Journal

Michael Crowe: Actor and Model

Tom Sparks — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:22:51 +0000

Michael came into SLC from New York City during the Christmas holiday and I got to spend a couple of hours with him. We shot at Gardner Village which was very quiet on New Years Day. There was snow on the ground and it was a bit chilly, but the restrooms where open and we did okay. It was nice photographing an actor. All I had to do to get his face to work was suggest a mood or a situation and he came up with some fun stuff.

The rest of the gallery is here.

Engagement session

Tom Sparks — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:29:39 +0000

Andrea and David just remind you why you got married. They have fun together. I love this shot from their engagement session. I don't know which will be their favorites, but it shows of the personality of this couple so well. They seem to enjoy each other and like to have fun.See my posting on my new blog.

New Hope Home/Help Portrait

Tom Sparks — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:03:10 +0000

I had the honor of being asked to go out to the New Hope Home for girls to take portraits of the girls and the staff in the home. I became involved with Help Portrait after my colleague, Rich Legg, gave a talk about giving service as photographers. Another photographer pointed me at Help Portrait which is a service organization aimed at providing portraits to people who could not otherwise afford it.

We got hair and make-up artists out to the home and then I photographed them. 6 girls and 3 of the staff. These girls are trying to learn how to cope with the real world and get the help they need to build character and social skills etc. After looking at their photos, one of the girls said to her counselor that she had always looked hard and unhappy, but today she looked beautiful and happy. She cried as she told her counselor that she did not know that she was that pretty.

Here are the portraits of the 6 girls that they chose as their favorites.

Belly Dancing: Scimitar at Gathering of the Tribes

Tom Sparks — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:11:34 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be invited to photograph the belly dancing at "The Gathering of Tribes" at the SLC Masonic Temple. Here is the group Scimitar. The light was a huge challenge but here are the results.

Ida

Tom Sparks — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:52:40 +0000

In August I photographed a trio of college students who were working on building their modeling portfolios. Ida was the tallest of the trio and I just love the sophisticated look she achieved.

Survey for photographers

Tom Sparks — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:48:08 +0000

If you are a photographer making income from your photography work would you take a moment to fill out this short survey. I will share the results when I get enough data. Loading...

Portrait of a fitness model

Tom Sparks — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:56:17 +0000

Bianca is from Germany and was living here with her boyfriend. She is trying to build up her portfolio as a model so this fitness session is part of that work. There is a funny story to this shoot, but you will have to ask me in person about it. Lets just say that it seems that europeans have different views about modesty than we do here in the states!

I thought I would mention that I am getting ready to start a new blog as a companion to my SmugMug site. My current plan is to migrate all my work to that blog and to SmugMug. The new blog only has one little placeholder post right now, but will become my blogging site. It is located at: http://tomsparksphotography.blogspot.com/ My SmugMug site is located at: http://tommysparks.smugmug.com/ I hope to see you there.

Portrait of a Conductor

Tom Sparks — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:42:18 +0000

Continuing my review of portraits for the year with Rob who is a conductor. He hired me to get a good headshot for his portfolio.

We shot this at the University of Utah in and around Libby Gardner Hall.

Senior Portraits-Raymie

Tom Sparks — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:53:21 +0000

I had the good fortune of photographing Raymie in August. She had beautiful eyes and my make-up artist did beautiful work with her. Tammy, my make-up artists does a great job of bringing out the natural beauty of the women I shoot. Raymie was fun to work with and we got a lot of great shots. Here are two of my favorites from the set.

I love this setting at the end of an old rail car.

Raymie looked so good behind the wheel of a Shelby Cobra!

December Portrait review #3 Olivia

Tom Sparks — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:19:05 +0000

I first met Olivia while photographing the University of Utah Singers on stage at Libby Gardner Hall at the University of Utah. Her smile absolutley captivated me. She was fun to photograph and we shot on location at the U. Here are two of my favorites from this session.

Olivia is working on a degree in vocal music and has a wonderful voice.