Chantelle was in studio to make some fun maternity photos soon before she’s ready to deliver. As in very soon. In fact she was almost thinking she wouldn’t make it to the session! We had a fun time making a variety of photos, mostly ones that are a little atypical to the traditional maternity portrait. Sure, we got some that are pretty normal, but we were looking to do a few things different and fun as well.

The main photo at the top of this post was one of those that just came about. I asked Chantelle what her favorite color is, and she said yellow. I have to admit that’s not a common favorite color I’ve gotten, but we threw a light with a color gel on the background and it went very well with her blue and white dress. Different, fun, and exactly the kind of stuff we were trying to create. A fun session for both of us!

Her e are a few other photos from the set that were perhaps a little different than the normal. Hopefully you enjoy them too!

The rest of the gallery we’ll let Chantelle share on her own. If you’d like to schedule a creative session of your own, maternity or otherwise, drop me a line!

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My daughter Allison (the tentacle on the left with her arm raised) has been practicing for months with the Center Stage Youth Performers group to perform the play The Little Mermaid. Last week was finally the time for their performances, 7 in 5 days. They did a wonderful job, everyone showing the fruits of so much hard work in their great job and the wonderful set and costumes.

I was there as a parent, but of course my camera came with me. From my seat about 2/3 of the way back in the main section, I used my 70-200 lens to reach the stage and capture as much as I could. Hopefully those around me weren’t bothered too much as I had the camera shutter on the quiet mode and used a monopod while seated to help stabilize the camera. I managed to get most of the photos in focus and framed above the heads of the crowd in front of me. I enjoy the challenge of photographing live performances, especially those with engaging costumes and lighting. Kudos to the Center Stage group for their superb show!

You can view the full gallery of photos on my SmugMug site, and here are a few of my favorites.

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I never consider myself a landscape photographer. In fact most often I don’t consider myself a photographer, rather a guy that really enjoys trying to be a photographer. This is especially true of landscapes. I enjoy a beautiful photo, and whenever I get a chance I will snap a sunset or scenic view when I’m out and about when my camera.

This is especially true when I have the opportunity to make portraits for someone at dusk. I’ll usually try to get photos during the well lit golden hour and then into the sunset to see if we get lucky with some beautiful skies and colors. This particular sunset was one of those occasions while making portraits for the Merrill Family. In between different settings I walked over for a quick photo without any people in it, just for my own enjoyment. No matter what you’re doing, there’s always a little time to stop and enjoy nature’s beauty.

I’ve taken many sunsets photos from this exact spot, usually because I’m already there making photos. It never gets old. Every sunset is unique in it’s own way, even if in the exact same location. Time of year, clouds, timing, composition all can vary ever so slightly. It’s not nearly the quality of some ardent landscape photographers I follow and admire, but it’s mine.

And I’ll do it again.

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Our family added a few new members to our funny farm. We’ve been planning for some time to get a few chickens for a backyard coop, both for the kids and to produce some farm fresh, free range eggs. We had chickens when I was a teen, and I remember how good those eggs were! So of course with these cute young ones in the home, a few photos sessions are going to be in order.

This was shot with a single Einstien strobe with a PLM and shoot through diffuser. I wanted to see how the large single light source would look with the kids playing with the chicks. They are sure enjoying each of their chicks, having picked out their own and given them names. Hopefully they all turn out to be hens as we can’t have roosters!

    

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In March we decided to hold an open studio night in coordination with several other local studios. Studio o2o, NSL Studios and ProvoCreative all joined with Utah County Studio Co-Op to put on this fun event that was attended by well over 150 people. Photographers were welcomed to come check out the various studios and enjoy some lighting, great models and wonderful styling by hair and makeup artists. Some models and photographers even bounced between more than one studio, taking full advantage of the evening! Our studio was full of great people, and many excellent photos were made from what I’ve seen popping up all over various Facebook groups and streams.

Big thanks to Lyman Winn for putting together most of our models and the excellent stylings of Lisa Nielson that did most of our hair and makeup. I did not get photos of every model, but we had 6 stunning options cycling through out lighting setups.

As is true with most events I help put on, I end up doing more organizational work and helping others than making photos myself. Still, I did snap a few clicks and have a few photos I can share. Thanks again to all that participated in every way. We’ll do this again sometime!

If you have your photos up somewhere, please throw a comment at the end of this post with a link so we can all check them out!

