Kylie's parents just left today after staying with us for the last four and a half days, and I 'm sad to see them go for a couple reasons:  1) It's just nice to relax and hang out with them because they're good peoples from the mid-West.  2) No more fresh corn on the cob straight from the Indiana stalks.  3) The indulgent snacks (home made ice crean, brownies, homemade strawberry shortcake, Klondikes, homemade cinnamon rolls, buckets of soda, etc.) suddenly become harder to justify eating when all the company leaves.  4) Mia seems a little depressed after being in K-9 heaven with the nearly 24-7 attention and spoiling she got from "Grammy" and "Grandfather Garry".  5) Now that Garry's gone, I'm designated as the resident handyman again, and for those that know me, the term "handyman" and me?  Well, we're not exactly friends.  In fact, most days we're downright adversaries.  Oddly enough, my dad is quite the Bob Villa as well when it comes to fixing things around the house.  Apparently I was absent the day he and I had an appointment scheduled to transfer that father-son knowledge.  In general, it just seems like men from my dad's and Kylie's dad's generation know how to fix more stuff.  Me?  I'm blaming the internet and Microsoft for my home improvement shortcomings - the internet because it's made me lazy and Microsoft, well, because it's been a while since I blamed Microsoft for anything (and it's due). Anywho, back to Garry (a.k.a. "the FIL")... everytime her parents come down for a visit, Kylie makes a list for her dad of things around the house that need a little help.  And typically Garry goes above and beyond in blowing through the list and then some.  For me it's great because I pick up all kinds of tips and tricks for fixing things while Garry does the work and I pretty much stand there and say, "Great job, Garry.  Lookin' good... You need somethin' to drink?  Need me to wipe that sweat off your forehead before it gets in your eyes?"  WIll I ever remember said tips and tricks when the time comes and he's not around?  Dunno, but I like to think I'm absorbing his skills through osmosis, and they'll magically come back to me next time something comes up and he's not around, and it will be my time to shine.  Wishful thining?  Prolly.  I was out watering the plants in the front of the house last night - a skill I picked up all on my own, thank you very much - and I noticed the sunset and wanted to grab an image.  I decided to snag Garry and rescue him from watching Design Star with the ladies for the moment and do a quick portrait in the middle of the street.  It was pretty dark, and all I had was a light meter and a Nikon SB-800 flash, but no light stand to hold it.  So I had Garry hold it, laid on my back in the street (as a neighbor and his 3 dogs walked by, of course), and fired a couple images.  The one above was my favorite because he kinda looks like Super Garry, which - considering there's not much he can't fix - seemed appropriate. For you photography geeks out there who might be wondering, I put the flash (with Pocket Wizard transciever attached) in manual mode and set it to 1/128th power and placed the light meter right in front of his face to get a reading.  I set me shutter speed to 1/250th of a second which is what my light meter told me to use at ISO 400 with an aperture of f/5.6 at a flash output of 1/128th power.  I ended up slowing down the shutter speed to by a stop to 1/125th to burn in a little more of the orange sunset light in the background.

Here's a couple random images of my buddy Chad from Texas School last week.  He's a police officer by day in Iowa, and a photographer with his sweet wife Janna by night.  Actualy, I think it's the other way around, but whatever... he's a great guy 24/7... despite the crazy bleached blonde mohawk he was sporting for Texas School.  That's Chad for ya... generally a little quiet and soft spoken and then BAM! He busts out something that seems competely crazy and out of character for him.  Guess that's the way they roll up there in Iowa.  Oh... and for a real show just ask Chad about Marvin the Martian. Both these images were taken at night (obviously using light from a street lamp above and a little Sunpack rechargeable video light behind him for a little rim light.

Here's a few images from last week at Texas School.  We did a shoot, oddly enough, at the same exact location I took Lauren and Ron's mock engagement images only a couple days earlier.  We had a few models to use to shoot whatever type of images we wanted, and I feel really drawn to the types of images below and want to create more of them...  not ballerina images, per se, but rather the idea of more fine art images.  Creatively this is where I feel most 'alive', and I could play in this space all. day. long. PArdon the sentimentality today... I'm feeling a bit in touch with my inner self, but I plan to be out of touch with myself and back to regularl scheduled programming again tomorrow.

This model had serisouly amazing eyes.  There is very little post-procesing done to the image below.  Ridiculous, right?

