Levitation Experiment - Take 2

Round two in my levitation experimentation process. 

I know I need more practice but that will never change...!...

These experimental shoots are absolutely amazing for my brain and I can't wait to do more and more.

This is my Japanese Garden shot in honor of my models heritage!

Thanks again Ash for being so into these shoots.

Let's do it again soon:)

Captured...

...I thought I had more words than I do....

...Right now... I'm silent...

...Right now... I listen...

Family is Family

 

Travel... Swan Falls

Randomly loading the truck with photography equipment, two pups, a few changes of clothes, h2o, and some grub then hitting the road is the perfect way to spend a sunny fall afternoon. Here are a few of my favorite photographs that came out of my trip to Swan Falls.

Self Exploration... never ending...

• I'm on a journey •

buckle-up

experience

explore

enjoy

learn

• I'm 31 years old •

listen

share

laugh

live

learn

• I'm a photographer •

see

feel

capture

teach

learn

 Mamma the Squirrel & her toy dog Daphne

Composite Images

Last week a friend and fellow photographer Whitney Rearick posted a sweet web link to my FB Wall... It was called 30 Impossible Scene's That Actually Happened. I was stoked to see how many people participated in this challenge and all challenges Gizmodo posts weekly. I decided to take a crack at it even though the due date on the challenge has already passed.

This particular challenge, 'Single Space Composites,' was influenced by the most amazing artist/photographer Peter Funch. Please take some time to look at his work... He's one of my new favorite influences!

So here is my submission. I'm using the same guidelines that Gizmodo gave their peeps...

To you, my viewers:
This photograph was made with 7 different photographs. I set my camera on my tripod, connected my cable remote and set it to take a photograph every 10 seconds. Then I hooked up my most amazing modeling skills! When it was time to process my photo's I took them into Lightroom where I made my editing adjustments. Next I opened all 7 images in Photoshop, made a new layer and used the clone tool to create this one image. This image turned out to be quick and easy... Too easy! So of course I had to take it to the next level as you will see in the second photograph I'm posting.

Camera settings - Canon 40D, f14 @ 1/60, ISO 100, 24mm lens (w/ 1.6 crop factor)

It was my lucky day. My sister-in-law-ish, Amy Hale, aka Betty Rocker was on call at work so she took some time with me to play around at the park. And I mean PLAY!!! We are both the youngest siblings in our families and have a lot in common. As you can see in the photo our inner child selves came out and it was much needed for both of us!

This photograph was made with roughly 65 different images. I used nearly the same techniques as above but set my remote to shoot every 3 seconds and used many more layers in Photoshop. This photograph was more challenging but so much fun. It took me 7 hours to complete the editing process... I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Camera settings - Canon 40D, f14 @ 1/60, ISO 160, 24mm lens.....

SOBER

This blog post is dedicated to one of my favorite people.

Sarah Ober (aka Sober)

If you haven't check out her blog 'Many Adventures of Sarah' please do. She'll keep you on your toes! 

Sober has been a wonderful friend for the past 6-7 years. Her love and support has given me drive to do better at everything I do. Even though she is 6 years younger than me, I look up to her and respect her fully. One of my favorite things about Sober are the goals that she makes, small and large. Less than a year ago Sober brought up her interests in moving to Germany for a year. Well, this morning she boarded the plane to do just that. I'm going to miss my friend but at the same time I'm so proud that she is 'Making it Happen'! 

Here are a few photographs I made of Sober this past year after finding out she loves being in front of the camera. 

Thank you Sober for all of the good times! Be safe and have fun. See you in Amsterdam, June 2011!

Family Play Time

Family and kiddo photo shoots are proving to be some of my favorite types of photography yet and here are just a few reasons why...

• Being a kid a heart I completely relate to the kiddo's
• I get to witness the parent / child relationships
• I get to play with both the parents and the kids and help everyone including myself to forget about the stressors in life!
• I get to know the kids and parents on a different level and vice-versa
• I get to watch the transition of my subjects through the shoot as they get comfortable with the paparazzi (me) following them everywhere
• When the kids don't feel like 'cooperating' with the parents, making them frustrated, I get to add suggestions like, "Let's just go with the flow and see what happens!"
• When I get word from the parents after we part from the photo shoot that the kids ask about me and or express their excitement about the photo experience my heart is completely filled with happiness and joy!

Mattie (Mom) and I grew up together in the Wood River Valley.We have not seen each other since we were 12-13 years of age. She got a hold of me last September after I graduated from Photography School asking if I would photograph her family. We finally connected this summer and I couldn't have been more pleased with her three beautiful kiddo's. Funny how roughly 18 years pass by and Mattie is just as sweet of a person as ever. Thank you all for the great times!

This photograph is one of my favorites! 

Four shadows of the family plus mine and the baby of the family taking off up the hill, done and done!!!

Two Beautiful Women - Continued

These are photographs made during out last re-location down in the Linen District. By this time it had been a little over an hour into our shoot. Everyone was very comfortable and having a lot of fun. All I can say about this shoot is thank God I'm a photographer because I wouldn't miss this for the world! Thank you two for having such great energy. You and people like you make my job absolutely amazing!

Sober OUT!

Two Beautiful Women

Last month I had the great pleasure to work, again, with the most amazing Sarah Ober and our new friend Nicole Velasquez. What a perfect pair for this shoot. We went in only knowing the location and wardrobe but didn't plan much for the shoot. I was lucky enough to arrive at Sarah's house to help the ladies finalize their outfits and also, most importantly I got to watch them interact! The pre-shoot 'organization' if you will was one hell of a good time. Sarah and Nicole have a very fun lovin' relationship. They're both easy going but highly intelligent. They were completely comfortable around each other, almost like they'd known each other their whole lives. After registering this important information we headed toward our location, took the camera out and shot shot shot!!! Thank both of you ladies for the fun experience.

These are a few examples of the first area of our shoot on the shady side of the Linen Building in Boise, Idaho! Click on image to enlarge...

Cemetery & Skulls

This is the second part of my shoot with Amy Schoenfeld. She chose the outfit, I chose the setting. I will tell you that this was an amazing experience to share with my sister-in-law-ish. We not only made beautiful photographs but we took the time to respect those of whom lost their lives for our country who lay rest in the Fort Boise Military Cemetery. What sticks out most in my mind is viewing the numerous amounts of 'Unknown' headstones. I am not a huge fan of war, actually I don't agree with war and or hate in any case but I do support our troops. Scroll on to see what we came up with...