The Girls

Yesterday we went out to the Gap to look for some dresses to use for a beach shoot when we go to Florida for the Space Shuttle launch this fall. Along with the dresses we found at the Gap, we picked up some adorable hats at The Children's Place that were perfect for the scene. (And Holly wants me to tell everyone, they were only 99 cents...) Today we decided to try them on and do a quick session just to see how they looked, and here are the results! The first 2 poses, we couldn't agree on a style. I like harder looks, and Holly prefers the softer look. What do you think? Remember, you can click on the pictures to get a larger view.

2009 Indianapolis Airshow

Airshows are going to be a thing for us this year, so it's time we get started! Here are some shots I took at the 2009 Indianapolis Airshow. The fam and I made it there a day early for their "Media Day," so we were able to get some shots while there were less people around and while the aerobatic teams were practicing, as well as their normal routines on Saturday. I've still got more pictures to edit, and this certainly isn't all of the ones I have done. I will have some of these available for purchase on my Printroom Gallery soon.

A Mother's Day Gift

This is a shoot with Holly's Aunt's second cousin. She wanted pictures of Jayden to give as a gift to his mommy on Mother's Day. Overall they turned out really well and everyone is happy with them. The first shot is actually one of the last shots taken, and Jayden threatened Luke with an "I'm gonna kick your butt!" (Hence the attitude on his face) It is by far our favourite shot of the day. We had lots of people around to keep him entertained, so he wasn't even close to being a struggle like Lillian is!

Some Recent Nature Shots

I haven't done much lately on the order of studio stuff, but I have been out a lot taking some nature pictures and working with my new lenses. I am sure you haven't been following the little "Our Gear" box to the right here, but if you have, you'll notice it's been getting smaller and smaller. I have been in the mode of selling off some of my mediocre gear to fund a smaller number of much better lenses. I am down to 2 lenses in my primary kit, the Carl Zeiss 16-80 and the Sony 70-300 G. Both are amazing lenses, and I have been nothing but happy with them.

Below are some nature shots I have taken recently. The first 2 were taken in my back yard with my 16-80. The duck shots were taken at a fishing pond just down the road using the 70-300. Ring-Billed Gull was taken at a marina in Cleveland on the trip home from buying the 70-300. The turtle is a Midland Painted Turtle living in the Killbuck marsh. It had a few friends hanging around, but this one was the only one brave enough to let me get somewhat close to it. It was also taken with the 70-300. The Canada Goose was taken at The Wilderness Center in Wilmot Ohio. I was amazed at how close he let me get to him. The geese there aren't typically outgoing, and this one was certainly on guard, but he let me get 20 feet away from him before I felt I was pushing it. That picture was also taken with the 70-300. The last 2 were taken in West Virginia, using one of the lenses I am going to be selling. The flower in the next-to-last shot is only about 3/4" across. I had to get as close as I could focus to make that shot work.

The Impossible Child

Here are a couple shots of my daughter Lilly for her 2nd birthday invitations. Now Lilly, for anyone who does not know, is a tomboy running at 120% full throttle all day long. She absolutely cannot be bothered by trivial things such as getting dressed or brushing her hair, much less a photo shoot. She is easily the 2nd most difficult subject I have tried to shoot, right behind a bumble bee in flight on a cloudy day. The first shot here is the only one I got of her with her hat and dress on, and I got it before I was finished positioning the flash heads. The second shot I ended up having to slouch down in a bag chair and let her come to me. I let her stand on my feet and I'd bounce her up and down some, then snap a shot, bounce and snap, repeat... For how difficult she can be, I thought they turned out fairly well.

Izzie and Zach

A good friend came over with his kids a few weeks ago for some updated shots to put on the walls. It was nice to work with some kids old enough to listen, unlike ours! They were a lot of fun, and constantly laughed and giggled. Overall, we think they turned out very well.

Yeah, it's the moon again... But Better!

The weather finally broke last night long enough for me to get a good shot of the moon using my new 1.4x teleconverter and my 500mm Reflex. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! Teleconverters usually fog detail just a little, but in this case, I got a lot more detail out of the surface of the moon. You can see an incredible number of craters, and they are pretty well defined! I tried my new Minolta 100-400 APO out also, but it didn't compare to the 500 reflex for this kind of work. Hopefully, I'll be able to get up to my parent's house sometime soon to use the T-Mount adapter my father bought me for his Meade 10" telescope. Remember, you can always click on the pictures to see a larger version!