He rules!

This little guy is 8 months old and he rules!

Castle Rock - Family Portraits

15 people with cold weather and fading light was a challenge. I was a little timid but once we got going it was a blast. I recently read a blog about how to be a better photographer and one of their points was that the jobs that scare you the most trend to be the ones that build you the most.

I grew more than I thought I would an more than I know. There were many lessons learned.

Lesson 1: One hour is about the maximum that I can keep a groups attention. If there are 3 people or if there are 15 I can keep them going strong for about an hour. I guess I may need to learn more people skills.

Lesson 2: Don't delete pictures before you see them on a full size screen. There were lots of shots I was worried about that ended up being stellar. On the camera's screen the pictures can look very different in the sunlight than they would on the computer.

Lesson 3: Push yourself. Insanity defined is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Different can be better or worse but it is different. This time it ended up being great.

This family was so great and they made 15 people and 1 hour fly by and go so smoothly.

Lesson 4: Always be shooting. Some of the best pictures of the little girls came when we were not expecting them. The girls tended to be shy but because I was super sly I was able to get some cute pictures of them smiling.

Black and White

The clients asked me to take one of the color versions of their 2 girls and convert it to black and white. 

There are so many possibilities for black and white conversions.  Even when an image is black and white the color sliders can be used to change to “color” of the image.

These are a few of my renditions.

Knocked My Socks Off

I rented a Canon “L” lens for a few days for a shoot that is coming up and I don’t think I ever want to return it!  I love the pictures and the sharpness and depth of field the lens provides.  It is not tough to make this guy look good but the lens rocked!  See for yourself…

High Key Portraits

Just a quick little shot with a bright white background and the ambient light in the front.

Garden of the Gods – Family Portraits

 

I once used a quote by Marianne Williamson that stated we are more afraid of being great than of failing.  This is true but I think this says it better.

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Taking the steps out into "professional" photography is a bit frightening but I was was given a spirit of power.  It seems the more I jump in and take greater and larger steps the better and sweeter it gets! 

It helps when you have a stunning family to photograph.

We spent the afternoon walking around the Garden of the Gods competing with the wind.  I am not kidding you as soon as they showed up so did the wind.  We were mostly successful in avoiding the wind by dodging behind rocks and trees.  In the end we got some much needed breaks from the wind.

Garden of the Gods is one of the Springs’ awesome attractions.  Every time I shoot there I have new challenges but the pictures are great.

Awesome pictures of the entire family

 

These next 2 may be my favorite from the day.

The locations and possibilities were endless.

The kids by themselves.  It seems most girls have a smile always waiting.  The boys are a bit tougher to get a smile but the parents usually have some tricks up their sleeves.

 

 

One of my previous clients wanted a “boys” picture and a “girls” picture and it was a hit so we did that again.

Thank you so much for coming out.  You guys make this photography thing so easy.

That’s all for now.  See you all again soon

The little things…

It is the little things that make our days. My little boy makes my day all the time.

This Halloween my little man dressed up as a dinosaur thanks to his grandparents. They picked up this outfit before he was even born.

Because his first costume was not the traditional pumpkin we thought it would be fun to take some pictures of him with a pumpkin.

As it turns out E did not like touching the grass. We call this his tongue out superman. He did everything he could to keep those hands off the grass.

This may be the favorite but it is tough to pick with such a cute smile and giggles all the time.

E is 6 months now and is sitting up on his own…mostly. There were a few “slow rolls” to the ground. Oops he touched the grass.

A quick black and white for good measure.

After a long day he was pooped. Our tired little dinosaur.

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