Peter Holcombe Photography Blog

I had the pleasure to Photograph the Gawey family on a wonderful spring afternoon during our recent tour of Oklahoma. Coming from Cold almost warm Colorado to the full spring of Oklahoma was like having a time machine. Kathy and I really enjoyed getting to know the Gawey’s.

For the past four years, I have returned to my hometown of Oklahoma City to photograph the people and places from my youth. Three years ago, on a trip to photograph the historic homes of downtown Oklahoma City, I photographed Ian in the Myriad Gardens, a beautiful botanical sanctuary in downtown Oklahoma City. This year, I thought Bricktown would be a fun location to photograph Ian. Bricktown is a beautifully restored downtown area in Oklahoma City that was nearly abandoned and has now been brought back to life as one of the city’s hot spots for shopping and dining. It features red brick warehouses and sports a man made river that flows through the entire area like a road complete with water taxies. With lots of color, texture and dynamic light from the setting sun we couldn’t have gone wrong. The new NBA team, OKC Thunder, was playing the LA lakers having beaten them twice for the playoffs. The streets were full of fans going to eat before the big game and there was live music playing in several of the nearby restaurants. This just added to the excitement of the shoot! I was surprised how much Ian had grown in the past three years and we had a great time capturing the action that evening in Bricktown.

Kathy and I have just returned from a busy week of shooting in Oklahoma. I grew up in Oklahoma City and it is fun to get the opportunity to come home and create images in my home state.

This is the wonderful Matlock Family. Mrs. Matlock was my 4th grade music teacher, and it was so neat to get to photograph her family around their charming country home just outside Oklahoma City.   We photographed in the areas around their home climbing trees, trundeling rocks (on accident) from their waterfall and relaxing around the Koi pond off their back porch. I think the images reflect all of the fun we had exploring the beauty surrounding the Matlock home.

It was 498 days ago today when I first met the Jaffe family to discuss creating a series of wall portraits for their new home. We began this project with a consultation in their home where we decided to do a shoot for each child featuring them in a unique location that illustrated their individual interests and character. Because each session was custom designed for the seven family members, we knew that it would take some time to complete this project. We began the fall of 2008 with Brianna and then had to wait for summer for Caleb to be photographed playing golf, Mariah and her contagious energy, Dani and her kitty, and finally fall for the eldest son Steve and family portrait of everyone - six sessions total. It has been a wonderful journey with the entire family, spending individual time with each person and then watching them interact together as a family.

In the process we have created 10 beautiful pieces for the wall for their new home and fun holiday cards.  It seemed so natural that we compile the remaining images into a book. I am really happy with how the book has ended up. It has a different chapter for each child and is made in our organic series with a beautiful zebra wood cover. I am so happy to create this book as I know it is going to become a treasured family heirloom. These books gain in value as time passes and life goes on. I hope to be able to capture their family history from now on with this project being the start of many great holiday cards and family history books.

Click Play to see the Jaffe Family Portrait Storybook!