I've been in a photography cocoon for the last week, virtually shut-off from the outside world while attending Texas School here in Dallas, but last Saturday - the night before it started - photographer friend Lauren came into town a day early and talked her long-time childhood friend Ron into getting a little dressed up to do a just-for-fun mock engagement shoot.  Since Kylie and I's vacation to London/Ireland was ixnayed by the Iceland Volcanoay, I had a couple free weeks prior to Texas School open and was looking to do just go out and shoot for fun and try a few things.  Lauren and Ron volunteered to be the proverbial guinea pigs, and they were a blast and totally willing to do anything.  We had a ton o' fun just roaming around Deep Ellum just before and then after dark, and we eneded up with some really cool images. If you're a photographer and you haven't taken the time to get outta the rut and photograph something just for fun lately, I can't encourage you enough to carve out some time and just get out and do it.  For me, these kind of exercises recharge my passion for this photographic journey I'm on.  It helps me reconnect with the reason I got into this industry in the first place... because I love to create images.  These sessions are a time for me to play and experiment, and with that comes growth.  Sure, not everything works out, and occasionally there are a few ideas that are epic fails, but even in failure there is growth; discovering/knowing what doesn't work is just as important as knowing what does.  Sooo... break out your calendar and pencil in some play time where you can shoot for you.  What's holding you back? Anywho, where was I?  Oh, right... play time images with Lauren and Ron.  Here's my favorites from our mock engagement session last Saturday.

Man, Lauren's got some killer eyes.

Check out Lauren's killer pink leopard print shoes.  Yowsa.

Here's a pullback shot showing how the next couple images were lit.  Pretty simple set-up with an off-camera Nikon SB-900 + 22" Larson octagon softbox triggered by a Pocket Wizard on one side and a silver reflector on the other to provide a little backside fill light. I'd like to give a shout out to Mollie and Sara for helping out on this shoot.  It got dark about 30 minutes after we started, and I wouldn't have been able to do this session without them.  Thanks, ladies!  BTW, Mollie is another photographer from a forum I'm part of, and it was great to finally get to meet her - and about 23 other people on the forum - at Texas School.

Zoinks, Shaggy!

For this last image, I just had Mollie position the off-camera flash & softbox behind Lauren and Ron, and Sara held the reflector in front of them on camera right to bounce some light back in.  Loved how this came out.

Now that the proverbial cats out of the bag and they've seen their images tonight at their viewing session, I'm stoked to share the Pearson's family images here on the blog.  Stacey and Paige came in tonight, and we munched on some cookies (and some cookie dough for me before they got there - shhh...), sat back and enjoyed the show. Paige and Stacey are truly the reason I enjoy what I do so much.  Just. Good. Peoples.  Big hearts and even bigger faith.  Due to some truly heartbreaking circumstances where Stacey lost his brother Gregg to cancer in 2003 and Paige unexpectedly lost her best friend Jenny to a sudden illness just a couple weeks ago, they are so genuinely appreciative of what these images mean for their family now and in the years to come.  I love people who get it, and Stacey & Paige get it.  These are precious and fleeting moments in their lives - in all of our lives - and they now have some memoirs to remember this time in their journey.  It's certainly a sweet moment for Paige because being a photographer and, of course, the designated family photographer, she's rarely in the photos with Stacey and the kids. Sorry for the trip down Sentimental Lane... maybe it's the sappy music playing on Pandora as I type this post. I can't say enough good things, though, about this family. We had beautiful weather, beautiful light, and a beautiful time just playing outdoors at historic Chestnut Square in McKinney on Saturday.  Here are some of my favorites from our time with the Pearsons.

Sweet moment with Stacey and Emaline.

I was having a staring contest with Parker.  Look at that face.  I had no chance.

Love the expression on Paige's face in this Spanish lesson with little Bowden.

Emaline's a natural in front of the camera.  She could bust out a few princess looks on command... or not on command.

One of my favorite images to go along with the black and white image from yesterday's post.

Did I say we had amazing light??  While I emphasized the color in this image, the light and shadow on Parker's face and the catchlights in his eyes are all natural.

Emaline's eyes are uh-may-zing.

Such a quirky image with Parker's dead pan look and Emaline's expression... priceless.

Parker's got his serious, GQ look nailed.  And I love the golden sun backlighting him as it was setting.

I didn't realize it at the time I took it, but this serendipitously turned out to be such a meaningful image for Paige.  Her friend Jenny's daughter, Malaya, was given a buterfly necklace by her school, and Jenny was so touched by the idea and what it repressented that she bought a butterfly necklace for herself, and she decided to wear it to brign a little bit of Jenny into the session.  Parker was also very close to Jenny, and at some point after she went home to Jesus, Paige explained to Parker and the kids that the butterfly necklace was symbolic of Jenny being in a cocoon for now but that one day when they see her again in heaven she will have blossomed into a beautiful butterfly.  Paige teared up when she saw this image and how sweetly Parker was holding the butterfly so sweetly.  I feel fortunate to have been in there in that moment to capture it.

A little off-camera flash to wrap up our session

Thanks, Stacey and Paige for allowing us the opportunity to create these memories of you guys and the kiddos!