Super Moon

Okay the biggest moon in about 19 years now and you do not think I am going to capture that...  Hmmmm lets see.  I was very seriously wondering if I would be able to!  You see weather as I have heard it stated so far in Utah is messed up, well anyway to continue.  We had a storm and cloud cover when the moon rose so I did not get any of those shots when it looks the biggest but I was able to capture these and do some other playing around stuff as you will see.



This was taken at 12:49 pm as I said the cloud cover was thick and it was burning off at about this time.  You can see some of the light reflecting off the cloud cover.





This is at about 2:50 am as you can see the cloud cover has left and it is very clear. 



Okay I saw on Yahoo regarding trick photography.  The next couple are my attempts at taking pictures at night that look like day.  It was fun but a lot of playing with the settings.



 

This was taken at 1 am in the morning can you believe it.  I sure did not but that is awesome in my opinion.

You bet I got it.  Lost a lot of sleep but it was well worth it in my opinion.  Hope yall enjoy my fun if you liked it let me know.



Wedding bells in the air...

Wow I have been too busy and need to make time to get yall caught up with what has been going on.  Here is one of my latest shoots of M & S they are getting married and these photos are for the invitations.  We did discover an awesome place to take these shots and had a blast doing it...  Well most of us enjoyed it.

Just to let you know how far behind I am they are now married and I was able to shoot the wedding I got some awesome shots I think and will be sharing it with them this Saturday.  After that I will be able to post some more pictures of them at the wedding.  Good stuff right there I tell ya.

Just 2 girls

Ahhh the life of a photographer.  These two ladies just happened to be walking by and guess what?  Just kidding this is for a class I was in to help hone or maybe I should say develop my skills.  Here are a few of my favorites.

In truth there are a lot more but these are my favorites as I said.  It was a pleasure working with these awesome girls we had a lot of fun that night.  Thanks to Levi for teaching us about lighting and all the good techniques you see in these shots.  Hopefully the opportunity will present itself and I can work with them again.

February

Well I do not know about yall but February for me was a rough month.  You see first I was sick and I mean wiped out for about 1 1/2 weeks.  For part of that time I stayed in bed and did nothing but sleep.  Well you know what that means right...  You guessed it once I go to where I could move I then spent forever trying to get everything caught up...  Crazy stuff I know but I should be back in the game now I hope.  I am going to try to post new stuff at least once a week.  If not more so stick with me and enjoy the new stuff I have going on.

This will be a quick one.  Long story but one photo.  I went on a business trip at the beginning of this month and on the first day I got there it was a spectacular gorgeous sunset, but I was in the middle of the town.  How are you supposed to capture a sunset with all the buildings and power lines in the way (I do not believe in photo shopping them out).  Well the next day I was out of the town a little ways working hoping I will get another one.  Well there were no clouds and I entered back into the office building bummed as all get out.  J one of my co-workers there said a good photographer would find beauty anywhere.  Now is that a challenge or what so I went back out and found this just for them...

Uh huh I thought it was awesome.  Oh yea do not challenge me and expect to win.  Well except maybe wii.
Hope yall like it as much as I do.  That was for you J!

Sick

Oh wow I do so dislike being sick.  There is work, life and all the things that need to get done and yet here I am laying in bed wondering when I can I breathe through my nose again...  Utah has a bald Eagle day as it is on the migratory path for the birds.  I did not know all these years and have missed out but I got some awesome shots.  Here is one of my favorites.

This beautiful Eagle was actually shot when she was about 3 and is missing half her left wing because of this she lives at the Ogden Nature Center and is cared for by the staff there.   They brought her out to the Salt Flat Creek Resevoir for us to enjoy.  Good thing as the rest of the eagles had gotten spooked by some knuckleheads going where they should not be.

Fatherhood

Okay I have been working on this project for a couple of months now.  As I have said in my previous post I think fathers have a bad reputation and maybe it is deserved.  I mean we have dead beat fathers that do not support their children monetarily or even emotionally.  We have fathers that do bad things to their children you have seen the news I am sure.  I mean we are not there carrying the child for 9 months inside of us, but does that mean all fathers are bad.  So I have been on a mission to try to capture that there are good fathers out there.  I have posted 2 photos of such a thing under my Human Emotion blog.  Here are some others I have gathered along the way.

S & A will not be long now

S & A are great people and fun to be with.  Well they are about to get very busy as you will see here shortly.  This was my first maternity shoot I was trying a lot of different stuff so there are some good ones and some that you will never see.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Once again there are over 300 incredible shots of this couple so more will be coming, but a special thanks to S & A for letting me be a part of the their wonderful miracle of birth.  I am so happy and excited for them and the journey they are about to embark on.  They have already asked me to take pictures of the newborn as well so as soon as he is born we will continue our journey with them.

