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Happy Birthday

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... to me!  32 today... yikes.  I still feel 23 though.  You might get older on paper, and your bills might get 'more adult', but as long as you don't feel old, who cares!  ​

(​Cake donations are now being accepted.)​

​I decided to snap a picture today... a self-portrait I guess... while Christine opted for a couch nap in the middle of the day.  I figured it was a good day to get a shot, seeing as I now has this wonderful winter beard which I will be cutting off soon to allow my face to enjoy summer as well.  All I have are cell phone pictures of us (me and Beardo), so a proper picture was in order.

There were some out-takes, of course.  Poses that were meant to emphasize the full meaning of beard ownership...​

So, I've had my fun for today.  Tomorow I may treat myself to some camera gear as a
"birthday business expense", and in preparation for the summer shooting season.​

Stay tuned!  Stay frosty!

Dreaming Of Summer

I had had an idea of a 'dog daydream' picture for a few weeks, and I knew I wanted to shoot it in the bedroom, with the dog on the floor, with the sun streaming in as it does mid afternoon.  With the weather having been rather dull lately though, or me being out, or the actual time of year (and angle of the sun) not being proper, I put it off for a while.  Finally I decided to just shoot it a few days ago and get it done.

After shooting the images I needed, and getting them roughly put together, I still didnt realy know what I wanted to do theme wise, as far as a visual hook, but since I knew it was supposed to be a day dream and I wanted him to be dreaming of summer (since the idea was conceived while the weather was still cold) I knew I needed grass.  This was a good opportunity to learn how to render grass, which I did.  This ended up being a mix of CG grass, and a photo of grass mixed in for some finer "real life" detail.  Looks pretty good to me!

Then for some reason the theme song from Reading Rainbow popped into me head one day.  Those of you who are old enough to remember it, you know what song Im talking about (and you can be sure Geordi LaForge didnt get to be chief engineer without reading a few books on warp theory!)  So, butterfly in the sky came to be the idea of what the dog was dreaming of:  warm sun, fluffy clouds, and butterflies to chase.  The clouds were actually an afterthought, once the image was "done".  I thought it needed something else, and the clouds help give it that airy daydream feel.

Overall this is probably one of my favorite pics Iv ever put together, and considering I did it in rush-mentality, I'm very happy with it.  Hope you enjoy it as well!

Page Update

After some personal debating, I've decided to update my page to reflect some of my other work, and the other aspects of photography that I enjoy.  I have now separated my gallery into 2 sections: Weddings, and Studio.

I decided to add the studio/corporate side of things because Id like visitors to the site to know that I am available for a wide range of photographic and artistic services.  Regardless of the work though, my focus is always the same:  to create the best work I can that is technically and artistically as great as I can make it.​

​Please check out the new Studio gallery, as well as the updated services list I have added to the Pricing page.