Senior portrait time in Wenatchee

And really everywhere else, I imagine. Kids being kids, they don't realize that it is much easier to fit something in when you have lots of options for doing so. Waiting until school starts and finding out the senior photo deadline is only a few weeks away is enough to add stress to what should be the best year ever. Take a bit of time out of your summer and help capture the real you without the stress.

We had to cancel a family vacation planned for early August so I have 2 more weeks that opened up in my schedule. Contact me to schedule your session, or even change yours, if that's more convenient.

I [heart] faces: Wenatchee sports in action

 This week's contest at I [heart] faces is "Sports in action." Thought it was the perfect opportunity to enter one of my favorite shots. My daughter always talked about her friend, Matt, "an amazing soccer player with GREAT hair!" We spent a warm, weekend afternoon shooting one of his games and got some great action shots. Yup, he's great at soccer, playing for one of our elite teams, and such a nice kid! Last time I saw him his hair was all gone and he said he would never let it get that long again, so I guess these will be the last photos of that big bouncy hair in action.

Rural America: Travel photography

Back from a little road trip through eastern Washington, Montana and down into central Idaho. We make the drive often, to visit my parents, and I always look forward to the trip as much as the destination. Such a beautiful drive. Well, from here to Spokane, not as much, unless you hit it at the right time. The rolling fields of the Palouse are still pretty amazing in the golden light of dusk, but other than that, it's a whole lot of sameness for several hours. Once you leave Spokane though, and head torwards Couer d'Alene, Idaho, it's beautiful. We always stop somewhere in Montana for the night. We could go all in one day but it's a long haul with kids. Love those small town Montana truck-stop areas with nothing more than a hotel, a big giftshop full of everything huckleberry and a gas station. And seriously, Montana skies are amazing. I have never seen a boring sky in that state. On this trip we even had a front row seat to a thunder storm. My tripod was in the car and it wasn't a good idea to go out and get it so I hand-held my camera, braced against the window, used a long shutter speed and managed to capture a lightning strike that happened to catch the hill on fire across the street from us. Luckily the clouds let loose their rain right after and put it out a while later. A few pics from the drive below.

   

 

Before and After: Wenatchee candid portrait photography

It started to rain the other evening. The sudden kind of downpour you get in the summer when the sun is actually still shining but one black cloud unloads right above you for a fast drenching and then leaves just as fast. That's what happened here, I heard the rain, drops big enough to "thump", I grabbed my camera, ran upstairs and called to my daughter, "it's raining, do you want to come outside for some photos?" She came down just a minute later but the rain was already coming to an end. I got a few shots where you could see the last few seconds of recordable drops. Nothing much in most of the shots, but this one was what I was hoping to get. I was shooting into the sun to get that magic backlight and handholding an SB-800 flash set to 1/64 AAL (at arm's length) to camera left, pointing back at her to fill the shadows that the backlighting causes in the front. The flash also froze the movement of those last few raindrops. She had spread her arms outwide, feeling the rain and it all came together to make one shot I love.

Not too much in the processing department, but the small changes were significant. I balanced everything to taste (like cooking, ha ha, 'season to taste') in camera RAW, then opened in Photoshop. There I converted to LAB where I dealt with some noise in B, increased contrast, ran a couple favorite TRA actions (Get Faded-Warm and Oh Snap), highlighted a few areas of hair and adjusted sharpness.

I [heart] faces: Sepia children's photography

The theme this week at I [heart] faces is "Sepia". This is one of my favorite photos of my youngest daughter. Her relaxed expression made her appear older than she was (7 here) and I think wise beyond her years. The sepia toning enhanced it, removing color as an element and suits the graininess, which is part of what I love about the photo. Wanted to use a photo of her for this entry as this little imp is visiting her grandparents for 3 whole weeks - her first time away. I miss her so much. Today is my birthday and it didn't seem right without her here (or my oldest who is also gone for the week helping run a volleyball camp.) I decided our family tradition of birthday dinner out at the birthday-ee's restaurant of choice would have to wait until they're both home. No fun with 2/3 the brood gone. Love and miss you girlies!