete, in your eyesI see the doorwayTo a thousand churches The resolution Of all the fruitless searches, in your eyesOh, I see the light and the heat, in your eyesOh, I wanna be that complete I wanna touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes Peter Gabriel Part II of our Neenah sunset photo session. It is amazing how many wonderful pictures you can create with an old dock and a beautiful model! Nataly goes through a range of emotions with this simple setting. The Bryan Bridge provides…

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Neenah Sunset with Nataly – Part III

Neenah Sunset with Nataly – Part III

There! See the line of lights,A chain of stars down either side the street --Why can't you lift the chain and give it to me,A necklace for my throat? I'd twist it roundAnd you could play with it. You smile at meAs though I were a little dreamy childBehind whose eyes the fairies live. . . . Sara Teasdale Sunset gives way to twilight and the light gets more interesting and mysterious. The skies are dark but not dark enough for the stars. This is the third set of pictures featuring Nataly on a warm day in March. After you…

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Neenah Sunset with Nataly – Part I

Neenah Sunset with Nataly – Part I

The first glad breath of day is dear;The sky is very soft and near;The noon is glorious with light;And afternoon is bright;But I love twilight best, it seems,When all the air is drenched with dreams,And up against the sunset bar,One small dream changes to a star. Annette Wynne Sunset is always a magical time! The light becomes golden and soft and the rainbow colors of the sky come out. Doubly magical is a warm day in March, in Wisconsin. So Nataly and I met in downtown Neenah for some sunset portraits. It is amazing how many beautiful photographs can be…

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Nataly Divine BTS

Nataly Divine BTS

February was blessedly warm and so we used the weather to do some portrait sessions. Here are some pictures with Nataly Divine BTS (Behind The Scenes). Nataly wore a beautiful 1920's style dress is ravishing red. This was a wet plate collodion session where we made some beautiful tintypes. Check out my 19th century photo site for the plates: sunandsilver.photo/portrait/riverside-tintypes-with-nataly/ Our first picture is a real BTS of Nataly Divine along with my Intrepid large format camera. Nataly is a true professional because she not only held this pose for the tintype but also for the digital photo. Next a…

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Tintype Principles for a New Year

Tintype Principles for a New Year
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This is a "guest post" from my analog photography site SunandSilver.photo While I love digital photography, I also have been doing a lot of analog photography including tintypes, Ambrotypes, gold and silver salt prints and cyanotypes. I think the principles I laid out for Sun and Silver.photo are the same as my digital photography so I shared them here too! Tintype principles for a new year. I had so much fun in 2023 making 19th century photography - tintypes, Ambrotypes, salt prints and cyanotypes. I think 2024 is going to be an amazing year. Often people choose New Years Day for resolutions but I…

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Kateri – 2019 Throwback

Kateri – 2019 Throwback

I ran across some older photos of Kateri while working on our latest safari together. Hard to believe these photos were taken in 2019 because it feels just like yesterday. Time certainly flies when you are having fun! So enjoy a few memories with Kateri! http://jalanlee.com/modeling/test-with-kat/

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May Pop Up

May Pop Up

The first collodion portrait pop up of the year is fast approaching. I still have a some openings on May 21 and 22 - contact me at jeff@jalanlee.com to book a time! Important Notes for the Popup All sessions will be outdoors - tintype collodion requires a lot of light for a good portrait. We have a 1 acre yard with lots of good places to take photos. The address is 676 Dartmouth Drive, Neenah. See in Google Maps. I am about 2 miles west of Hwy 41 (1 mile west of County Road CB). If you are coming from…

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Collodion Portrait Popup – Free!

Collodion Portrait Popup – Free!

We will once again hosting a short series of free collodion portrait popups on May 21 & 22. All shoots will be outside between 10am and 5pm. Shooting in my one acre yard with lots of variety for background. We had a couple of popups late last Fall, just before the cold weather set in. This was an awesome chance to produce some portraits, meet some people and get some portrait practice in. This May we will be hosting a few more sessions to bump up our skills, practice fast plate processing and prepare for paid events in the Summer.…

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Night Time Portraits

Night Time Portraits

Photography is based on light so one would think that night time photography is no good. However, I love creating portraits at night! I think it is about the control over the lighting you have. During the day everything is lit up so the contrasts are lessened and there are limits to what you can achieve. At night you can pick from fully dark to fully lit backgrounds and then add in light for your model. You can also use ambient light sources to create drama in ways that are not possible in the day. There are some challenges to…

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November Evening

November Evening

I love portrait photography at night. Photography is all about capturing light so "night photography" seems to be a contradiction. But I find some of the most interesting light comes at night. The darkness provides wonderful contrast with the lights you find - street lights, signs, cars and windows. The first challenge of night portraits is to find that interesting light and place your model properly. A small movement of the body or face can make the difference between an OK portrait and one that is stunning. The second challenge is technical. Low light limits what you can do with…

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Cinestill 800 Film Model Shoot

