Luxe Photography by Brian Sirimaturos

Circus Flora Farm - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000

We were able to attend the Friends and Family picnic and upcoming 2012 "Merlin" show preview for this year's Circus Flora. We've attended this St. Louis staple the last few years and it is such a local treat for our family and the people of the city. What made this outing even better this weekend is that the farm is down the road from where we live and I've always been curious what the place looked like from inside. Here are just a few interesting pics as well as my effort to get a shot of the peacock on top of one of the houses. And here is the link to pics from last year's show.

2012 Wood - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Love having the chance to shoot new additions to a family. One of my recent outings was with the Wood family and I adore these three shots from our last session. It's a good representation of what I try to capture when we go out. Something fun and out of the box (sunset pic with the beautiful cloud cover), something cute with our baby and beautiful mom together, and an intimate moment caught on camera with the parents.

2012 Johnston - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Had another fun Luxe Profile session recently with an up and coming young actress here in the St. Louis area. With an iPod ready full of showtunes, this young lady came dressed to impress and showcased some different looks. I look forward to following her up and coming career. Best of luck!

2012 Reyes - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:11:00 +0000

In the early 80's I used to live in a small town in California called Baldwin Park. I had gone to school there up until middle school when in the late 80's my family moved back to Missouri where my mom was from. Over 20 years later, you would never expect to see people that were in your life from so long ago, but with social media, that's exactly what happened to me. Ruben was in 3rd grade with me. Through Facebook, we somehow reunited over an old class picture and wouldn't you know, Ruben also now lived in Missouri - with his beautiful wife and two kids. I've had the pleasure and honor of shooting his family a few times now as they travel from Columbia to St. Louis to get their family pictures done. This past time, we celebrated during and afterward his daughter's 4th birthday. I do love my job :-)

2012 Rummel - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:46:00 +0000

Another beautiful addition to the Rummel family and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to come over to their house just a few days from returning from the hospital. I really love getting the chance to get those first few important detail pictures - the hands, fingers, toes... and there is one thing for sure. Those little baby parts will never be as small as they are right then and there. I've shot big sister several times now so also, so she'll have to give baby sister a few insider tips. And of course, being a father myself, I love a good daddy shot.

2012 Missouri Department of Conservation - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:17:00 +0000

I'm at the beginning of what is 3 weeks of spring break vacation with both my 5 and 7yo boys. This first week, my 7yo and I like to go hiking around the Busch Wildlife Reserve - we'll do a little nature studying, talk a little father/son stuff and I give him some hands on photography tips using one of my old point and shoots. This day was an extra special treat as we came upon some conservation officials catching, measuring and weighing some recently introduced "muskie" into the lakes. They must have seen us standing on the levy, so they brought the boat around and asked if my son wanted to see what they were doing. What an awesome experience. They were so kind and I really appreciate their time.

2012 Hoette - click for more

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:45:00 +0000

Just wanted to show a little sneak peak at our last baby shoot and say happy 1 year. I was lucky enough to be right in the room when he was born to shoot for mom and dad and now I get to snap his official 1 year photos. We got a lot of adorable shots but there was just something about this particular one that really stood out. I wanted to share with mom and dad as soon as I could!

2012 Pritikin Health Resort Miami - St. Louis Post Dispatch

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:17:00 +0000

Get your copy and check out this weekend's St. Louis Post Dispatch in the Home & Away section for our latest travel story to Miami to the Pritikin Health Resort. It's a beautiful resort area adjacent to the PGA Doral golf course. I've highlighted a few of my favorite shots here, but the shot above was the cover shot and turned out beautiful in print. Also, just so you know, I waded into the water with all my gear to get this shot.

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:28:00 +0000

St Peters ADM Hockey team and individual pictures are now live and ready to order. Included are U8 Red, White and Blue Teams 1&2 as well as some U6 players that day. Direct link found in Client Proofs or direct link here.

2011 Fisher Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0000

Congratulations to Michael and Cathrine Fisher! Last October we had the opportunity to shoot Michael and Cathrine's wedding and hit some important spots through the area, especially the track and field up at the school where the sparks first started to fly on the high school track. In addition to shooting downtown at Kiener Plaza, we also got caught in the middle of the Occupy St. Louis movement. Michael is currently stationed in Alaska, and we all wish them the best of luck and hope to see them in the not so distant future for more (family) pics!

Luxe Photography in the Official Super Bowl Visitor's Guide for Indy 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:42:00 +0000

I was notified by the visitor's bureau in Indianapolis that one of my pictures from our travel story was being used in the 2012 Official Super Bowl Visitor's Guide. I'm pretty excited. Read about how I got this picture and check out the other Indy shots that I posted a few months ago here. To see a copy of the actual guide, click here.

