Behnke Photography

Baby J

2011-07-07T10:10:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the world, Baby Johnson! This baby is a miracle, let me tell you. We've know his parents for several years and that entire time, we have kept their desire for a precious bundle of joy in our prayers. Their blog tells the story much better than I can.

We are very blessed to have been able to capture this special time in their lives. Johnson Family, we are overjoyed for you.

The precious Johnson family.

Baby J's Mommy picked a monkey theme. His room is simply adorable - green and brown and monkeys!! They joke that he'll have a complex when he gets older.

Introducing Baby J. Precious little man. :)

Wreck 'em!

Erin had a fantastic idea of lying Baby J into a cowboy hat with his little John Deere boots. This is what Baby J thought of the idea...

I can't say I blame him...

Nothing quite so sweet as precious baby feet.

Baby J and his mama.

I *love* this photo.

The Mulvaneys

2010-05-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

The sun was baring down. There were horses galloping through water. Rock as far as the eyes could see.

No, this wasn't Yuma, AZ. This was D/FW.

This was the Mulvaney shoot...

And we had a great time with an awesome family.

Here's a sneak peek.

Love This one.

The Glicksmans

2010-04-15T21:06:00.000-05:00

We had a great time shooting with the Glicksman family. The only thing that would have made it more enjoyable is if we had started Old Testament exegesis in its original Hebrew... And we could have, too! (Andrew teaches the Old Testament in its original Hebrew at a local university.)

Anywho, here is a sneak peek from their shoot.

I love the light in this picture.

The way Andrew is looking at his wife is pricelessly awesome.

I think this one is both Melanie and my favorite picture from the shoot.

There are more to come for y'all!

The McCoys

2010-04-12T20:57:00.023-05:00

Mel and I had the pleasure of taking photos of the McCoys - such a great little family! We found a great new spot that we’ve never shot at where the light was perfect (for the most part, I still managed to overexpose a few photos) and the plants were blooming. The McCoy kids were so willing to help and to have their pictures taken... They were little hams! Here is a sneak peek of the pictures.

Mom with her girls.

The girls checking out the mysteries within a stump.

The kids were enthralled by some airplanes that kept flying overhead... They also lent to some pretty cute pictures.

Here is the, ‘Attack your parents on three!’ pose.

The whole family.

Mom and dad.

Hoorah! Comments are fixed.

2010-03-01T21:26:00.000-06:00

We've been told several times that the comments on our blog don't work but I could never find a fix... However, I think I've found one, now. Give it a shot, dear reader, and tell us what your favorite flavor of pudding is.

mini-shoots

2010-02-24T08:42:00.000-06:00

It's been a while, huh? We've have a few shoots to post, but those can wait because I'm really excited about this:

We're really excited about this! Sometimes it's just so difficult to find time for a two-hour shoot, not to mention the funds for that! We thought this would be a great way to get some fun photos at an inexpensive price. We're really hoping for a good turn-out so we can see all the precious kiddos and lovely families!

BONUS: The person/family that refers the most clients to this shoot will earn themselves a free photo shoot! That includes the shoot itself and a CD with your top edited images...and if you've ever worked with us or know someone who has, you know you get a LOT of images on that CD!

Make your reservations today!

And tell your friends and family! We are so, so excited about this!

(Oh and along with the $10 additional charge per person over two people, there will be added time to your slot! Don't worry, families of five...we won't be trying to squeeze you into a 10 minute slot! We also have large family discounts and don't expect you to pay tons of money!! :) Just email us with what you want if you are interested and we'll get back to you on a price!)

Aidan's Baptism

2010-01-22T09:55:00.002-06:00

Our newest nephew, Aidan, of the Kelly clan, was baptized while we were in Lubbock over the holidays. Joseph and I were able to take a few photos. These are our favorites!

I love the color of this boy's hair! The light really brought it out, I thought!

Favorite #1.

Favorite #2.

Favorite #3.

