Gymnastics Salute

Today was another day of gymnastics photography. Here's a boy getting ready to perform on the floor exercise. I thought this shot was a nice study of the moment with the flag in the background.

Senior Picture Prep

This boy is no senior in high school, but he does like the camera. I've been working with some new lighting in preperation for some indoor portraits.

Meet my alarm system

Man's best friend is also a great alarm system. Here's my dog playing in the snow. We have several inches of the stuff right now.

Smurfit-Stone Building

You know your a photographer when you go out in the freezing cold before the sunrise to capture photographs of buildings. Here is the Smurfit-Stone Building framed with some trees. You may remember this building from the movie Adventures in Babysitting. The was the first building I really noticed when I came to Chicago for the first time, and I am still mezmorized by it.

White House Wedding Chapel

I have the great fortune to shoot several weddings this year and I am looking forward to each and every one of them. I can't wait to capture those moments in time and to document one of the most important day's of people's lives. The above shot was taken last summer at the White House Wedding Chapel in Warren Michigan.

Casual Portrait

I met this business man at the Townsend hotel in downtown Birmingham for this casual portrait shoot. We walked the streets and took some great portraits including formal business suit shots as well as casual shots like the one above. This one was my favorite from the day because it captures his natural smile.

Dog Portraits

Meet Tootsie, a loveable poodle and all around mans best friend. These photos were taken with natural light because the flash would have spooked her. Another thing that spooked her was the focus "beep" of the camera. Every time the camera beeped in focus Tootsie would get nervous because she thought it was the electric fence dog collar going off. I quickly turned off the beep for this shoot and got some great shots. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Last Bean Shots

These are my last two shots of the bean in Chicago. I realy like the contrast of the curves with the straight buildings.

Eat and Get Out

Ed D'bevics restaurant in Chicago is one of my favorite places to dine. This 50s style diner is an all around great experience and I recommend you go at least once in your lifetime.

Walk along the Magnificent Mile

Here are a couple pictures from my photo walk along the magnificent mile in Chicago. Michigan Avenue has a lot to offer photographically. Here are two of my favorites from the walk.

Bean Alone

Here's another look at the bean.

The Bean in Chicago

I was rewarded nicely on this morning photo walk as the sun rose this weekend. There were no people here at the bean yet giving me ample time to compose the shots I wanted without people around. The warm sun was rising in the east over lake Michigan and it was VERY cold outside. I love the city of Chicago. Stay tuned for more pics from this amazing city.

Capture images that mean something

Strive to capture images that mean something. I try to fill the frame with emotion, with passion, with love, with grief, with fun, with beauty, and with meaning. I have several weddings to shoot this year, and I look forward to capturing those moments that need to be remembered and those moments that have meaning. Capturing the bride touch her new husband's shoulder, or just a shot of the ring being placed on the finger for the first time. I look forward to seeing the father of the Bride through the view finder and capturing that moment when he cries or the expression he has on his face during the Daddy daughter dance. I capture images that means something, and that means the world to me.

Here's a shot that means a lot to me:

No posts this weekend. On vacation in Chicago.

Sorry blog readers. I'm in Chicago for the weekend with no Internet connection. I am taking thousands of pictures here and will be posting some amazing stuff on Monday.

Jumping At Spartain Stadium

Ok, I couldn't resist one more photo from last week's Jumping around lansing tour.

Jumping Around Lansing continued

Another photo from the jumping around Lansing tour. This is in front of Michigan State's Spartain Stadium. Go Green!

Jumping Around Lansing

A jumping tour of Lansing brought us to the Capital building. It was on this very location that I learned how to do a back handspring.