2012 St. Louis Blues Practice - Mill's Mall

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Made it out to the St. Louis Blues' practice last week while the kiddos were out of school so they could see their favorites up close and personal. I absolutely love going to practices because it's really the only chance I have at taking shots right on the glass without anyone throwing me out (I've been escorted out a couple of times at places). I really love these shots and wish I could do it more often. The shot here of Kevin Shattenkirk is currently being used as his Twitter avatar. Pretty neat, huh. More shots of Kevin, David Perron, Chris Stewart and Andy McDonald below.

2011 Jefferson City Travel - St. Louis Post Dispatch

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:10:00 +0000

A few of my shots I took on our last trip to Jefferson City, MO. for a travel story for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Some of the pics were in this weekend's Home & Away section, which you can see on STLToday.com/travel. With the session out for winter, we had the place to ourselves, aside from one other couple from Massachusetts. We're very lucky to have a beautiful state capitol building and if you get a chance to go, don't forget to take a lightweight tripod! The low lighting is impossible to hand shoot.

2011 St. Peters ADM Team White - Jefferson City Tournament

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:42:00 +0000

St. Peters' ADM White Team #1 traveled down to Jefferson City to play in their latest jamboree tournament. The team looked great and came away winning all five of their games. Parents and players can view tournament pictures here.

2011 Williams

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:54:00 +0000

Life photography. I've known Nikki and Johnny for years now. I shot their wedding. I shot Carly Jo as a baby. I've seen her grow each year. And now I get to shoot baby Callen. You become more than just a photographer. Here are a few moments into our last shoot together.

2011 Lewellan

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:39:00 +0000

I love showing the Lewellan family as a perfect example on how the evolution of the relationship between a family and their photographer progresses over time. Each session we've had, everyone becomes more comfortable in "how things work." As a photographer, you learn personalities and ways to dismantle the walls that tend to come up when someone throws a camera in the mix. Every photographer wants to get to the real essence of what's inside their clients, and that comes with time and trust. Locations can become more "exotic" and different as each year goes by.

2011 Indianapolis Travel Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:41:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, the wife and I packed up the kids and headed to Indianapolis for a travel story she was doing for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Full article details and some of my pictures here. Trip by car wasn't too bad although it seemed like half of Interstate 70 was under construction which slowed us up a bit (total 4-5 hours). The hotel we stayed at was Crowne Plaza and her review here. Within just a few days, we enjoyed a bit of everything, which I sample below for your photographic pleasures. In the next post, I'll share some of my pictures of the Occupy Indy movement - I had some time before a breakfast meeting and ran across the street to check them out.

Fantastic place we ate for breakfast - Taste. Wasn't sure about the location, but once inside it was a beautiful place, well decorated and the food...OH MY GOSH - yes as good as the picture! A must go!

Below, some views of a great childrens' museum.

Probably some of the best fun we had with the boys. Rhythm. Very cool place where you can go through and experience the full spectrum of sound - hands on. My favorite was huge sound mixing contraption used for cartoons and below, a storage area for various instruments.

Last day in Indianapolis on our way back to the hotel getting ready to leave, I was lucky to run into one of the lucky artists in charge of painting giant murals throughout the city. So cool to see them in action.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Not a big race guy here, but super impressive to walk on the track. I had no clue on the size, and even now, it feels pretty neat to say we were standing on the tracks and on the famous bricks!

Below, some shots of the Indianapolis Zoo. We're luck here in St. Louis to have a great zoo ourselves, but here in Indy, they have a gem as well. We didn't have time to go through the whole area, but because it was raining, we appeared to have the whole place to ourselves.

Connor Prairie - Sort of a Grant's Farm type area for us St. Louis people. As a photographer, we hit jackpot coming in the Fall. It was absolutely beautiful. Several times the family got so far ahead of me because of all the detours and distractions.

Indianapolis Children's Museum - I could spend days here and I really wish St. Louis would take note. This place was current, dynamic, relevant and interesting.

Some views of downtown Indy. Lots of construction, but the city is getting ready for the next Super Bowl. They were doing a ton of work. Should look great when the Colts make it to the big game this year! Even despite all of the construction, you could tell Indy is a beautiful city. One night we even had a chance to do a little carriage ride - and my 5 yo dropped his shoe during the ride. Had to stop and run back to get it. Wouldn't have been a family trip without stuff like that happening!

New: Luxe Profiles!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:12:00 +0000

We're all on some kind of social media outlet whether it is Facebook, Google+ or Twitter and have seen the same tired old photos of our friends, co-workers and family. The old shot where you've cropped out your ex. The shot where you look good...at the bar...and have to crop out the drunk guy - or is that your husband? Do we really want these to be our visual representations in our social media worlds?

Luxe Profiles will change that. Fun, edgy, high end - with class. A few weeks ago, I asked for some volunteers to help with starting this project/service and I got some great responses. So whether you are that young professional, have your own business or a stay-at-home mom juggling 3 kids and 3 blogs, it's probably time to get a Luxe Profile done.