Rocky, Rosemary, and Magnolia

2010-01-18T11:36:00.000-06:00

Melanie and I had the pleasure of doing a photoshoot of a beautiful little girl named Magnolia. So cute! The weather was beautiful, the Botanic Gardens were hopping, and their family was as photogenic as can be.

HAHA! I love Magnolia's face in this picture!

I love Magnolia's face in this one, too. Such a photogenic family. Favorite.

So cute!!!

If you know anything about our photography, you know that we like shots of kiddos next to their parents' legs. I would say it's our signature shot, but we actually stole the idea from another set of photograpers. I like comparing our edits to see how differently we look at images and what vision we have for them.

Here is Joseph's edit:

Here is mine: (of course I like mine better...that's why I edited it the way I did! I like that you can see Rocky and Rosemary holding hands in the image. Precious!)

We found a fun little area that had a "Magnolia-sized" bench. Rosemary, Rocky and Magnolia just played away with each other and we snapped away. Here are our favorites from their little play time!

Here's my favorite shot of the session. I think it might actually be my favorite shot that I've ever taken!

We'll leave you with one last shot of the family! Aren't they just so photogenic? What a beautiful family! Thanks for a great shoot, guys. We had so much fun!!

Behnke Family

2009-12-28T09:07:00.000-06:00

My brother and his wife and their 5 beautiful kids (one's on the way) asked us over the break if we would take family pictures for them. We obliged. Here are a few of my favorites.

My brother calls this one the 'Children of the Corn' shot.

Ugh. I love the composition of this photo - but I didn't look at the background. Bricks make it all urban... right?

This might be my favorite family picture ever. #3's face is *hilarious* (and characteristic).

The Behnkes

2009-12-18T23:33:00.002-06:00

Megan took this photo on our family shoot and we edited it alongside their family photos. I think it's my favorite family photo of us! I'll add more once we edit them, now that I have time to sit down and edit our OWN family photos!

Thank you to Megan for taking these photos for us! We think you did a pretty impressive job!

And while we're talking about impressive things...my, my! Who did such a great job coordinating outfits for this family? She, er, I mean, whoever did that has great taste. Special thanks to Aunt Bee for buying the girls their only set of matching dresses! They were perfect for this shoot!

PS. I didn't know how to credit you, Meg. You should make your own watermark this is so impressive!

Kevin, Megan, Damian (and Clare's there, too!)

2009-12-18T22:54:00.000-06:00

For the last two years, we and our dear friends have gone out together to take family photos to send out with our Christmas cards. We always have a blast with this family and our little family shoot was no exception! Damian and our oldest girl are best friends which makes our time together even more fun because we get to watch them interact and grow together!

This shoot was a little different because Megan took pictures of us, as well. Plus, we were all trying to keep watch over the toddlers at the same time! We headed out to a little area in downtown Ft. Worth that Joseph and I always thought would be a fun place to shoot. Well, I'm sure it is if you don't have two rambunctious toddlers!! It was also different in that Joseph did all the shooting and I did all the editing. Usually we take turns shooting and then both edit the images, but this time around I was too tired to shoot and Joseph was too tired to edit. We make a great team, I tell you.

Here are our favorite images of the beautiful family!

I love the variation of color on the brick wall. What I love even more, though, is Dami's little expression! What a cutie! Megan and Kevin are expecting their second blessing, Clare, in April. This ranks as one of my favorites simply because you can see Clare in it. So...

Favorite #1

Dami and his daddy. Too cute!

Favorite #2

Oh, be still, my heart. We have the cutest godson in the whole world. Oh yeah, have I failed to mention that we are the proud godparents of this precious blue-eyed boy? It's an honor being a part of his life and such a joy watching him grow up!

Joseph captured some neat photos of Damian playing with his daddy. There is a whole series of images with Dami jumping off the ledge into Kevin's arms; if you scroll through fast enough, it looks like a video! I'll just post one.

