Gracie found a little quiet time during the pre-Christmas craziness, to curl up with a good book. There’s some thing about the ambient light that the Christmas tree adds to a room that I really enjoy his time of year.

I love the holiday season. Today, I got to spend a little time in my youngest daughter’s 3rd grade classroom helping her make a “Gingerbread House.” Although it was actually graham crackers over a milk carton base, it was a ton of fun to work on with her!

Our youngest attended a birthday party sleepover this past weekend, and created this little guy at the party. The clay is sort of a foamy type modeling material. The plastic feet base came with the kit. Totally cool. I have never seen anything like it. Great work kiddo!

This afternoon, I had a senior portrait consultation. While there, we did a few test shots for an idea we have of shooting portraits while jumping on the trampoline. To get an idea of how it’ll look, I had Nick jump a few times. I snapped 3 quick shots. This is one of them. I think when we actually shoot these for real in a few weeks, we’ll have a lot of fun, and they’ll be great!

We had a quick rain shower roll through earlier tonight. This double rainbow lasted for about 10 minutes. Luckily, I was able to capture it. Looks like the pot-o-gold can be found at our neighbors’.

Ah Memorial Day. The unofficial Beginning of Summer. Many families around the U.S. spend the holiday enjoying the outdoors. Our family is no exception. It was a gorgeous day; a gorgeous weekend.

We started into the weekend with a list of chores to do around the house that have been nagging at us for months. We indeed did get a few things done over the course of the weekend such as: remodel a bathroom, till and plant the garden, dig and cement a post for a basketball hoop, mow our jungle of a yard, fit in a Monday afternoon softball practice, and a few other small chores. But the most memorable part of our weekend was the time we spent together exploring and hiking at the Palisades State Park. The girls have been wanting to go see it for a while now, and there really was no better time like the present.

This is a panorama of our neighborhood, looking out from our driveway.

My wife is a wonderful pianist. Every so often she treats me to a little music. Tonight she played some Billy Joel while I enjoyed a glass of wine.

Our oldest turned 10 this morning at 6:32am. Tonight we had birthday cake and pizza with our family. The big party with her friends is this weekend. One of her brithday gifts tonight was an “M” ear ring holder. As you can see in these photos, she has quite the collection of ear rings.

The four highest points in the small town of Tea, South Dakota. From left to right in the photo are: The grain elevator, the older water tower, the large water tower, and the new radio tower.

The meteorologists were right! The big storm of the 2009 holiday season is upon us. It’s been snowing and blowing for the past 36 hours. It finally let up a little so the girls’ could get out and play. There’s a 6 foot high drift right in front of our door.

Gracie found this little guy, and like kids will do, decided she wanted to keep him as a pet. After a night cooped up in an old milk jug, we convinced her that he would be better off back in the wild with his family.

Just a select few frames from the many that I took at the Air Show this afternoon. A great show as always.

We took a little family road trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in De Smet Friday night. If you haven’t been, it’s a good old-fashioned, low-tech family fun event. Volunteer actors audition for the roles of Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, and the whole cast of Little House on the Prairie characters. Right after we rode the horse-drawn wagon, the girls got to pet the horses.

Had a lunch meeting today, and on my way back to my car, I passed by this set of chairs on the patio area of the restaurant I was at. The negative space aspect of this photo intrigues me. Instead of seeing the actual subject matter (people at a table) you only see their shadows.

On the river, we hooked up with friends Jack and Joelle who have a house boat. It took a little coaxing, and seeing dad do it, but finally the girls put on their Brave Faces and jumped off the top deck of the house boat. It’s about a 15 foot drop, and was even a little intimidating for dad at first. These 3 shots are a sequence of one of Gracie’s many jumps. View Post

The day started out a little gray and gloomy, but at least we didn’t encounter any rain. As the afternoon progressed, we finally saw the sun! We had a great few hours on the boat with our friends Dave and Stacy. This photo is of Maddie and Gracie on the tube behind the boat. View Post

This is a shot looking down the 3rd base line as a girl makes a hit, at my oldest daughter’s softball game. View Post

Gracie reading in the living room. Practicing my HDR skills.

