Feeding My Addiction

Where does the time go???

I realized that when I decided to blog, it would be an on going effort to keep it up to date. For a while I had no trouble adding a new post, almost daily. It was new and fun, but after a few short months it became more of a chore to keep the blog going. I really don't know if anyone is actually visiting the blog and viewing the photos; I often think about adding a post, but life sometimes gets in the way. Anyway, here are a few photos I've created since I last posted. Enjoy!

Around the House

Though I wish that I had a shoot everyday, the fact is I don't. So, to keep my skills sharp and to continue to learn new techniques, I shoot random photos around the house or around town. It was really cold today, so I stayed indoors and shot. I was experimenting with using my speedlight off the camera. I mounted the light on a tripod and carried around with me looking for cool shots. I like these. They're shots of my kids' toys, some candles, a cross that hangs in our hallway, and a butterfly that hangs from the ceiling in my daughter's room. Thanks for looking.

Trash the Dress

I have wanted to do a "trash the dress" shoot from the day I found out what it was. For those of you who don't know what this type of session entails, it's pretty much a girl trashing a wedding dress in some way. Many times this means that she is in a body of water, but I've seen photos of girls with their dress burning (imposed), or muddy, or covered in paint, and so on. A good friend of mine volunteered to be my guinea pig for a shoot. I thought immediately about chocolate syrup, and paint. My wife thought of soap bubbles, I'm proud of her. :) Rachel looked great in her dress, and we started off doing some formal shots. Some of my favorite photographs came out of these shots. We then moved on to chocolate syrup, followed by purple paint, and finished up with the soap bubbles. My wife, improving on her idea, thought of using a foot bath that we have to make the bubbles, so we were able to set the bath in the middle of the set and let it go until we had enough to get the shots. Overall, I am very pleased with this session. It was a lot of fun, and quite messy, but more importantly, Rachel did an excellent job. She looked fantastic, and the photographs are some of my best. Enjoy!

The Thompson Family

I've met some really great people in the past year while doing photography. I can't believe it's been a year already! I've spent time photographing individuals, families, objects, and events; I've loved every minute of it. When I started the business, I was quite nervous about how I was going to be able to attract new clients, but as I worked this past year some pretty cool things have happened. The most important lessons I've learned is: 1) Create great photographs, and 2) Give your clients what they ask for while creating things they may not know could exist. I've met some of the nicest families doing this job, and the Thompson family one of the nicest. I've done a couple sessions with them already, and did some product photography for one of their employers based on their recommendation. When we have our session, we work in their home, which by the way is so full of color and interesting items it makes a fantastic backdrop. They are always so welcoming and generally happy to have their photos taken that it's a pleasure working with them. They are a good looking family, and I look forward to many more sessions with them. Enjoy!

Energy in a Can

Sometimes, when you are constantly on the go you need a boost of energy. I avoided energy drinks for years because I figured they all taste as terrible as Red Bull does. Even they know their drink tastes bad. I once saw a print ad for Red Bull that showed a can, and a checklist of three features. It read something like: Boosts Energy - Check, Natural Ingredients - Check, Tastes Great - "no check". I thought that was really good marketing; since they were being honest about the flavor of their energy drink no one could be disappointed when they took a sip.

Amp, on the other had, tastes pretty good. The flavor resembles that of those green freezer pops in the plastic tubes; which by the way, is my favorite flavor of freezer pops. Amp is made by PepsiCo and is pretty close to the flavor of Diet Mountain Dew. Wait....I'm not trying to advertise for Amp, I am just illustrating my addiction to it!

This picture is an ode to my newest vise. The can was sitting on my desk aching to photographed. I do like the colors in this photo, and of course the can was soon empty after I captured this image.

Dog Days

So, the black and white dog, Gizmo, doesn't really care for the tan and white, Jake. On this day, however, they were as close as they had been up to this point. They were laying on the deck looking all lazy while watching from beneath the railing. I couldn't resist taking the photo, and adding some sort of saying. The only fitting thing I could think of was "Dog Days of Summer." Not very original I know, but I thought it was cute.