I love my new job

I love my new job. On second thought, I should rephrase that: I love my new life. Yes, that's much better.

I got the awesome chance to reconnect with an old friend of mine by shooting photos of her little family for her. Mandy, Tom, and their new addition, Trace, asked me to do some photos for them. I had so much fun hanging out and just doing what I do. October in Colorado can be hit and miss sometimes, but I'm glad this evening was really a smashing success! Seriously... we had a ton of fun... Yeah yeah, I know I can't get over it. :-)




I know Mandy from back in high school. We did marching band together and that always creates lasting bonds. It's always fun running into an old friend from marching band and it's really like you haven't seen them in weeks.... not years. It was fun talking with Mandy and Tom about Trace and their birthing experience. It's not usually a "dude's" place to talk about giving birth, but I'm pretty passionate about the subject, so it's a blast to find someone else that sees things even remotely to the way I do. Trace is huge for a six-month-old and he's got quite the personality. The four of us clicked really well, and we'll probably be hanging out more often than once every 12 years. :-)



I really love Arvada. It had to grow on me, but when it took hold.... it grew on me quick. There are all sorts of little patches of this, places of that, and pieces of beauty spread around the city. When I talked to Mandy about locations, I knew the Kipling green belt would be perfect. Thousands of people drive right by it every day. It's a gem. It's a secret. Don't tell anyone it's there. :-)

The Old New Old.

So if it's not evident by now, I love film. I really do. There's nothing quite like it. The whole Film vs Digital thing is really a No Contest with me. They both do different things better than the other. They both suck in their own ways too.

I've decided that digital cameras must be an American invention. "We want out photos. We want them now. We want them with a bag of chips." Why else would the Nikon D3S have 11 fps? Seriously? You can't really say sports shooting. Saying that is like saying that sports photography didn't exist before digital cameras. Tell that to all the Sports Illustrated photographers before 1995 and they'll cry.

I've also decided that film cameras were made my the Italians... or maybe the French. "We'll get our photos finished after lunch...maybe. It's Tuesday. We have a wide open schedule, but we're not sure when they'll get done. They'll be beautiful we can assure you. Can you please pass the baguette?"

They're just different beasts. One thing
is for sure: Digital cameras have changed a lot about photography, but the basics are still the same. It still takes a moment to think about the photo you're going to make.

Okay, you're right: More than one thing is for sure.

I'm seriously considering using film for personal work. Why? Well.... it's personal. Speaking of personal, these photos here are of some poor girl that against all good judgment decided to let me use her for personal work. No, just kidding. Lauren is a good friend of mine. It's so awesome to have someone that will just let you be "at work" creatively. I could probably tar and feather her in the name of art and she'd be excited about it. There's nothing better than someone
else being excited about your work. More photos of her are on my flickr.

In any case, I'll be looking at
picking up a 100ft roll of Ilford XP2 Super fairly soon. Yes, I'll need to roll it, and YES It's still C41, but I figure I'll add to my workload a step at a time...

The Holidays

The holidays have always been fun for me. A few years ago I asked my grandmother if we could rake the leaves in their front yard. What? You ask why I volunteered to do work? Simple. I wanted a Charlie Brown moment. You know the one. In It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown there is a scene where Charlie is raking leaves and Linus jumps into the huge pile of leaves with his wet sucker and sends the leaves flying everywhere. I wanted to be Linus. I wanted to run and jump into a huge pile of leaves and make a mess of everything in my attempt to feel like an 8-year-old. It was so much fun! If you haven't done that lately (or ever) you're missing out.

Seriously. Go act like an 5-year-old.

If you've forgotten how to be 5,
you can ask my daughter, Brooklynn, if she has some time to give you private instruction. I'd book now, though. She's pretty busy being 5.

You haven't the time? Well, it's time to make
some time. If you've read some previous posts of mine, or you've had a 30 minute conversation about photography with me, you'll know how I feel about holiday photos. I'm all about them. I think you should be all about them too. So in order to get you and I in the same place at the same time and have our own Charlie Brown moments, I'm going to make sure that you get the chance to have a wet sucker just like Linus did. So here's the deal: Mention this post and book your holiday photos with me by October 30th, 2010 and I'll take $100 off your shoot. Seriously. $100 off. I want to make sure you have great photos for the holidays. Whether you want to jump in a huge pile of leaves with your kids, or run up "the hill" and get some beautiful trees behind you, or even a plain ol' shot in studio, I've got you covered. I'm passionate about making sure that my friends and family (and future friends and family) have awesome photos made of them.