Cinestill 800 Film Model Shoot

Today's post is about my recent Cinestill 800 film model shoot. Cinestill is a unique film that is known to produce wild and unpredictable colors. Especially at night. People seem to love posting night time photos of gas stations with Cinestill for some reason but they typically don't use it for portraits. So keeping the outlier vibe we set out to shoot a few rolls of medium format portraits in downtown Appleton. The photo above highlights just how trippy the colors can be with this film. The fountain was red but came out a glowing pink and the water turned…

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Dreamera Model on Cinestill 800 Film

Dreamera Model on Cinestill 800 Film

Cinestill 800 film is not an ideal portrait film. It is used for unpredictable colors especially at night. Well, one of the reasons I shoot film is to get something unexpected and unpredictable. So I just went ahead and shot a model on Cinestill 800 film! So I met Wisconsin model Dreamera Marie in downtown Appleton for a film shoot one evening. We were extremely lucky as the weather was just beautiful for a late Fall evening. Of course, the warm evening also brought out a few interesting characters. Especially ones who had a bit too much to drink or…

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Where are The Male Models?

Where are The Male Models?

Where are the male models? Seems like everywhere I look female models outnumber male models by something like 50 to 1. Why is this? Lots of possible theories - some not so flattering! There are more men photographers (maybe) and they like women. Men may not be as interested in modeling. Women may like looking at other women more than they like looking at men. But I will say this - I like photographing people of all sizes and shapes and ages and genders. I look to capture that spark that I think everyone has. The spark is a gift…

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Night at The Museum

Night at The Museum
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We met on a beautiful Fall evening in downtown Appleton. The goal was to shoot a few rolls of Cinestill 800 film. We shot medium format on my Bronica ETRSi camera, Cinestill in known for interesting, and sometimes amazing, colors at night. Between rolls of film we also shot some digital just for fun. The video above is just a few of the digital shots. I'll post the film gallery as soon as I have the time! The music was performed by ME! I used Ableton Live 11 with Ableton Push 2 to put together some interesting (I hope) percussion…

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Windy Wedding Day

Windy Wedding Day

It was a windy wedding day! She and her bridesmaids had a good workout just keeping the dress and veil in place for the ceremony. I've always told brides that they should embrace random things at their wedding. Random things will happen and they actually make your wedding more memorable. No one remembers the perfect wedding - because nothing really happened. But everyone remembers the wedding where the wind blew or it was freezing or the maid of honor fell into the lake! Mind you, I'm not saying it is a good thing that the maid of honor fell into…

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Quality of Light

Quality of Light

Light is the foundational aspect of photography. This should be obvious but sometimes we get so enmeshed in the subject that we forget how important the light is. The photo above really brought home for me how much the light can impact the quality of a portrait. Here is a close up of Dani's face I think everything about this really pops. The light gives definition to her face and lights up her eyes. The light pulls her out of the background and pulls your eye in. Her face is well lit but has interesting shadows and contrast. So how…

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Dani and Cole Model Shoot

Dani and Cole Model Shoot

I met up with Dani and Cole in the North Woods of Wisconsin. After we captured our main image (for my Shoot-a-Month Project) we had some fun. We found a bunch of interesting, and strange, rock formations on the trial. They provided a backdrop for this gallery Dani and Cole in The North Woods Back to my Blog

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Flower Girl

Flower Girl

I am a certified People Person! Weddings are so much fun because I get to watch people and capture unscripted moments. This little angel was studying a bouquet in the receiving line after the ceremony. Not sure what she was thinking but she looks so adorable in the picture that a million moms would arm wrestle for the privilege of giving her a hug! Check out more wedding pictures at my Wedding Page! See more of what I have been doing on my Blog

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BTS – Collodion Portrait

BTS – Collodion Portrait
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My newest imaging adventure is Wet Plate Collodion. Collodion is the first true commercially successful photography method. The process is based on light converting dissolved silver salts to pure silver. A glass or blackened metal plate is coated with collodion - a type of cellulose. The collodion is dipped into a solution of silver nitrate. Then the plate is put into a view camera and exposed. The plate is developed, fixed (to remove underacted salts) and dried. It is known as "wet plate" because the whole process must be completed before the collodion dries out - about 20 minutes. I…

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Life Flow – Film Double exposures

Life Flow – Film Double exposures

Life is all around us. The trees, the birds and the water all team with life. We only have to open our eyes and our hearts to see it! Double exposures on film are a huge challenge. You first need to shoot a variety of background images. In this case I shoot water and trees around Neenah. Next rewind the film (but make sure to leave enough of the leader out so you can put it back into the camera). Then you shoot portraits over the original images. The portraits should be dark in areas you want the original image…

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Modern Classic

Modern Classic
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When the train arrives you should get on it! I am so far behind on my photo galleries that I might be ahead. This picture is was taken on a break during a film shoot this Summer. The beautiful Dreamera Marie (Instagram @dreamera.marie) posed in a classic style for some medium format film shooting in my little makeshift studio. See the whole gallery at Classic Modern See more of Dreamera at my Fox Valley Wisconsin Modeling page.

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