Erin Levins
Videographer - Photographer - Digital Artist - Graphic Designer - Public Relations Writer
Concert Photography
When I have the opportunity to shoot a concert, I'm not shooting it from a press area. In fact, I have never had an official "photo pass." When shooting concert photography, I try to capture intimate experiences by the musicians on stage. It is very rare that I choose to include the crowd in my concert photography. I like to recreate the experience of an individual standing in the crowd, watching every move the musicians make with particular attention to nunced details. I regularly utilize Dutch angles for two main reasons: to fit the entire instrument in the frame and to give a sense of motion and energy to the still shots of the performers.
Portraits
Some of my favorite portraits are impromptu portraits of my friends. Capturing someone in their most natural, honest state is very rewarding. I often spend time with my subjects before picking up my camera to make sure that they feel comfortable with me before I start shooting. When I shoot in a studio environment, I like to play with light and shadow as well as extreme backlighting.
Animals
Growing up in New Orleans, I spent a lot of time at the Audubon Zoo and the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas taking photographs of the stunning wildlife that those institutions have in their care.
I approach photographing animals in the same way that I approach photographing people, in that I want them to feel natural and comfortable while I just capture their natural state.
Armstrong Park New Orleans, LA
Paris, France
St.Louis Cathedral New Orleans, LA
Poe Springs Park High Springs, FL
Piety Street Recording Studio New Orleans, LA
New Orleans, LA
Murfreesboro, TN
Natchez, MS
New Orleans, LA
When I capture an image of a particular location, I look for colors, contrast and overall mood. One angle could give an entirely different feel from another angle. My hometown of New Orleans is extremely photogenic, but when I'm exploring, I like to find things that haven't been photographed before, at least not in a particular way. My main goal in location photography is to represent the true essense of the place in a single image, as well as shine new light on the place by showing it from a new angle. I want the viewer to feel nostalgia for somewhere they may not have been before.
Places
Objects
It's difficuly to take a bad image of something beautiful, so when I photograph things like flowers, I try to find ways to make them pop from all of the other photographs of flowers. I enjoy finding unique color schemes and using highly selective focus to create a very specific optical center. Working with light and the use of bokeh is very rewarding for me as well. When photographing objects, I never stage any scene, I just find the best way to capture it.