Toys Photo Challenge

This week's challenge with Guyot Photography is to capture the concept of TOYS. My immediate thought when I heard this term was a toy store going out of business. So I went all photo journalistic on this one and took to the mall. I had a vision in my head of what this show would look like, but my vision was altered when I approached a store that I thought was still in business. I had no idea that this store was really going out of business when I brought my camera, so I dedided to capture the emptiness of the store along with the bright signs. Signs of the times right now "Going Out of Business", "Everything Must Go!", "Entire Store 50-70% Off"

Gymnastics and 50,000 shutter releases

The Nikon D80 is rated for 50,000 shutter releases. That means after 50 thousand clicks of the shutter there is a chance that it will start to fail. Well mine started to fail yesterday during the gymnastics competition and I was not happy about it. I was still able to capture about 1000 good images, but the thing that struck me was how quickly this camera started to fail on me. I have only had this camera for 14 months (conveniently after the warranty is up of course.) I guess Nikon will be giving my camera a tuneup soon. This also gives me a great opportunity to upgrade to the D300.

DIA Posers

Models posing for the camera on the steps of the DIA last week. I think their trying a bit too hard to get the right pose.

Wedding Rings

Today has been an exploration of wedding ring photography as practice and idea generation for the several weddings planned this summer. I tried many different themes with the rings, and here is one of those such experiments.

Knightly Shadow

The sun was setting through the windows, the mirrors were twinikling in the air in the ceiling above, and this night was standing at attention for all to see. The shadow cast by this knight was the first thing I saw and I knew the composition was waiting for me to capture it.

Picasso's Business Card

Here's a look at Picasso's business card, well it's my interpretation of it. This is a photo of Picasso's actual signature taken at the DIA last week.

And here's MY new business Card. Let me know what you think. Here's the front:

And here's a look at the back:



Email me your address if you would like one of these really cool business cards.

Bread and Wine In Focus

I am forever honing my craft of photography, and this photo is one of those experimental moments that really worked. I threw the camera in a wide open aperture of F2.8 which creates a strip of what is in focus and the rest gets blurred really quickly. My intent was to put focus on Jesus in the center and then blur the rest into obscurity.

Dia Sketch

I have been experimenting with different features of Paint.Net, and the paint sketch feature usually bothers me. However, applying it to the right photo makes it look like an artist really sketched it.

Wedding Kiss

On a recent review of my wedding porfolio I came across this wonderful moment form last year, and I thought I would share with you blog readers. The bride and groom were so giddy and happy to be married on this day that photos like this were a joy to capture.

Contemplation

I call this piece "contemplation" because I wonder what this woman is thinking. Ok, I know it's a statue, but go with me on this.

Symmetry

I was immediately drawn to this sculpture today because of the symmetry of the lines and how fluid it looked.

DIA Corner

Today we spent several hours admiring other peoples art work at the DIA. This atrium was begging me to photograph it. The lighting in this room was amazing and allowed me to really capture a lot of features in the architecture.

A Year of Pictures

I began this blog a year ago in an attempt to keep myself shooting and to continually improve my photographic skills. The year was filled with great images, many of which I have shared with you and many many others I have not. I began the year photo walking the streets of New Orleans taking shots like this one.

From New Orleans I began carrying my camera with me everywhere and snapping pictures of things that I had been seeing all of my life. I really found my niche photographing people and telling their stories through a series of photographs. This passion led me to starting my photography business later in the year and it has been a whole lot of fun.

I was able to capture the stories of several families and meet some incredible people along the way.

I had the great pleasure to photograph two weddings this year and I really enjoyed it. I have more weddings on the booked this year and can't wait to work with those brides and grooms. Shooting a wedding is an amazing challenge, but the best part is meeting the people and capturing the moments that unfold.

I was given the amazing opportunity this year to follow freshman quarterback Sean Charette on the football field for each home game. This talented young man took the team all the way to Ford Field for the state finals. Shooting on Ford Field was the highlight of my photographic journey last year and one I will never forget.

I'm excited for the year ahead and can't wait to see what photos come from my camera. I will continue to carry my camera with me everywhere, and the rules of my blog still stand. Post a new picture every day. The picture that was taken must have been taken within a week of the post. Thanks for following me on my photographic journey. I look forward to another year of pictures.