I wasn't a big fan of the color in this photo, but I love the image and I really love the look on Damian's face! Plus, Kevin posted this as his facebook picture and people liked it, so apparently I just have bad taste!

I love the lines and colors in this next image!

Favorite of the favorites (#3 for those keeping track):

Thank you for a fun session, guys! We had fun and can't wait until next year! And maybe some maternity pictures. And maybe some newborn pictures. And maybe a ton of pictures of Damian (and eventually Clare!) in between.

David, Laura and Lucy

2009-12-14T23:37:00.003-06:00

On Saturday, Joseph, the girls and I headed out to the Botanic Gardens to meet this sweet family! We met this family through our friend, Juan, who suggested Laura and I become friends. I'm so glad he did! PS. Juan is now engaged to my sister! I guess I should start saying my soon-to-be brother-in-law! Whew! :) It's a fun mouthful!

Anyway, here are the photos!

Lucy was wearing "big girl" real shoes for the first time. I think David said they were a gift from his parents. We made sure to get a photo of Lucy using them. She did a great job!

Here is Joseph's take:

Here is mine:

Hi, my name is Lucy and I'm cute.

Joseph's:

Mine:

Did I mention she looks like a little Cabbage Patch Doll?

Favorite #1.

Here is a cute set of photos Joseph got:

Joseph's:

Mine:

I love these next two photos:

Love how old-fashioned they look here! And the loving kiss David is giving Laura. Precious!

Fave #2

Here is the whole family!

What a fun shoot! The thing I learned the most was in the processing stage. Apparently Joseph and I have very different taste in processing but I like both our end products, which is why I posted both of our edited versions of the same image a couple of times. I love doing this with my husband!

Laura and David, we had so much fun! Thank you!

New Baby Behnke Birthday

2009-11-13T17:17:00.003-06:00

She's here!

Conall, Sarah, Clark and Gannon

2009-10-18T17:19:00.000-05:00

Our dear friends, Sarah and Conall, welcomed their sweet son, Gannon into the world over this past summer! We were blessed that they asked us to get some newborn shots of him. Pretend he isn't already a month old in the photos and pretend that we posted these in July and not October.

It was our first time doing a shoot indoors so we were learning how to adjust the camera for less than agreeable light settings. Little Gannon wasn't quite ready for outdoor lighting yet! We tried to get some of his two-year old brother, Clark, with Gannon but kept coming up short because man, Clark has a lot of energy! We got a couple, thankfully, but in most of the photos, Clark is just a blur! We ended up scheduling an entirely different session just to get some of Clark. I'll post those as soon as we're done editing.

In short: adorable family, especially those little guys! These are our favorites, and by our, I mean mine because I'm the one writing this post! Apparently I'm a big fan of mommy-baby photos since that's pretty much all I chose. Go figure, sinceI'm a mama to two precious girls myself!

I love Conall's face in this one!

Favorite! I love the maternal protection just shining through with the simple laying of her hand on his head. Beautiful. :)

I really like these two images, but I can't decide if I like the color one or the black and white one more. Opinions? I'm fickle and did both edits. Joseph, in all his decisiveness, stuck to the black and white edit.

Or...

Okay, this might be my favorite. Big brother Clark checking on baby brother!

Jeska, Jeff, AnnMarie (and Baby Bean)

2009-10-11T21:28:00.026-05:00

(This is the first post where Mel and Joseph are going to start posting our own comments in different colors.)

My sister, Jeska, and her husband and daughter were all willing subjects for Melanie and I to shoot... Though, I picked up from some of the photos that maybe her husband (Jeff) didn't think this was the most fun thing to do on a summer night.

Exhibit A:

They were an awesome family to shoot for - they're also incredibly photogenic.

My favorite part of this shoot was, by far, Annie. How the heck did a five-year-old learn so many "model" faces and moves? She had us laughing like crazy!

Here is their shoot:

My favorite (#1)!

This is my fave.

Favorite #2. I love Annie's face in this one!

I feel like Jeff is Bob Dylan in this one. Or Jermaine.

