ABOUT BLAKE
​
I graduated from Baylor in 2007 with a business degree in entrepreneurship and real estate and currently live in Rancho Sienna in Georgetown, TX with my wife, Shana, and our sons, James (10) and Connor (7). I work for a commercial real estate development group, StoneCrest Investments, based out of Round Rock, TX. Between my family and work, my schedule is a little hectic, but I try to squeeze photography into the evenings and weekends as much as I can.
​
I’m a self-taught photographer who has a wide interest into many genres of photography. I love what I do and hopefully that’s apparent by the examples you see here on the site. My original interests in photography started when I first moved to Texas back in 2001, but I didn’t really get serious until 2009. Over the years, I’ve cycled through and focused on a lot of different genres and types of shooting.
​
The period that probably influenced my work most was the couple years before my first son, James, was born. I focused my free time shooting film with antique medium-format cameras, and mostly long exposures at night. I shot everything manually and it forced me to really learn and understand the correlation between shutter speed, aperture, film speed (ISO), reciprocity failure, and assessing the conditions of a given scene. Even though I don't have time any longer to shoot film for fun, I feel that it drastically improved my digital shooting as well.
EDITING
​
I taught myself Photoshop and have been using it almost daily for 15+ years now. I like to think of my editing and retouching style as detail oriented and in-depth, but at the same time realistic. I can create the airbrushed effect when it fits the style, but typically don't see a need for it. I think people in general want to look their best in photos, but it doesn't need to be taken to such a level that it's unnatural.
​
While it can be very time consuming, I have occasionally taken on editing tasks where certain details or entire sections of photos need to be replaced. Sometimes it's from a series of photos where one shot is the best for certain reasons, but small details are better in other shots from the same series. The complexity can vary quite a bit depending on each individual case, and because of the time involved, this is not something I do on a regular basis.
​
Other times, I need to create conditions that just weren't there. These types of edits take hours to put together, and I have only tried a handful over the years. In this example, this was a key shot for a property that I flew to Tennessee/Mississippi to shoot. I was only there for 2 days and we didn't have time to call an electrician and get the lights repaired. Instead, I went ahead and shot it as it was and then "fixed" the lights in post-production.
​
Below is a composite example. Each band member was shot individually in studio and then blended together in post-processing.
​
CONTACT BLAKE
​