We just finished photographing the beautiful Lipscomb family in our studio.  The way Evie was looking at the camera I just couldn’t pass up grabbing some extra images of this little beauty.  She was soooooo responsive to my camera (maybe it was my funny looking face).   It’s great to reconnect with old high school friends, and it’s even more of an honor that you chose us to document your family.Thanks again Rebecca, Phil, Chloe and Evie for choosing us to document this family event.

Here is another image from the “Matt Pack” Session.  This was nearing the end, after they found the bag of wigs and accessories.  There are more and I will post them when we get back to work (still kinda on holidays). Unlike other “HodgyPoP” sessions, this image was shot with this background and lighting.  She was not cutout in PS and pasted into the frame.  Lighting is my usual  5 light setup.

Here are two images from our family session today (I will post some more of the family over the holidays) as I have already finished these two images  for my latest Smarticle at www.shootsmarter.com.  Lambo can do it all, from shake a paw to play dead.   We basically wore the poor pooch out and by the end of the session he was like “yaaaa, fetch it yourself.”

We are getting really excited for our diving trip to Belize next month.    Ever since I became a certified diver with SSI (www.divessi.com) I relish in the chance to dive in the Caribbean Ocean.   Once you submerge below the surface you are faced with another world and you forget about the world above.  It’s so peaceful and calm.  Every chance I get I try to capture something new with my underwater camera (Now it is my Canon G11 with underwater housing) and I know I will have loads of opportunity in Belize as it has the second largest reef in the world (the first is Australia’s Great Barrier Reef).

Sometime  in Cozumel

Ass end of a Sea Turtle Heading up for air.

This has been my screen saver on my laptop for the past few years.

You can view more of my Point & Shoot Underwater images in my
UNDERWATER GALLERY

at the camera that is. When photographing couples I find myself liking the images where the couple are not looking at the camera, mid laugh, caught in the moment. Don’t get me wrong, looking at the camera is part of the process, but we like make sure we give our couples a good variety of both.  It also helps the couple relax in front of the camera, especially at the beginning of our session.

Sometimes, while they are looking at the camera, you can  capture that image where you know…as a couple… they “clicked”

When we create family portraits (indoors or outdoors) we always include everyone.  Some people think we create the one portrait and then it’s done.  Not so.  We break down the family into individual portraits, groupings, sub families etc..  This ensures that everyone is captured and it also makes it much easier for the family to create wall groupings with the portraits we created.  Here are a few individuals of the “kids”  from Michelle & Mark’s family portrait (Posted in an earlier post).

What an amazing response we have had in the last 24 hours. We have only 3 spots left for Dog Day and we expect them to go within the next 5 hours.  Don’t delay, call now!

(705) 693-0654

We have also had an amazing response to our Gift Certificate Special.    Use them for a Christmas present, use them next year, use them whenever you want, but you only have until 14 more days to take advantage of this special.

Here is one from today’s session.  After photographing the whole family we did some  additional images of different groupings.  I framed this image in camera with the negative space to our left to draw your attention into my subjects.  Something so simple, with zero distractions, sometimes make the best portraits.   Even adding borders, brushes, overlays or anything else would distract from the connection mother and son have in this image.  The moment the shutter released I knew this was the image I wanted to share with you all.  As photographers, we tend to get distracted with new technology, new software  blah blah blah (I am included with these people) and focus more on the gimmicks than we actually do about “photography”.  As my title states “Sometimes Simple Is Better”.  Thanks again Tanya & Jeff for allowing us to photograph your family and latest addition, we look forward to creating more images of your full family this summer.

Cherish & Clint came into the studio so that we could capture their soon to be bundle of joy.  We love photographing this stage in a couples life.  We are always looking for new ways to photograph this very important time in a woman’s life.  Documenting this always brings more closer to the clients we photograph, and just like this session we usually hang out afterwards and talk, and talk, and talk.  It’s a great experience to not only photograph people, but to get to know them as friends.  We look forward to the future sessions of this new family.

5:30 in the am and there is nothing that keeps me awake more than having one of our cats lick himself while sitting right beside my head.  When it’s this early in the morning everything is quite.  You know your house.  You know the sounds it makes.  So when your cat decides to move into the recroom and continue on with his innocent yet disgusting licking, you can still hear it, clear as day.  So, it’s early, I’m up and getting a fresh Cup ‘o’ Joe in my system.  I thought I would post a few family portraits we have done recently.  We love creating family portraits and it amazes me how long some families go without having an updated portrait.  Think of a family portrait as an investment in you and your family.  When you have a large wall portrait hanging in your house of your family, that is art.  Who would disagree with me on this?   Joce and I love the expressions on our clients faces when they come to pick up their Wall Portraits, you can tell that they know, at the moment they see it finished, that they made the right decision to invest in their family.

Now the person holding the camera laughing his butt off is my Bro-In-Law Mike (above).   2 weeks ago we portaged into our “secret” lake for some Bass & Pike fishing.  Some stupid beaver decided to damn up part of the “river” we normally paddle through so we had to carry our gear and canoe most of the way.  Lifting and pulling heavy objects through mud tends to wear you down.  You don’t think clearly, you try stupid things…..like seeing  just how stuck you can get in some Canadian Quicksand.  Now to my defense, this stuff was thick, but if you broke through, it swallowed your foot.  We only caught one fish. (of course, I was the one that caught it)