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.

A Simple Prop

This is the first in a series from my recent shoot of the 6 month old Savannah.

She, of course, is a total delight. She has just started sitting upright by herself and I was lucky to get able to quickly get some shots of her sitting on the stairs. Mom's hands had to be very nearby in case she went over, but all went smoothly and there were no incidents. I love the classic feel to the poses and the strong color elements. It doesn't hurt either, that she's as cute as a button!

These were shot using natural light from a nearby doorway. You can see by the last shot that she's done for today. With children, you have to shoot pretty quickly as their attention span isn't long.

Spring is Here!

I know from family in the Western States, that it continues to snow out there, but here in Maryland, Spring has sprung!

I went around my yard today between the rain storms and captured a few of the first signs of spring. I love capturing detail shots like these and I love the vibrant colors after a dreary winter is over.

Finally!

My new photography website is finally up and running! I thought I was going to have problems transferring the domain from my previous host, but they were quick and responsive. It took me a while to get everything loaded, but it's done! Take a look and send me your feedback. Visit: www.hollyhocksphotography.com

New Website

I have been spending too many hours of late working on my new website. When I was in Las Vegas for the WPPI convention, I was checking out websites with Lisa, who was looking to buy one. I ended up getting one myself (we both did). I had been thinking about it, but ended up with a different company than I planned. I'm really excited about the new website and hope to have it up and running soon. My previous host is proving difficult to contact for transfer info, but as I'm still creating the website, I have a little time. One of the really cool things about this new website is that I can change templates and the look of my website pretty easily, so it will be changing more frequently than before. I love my old site, but it needs updating.

Also at WPPI, I attended a class by some marketing consultants as well as a motivational class by Joe Photo. Both of them have encouraged me to be better about setting goals, not only business but personal. Though I have not actually written anything down yet, as they both suggested, I have some thoughts in my mind about accomplishing specific tasks and am working on them, so I'm happy about that. One of my goals will be to keep the blog better updated. This is a slow time of year for shooting weddings - I'm talking to a lot of clients and setting things up for later, but I'm not shooting much now, so I'm not posting much. I would also like to take on some personal projects as one of my goals.

I'm posting an image from a warmer time of year that I love. This is Mark playing catcher in a baseball game. You have to wait for a while during the game for the dirt and dust to build up in the glove and then wait for a throw to come into home plate that doesn't include another player or referee. When all the stars align, and you're in position, with the correct lens, the correct composition and the correct camera settings, you get what you were searching for.

Vegas Baby

So last week I got to go on my annual photography training trip to Las Vegas. I attended the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) convention at the MGM Grand Hotel on the Vegas strip. Here is a picture of our lovely hotel:



I attended with my good friends Nancy and Lisa (pictured from L to R with me on the end) posing with some Vegas showgirls who were at our very last seminar on Thursday morning before we headed to the airport to come home. We're the ones not wearing a fancy headdress. Also rooming with us was my nephews wife, Melissa, but her flight was about the same time as this seminar so she missed the showgirl photo op.



As always, the convention was an overload of incredible talent, images and inspiring and uplifting classes that rejuvenate me for the coming year. I bought a new website, so be looking for that in the near future. I still haven't gone through all the notes and product information I brought home, but I have a lot of great ideas that I look forward to implementing into my business.

I always get a little fun in on these trips and this year I saw David Copperfield perform at the MGM (which was very convenient). We also went to the Venetian and enjoyed the "canals" and a nice dinner. Another evening we checked out the Wynn, which is a beautiful hotel. We always like watching the fountains at the Bellagio, though we did it this year from the comfort of the taxi cab - it was a wee bit chilly to stand outside and our feet were tired from traversing the huge MGM every day - we couldn't face having to actually walk the strip to get to the other end.

I think this was my fourth year attending WPPI and I'm glad I made it there again!

Savannah birth announcement

So trying to be a good Grandma, I started making a counted cross stitch birth announcement for Savannah. I made these for my children when they were born and it seemed a nice thing to do. I quickly discovered that I did those a long, long time ago and it is no longer my "thing". I was left with the choice of doing the cross stitch, which would have taken seemingly forever or coming up with an alternative, since I already told my daughter I'd make a birth sampler. I decided that using the skills I already have was a better choice and wanted to make a photographic sampler. I made one, but wasn't quite thrilled with it so I contacted another photographer extraordinaire (who is my nephew's wife) and sent her some pictures and let her create. Below is the result, which is perfect. You should check out her work or even contact her for similar projects at www.BluePrintsPhotography.com She's located in the greater Denver area, but if you're not, email and shipping work great!