For more information, see our "Luxe Profiles" tab at the top of the page.

Below, please meet my beautiful volunteers. One is a SAHM of 4, and the other two are working moms of 2.

Yogurt Ad

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:06:00 +0000

One of my latest shoots was with a client of mine that wanted to take shots of the family in the house they were selling before moving. All of their kids had been born while at this house so we wanted to make this super special. Will post some more shots soon, but couldn't wait to show this one. It looks straight out of a magazine ad for yogurt! We were actually taking a break - which just reminds me the best shots are when you least expect it sometimes!

2011 Celebrating 70!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:50:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to hang out with a fierce group of ladies celebrating their 70 years of life, love and fun. They had been together since kindergarten! Within 30 minutes of arriving to shoot, we had come up with some crazy ideas for shots and at one point we managed to get everyone in the bed for a group shot and I had one ask, "do you think we can squeeze everyone into the bathroom...or shower???" It was a blast. Thank you all for having me out. Next time I'm in for some cards and dominoes too!

2011 Swaykus

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:31:00 +0000

2011 Schulze

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 01:52:00 +0000

4th of July Fireworks - Giving it a Try!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:55:00 +0000

I've never had much success shooting fireworks. It probably is because I don't think about how to shoot them till last minute and I'm scrambling to get something usable. This year, thanks to Twitter, I saw some photographers post some general guidelines on where to start with shooting fireworks. I'm pretty happy with what I've got on my "first real try" but I realized while editing what is keeping them from being what I think I envision in my head - a skyline or prominent feature to bring them to scale. Also, I'm too close to the action. Which, since I'm at a park enjoying with my family, I don't have much control over. Always next time. So, the basics: tripod, manual, shutter around 2 seconds and aperture set around 10. I read to have focus just under infinity. I tried that and at infinity and didn't quite nail the focus.

So here I present the fireworks show at Weldon Spring City Hall Park, July 4th, 2011. They put on a great show for us every year and all the residents love and appreciate it!

2011 Disney Alaska Cruise 2 of 2: Alaska

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:22:00 +0000

I don't know how one can mange narrowing down over 2,000 pictures to showcase just a few of a Disney cruise, much less Alaska. The bottom line to this trip to Vancouver and then up through Alaska on a Disney cruise is that it was nothing short of amazing. If you do have kids (even if you don't, shoot, my wife and I would still have loved it being big Disney fans), you have to try and do one of these cruises in your lifetime. For a photographer, there was an unlimited amount of things to point your lens at - which, at times, is a problem cause you find you are only enjoying through a viewfinder. Guilty. I found I had to just accept that I was going to leave the gear in our cabin. Below is just the tip of the iceberg of the trip - details and tips in the wife's travel story for the Post Dispatch.

The pictures above are of the Disney Wonder. Hard to imagine a more majestic backdrop than the snow-capped Alaskan mountains. Snow, glaciers, waterfalls. Add in whales, seals and bald eagles, what else could someone with a camera want? One of my favorite shots was of the Disney Wonder sailing out of Vancouver and the bridge in the distance marking the start of our journey.

The pictures above show the view of the ship at night. One of the best parts of the cruise was there was so much for families to do, often times you found yourself alone in areas up on the deck to enjoy the scenery. I bet one of the best sunsets the dad above has ever had. Each night, they would show a signature Disney movie outdoors above their main pool. Now, this is Alaska, so it was a bit chilly and only the bravest kids (few adults) were in the (heated) pool enjoying at night, but if you wrapped up in a blanket and didn't mind some wind, it was a pretty cool experience.

Inside the Wonder, each night was a great Disney produced show. These were always packed. Our boys loved them.

The picture above kind of wraps up how I would have felt being around Belle! My wife and I love Beauty and the Beast and one of my goals on the trip was to get my pictures with Belle. But I never did. My one chance we saw her strolling through the ship and if I hadn't left my camera in the room to "enjoy" the trip, I would have gotten my shot! Really the only bummer on my trip.

Here's how it was most of the time for Belle (above). Every little girl seemed to have a princess outfit on and each got a big hug and smile. I have to give a lot of credit to all the characters for being fantastic. When I think of Disney now, I think of how they treat people. It's by far some of the best service I've ever experienced. Kids and adults.

Yeah, so taking a boat through some narrow passage ways via fjords was kind of unsettling at first. Especially when you sprinkle in some icebergs along the way. Did we just ram through the icebergs or what? Above you see the Sawyer glacier. Pretty impressive when the ship stopped right in front of it. Also, note the picture of the ultra blue glacier. The reason? That's ice that is so dense and compact that only blue light is able to reflect. Areas on the glacier that are that blue are pieces that have just broken off. We were also lucky to see a big chunk fall and make some waves.