Melanie is dubious about this one... But I think it looks like on of those old family album photos that looks like someone spilled coffee on.

Not my favorite #1.

And off into the sunset.

Baptism of our Nephew

2009-10-11T17:02:00.002-05:00

Since we just started this blog, I'm having to go back and make posts on shoots from the past - that's right - we, here at Behnke Photography, allow you to travel through time!

Here's one from September of the baptism of our nephew.

Tommy Shoot 2

2009-10-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, okay, I told Joseph that he could pick out the photos to post on here from the shoot, but there were a few more that I thought were too cute not to post! Plus, Joseph didn't read my mind like I expected him to and left out some photos that I would have chosen.

Here's my take:

Our friends Kristin and Justin asked us a while back to do a photo shoot for their sweet son, Tommy's, first birthday. Yes, please! Since Joseph was working, it was my first solo shoot other than one I did a year ago with my sister (but that doesn't count because she's my sister). I was really excited for a few reasons. 1) I was getting out of the house; 2) Molly was going to have a blast playing with Tommy; 3) adult interaction; 4) I was getting out of the house; 5) I really love photography and any chance I get to shoot, I'll take it! I was also nervous because Joseph wouldn't be there and he's the pro with adjusting the camera. Technical stuff and I take a long time to get to know each other. It turned out pretty well, I thought!

Here are a few more images I thought should be added to show Tommy's little personality:

Tommy likes to stick his little bottom in the air and did it all through the shoot. I thought this was a pretty good catch:

Another one I really liked shows the progression of Tommy through the shoot. I have to compare it to one of the first photos I took of him. Joseph already posted the first one but it's the best comparison I have.

Scene 1:

Scene 2:

I wonder who wore himself out running around and playing with ducks? I also love the colors in those two photos.

Here's another I really like. It looks like he's saying, "Hey, Mom, there are ducks down there! Can I please go get them?"

To which Mom replied, "Yep!"

One last one and then I'll be done.

Isn't he so cute? I love his toothless little grin in the last photo!

Wait, one more. This one is my favorite from the session:

If you're wondering why our watermark is different in these two posts, let me tell you. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to things like that so when I was editing images while Joseph was at work, I tried to figure out how to put the watermark that Joseph so artfully put together. Though he had explained to me about a hundred times how to put it on images, I just couldn't figure it out! I ended up just typing Behnke Photography on each image instead. I chose what I thought to be a pretty font. Apparently it's girly. Um, yes, that's why I chose it. The photos from Joseph's post are the ones with our real watermark. It's not girly.

Cheers!

Tommy's One Year

2009-10-06T16:45:00.001-05:00

I wish I can say I contributed more to this photoshoot than just doing some editing and cropping - Melanie did a great job on her first official solo shoot. Especially taking into account the fact that she was 8 months pregnant and was also watching a seventeen month old toddler through most of the session. I'm convinced that mothers have superpowers.

Here's Tommy!

I think this one is my favorite picture of the shoot.

He really liked ducks.

More ducks.

Husband. Wife. Photographers.

2009-09-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

My name is Joseph. Her name is Melanie.

Our love for taking photographs was a long time in the making. Our wedding was photographed by one of our favorite photographers (and, it can be argued, one of the best photographers out there), Kristin Bednarz. We looked at her pictures of us over and over and fell in love with them - and with the art of taking photographs. It was at that point, that I decided I wanted more than just a digital point and shoot camera.

Then came my chance...

Melanie and I found that we were with our first child - we'll call her MoRo - and I thought, 'Man, if we had a nice DSLR, then we could save on 'professional' photographs and keep our families up with her growth.' So, after a bit of convincing and a little puppy-dog-facing, Melanie acquiesced and allowed me to get our first DSLR.

Soon, Melanie bought in to the whole photographing mix, and our love bloomed.

So now we've been happily married for over two years and we're going to have our second - nickname to be determined - in a month or so.

We love each other. We love to work with each other. We love to shoot photos.