Winter Funk

I can't explain it really. It's just a funk. A winter funk. Photography work starts to slow down and so does the longing to take pictures. Maybe deep down I needed a break and it was my body's way of saying "Give it a rest." I'm starting to break out of that funk and it feels wonderful. Maybe it's all the brides and grooms I've been meeting, maybe it's the warner weather, or maybe it's the end of a much needed break. All I know is I cannot wait for the first wedding to arrive. I can't wait to see what kind of art we produce this wedding season. It's going to be a fun ride and I hope you stick with me through it.

Here's a photo I captured on the way to the bus stop the other day.

Camera on the fence

Capturing my family

I was able to capture every member of my family in this shot (except for myself.) I seem to be in few of the family photos since I'm usually behind the camera.

A woman and her Dad

They drank iced tea together while contemplating life's quandries. Swinging back and forth and ignoring the guy with a camera right behind them. :)

Ken and Melissa Sneak Preview Engagement session

On Thursday we shot Ken and Melissa's engagement photos in downtown Royal Oak. Stay tuned for the full post on this one. For now, here's a sneak peak.

No longer camera shy

Here's a shot that took a bit of coaxing to get. This boy did not want his picture taken. I could tell by the way he covered his eyes and said the words "no pictures." This is where the LCD screen on the camera comes in real handy. I take a shot and show him the picture. He get's intrigued a bit. Then I let him press the shutter and take a picture himself. This makes him even more intrigued and all he wants to do is press the shutter button. I got about 50 shots of my chin to get this one gem of a shot. I think it turned out ok, and now there is one less camera shy boy in the world.

Meet Jack

When I put the camera to my eye I want to instinctively know what to do to get the shot. In order to do this my method of choice is to carry my camera with me everywhere so that when it comes time to "get the shot without thinking" I will be prepared. This is an example of a shot that I took while carrying my camera with me today. Meet Jack. He's a Jack Russell Terrier with the amazing ability to jump about 4 feet off the ground.

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.

Hey, Camera Guy

Hey, Camera Guy!

What's that guy doing with the camera? This a sneak peak to the sneak peak from yesterday's fall color shoot with an amazing family. I'll post more tomorrow. We toured the lovely Van Hoosen Farms in Rochester for this fall colors shoot, and I am extremely excited with the results. I am still working through the images, but here's one shot for now. Can you see me (the camera guy) in this photo?

Wedding Video

Wedding Video

Another shot from this weekend's wedding. I know it's not the typical wedding photo, but this one was really great and I just had to post it. I like the way it captures the wedding in a dual form.

Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 400

The Running From Camera Challenge Is On!

A good challenge helps to inspire creativity and keeps you striving for a goal to become better. My friend and fellow blogger Kevin from Kevin's Photography and I have agreed to a photography challenge this week. This week's challenge is called "Running From Camera" inspired from the blog with the same name.

The rules for this challenge match those of the Running From Camera blog:
"I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can."

So next Thursday March 27th, Kevin and I will post the result of this weeks challenge on our blogs, so stay tuned and see how creative we can become. Maybe we can get people to vote for their favorite :)