Here’s some shots of the Main Street carnival blended together into one panoramic shot. This view is a nearly 180 degree view. The Police Station on the left, and the Body Shop on the right are on opposite sides of the street from each other.

The Great Thomas Midway on Main Street during Tea Pot Days 2009

Scenes from the Tea Pot Days tractor and truck pull Friday night.

Two days ago, I posted the photo of the cows looking at the camera, as if they were waiting to have their portrait done. I was re-visiting the raw images that I snapped on Sunday, and noticed this one. I love the “expression” on this cow’s face. It compliments the story idea that the cows noticed their portrait on my blog, and came back to make a statement. It looks like he wasn’t too happy about the previous image. Interesting how something taken out of content can be so funny.

On my way home from Rapid City, I stopped for fuel and a quick break in Chamberlain, SD. These guys were standing in a pasture right behind the gas station. I barely gave them a second thought, as I was in a hurry to get home. But as I was pumping gas, they kept staring at me as though they knew I had a camera in the car, and were begging to have their picture taken. Fine guys. Here you go. You are on the web. The next time you’re surfing the web, stop by this blog and let me know what you think.

I’ve been experimenting with different lighting schemes the past month or so. Back in April, I found some success using hand-held flashlights, multiple exposures, and compositing. A couple nights ago I went back to the fire house after dark, and took new shots of our Ladder truck and Rescue truck. This is a collage I put together of the two trucks. The flag and flames are stock images. The phoenix logo I designed a couple years ago. This piece will be used as part of a framed collage of portraits of all the firefighters’ on the department. This portion will be at the bottom of the frame, with 35 cut-out holes in rows above for each firefighter’s portrait.

We tried 3 times to catch the fireworks show at Magic Kindgom, over Cinderella’s castle. Our girls were too tired to stay the first time, and we were rained out the second time. Finally, on our last night at Dinsey World, we were able to catch the show. It was well-worth the wait. We have memories we’ll never forget.

Disney doesn’t waste a single opportunity to immerse visitors in an experience. this metallic statue of Goofy sits right out side of Tony’s Italian Ristorante, where Lady and the Tramp have their famous spaghetti encounter.

To get anywhere at Disney World, we rode our Resort’s bus. Sometimes we’d have some down time while we waited for the bus to leave.

The iconic sphere at Epcot. Inside is the ride Spaceship Earth.

Part of the show at Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom Disney World. Everyone else at the show was using their point-and-shoot cameras with the flash. This one turned out nice because of the slower shutter speed that captured the motion of the twirling flame. I love how the glow of the flames lights up the crowd.

Acrobatics at the Festival of the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom Disney World

On our trip to Disney World, we also saw Japan. At Epcot’s World Showcase Pavilion.

We took a family vacation to Disney World. This is our flight to Orlando. We’re somewhere over Georgia.

Meet Robo-Elvis. He’s a 22 inch high, Hound Dog singin’ machine. Literally. Robo-Elvis was conceived by my 9 year-old daughter for a school project. The assignment was “Junk Robots.” the kids had to build robots out of things found around the house. (Yes. The Elvis Sunglasses were lying around the house…)

Robo-Elvis has a mini-cassette recorder that plays “Hound Dog.”

When asked what Robo-Elvis’ occupation? Lounge Singer. Teacher’s Lounge Singer.

Great work, Maddie!

These shots were taking at my youngest daughter’s birthday party at Suburban Lanes. Each of these shots on their own aren’t extraordinary. But the sequence is fun!

These old guys still have some kick, some get-up-and-go, some oomph.

I had some fun this morning setting up and doing some lighting tests in the studio for a photo shoot later this week. We are going to photograph a baby holding a milk container, looking as if he’s playing in a puddle of spilled milk. To make the “milk” we mixed up some Gloss Gel Medium and white acrylic paint. We poured the acrylic mixture onto a piece of clear plastic in the form of a spill, and let it dry over the weekend. Then this morning, I cut away the plastic sheeting, and set up my lights. With a little bit of adjusting the highlights and shadows, it looks pretty convincing:

As I was working in Photoshop on minor adjustments, this idea popped into my head. Could be a good image for a milk campaign.

