Category Archives: photography

Thursday Throwdown! Mad Max Edition

Today I finally watched Mad Max : Fury Road, and although I’m sure that this movie wasn’t for everyone I was enthralled for the entire 2 hours!  With some over the top violence, sparse and mumbled dialogue from time to time and a plot that may have been thin here and there you may wonder what I have to rave about here.

Well, I watched the Black and Chrome Edition (seek it out on your favorite streaming service  for purchase or pick up a disk for archival purposes).  This was the version that George Miller (director) prefers himself.  The oversaturated oranges and blues were to differentiate it from other post-apocalyptic movies and WOW audiences.  It did just that with a great box office record to show for it.

I have always had a thing for B/W imagery and movies,  probably stemming from my days in the darkroom back in the day.  It’s timeless, it’s classic, it doesn’t reflect whatever crazy hues were in style right now but gone next season.  I’ll show you an example here of one of my puppies…

This image is straight out of camera (SOOC) unedited and it’s fine.  Fine is nice (I should’ve mowed the lawn before maybe), but we want exemplary, we want AWESOME!  Don’t get me wrong, Frejya IS awesome but this image was just fine.

There, that’s better…  A little more contrast, a little more OOOMMPPFF!  I should totally hang this on the wall!

For another amazing B/W movie take a minute and seek out Pi (directed by Darren Aronofsky), shot in B/W using a high contrast reversal film process!

For a peek at what inspired this post take a look at the video below…  (let me know what you thought in the comments!!)

Caroline & Joe’s wedding!

We were honored to be asked to photograph Caroline and Joe’s wedding at Wisteria Ridge!  We had a gorgeous fall day with a constant breeze up in the mountains of Callaway, VA.

Shanna Bush was there guiding the way, ensuring everything went smoothly!

Just a little teaser before the big reveal!

Boudoir

  Sexy, sophisticated, tasteful, beautiful, sultry, sensual
Every man thinks of these terms when describing the one they love. Unfortunately, most women aren’t able to see themselves this way. We want to help you unveil your beauty by bringing out the most sexy part of you… your CONFIDENCE.

  Let us match up your inner confidence and your outer most beauty with your first boudoir session. We will start with some fashion oriented images to help you get comfortable and natural for the camera. Then, we will direct you through some poses that will have you and your man doing a double-take.  As a husband and wife team we have a balanced approach to your poses and expressions that add up to a great session!
  Lastly, we’ll help you select the perfect images for a private album for your partner to give as a special anniversary, valentine, or wedding day gift.  Not only will you have these images for a lifetime, you will also gain a sexiness and confidence that will outlast your photo session and carry into your relationship.
Book your session now!!
  Contact us at info@michaelsinkphotography.com
  MaDonna and Kelly chose to book their sessions together, as best friends they had already been to get their nails done together, and decided to make it a girls day out…
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This was their “tough girls” image!IMG_0129-2

Maternity

  Motherhood is such a beautiful time in a woman’s life, bringing a new soul into the world, a growing family…  We love to capture this moment at it’s peak, around 8 months or so.  Stephanie came to the studio to start her shoot with her husband with some classic maternity images…IMG_0007IMG_0014Anthony stepped in and lent a masculine contrast to the images…IMG_0035a…working with these two was easy, loving looks and embraces were the order of the day.IMG_0041This one has a real ethereal feel to it…IMG_0047…and some dramatic lighting here to accent Stephanie’s pregnant form…IMG_0051A little belly dance attire for fun!IMG_0059One of our favorites….IMG_0066After the studio Stephanie wanted to head down to the river for some magical images…IMG_0105

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Contact us regarding booking your session for maternity images now!

Kara (boudoir, fashion bridals…)

  Kara replied to a casting call that I posted on a modeling site regarding boudoir images…

  We have found that every woman we have ever photographed (brides, maternity, seniors, family portraits, etc.) is VERY self-critical before and during the beginning of the shoot, but by the end of the shoot they always feel better about themselves, seeing themselves in a new light (no pun intended!), to see this transformation is amazing, the posture is a little better when they leave, a little smile stays on their lips, an air of confidence surrounds them.

  We are adding boudoir sessions because we feel it will be a great gift for brides to give to their fiancé as a pre-wedding gift the day of the wedding, or for an anniversary, birthday, and so on.  Imagine the look on his face when he sees these tasteful images of you, a very special gift for him merely hours before he takes your hand in marriage.  Now imagine how good you’ll feel having been posed professionally and images captured with dramatic lighting that feel like they could be an ad in Vogue or Elle…

  We met Kara and discussed what we would like to get for our portfolio and she for hers, where the locations were, what clothing to bring etc.  This pre-meeting also gave us a chance to get to know each other a little bit, joke around, and loosen up a week or so before the shoot.  To make things a little smoother we started the shoot with a sun-dress outdoors downtown…

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Kara braved the bugs and heat with us to capture some fun images…

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Now, a little more sultry, turn up the heat a little…

IMG_0052Pow!  There we go, that all comes together for a pretty smashing series!

