2013 was a great year for Young Photography, and we were able to grow our business considerably.  While most of our business is lifestyle family portraiture, headshots, and event photography, I had the opportunity to travel quite a bit and add a bunch of travel photography to the mix as well.

Our first clients of the year were the Chamberlins, and we started out with some family images for this active family.

Shortly afterwards we had a fine session with fitness trainer/model Jen Azevedo. 

While I love shooting portraits in natural settings, I sometimes have the opportunity to shoot with the LA based fashion photography company Runway Icon.  In January I was fortunate to aid in shooting the Miss California Pageant.

One process I played with a lot in 2013 is High Dynamic Range photography, or HDR.  This consists of taking multiple photographs of the same scene with differing exposure values and combining them using software plugins.  While some photographers hate HDR and complain that it is overdone – I get a kick shooting and processing HDR images.  Here is one of  Vasquez Rocks, a park located nearby that has been featured in tons of commercials, television shows and movies.

I am a full-blown tennis fanatic, and attend the Indian Wells tennis tournament each year.  While I don’t usually shoot sports, I can’t resist dragging my SLR to the tennis venue.

Another sport I had the opportunity to shoot this year was an equestrian event that a friend’s daughter was competing in.

After shooting sports for a while, it was time to get back to the bread and butter of portrait photography.  I shot these photogenic kids for a present for their mother.

I mentioned that I travelled a bunch in 2013 – when I’m not shooting images, I’m a professional pilot and get to travel all over the world.  If I’m going to a destination where I think I’ll have an opportunity to have some free time I’ll drag my rig with me. Here are some of the highlight destinations from 2013.

("Twisty Building in Nagoya, Japan.)

(Lady in Moscow, Russia.)

(HDR - Red Square, Moscow)

(HDR of Marriott’s Hanbury Manor outside of London. - and YES it's haunted...)

(Grounds of Hanbury Manor.)

As a family we took an epic vacation to Europe during the summer.  I brought my SLR and was able to take hundreds of images during the trip. We started out in London...

And then flew to Germany...

(HDR of main square in Rothenburg ob der Tauber)

(Another HDR from Rothenburg ODT)

Then we were off to Wengen in the scenic Swiss Alps...

(HDR of the view from our hotel....  This image won second place in a local photo contest.)

(Here is my wife Heidi picking out where we should build our house in Switzerland.)

(Another HDR of the gorgeous valley where we stayed in Switzerland.)

After taking in the Swiss Alps we were getting a bit hungry for some gelato so we headed down to Italy.  First stop: Venice...

(HDR of Venice canal activity near the Rialto Bridge)

(Heidi posing in Venice)

(HDR of the Bridge of Sighs, Venice.) 

After Venice we took the train to Florence...

(HDR of the downtown Florence)

(HDR of the Ponte Vecchio during the day)

(Same bridge at night.)

We loved Florence, but still had one more destination to hit before the long plane ride home.  Rome!

(HDR of the Colosseum)

(My daughter posing against a wall in an older Rome neighborhood. This image won second place in a local portrait contest.)

(HDR from inside the Pantheon.)

Okay, enough vacation photos, time to fly back home to LA and get back to reality.  I did some event photography in 2013, and one event I was hired to shoot was the great Paseo boat race of 2013.

(Pirate lass Jen paddling to catch the lead...)

(Another event we shot was a Tennis exposition. )

(One of the most fun events to shoot was a children's Halloween party.)

(Event - Luau Party)

(Young Photogrpahy also shot some fitness images for Jen's portfolio use and a contest submission.)

Young Photography obtained some studio strobes in 2013, and the strobes plus a white backdrop were used for a number of headshot sessions and well, some fun too...

I was lucky enough to shoot with Runway Icon again during LA Fashion week...

Then it was time to jump into my other office:

(HDR of Gulfstream 550 business jet.)

And do a quick trip to Shanghai:

Another trip to Istanbul..

And a trip to Bangkok:

(This is Joe, Bangkok's premier Tuk Tuk driver...)

The year ended up with a photo session with the very photogenic Mallas family. 

Young Photography had a great 2013, and we’re hoping for an even better 2014.  We’ve already booked some portrait sessions in January and are looking forward to many more.  Please consider us for your Southern California photography needs.  Our contact info is on this site: www.byoungpix.com.  Happy New Year everybody!