Above, pictures from our most adventurous outing. Humpback whale watching and rainforest hike. We were EXTREMELY lucky to see 7 different humpbacks during our whale watch tour and I got a coveted whale tail shot (that scientists use to mark and identify whales from Hawaii to Alaska). One whale completely breached the water as we were speeding toward our rainforest hike, but I didn't have my camera ready to catch that one.

Again, very hard to narrow down to a reasonable amount of pics to show of both Alaska and Vancouver. I felt very lucky to have the opportunity to be there and shoot. Just some things I would keep in mind for an outing like this with photographers - get a dual strap and carry 2 camera bodies with a wide and a telephoto. I only had one and I kept switching back and forth and nearly dropped my lens a few times and trying to protect from the elements (blowing debris and drizzle) when you switch around is a bear! Take a plastic camera/lens sleeve. Just a couple extra dollars but saved me on iceberg day when we had rain. Do you have an battery charger? Take 2. And on the extra charger, get one that chargers several different kinds of batteries. Had one photographer in a panic on the ship that didn't have his and was down to his last battery - not the same Canon model I had. Usually, you end up talking to other pro/am shooters with big gear anyway and everyone is very eager to help when possible. I took the guy's battery and charged it for him in my room and gave back to him the next day.

2011 Vancouver - Part 1 of 2 Disney Cruise to Alaska

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Sirimaturos) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Our eleven day trip is over and I'm scrambling to get caught up on pictures for the upcoming St. Louis Post Dispatch review my wife is doing for our Alaskan Disney Cruise. Our stay in Vancouver was too short - less than two days, but here are a few pictures I thought were fun from the places we had time to see - Downtown Vancouver, Vancouver Aquarium and Granville Island.

The shot above is my favorite of the Vancouver trip. This is on Granville Island. We are just outside huge marketplace and this is a gathering area where people can eat their food, hand out and take in the downtown skyline. As I was going through editing, this shot reminded me of the opening scene of Moulin Rouge. Somewhat. If you've seen the movie, let me know what you think.

The above shot here was my alternate shot to use, but there are too many things that didn't turn out on it that I was hoping for. Obviously, the couple taking a moment to kiss was the key, but I wish I had reversed focused and had them as the main subject. Also, I kind of hoped I could see the musician's profile a bit more.

Ok, so let's get the riots out of the way. The above two pictures were from strolling around downtown. Lot's of windows boarded up, but the nice thing was getting a bit closer to see all the kind and supportive comments from people around the city and those visiting. After taking the shot, I added our own words of support and then realized later I had misspelled Vancouver. I'm too embarrassed to show you that picture.

I posted the above picture more for the story than anything. There were a few street performers around as we walked the city and this gentleman and his dog were playing on a street corner next to an asian food cart. While my wife was asking about finding a great sushi place to eat with a local, I snapped a shot of this guy...who then proceeded to yell at me...and I couldn't understand what he was saying. Maybe he didn't like his picture taken without permission or that he expected a tip for taking his picture. I don't know. I did what most of us would do, I smiled and nodded and slowly walked away.

Speaking of sushi, the above picture was our dinner that night. All four of us (including the 4 & 6yo) feasted. It was so good. I'm convinced it was better than sushi here in our hometown of St. Louis ;-)

These four shots above are from the Shedd Aquarium. A must for anyone to see when in Vancouver. I've always wanted to get a great action, bird-in-flight shot of an eagle - and this is the closest I've come so far. If you look closely, you'll see a strap attached to the leg - this was the aquarium eagle they used for shows. He'd swoop over the crowd and land in some line of trees in the back and come back. Unfortunately, this time, he swooped out and then was joined by some wild eagles and our handler had to end the show early to "rescue" her bird. Not sure what happened after that. Also, a couple shots of jelly fish...I think they are the coolest thing to try and photograph at an aquarium because of the lighting.

So back to the Granville Market, the above 5 pictures don't do it justice. This place is huge and you can find just about anything here to eat. So many fresh ingredients, so little time and money to bring home to St. Louis, Missouri. From a photography standpoint, I could have spent all day shooting texture, color, action...but I'd probably gain 30lbs doing so. I'm so jealous of this place. I want to move to Vancouver now!

I love birds. I could spend hours just waiting to get that one shot. I'm sort of partial to blue herrons simply because it's the most exotic looking bird we see often in our area in St. Louis around the lakes and rivers so it's almost like seeing a distant relative of a bird I know from our hometown! Just thought this was a pretty shot with lots of texture of the seaweed in background. This was taken from a dock in downtown Vancouver.

Finally, another view of the Vancouver downtown skyline. As we drove in, I told my wife the skyline looks like something in the movie Inception. Very hard edges. The city looks young, hip, full of energy - but a laid back energy. Everything seemed clean and fresh. Safe. Beautiful. Just wish we had more time to spend there.