Jon Leidel Photography: 2008

Tuesday

Bridal Shoot

Hello All,

What a pleasure it was for me to be able to take pictures of Melissa recently. She was great in front of the camera, relaxed, beautiful and fun. We took shots in the building where my studio is, on the balconies and downtown during the LAFF (Lexington Avenue Art and Fun Festival) which was a hoot. People thought Melissa was in a costume and that we had come to the festival dressed as Photographer and Bride... people were really interested. Here are a couple of my favorites from the day.
Thanks so much Melissa, I had a great time with you!
Thanks also to Pi Salon in Biltmore for doing Melissa's hair and makeup and Studio Flora Diva in the Grove arcade for the flowers!

Formal in Studio

Love the pom pom bouquet

Love the green shoes

In the elevator in my building

Balcony of 20 Battery Park

On the Sky Bar balcony

At LAFF

Last one of the day

Monday

Gabriel Shaffer - If You Want Blood

My favorite local, scratch that, my favorite living artist is Gabriel Shaffer who lives here in Asheville. Anna and I are friends with his wfe Suzie and him and we love spending time cooking food, talking enlightenment, politics or the state of the artistic mind with them whenever we get the chance. When Gabriel called me and asked me to shoot some images of some of his new pieces that are going up in the Satellite Gallery for him, of course I said yes.
I love being around Gabe's art as the colors, textures and media he uses blend together to form a whole that is far greater than the sum of it's parts. The way Gabe's mind seems to flow seamlessly onto his canvases causes me to stop and wonder about everything from the beauty in the world to the ability of the heart to provide life or take it away in the blink of an eye. Knowing Gabe personally adds another dimension to his work that allows me to drift more deeply into the details of the recycled paper, bible passages and obscure sci-fi images that find themselves blending perfectly with a mythological creature or city scape.
Certainly my favorite aspect of Gabe's work is his use of colors and the color palette. The way he portrays the pure light energy that radiates to and from his creatures in his paintings inspires me to search more deeply for the power of colors in my own work.

Below are some of the 17 new paintings Gabe is showing in a solo show at the Satellite Gallery located at 55 Broadway.

The show started this past Friday and will be up through September so be sure to drop by and take a look. The digital captures of these pieces of art pale in comparison to standing in front of a 3x5 foot canvas and being able to see all of the dimensions of the different media mixing together.

Holy cute kids and Mommies Batman...

Talk about your cute kids... Here again is Pyper, one of my favorite models and her Mommy with her new little brother who was about to join the world (which he did about a week after this shoot) and Poppa too.
I had the idea of Pyper painting Momma's belly because I know how artistic Pyper is and I thought it would be a lot of fun to do in the studio and I was right! Momma was such a good sport as Pyper mixed her paints and got down to decorating Momma's belly with loving hand prints and her own artistic flair.
Once Momma got cleaned up Pyper informed me that she had brought her parasol and wanted some pictures of herself with it, so I obliged. Pyper is a great model and looks fantastic with her paper parasol, such a natural.
Thanks so much, gang, for coming by the studio to have some fun with me. Now let's get some picutres of the new little man to go along with these!

Enjoy!

Momma, Belly and Poppa

Pyper giving her soon to be brother a little love... too cute!

Belly Painting

Peeps, just chillin' with her Parasol

Pyper pondering with Parasol :)

Big smiles for the camera, having a blast!

Friday

Scenes form downtown Asheville

Lately I have been spending a lot of time in front of the computer, editing, emailing, and doing research. All of these things are necessary for me to do in order to maintain my business and the development of Boys To Men Asheville and I need to keep my sanity, so I have been forcing myself to put the mouse down and go and shoot for an hour or two.
The following images are from 3 different days that I looked out my studio window and said "Wow, it's too nice outside to sit here anymore!" and went and shot some images around downtown.
I am putting together images in preparation of making cards and small prints to sell during the Holidays (if I can get it all in order) so I would love to hear some feedback.

Hope you enjoy the images.

Jon