Lucy's Tiny New Friend

Weighing in at like 31 lbs. -- or something crazy big for a babe -- "Baby W," Dave n' Katie's newest addition a la familia, is nothing short of adorable. Lucky little guy he is to have such a cool set of parents (and pseudo aunt and uncle in, well, us...) And, speaking of lucky, it seems so far that Lucy (their 2 lb. Shiba Inu [or something like that]) is enjoying the new house guest. On a more serious note: here are four shots from our visit to their house yesterday. The rest can be seen in our Picasa album (See "Lucy's New Friend." Shot (most, at least) with the trusty Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5, at 100 ISO and, more or less, f/8. Lights? One 800ws Alien Bee at mid-power.

Dancin' Lights: Photo of the Day

It was about 7-8 months ago in Duluth that I became fascinated with the way neon lights play with a long exposure. So here's a nod to that blog post from September, courtesy of a shot from this week in the Power and Light District in Kansas City.

St. Pat's in Kansas City's Power and 'Lite'

"D'ya think we'll regret this, laddy?" was the question I had to assume was going through the minds of a few thousand folks the other day... For me, I feel like I got sort of lucky this St. Pat's Day, as I found myself plopped right in the middle of them in Kansas City, Mo., and at the center of an insane "Green Day" party (and I'm not talking about Billy Joe), a perfect photo op. Who knew Missouri had it in her to celebrate one of the most random holidays like the Mardi Gras'ers down south and the Chicago'ns up north? Quite the group of people, as evidenced in the 70 shots I'm sharing... From solo acts to super groups, Kansas City's Power and Light District was packed with people on Tuesday all day (when do they work?). It was a huge change from just the evening before, when practically every restaurant there was empty or closed (despite a strange claim somewhere that the PLD is buzzing all 24 hours)...







WAIT!... I promised 70 photos, and I'm sticking to it. In the interest of space and for the sake of un-neglect, you can see the rest on our Journeys page. Click here for the other 50 or so shots.

coming soon

I just got back from Kansas City and am currently processing the photos from the Saint Patty's Day celebration there. Check back tomorrow for some crazy times.

oh shakespeare where art thou?

On what felt like a midsummer's night - due to the fantastic weather we have been having here in St Louis - Ben and I had the opportunity to photograph a very unique production. One of our friends home schools her children and in their curriculum they were to do a Shakespeare unit. What better way to learn Shakespeare than by ACTING it! She ended up directing what was basically a community children theater production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." All in all, there were 14 children - ages 5-12 involved. These photos are from Friday's dress rehearsal. All the kids were extremely good actors. Julliard anyone?

under one bulb

Becca and I had a fun shoot yesterday (thank goodness we were inside and away from the nasty weather!). Our principal focus was to get each member of the fam shot individually holding a white wooden letter to spell out their name. While I was wrestling with a rickety backdrop and a pair of strobes (no complaints on my AlienBees), Beck was occupying the kids' time shooting in the other room with our Canon 50mm (f/1.8, ISO 640) under a single incandescent bulb. And although that lens can be finnicky at such a wide aperture, it can produce great results in low light when you hit your target. These are four of those captures.