Damon Leo Photography

On a hot bright day in August of 2006 I had the pleasure of photographing three charming teenage siblings, two girls and their brother, an aspiring photographer. I remember that it was a pretty easy session because they were polite and fun. We all laughed a lot, and we created some great portraits that showed their closeness and their unique personalities. Of course, none of us knew that a little over a year later, one of them would tragically leave us.

On November 17, 2007, seventeen year old Helena Pippins died in a traffic accident. Details here and here. I learned of the tragedy when Helena’s mother called to request a digital file from our session. Helena’s classmates used it to create the memorial bookmark below. Since then I learned that she was helping her school raise money for The Lost Children of Uganda. A local jeweler, Linda Galvan, of Circle of Stones Jewelry, created beautiful earrings that she calls Helena’s Wings, that she sells to raise money for the Lost Children in memory of Helena. You can see them here.
Helena’s beautiful energy is obvious in these portraits. I am thinking of her and her family today and sharing their sadness. I hope these images make them smile.

The rim-lighted silhouette is my most requested Pregnancy Pose. Many variations are possible, depending on the angle of the lighting and the pose.The dramatic high contrast style creates a print that is perfect for a tasteful wall portrait. Here are some recent examples:

Megan at her most beautiful.

Jenn is wearing a special necklace that she wanted to feature so I modified the lighting to make sure it stood out.

I had the privilege of witnessing one-year old Caroline’s first steps today. Lucky for me it happened in front of my camera during our portrait session.

Look at me, Mommy, I'm walking!

I had the idea for this image as soon as I saw newborn Carter’s blanket with his name embroidered on it. I wanted it to hang out of the frame for an interesting effect.

Photographing children has to be the most challenging kind of portrait photography because children are…well…children. They say what they mean and do what they want and they can tell when you aren’t being straight with them. They show their emotions and if they happen to be unhappy at the appointed hour of THE PORTRAIT, there’s not much you can do.
So what’s harder than photographing a child? Photographing TWO children! So hard that some studios only photograph children individually. It can certainly feel more like herding cats than creating art, but when it “clicks” it’s a beautiful thing.
Here are some recent examples of brothers and sisters getting along quite well, thank you.

Jayelene came to Austin from Alaska for her pregnancy portrait. She was great to work with…very calm and willing to try lots of different ideas. She had a baby girl and both are doing well. Hey, Jaye, bring her back to Austin soon!

I always love capturing the smile of a newborn baby. It’s rare, and sometimes it is very fleeting.

Joshua smiling with joy.

Life is Perfect

Leslie and Jack at 9 days old.

I have several large portraits hanging at the Central Seton hospital Maternity. You can see that they are very large canvas wrapped images.  Here are some snapshots of the exhibit:

Two fathers with their sons by Damon Leo.

chubby toes encircled by mother

Portrait by Damon Leo.

Smaller sections of larger portraits decorate patient rooms.

This dynamic family portrait hangs at the entrance to the waiting room.

Here is an idea that I have been wanting to try for a long time. I was waiting for a sweet, patient, pretty pregnancy client who was willing to play. Then in walked Colleen with beautiful red hair and pale skin…

Austin TX pregnancy portraits by Damon Leo.