The Blog

A "Darling" shoot!

What can I possibly say about the "Farmyard Darlings" that hasn't already been said.  Kim Berry and Carole Sinclair are two of most wonderful women I've had the pleasure of meeting.  Always a smile on their faces, loving what they do, and living their lives with the most positive loving attitude I've every seen!   Not only that, but they do so much for everyone else. . a true philosophy of " putting out to the world what you want to receive back".   They recently expanded to start selling their products online (which you should check out. .   www.farmyarddarlings.com) and they needed some more images to help show off just who they are.  

Ansel Adams said "The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it."  At the risk of sounding completely arrogant by disagreeing with Ansel Adams, I think the photographer is really only as good as his/her subjects. . . . and these are WONDERFUL subjects!

Here are some of my favorites from the day which include a few employees and even Carole's dad (deserving of an entire photoshoot himself) who tagged along :)


Risk Takers . . .

We had visitors at our back door last night which is rather common.  But this time, it was the other kids of the family.  We first met these three a while back when they got stranded in our garbage can.  Because the garbage can was unusually empty, once they got in, the little ones couldn't get out.  We heard a noise and movement coming from the big blue can, and peeked inside.  That was then . . .

The Catch . . .

The Release  . . .

This is now. . .

Usually Mom is the one that heads to our back porch looking for leftover cat food , fallen scraps from our kids, or if the garage door is open. . . .JACKPOT!  But tonight, with these scoundrels looking so small and cute, and having "history" with these guys, my wife, the "animal whisperer", decided to engage them and offer them some treats.  We started by just cracking the door open.  This brave one, now named "Olaf", would 'reach' into the door to take food from my wife's hand.  He would sometimes stick his nose in and take a nibble.  But this was not nearly good enough for my wife, who too the brave one, went outside and crouched down to get her "Dr. Doolitte" on.  Only Olaf was brave enough to actually come right up to her and eat and take food right out of her hand.  The others waited close by for extra pieces being tossed to them.  Olaf was chowing down and will now go back to his tree, fat and happy.  He wasn't even afraid when I pulled out my camera and lights (yes, I'm a huge photography nerd).  

The moral of this story is . . . take a risk, there could be a big reward in it for you.  For Olaf, he was bathing in a post glow meal.  For my wife, she has a new friend.

Here was last night's festivities . . .

 

20 years and counting

A good friend called me and said. . "I know it's last minute, but would you possibly be free tomorrow to take photographs of my girlfriends and I for our 20 year high school reunion"?  Well, I was able to do it, and it was minutes from home, so it was meant to be.  Then the tricky part was finding a place to shoot at the hotel where they were getting ready.  It was 7pm, so I was starting to lose the light behind the trees that surrounded the hotel.  I literally was sitting IN a fireplace outside by the pool in order to get enough distance to shoot with my long lens and not have these ladies (most of whom were wearing high heels) fall into the pool inches behind them.  I needed all the light I could get, and had to shoot into the sun to get the nicest background I could get. Because I was shooting directly into the sun,  I was getting flares all over the place.  I used what I had and grabbed a big pool umbrella and rolled it over to help flag off the sun from my lens.  I had JUST a bit of room left above the heads of the girls before I'd see an ugly umbrella in frame.  Photography is like a giant puzzle that you also have to juggle while balancing on one foot. . . . 

I love it! 

 

Meet the Hoban's

Had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with the Hoban family.  As it's plain to see, these gorgeous children (and parents) were quite photogenic.  They also ooze personality which I hope I represented in the images.  It's fun to play around with the kids as well to get them excited about taking photos (when they may otherwise not be).  I brought them over and told them to stand behind their parents all nice and sweet, and when I said "GO", to dogpile  on them.  They did an amazing job and we all had so much fun.  Here are a few from the day.  Thanks Hoban family for such a fun afternoon. . .