Low Light Situation

Okay for class we were learning how to take photos in a low/no light situations.  Me being the curious fellow that I am thought I need to practice this.  See my thinking is as a photog all we do is chase light so if there is no or very little and you can master that then when you have a lot it should be easy.  Right!  Well not quite but my friend N really helped out on this one.

She works in Salt Lake and knows the area very well.  It was dusk well night time by the time I got there, and she suggested we walk to Memory Grove.  For those of you that do not know in Salt lake there is a whole grove that is dedicated to the memory and honor of the fallen soldiers from Utah of almost every war America has been in.  It was a very special place for me as my father served in the Air Force.  There were a couple of chances and this is what I captured.



This is one of my favorites of all time.  There was a ring of trees around a stone bench that you can sit on and contemplate.  N sat on the bench and I had her move until her eyes were in a small stream of light from a street lamp on the other side of the tress.  I did not believe it was going to work as it was very dark and holding still while a little cold is not easy.  Incredible shot I think.



More Photos of Big D

I just did not have enough room for all of them in The previous post so I am creating a second one.  For those of you joining in mid-stream go look at Photos of Big D the Man to get caught up.  This series will feature black and white photos only.

Though it was way cold we had a lot of fun on this shoot cemented our friendship better and helped update his portfolio.

Men and Ping Pong

Okay get a bunch of men in a gym with 4 tables and what can happen right.  Well not much actually but a nice friendly tournament.  It was really surprising the amount of competition that was there.  Here are a few of my favorites.  The lighting was not good and I am still learning how to get what I want so there are some amazing effects as well.

R the first place undefeated Champion!



J second place looks like good eating to me




Why is Mickey Mouse on the table during the game?



J and R are battling I think this was one of the longest rallies of the night.



S and J contending for the right to play R at this point everyone else is eating.



Photos of Big D the man

Okay let me fill you in on the story I guess.  I met D back in 1989 in a whole different place than we are now.  No I mean that literally you see we met wile in Taiwan.  I was always amazed at D and have the utmost respect for him.  Through the wonders of Facebook we reconnected last year and have been keeping in touch.  This last summer he asked me to sing at a special event for him and well my respect has only grown.  We have a common goal and I am looking forward to the day we will accomplish it.

Well all that being said I noticed one day on his FB page he had a picture of him on a street in a black leather jacket.  On the picture it had 24 and a Fox logo.  You see D is good with making graphic stuff so I was like yea yea what ever.  Well to my amazement he actually was on 24 and can even be seen in the episode he showed it to me as proof.  I was amazed and even more shocked when he asked me to take some head shots of him for his portfolio.  Well 444 shots later these are some of my favorites.  Please bear in mind that they have not been post processed in anyway yet, but I do not think they need a lot done to them as you will see. 

This is just the beginning as we had several wardrobe changes and some dynamic stuff going on.  I will continue to work on some other ones and post them as well.  Thanks D for being a great friend motivator and having fun on a very cold day.

A Promise is a Promise

I promised D I would be fair... so here ya go.  Yes I am still working on Big D hey I have 444 photos to go through so just know I will get there.  But in the mean time with work we have been having a lot of help so I took some of these.



This is R a co-worker helping us out right now.  I have been told he does not take pictures.  I think he did just fine see I have proof.




This is J he is doing some work in our shop right now and asked a question this was his response to my answer...



Cross Roads

For those of you that know Robert Johnson and the fabulous music he made, yes he is playing right now, he has a song called Cross Roads Eric Clapton has covered it but the father of blues did it first.  I am at a cross roads right now as well.  You see I really enjoy photography it is fun to be able to capture a moment in time freeze it and record it forever is amazing to me.  I have created art in some of my photos and captured special moments for all to enjoy, but the deeper I get into this the more I realize my skills are so lacking when compared to others.  I am not looking for compliments nor having a pity party it is just a fact.  There are some amazing photographers out there.  They do really good work and really make pictures pop.  I know with the right tools and equipment I can learn and gain the skills, but the cost to buy that equipment or tools is quite expensive.  So at a cross roads do I keep it a hobby or jump in with both feet get what I need to do this right?  Well as I face my dilemma in the mean time enjoy these moments in time...



I was invited to a town Christmas party.  This baby had some of the funniest faces, but every time (I mean literally every time) I pushed the shutter he would go blank like this.  I do not know how he did it, but in looking at it I think it is a fun picture.





This cute one was at the Ugly Sweater Christmas Party.  I know I promised pictures but none of them turned out, but I was amazed how similar the 2 babies faces were.  Maybe the shock of having a camera with a big lens in their faces was too much.



Once again at the Ugly Sweater Christmas party I got to keep the fire going.  Can you tell I like fire it is so cool to look at and enjoy...



Ah the partying was just too much for some.  This was a fun family that is in limbo between two places right now.  I am glad I had the chance to get to know them.  I really liked the way the mom was looking at her daughter in this picture.  Her husband and other daughter will be in my later blog about fathers.