 

 

You can see the rest of the photos, and models can pick up full resolution, non-watermarked versions of their photos over on my SmugMug site:

http://www.gogetphotos.com/StudioCo-Op/Meetup-Shoots/2013-03-22-Friday-Night-Lights/

The post Friday Night Lights appeared first on Great Projects.

I pretty much consider any reason to have portraits made a good reason. I was asked this last Christmas season to make a portrait of all the grandkids for a family to give to the grandparents. What a fun session.

With plenty of little ones, I always expect a bit of chaos to be a part of the experience. Though of course there was some, these kids did great and followed directions quite well. Using the studio layout to out advantage, we staged each layer of the kids in waves, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest. Keeping the other kids in the lobby until we were ready for them created a great atmosphere of getting ready and set the expectation of entering the studio to make a photo and not just play around until things set.

The post Forsyth Grandkids Christmas Portrait appeared first on Great Projects.

One service I enjoy providing is making portraits for soon-to-be missionaries about to leave on their two year LDS (Mormon) mission. This is a significant time in their lives, and of course for their families. Getting a “before” photo seems natural, plus there are plenty of opportunities to use the portrait in their application, sending to a mission, and in many areas a traditional plaque that is posted in their local ward (congregation) during their service.

Recently I thought it would be fun to put together a fundraising event where all of the proceeds raised would be donated to some select missionary funds of those participating. Two young men were asked and accepted to help fill the event with others that would be interested in getting quality portraits made at a low price in a “mini-session” format. The event was a success, in large part thanks to one family that brought together many friends to get their individual portraits made along with a group photo at the end. Thanks to them and everyone that came and helped with the event.

The collage above was a portion of the participants, and here are a few others from the day.

If you are interested in having your missionary portraits made, contact me today for very affordable rates and even opportunities to trade some time to get the photos made at no cost to you. Interested in organizing another fundraising event to benefit your missionary fund? Let’s talk!

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You could say Landon Cooper is a fit athlete, and you’d be right. But, Landon’s goals are much higher and with more purpose than just being in shape. Landon is an ultra-runner, meaning he runs much longer distances in a day than most of us think of doing all month, or year in my case. After having lost a friend to cancer, Landon is now running with more a greater purpose, and hopes you will join him in the effort.

Read more about Landon’s effort to raise awareness and funds for Sarcoma Cancer research at his website Miles2Give.org and perhaps even participate by donating as little as a penny per mile toward his 3,000 mile run across America for charity. I had Landon in studio to do some promotional photos for use during this campaign, and collaborated with fellow studio co-op participant Lyman Winn. Our goal was to capture a wide variety of looks for any possible use, most often highlighting Landon’s physical commitment to this effort. See below a few more images from the shoot.

Of course there are many more variations and concepts within the shoot, and hopefully we gave a big boost to the visual options and quality they had to work with for the campaign. Good luck Landon and hope you achieve great things!

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Season opener, #2 BYU Mens Volleyball hosted Hawaii in an entertaining match as we’ve come to expect with every outing. My family had not been out for a game in some time, in face never having taken everyone at once because the difficulty with wheelchairs in the Smith Fieldhouse. Because we just had general seating tickets, we were looking for a way to get my son’s wheelchair up into the cheap seats. After asked a few ushers, we discovered there was no way up, so instead they set up some chairs behind the home team at floor level. Thanks Taylor!

I had brought some camera gear along to snap a few shots, and was excited at the prospect of being so close. I quickly discovered though that being this low just behind a team of tall players and wandering coaches didn’t work out so well. Still, the game was fun as BYU won in 3 sets despite some good runs by Hawaii. I’ve always enjoyed the atmosphere of the volleyball games and the awe of seeing how high these guys can jump. Here are a few other shots from the night.

Even Tom Holmoe gets up to “Rise And Shout” with the Cougars’ song.

If you want to get near a sport and take some fun photos, I don’t think there is one more accommodating than the volleyball games. There’s not a bad seat in the house, and if you’re willing to come a little early to grab the best of the cheap seats, you can get plenty close to the action.

You can see the rest of the images in this gallery over on my photo site.

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Taken on the way home from vacation. I believe this is Utah Valley. Handheld at ISO 25,600. one of those cool moments I barely caught as I hurried to get my camera out of the bag at my feet. I used to always love the aisle seat when I flew, now it’s window every time for moments like these.

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