Nothing too extraordinary about this shot… It was captured with the camera on my cell phone. Of course, THE event that I SHOULD have had my high-performance camera… It was in the car. Nice.

Ironically, I do like the low-res quality of the shot. The lights become the important element in the shot. Everything else is just a blur. It’s also interesting how the light is blown out in the middle of the ring. You can’t tell, but there’s a guy juggling flaming torches. It was a great circus this year.

This is a shot of Truck 7 at the Tea Volunteer Fire Department. The image is a composite of 9 separate shots. The only light used to light the truck in each shot was a hand-held flashlight. Interesting effect…

I got some new software today, to process HDR Photos. This is the result of an image accidentally getting placed in the HDR-mix. It resulted in an interesting image that I’d call a “Happy Accident.”

While out for lunch today I stumbled across this unique perspective.

Last night was the annual school carnival fund raising event. Lots of fun! Of course, we partook in the tradition of the circular musical walk for baked goods. My oldest daughter, Maddie won a strawberry cake. The other tradition of school carnivals is the guarantee that before you leave the event, your pockets will be filled with Tootsie Rolls, cheap little toys, erasers, and pencils: All the spoils of winning the ring toss, duck pond, fishing wall, “Plinko,” and other wonderful games the quality of which can only be found at local school carnivals. It’s nice to see that some traditions haven’t changed. I remember these same games and little plastic prizes when I was a kid. My youngest, Gracie was on a mission to collect all the colors of gel frogs available; she ended up with four. These little guys look pretty neat with the sun shining in behind them on the kitchen counter. Thanks to Gracie for the inspiring frogs!

I’m working at home this afternoon, trying to get some photo work done for a few clients. It’s nice and quiet, and I am getting a lot done. But my work buddy, Scout seems to want to go out and come in every 5 minutes. (I think he’s trying to tell me that it’s too nice to be sitting inside behind the computer. Perhaps he’s right…) This got me thinking… I set up my camera and shot this using a long timer. After a long pause without seeing me through the window, I wondered what he’d do. It’s kind of funny to see Scout’s expression when he doesn’t think he’s being watched.

Falling down on the job? Lacking Energy? Perhaps a few of these guys are in desperate need of 5-Hour Energy.

“Working together we can achieve great things!”

It’s interesting to note how many green things are just lying around… These are all things I found in the studio. For the most part, these are all tools of the trade. So, I guess you could say that we are a green operation… (Yeah, that’s a pretty lame joke, I know.)

For many people, signs of Spring include birds, green grass, and warm sun. For others, the site of chrome is more than enough to know that Spring is here!

A shot of kids doing the Hokey Pokey at the K-5 dance I attended with my oldest daughter. The back-light effect from the DJ and the motion of the kids is pretty cool.

Motion, light, beauty and grace.

Neon signs are designed to stand out against a dark backdrop. What’s behind the neon tubing is rarely seen. A look deeper into this image, past the bright orange neon, reveals an interesting view of the supporting cast.

This is a unique view of a lamp in the office. From this view it seems as though the light bulbs are in the wrong place.

A 30 second glimpse of time can reveal a lot. This image was shot using a 30 second exposure and a red L.E.D.

Taking yesterday’s photo and getting funky…

Sometimes the most mundane objects can be turned into fun. I put the doughnut on the fork, and stabbed the handle into a Styrofoam cup and shot this in about 5 minutes while waiting for a portrait client. The client’s portrait turned out nice too.

Thanks to my buddy Craig for inspiring this one. There are a few ideas yet to explore here. I’ll probably be posting more of these sparkler shots in the near future.

120th Anniversary, girl in a bikini, and Goat Races… Who could want anything else?

These guys always have their game faces on.