Dabbling in Photography

Baby J

2010-03-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

I learned from my session with Baby K, and managed to get these photos of Baby J taken when she was only 4 days old. She was absolutely beautiful. Also amazingly alert for a newborn. Hmmm, maybe I have that effect on babies?

Baby K

2010-03-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Baby K was 13 days old when I photographed him. I've learned that's a tough age, particularly with an obviously intelligent and alert baby. I thought he'd still be sleepy, but he was wide awake, and NOT in the mood to get his photograph taken. I only got a couple pictures that I was really happy with.
This was my favorite photo of the session- I love how the outline of the parents holding him makes the overall photo look like a heart.

In good company

2010-01-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

One of the items on my bucket list is to have some sort of art in an art exhibit. When I heard the local zoo was having an exhibit and wanted entries, I thought I'd give it a try.

I'll admit it was very scary for me, and I didn't think I'd get in, but it was worth a try. As I expected, I did not get accepted into the show. I went to pick up my photos, and got a glimpse of some of the other rejected pieces. I felt better about my rejection upon seeing others' work. There was some really beautiful works of art that I thought were worthy of any show. I guess it shows that either the zoo got a lot of great entries, or more proof of how subjective art can be.

Here's the three photos I entered.
Iguana in St. Thomas

Beaver Dam in the High Uintas

Butterfly

Fishing with Daddy

2009-09-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

Goblin Valley (again)

2009-07-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

We visited Goblin Valley a week or so ago. We also hiked Little Wild Horse Canyon again. Absolutely breathtaking. Best hike I've ever been on.This is aftermath of all the flash flooding we saw a couple weeks ago- there was a ton of dried mud. I loved how it looked. In fact, I am using the above image as my debit card. I can't wait for my new debit card to arrive!

Below is all in Little Wild Horse Canyon.

Wildflowers along Skyline Drive

2009-07-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in Sanpete County. We took an ATV ride up to Skyline drive. Maybe it's been the especially wet, cool spring, but the wildflowers up there were absolutely incredible. I have never seen wildflowers in that quantity before. It truly was amazing.
That white blob is snow!!! Snow in July! There was actually quite a bit of it up there. It is 11,000 feet above sea level, so it's to be expected.

Sparrow

2009-06-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a sparrow we took care of.

When we found it, it was covered in ants, and its' nestmate was dead. This is the day after we found him:

And this is the 11th day we took care of him- just after we took this photo, we took him to a wildlife center so they could teach him to be wild.

Xander

2009-03-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

I got to hold and cuddle and photograph a sweet baby boy today. His name is Xander, and I am in love with him.

Here's a taste of how gorgeous he is.

Venus and the Moon

2009-03-08T11:53:00.001-07:00

On Feb. 27th, Venus and the moon were extremely close together. The best viewing time happened to be during M's birthday party, so we paused the video games to go outside and look at the spectacle. This is what we saw.

a couple photos from the caribbean

2009-02-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

Portrait Collage

2009-02-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

Big Group Session

2008-12-01T21:43:00.000-08:00

14 kids, all of whom were 10 and under. 8 adults trying to keep those kids in one spot. Phew!

Erik & Nykki's Family Photo

2008-10-28T21:14:00.001-07:00

Fall Colors

2008-10-21T08:30:00.001-07:00

Kristen

2008-09-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

My good friend Kristen was due two days ago with her fifth baby. She let me take these pictures of her today. If she wasn't so nice, I would have to hate her for being so skinny and perfect and beautiful even when being two days overdue.

Jill & Mike's Wedding

2008-08-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Walking down the aisle with the father of the bride

Celebratory toast

Beautiful rings

Sharing a kiss

Mike & Jillian

2008-07-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

This was a really tough photo shoot because we wanted to get some great sunset colors in the back ground, but getting the exposure right was really challenging. Aren't they a great couple?

State Fair

2008-06-19T08:54:00.001-07:00

West Jordan City is performing Rodgers and Hammerstein's "State Fair" from June 19-30. Click HERE for an article with more details if you want to attend. We attended last night because my dad was in it, and my kids love going to see him perform. While these pictures aren't that fantastic in and of themselves, I am very proud of them because they were shot in a darkened theater with NO flash, and NO tripod. Plus, I had a very busy 3 year old and a very busy 1 year old climbing on me while attempting to shoot. I've included a couple of the best shots. If you are familiar with the play, you'll notice these are only pictures from the first half. I spent the second half walking around outside, trying to keep the one year old from screeching and distracting the other play-goers.

Very early spring camping

2008-04-27T17:16:00.001-07:00

The ice was just starting to break on the river, so there were all kinds of neat places like this where you could see the river rushing underneath, but ice on the surface. I took a lot of pictures similar to this.

Snow

2008-01-09T21:23:00.001-08:00

We have gotten a ton of snow in the last 24 hours. Here are a couple pictures I took of it.

Baby Savannah

2007-12-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Savannah is four months old now. Her older siblings have similar pictures with the wash tub, and her mother wanted a matching one for her. The second picture is from after the session. Posing for photography really wore her out!

Goblin Valley

2007-12-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

In spring 2006, we visited southern Utah and Goblin Valley. I took some of the best photography of my life. Unfortunately, most of it was lost. Some of my favorite shots happened to be uploaded to photobucket, but the picture quality isn't that great, and I'll never be able to do decent enlargements.

Skateboarding

2007-10-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to take some action shots for a photography class I'm taking, and then in class, we learned about laying and adding color. This was the result.

As a side note, I think these public skate parks are such a great idea. Back in the olden days, when I was a teenager, there was only one place with STUFF to skateboard on. It was expensive to go to, and if you didn't happen to live nearby, distance was an issue. I've noticed these skate parks popping up everywhere.

My eager to please photography volunteers loved having a place to go to, and felt like it kept kids out of trouble. Though, to quote one, "Skateboarding is worse than weed. Once you start, you are addicted, and it's all you can think or talk about."

While that may be true, I think it's better for a teenager to be addicted to skateboarding than to sit around and play videogames all day. Or worse, smoke actual weed.

Autumn Leaves

2007-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Keldon

2007-09-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

Jackie & Tom

2007-09-22T22:20:00.001-07:00

Carson

2007-09-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

This baby was born two months prematurely due to severe pre-eclampsia. His mother has created a youtube video to raise awareness of this surprisingly common and deadly condition. You can see it here or a longer version here.

Nikko, Japan

2007-09-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Gunnar

2007-09-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Photos of Zachary

2007-09-21T21:26:00.001-07:00

Starting a photography blog

2007-09-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

This will be a place for my to show some photos I've taken. Constructive criticism would be appreciated.