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.

In motion

I don't know about you, but I love motion in photos. Static subjects can be quite beautiful but shots where you know something or someone was moving always take the cake for me. I got this shot of my little one the other day. All I did was ask her to shake her head really fast. After I showed her exactly what I meant I got several frames of awesomeness. This one takes the cake.

I'd like to do more of these, but we gave her a haircut tonight. We'll have to see how different her hair moves.

Anyway, that's all for today. I was really excited about this image and wanted to share.

Keeping the ball rolling

I've had a great week! I've had people interested in the work that I can do, and that's exciting to me. What I really would like to do is keep this ball rolling. I know that if I really want to make this my life I need to keep moving forward! A big part of that plan is to make real relationships with my clients and subjects. I want a relationship that could go beyond just a photo and check. Something substantial and real is what's going to make me different.

For a number of years now, my Aunt Karen has paid for Holiday photos of the kids. They're usually taken at places where you can buy underwear and groceries. They charged $XXX for a photo session that lasted all of 15 minutes and then we were rotated out like old stock. Last year, the photo was taken and it was horrible. The photo was way too blue: My kids looked like they were holding their breath! In addition to that, the photo was inadequate for printing a 4x6, let alone anything larger. I was extremely disappointed. Worst of it all, my poor Aunt Karen paid for the photos even though they were just... disappointing.... I loved the photos because they were of my kids, but not cause it was a great photo by any means. That experience inspired me to be better than "those places." Just because they can "have everything you need in one place" doesn't mean they should.... So that's just a peek at what I'm striving to NOT be.

If you've had a bad experience at one of "those places" leave me a note. Don't mention the company name, just the experience and what you liked and didn't like.

In other news, my friend Lauren (both photos on the right) is up for helping me for personal work, and that's totally awesome! We shot a little bit last Saturday evening, but we soon discovered that light fades really fast when you need it to hang around longer. We plan to shoot again soon, and I really excited about trying new things with light (or lack thereof).

I've been trying to think of different themes and ideas to shoot. There's a possibility that I have too many ideas! I really should learn to draw or something so I can get these ideas down on paper. Stick figures are awful models for remembering themes and ideas. :-)

Jackie and Michael

I have a few photos from my shoot with Jackie and Michael this past Saturday. Everyone was really excited about the event because these photos were to document Jackie's pregnancy with her first child. Jackie was glowing, gorgeous, and was the perfect model. Michael was pretty quiet, but took direction well and through that you can see that he genuinely loves Jackie. They're both very excited about the little one that should be arriving in their lives sometime in the next month.

There's a small and grassy alley by my house. I had scouted this location earlier in the week and knew that the morning light would be perfect for just such an occasion as this. The back light was perfect and very romantic and warm.

Thousands of people drive by this place every day. It's practically untouched by humans. I know that there are many other places just like this all around my house. It'll be fun to try to find them all.












Jackie and Michael also wanted some classic black and white photos in my studio. Even in this digital age I still love the look of black and white. When film makes its big comeback, I'll welcome it with open camera backs. Both Jackie and Michael were naturals here, and their closeness is obvious here.

Sometimes as we grow older we forget that we were once young. Perhaps we have something to learn from those couples that have the relationship that these two have.

I really hope that I have the chance to make photos of these two again.

I'd really like to thank Jackie and Michael for giving me the opportunity to work with them. Without someone to appreciate my art and the way I look through the lens I'd just be a lonely man with a camera.

What a week!

So this whole week I didn't post anything. Why? Because I was so nervous about shooting today that I didn't want "OMG OMG OMG" to be my posts for the week. The truth is I was so excited today that I thought I was going to pee myself. I'll be posting some pictures here soon, but I really just wanted to relay that today... I really did live the life of a photographer:
a)I got up early. (holy crap)
b)I ran the kids to my parent's house so I could focus. (dog went too)
c)I got home in enough time to clear the living room (another reason for a studio)
d)My first clients showed up early. Lovely couple. (Known her for years, him only a few months)
e)Shot my first pregnancy photos. It was nice. (I know more about giving birth than the average dude.)
f)Booked it back to my rents to hang out. (well... proverbially.)
g)Went to my parent's town's Harvest Festival. Kids had a blast. (very crabby when leaving)
h)Brought kids home and Caitlyn (lovely wife) took them to McDonalds for dinner.
i)Second client was a little late (traffic sucks)
j)2nd Client and I are dudes though, So I forgave her. (yes, I said she's a dude. proverbially.) (Lebowski)
k)Ended up talking to her more than actually shooting. (excuse to schedule more shooting time)

I hadn't planned to go to Z just so you know.

Oh, to my wife, Cait. I know you'll never read this, but your support has been amazing. I plan on buying you flowers on a regular basis when we have the money.