  Next we wanted some images in a wedding dress that we picked up a while back.  To shoot some Trash the Dress Fashion Bridal images, so we stayed downtown, reset lights while Kara changed (in our pop-up changing booth) and she helped us create these images…

This one was just begging for some sepia… IMG_0067-2

Flirty fun in front of the municipal building…IMG_0069

Ummm…  WOW!  Kara pulled all the stops for this sultry look…IMG_0073   IMG_0084

So, these are NOT your mother’s bridal are they?  We thought not!  The dress is barely dirty but you get some great images in it that you probably won’t get on your wedding day…IMG_0089

I love the blue sky in these as well as Kara’s beauty…IMG_0094

This has a bit of a grungy dirty feel to it…IMG_0099

After that great warm-up we headed to some space that I have available to shoot the boudoir images.  I had previously set everything up to save time and get right down to shooting…

     A simple white shirt, some great lighting, we’re off to a great start…IMG_0125 Some bedroom eyes, a black and white treatment, wouldn’t your man love to have images like this of you?..IMG_0126 …shirt off the shoulder, flirty smile, direct eye contact…IMG_0128 did she catch the scent of your cologne on the shirt to trigger memories?IMG_0130  More direct, fun, sassy…IMG_0134 Wow!  Well Hello, Kara!  A very simple yet high impact pose here…IMG_0138 Kara had asked if we could get some shots that showcased her tattoo (that she designed) so we started with an image that shows off the design but also has a soft feel to it…IMG_0144  Then we got a little more dramatic with the lighting and brought out the tattoo more…IMG_0156 and finally a less direct gaze and a wonderful set of images!IMG_0161

 

Thanks Kara!  We still plan on a trip to see you and shoot some more soon!

What do you say Ladies?  Are you ready to feel great about yourself?  Celebrate your upcoming wedding?  Your anniversary?  Give your man the perfect gift?  Want to celebrate a milestone in your life?  Let us know, we can meet and discuss your session!

Whitney and Daniel

Whitney and Daniel were wed at St. John’s Episcopal on Brambleton on a chilly mid-January evening. We showed up early (as usual) to get the bride getting ready and some images of the bridal party before we were in the dark! Family and friends were awesome, helping Whitney and Daniel every step of the way.

Kinga helped Whitney with her makeup…

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The dress was next (how beautiful!)

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Mom helped with the ribbon

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Whitney was a gorgeous bride! We hope to work with them some more!

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The girls were ready to Rock it like divas!

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Allison was workin‘ it with a “fierce” look worthy of any runway!

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The men came out in the cold to play for a minute as well, Daniel has a great group of guys behind him here

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Once we headed inside it was time to round up the rings and get going

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The reception was held at The Woodland Place in Vinton, one of our favorite venues. The first dance is such a magical time in the evening

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so sweet…

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Dad was NOT going for the “slow-dance” and tears routine here

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Paparazzi were all around! (Alisson actually got some pretty awesome shots with her iPhone!)

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We had such a great time with everyone, we hope to work with this family a lot more in the future.

Whitney was kind enough to share her thoughts on the experience as well…

I would recommend Michael Sink Photography to anyone! I spent weeks researching who we were going to use to photograph our wedding. We knew that this was something that was very important to us, that we had to find the right person for. Right when I saw Michael’s website with all of his pictures on it, I knew I would be contacting him. I emailed Michael and had a response the next day. My husband and I went and met him for coffee and to see some of his work. Everything was great. Needless to say, we booked him! We signed the contract and a couple of months later, changed the date, time, and place on him! We were worried this would present a problem, but Michael worked with us and was willing to do whatever we needed him to. We met for an engagement session and found him very easy to work with. We just had a good time and it was nice to be able to warm up to him before the big day. Our pictures turned out exactly the way we imagined! A week or so before the wedding, we met up with him and Angel (who is GREAT!) just to discuss how the day would go, etc. Wedding day, they were there right when we had planned. They made sure they were not in the way and were very respectful to our family and friends. They truly went above and beyond. Pictures turned out awesome and we got them FAST!! Michael Sink will definitely be our photographer for many other milestones in our life.

The Wrights…

Julie and Brian are great friends of ours (that developed from us photographing their wedding and families through the years!) that have a beautiful family and some MAD poker skills! We had them over the other day (December!) to do some family portraits with Noah again and the newest member of the family Charlie! Some of you may remember Noah from his trip to the barber shop last spring! We had fun shooting this session as well as hanging out with this wonderful family…

Noah and Brian cracked up some…
Oh No!!  :-)

Then Julie and Charlie brought their beauty in front of the lens…
Julie and Charlie

Charlie and Noah hammed it up for us!
Charlie and Noah

Mom and Dad had some fun time with Noah…
Time with Noah

Julie and Brian make such an adorable couple…
Brian & Julie

Then some time together…
Brian and Julie

This was actually one of the first images we shot (this was the idea in my head when we started, then we progressed from there) but I had to save it for last…
Wright Family

Garrett & Ben E-Session

Garrett and Ben met with us early this year to discuss their wedding plans at the Kyle House in Fincastle. We hit it off immediately with the two of them, laid-back, funny, lots of smiles, we were excited to be working with these two. As the summer approached we setup an early engagement session in downtown Roanoke. This serves two purposes: 1. to create some beautiful images for the couple, and 2. (possibly more importantly) we create a rapport with the couple so that by the day of the wedding we’re like old friends (only they’re the ones with the funny stories about me, climbing on unstable stuff, almost falling, etc.)!

We found a dark alley to play around in, and Garrett worked it!
Garrett & Ben dark alley

Ben gripped his fiance in a tight embrace and dipped her, check out that smile!
Garrett & Ben dip

See, more hugs, more smiles, I think there’s a pattern here!
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Happiness filled the air that day!
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A super-attractive couple dodging traffic downtown!
Garrett & Ben

Just before the smooch…
Garrett & Ben
(kinda has a vintage feel to it huh?)

They will be wed this Saturday the 19th, lotsa love, family and friends!

PS: a little bonus reel!