Amazing Football Feats Continue

Though it was raining and slick out, there were still some pretty incredible moves to be caught at Friday's game between River Hill and Howard High. Here, number 4 continues to go the distance.

Miss Savannah Turns 1!

Amazingly, an entire year has passed since the arrival of Miss Savannah into the world! I was able to spend some time with her on her birthday weekend this month. These are a few of my favorite shots of the visit:


Since I won't be there to see her on Halloween, we had a little preview of Little Miss Lady Bug. She does indeed look as cute as a bug!


This is just a beautiful serene shot, with a little tongue poking out.


This is a great close-up of her mouth - she now has 3 teeth, two of which are visible here. Can you just tell how soft that skin is?


This one has a personal pull to it. This Tigger outfit a gift to Savannah's uncle Mark when he was a baby and it's been passed down. He looked just as adorable it in as well.


I love the fun side she is showing here. It was a fun filled weekend and she was a delight to spend time with. I noticed a marked improvement in willingness to look at the camera since her 9 month shoot.

I'm Back

I didn't realize how long it's been since last I posted on the blog. I haven't been taking many pictures, which is sad. Soon I will be posting more of Savannah (for those of you who follow that darling girl) and there will be some wedding images in the near future too. But, football has returned and I got three fantastic shots last Friday at the River Hill/Long Reach game. I was fortunate to be in the right spot at the right time when one of our star players made a couple difficult catches.

The Happy Family

Here are some images from the Jefferies Family photo shoot at a park near their home. It's tricky to get a nine month old to actually look at the camera, but sometimes it's okay when they don't - you can still see their personality!

More of Boise

On Saturday, we went to a beautiful park in downtown Boise for some family portraits. It seems that every time I visit, I never get a shot of Daddy, so this time, I made sure to get some. Got a nice one of Mom too! They love their little girl. Next post will have some family shots.

Part One - Savannah in June

I recently had the opportunity to visit my daughter, Jillian, in Boise, Idaho. I'm still processing the many images I took while there, but I have finished the "first" part - and wanted to post some of my favorites. Here we see Savannah in her kiddie pool, waking from her nap and her first visit to the park. They're both sweethearts and in the next post you'll get to see her daddy too!

On this visit I shot with all natural light - I didn't even take a flash with me. It's all about finding the existing light and using it. It gets tricky with reflected colors (like in the pool or on the colorful playground) but it can be done!

Basketball Never Ends

I never knew about the year-round world of club basketball, but am learning. We just started a new league, playing in Montgomery County, MD. The gyms aren't air-conditioned after school hours and are kind of dark for shooting. So, it's another learning experience. Below are two shots taken at Wheaton High School from our second game this week.

I like the body lines of the shooters (Evan and Randal). Evan is all stretched out and reaching and Randal is all coiled, ready to release the ball. They're both outstanding players and the team continues to grow in skill.

It's all in the Details...

When shooting a wedding, or even just the getting ready part of a wedding, I love to capture detail shots. Every bride has made painstaking decisions about every aspect of her wedding day. Sometimes, the day flies by in a blur and she doesn't take the time to notice the result of all her months of planning or maybe there's so much she can't absorb it all. Even if she does take it all in, it's great to have a lasting memory of all the details that made her day especially hers.

These few images are from Jessica's wedding.

Jessica

A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of photographing Jessica in preparation for her wedding. She and Jeff got married on a cruise ship in the Port of Baltimore, so I was unable to attend and capture the wedding, as the cruise line has their own staff and regulations. I also was able to shoot Jessica's sister for her wedding a couple of years ago, so it was wonderful to visit with their family again. They are very nice people and their home is wonderful to photograph in - great backgrounds and props. I think I'll spread this into two posts to accommodate all the images I want to post. Today I'll do people. Next post will be details.

Rainy Days

Last week it rained pretty much every day. Very gloomy, although everything is now very green, which is lovely. One morning, as I was going out for something I noticed the rain on some day lilies. It had stopped raining for the moment and the light was just right to get some raindrop shots. Here are the results:

Hickory Ridge Horse Farm

In addition to the beautiful cherry blossom trees that the Horse farm maintains along the road, they also have beautiful horses. They're often in far pastures or probably in the barn area, but sometimes in the early evening you can see them as you drive along the road. Here is a shot of a couple of them in early evening near one of the barns and the other shot is of the picturesque gate that leads to the farm. It's always a beautiful drive when I'm coming home!

Signs of Spring

Down the street from me is the beautiful Hickory Ridge Horse Farm. They have lovely manicured grounds and beautiful cherry blossom trees that bloom each spring. Every year I want to get some shots of them, and every year I seem to miss my opportunity. They only bloom for a few days and we have a lot of rain, which limits shooting times and hastens the falling of the blossoms. This year I finally got a chance and have posted 2 of the shots below. I love the curve of the road in the first shot. Every year, a few of the trees are afflicted with something that kills them, and the Farm is very good about replacing trees, but they're usually smaller than the originals and sometimes look like a different type of tree and sometimes don't bloom at the same time either.

Highland Horizon

One of the things I love about Spring is the beautiful scenery - new blossoms, green growth and clear beautiful skies. In Maryland, as summer draws closer, our skies turn white and haze is often our companion. This is a great time to capture the fresh beginnings of Spring. A project I've been working on is capturing some of the sights around my hometown, Highland, MD. Below are a couple of shots of one of the local churches. In subsequent posts I will share more images from my somewhat rural hometown. Next up will be the Hickory Ridge Horse farm - they have beautiful land and grounds.

Frozen in Time

I've been continuing to shoot weekly basketball. I'm lucky that the lighting in this particular gym is decent. This is one of my favorite shots recently. Tim is just frozen in the air with interesting body lines. Timing, proper camera settings, proper positioning and patience yield these kinds of shots on occasion.

The Eyes Have It

In my recent shoot with Savannah, I found her to be a bit challenging. She was not particularly interested in looking at the camera! I think she's used to her mom shooting her with a flash and I didn't use one, so apparently I was not nearly as captivating. Persistence pays off though and in these shots, not only do I get her looking straight at the camera, but she's got her eyes wide open!

Hawks Nation

I have recently had the opportunity to start shooting some rec league basketball. The games are at a facility called Leadership Through Athletics, which is a great non-profit that strives to develop today's youth into tomorrow's leaders. Their mission is to provide programs and opportunities that encourage leadership and values development, enhance youth educational experiences, and promote health and fitness. There can't ever be too many of these kinds of facilities!

Shooting basketball is new territory for me, but I have great mentors who have given me some advice and feedback on successful capture, and I appreciate that. These are three images that I particularly like from my first shoot. There is a lot of action in basketball and I hope you'll keep coming back to see more of the fun.