Behind the lens with Carolyn

She has been the product of so many photo shoots, its only natural that she would grow the desire to get behind the lens. Fashion photography is in right now, and there was a line of models lined up on the carpet for their turn in front of the camera.

The photographer, center image, even pulls back the camera on a few to give us a behind the scenes look at how she runs her studio. Natural lighting, set decorations and white copy paper is how to create this look. I get the photo credit for the center portrait. All other images used with permission.

Opening Night Hockey

Hockey is back in Kansas City. Independence, MO, to be specific - in the form of a minor league team, the Missouri Mavericks. Opening night was a sell out last weekend. Here is a wide angle from the upper seats.

See some other images in the MoMavericks Flickr group, HERE.

Characters

A children's book themed birthday party put many new faces to family and friends. We decided to create a minimal photo essay of the participants. Here is a sampling of the that record. The complete list can be seen here.

Lawrence Pt 1

Pictures of buildings? Thats weird.

My Sister-in-law writes a nice blog, and has been getting recognized around some other online spots. So these pictures (part two will be in a while) will be supporting her in an article she is writing...stay tuned for that, and some more images from the nice evening photo session we had together.

Infant baby boy

Another family opportunity came along, and I was very happy to spend the morning with this very new baby boy. I really enjoyed producing images for this new family.

powerful art

This is a very inspirational art piece from a Ukrainian TV talent show. I also enjoyed the Metallica instrumental seven minutes in.

A little random, but worth sharing.

Flint HIlls 1

I attended Kansas State School of Architecture one semester (before transferring and finishing at KU's arch school.) Why does that really matter? Because I learned first hand what Kansas has to offer with the flint hills. Fast forward to this fall, I was able to scout out on some open range property (no paved roads or fences) for a photo project. It really is a beautiful landscape. Besides gravel oil roads and pumps, there is hardly a trace of social or man made material interaction.

I am linking a gallery of a couple of early pics, because bigger is better with these landscapes.

These are some images you get when you have a herpetology expert on site

wow, chill out buddy.

Maybe some more images from this day to come.

Fall Family

Some things I worked on improving with this really fun family photo session I did: Some personalized black and white processing, continuing to manage available lighting control, and a silly (yet fun- seen in third image) set up shot that can be fun, and a nice break in action.

wine glass lighting

From time to time I like to merge photography lighting techniques with science lessons/fun experimenting with my daughters. Here is one example testing wine glasses with some fun food coloring.

Jacomo

Landscapes are great. I have always enjoyed shooting them. When I shoot outside, I find that usually my lense choices lend toward the wider angles. I love clouds especially (so much so that I am a member of a UK based society, The Cloud Appreciate Society.) So when a great cloud day comes along, I love the opportunity to work on capturing some of it.

Lake Jacomo is a local favorite for wildlife drives and great hiking, while not requiring a lot of time to get to it from the burbs. This was the case where I was early to a meeting and had the exact amount of time to kill to capture these clouds on the lake.

Madison Flower Girl

These close-up shots I really like. They may not print out very well, or look good on a wall, but there are a lot of details remembered in the face and eyes, so that is nice.

Illinois State

These are images of Illinois State University. This first is an image inside the arena, on a nice private tour by a family member on the basketball team. It is a pretty cool place actually. The cloud cover ceiling gives a very soft distributed light throughout the building. I was told night games the same can be seen from outdoors, a soft glow from the roof.

This image of art inside the university union caught my eye. It had a great pattern and nice 3-dimensional quality that I enjoyed.

Trip around the Bloch

Any reason is as good as any to take a trip down to see the Bloch addition of the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City. On this occasion, showing Carolyn the exhibit Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh, kicked off a fun time walking through, around, over and under the some of the five buidings that make up the block addition (and parking lot/art sculpture.)



Though we came for the exhibit, and it was great; most of the time was spent on the roof, under the parking structure, climbing every set of stairs to all the levels, and not to mention talking with Carolyn's favorite Nelson Atkins worker, Kit.

I don't have to mention that I really just wanted an excuse to take my camera inside the bloch for an afternoon.

City Pieces

These are some of the views residents' see everyday, along with the special views and the named attractions. As a visitor though, its images like these that make me want to return and find more. I even made a small appearance in one of these.

in New York last week

Here is a view looking into the city. sky colors changed almost constantly, providing a mixture of feelings in the skyline. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

a half hour apart and the clouds thickened, darkening the mood.

It is a beautiful world, even when you are looking through a corporate hotel chain.

The non-descript urban scenes usually pull me in when I get a chance to visit famous historic cities. I enjoy seeing the famous stuff too though.

I learn more and my perspective changes about a place when I can pull things away from it with my camera that I would otherwise not experience. I will put some of these images on deck, and post them very soon.

Trek

I just arrived home from a trek out to NYC for a weekend set of shows that I was photographing for Ross Christopher.

The downtime was spent eating great food, managing the car we took inside the city, and taking pictures. I plan to post some images once I get them organized, but for now - here is one from the road...Ohio style.

Some raw pics can be seen here, posted over the weekend.

Ring Light Test

It is good to have the internet for practicing cheap lighting techniques. This one I used on Jules, for $30.

It is also important to have good subjects to photograph, as well.

Ted.com

My friend in Vancouver turned me onto this site. Really its more than a website, and it doesn't really fit a catagory (entertainment, technology, politics.) If I could compare it to anything I would say it is striving to push society forward, the same way Google is pushing technology.

Check it out: Ted.com

Scouting KC

Another thing I enjoy about Kansas City is scouting out locations to take families to for photo sessions. These friends I recently shot, are very aware of some great locations in Kansas City. Whether its dining, grabbing a drink and good live music, or just exploring, I will be resourcing their knowledge of KC for future possible photo-opt locals.

Here are some samples I liked from their session.

These are three of the more expressive scenes from our time together.

Hands

So I do like to paint my girls nails for them. But only when they ask me to. This time though they had to return the favor and let me photograph the finished product.

Images of Hands, especially ones you care about, accentuate the expression a picture is worth a thousand words. See, they even make you seem cheesy.

Still, it is crazy that two unassuming pics can call out so many memories. These can only claim six years worth combined.

Kansas City

I love getting the chance to drive through Kansas City. You can see the progress being made, and appreciate more the history seen in all the buildings. I am more intentional now about producing images that tell this story.

For now, you can see a few more at the Flickr Site

Urban Facade

I don't know if I photographed this project at Kunsthalle in Hamburg, Germany would be considered architectural photography or event space. I really would like a chance though. This is by the Architect Daniel Rossa, working with Urbanscreen.

555 KUBIK | facade projection | from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

Chocolate Milk Drop

Well this was a science lesson, an art activity, an afternoon snack and a good source for a lot of laugh all at once. I think there will be more of these types of things to follow in my future.

My accuracy for hitting the shutter at just the right time was around 10% with my remote trigger.