I met up with Michele & her two kids in downtown Spokane and spent some time hanging out with them & getting some photos (& tossing the football around). We started at the Rocket Bakery then headed up to the MAC. They were so at ease with each other & with me as well, we had a blast (at least I did) getting these photos. They were all great to photograph & I think the pictures show that. Since I live in a house full of girls, chances to toss a football around are few & far between, so I’m thankful for any chance I get. Thanks guys!

For the best viewing, open up the photos and use your arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate through the photos.

While we were over visiting the other side of the mountains—sill refuse to call it ‘the coast’ unless I see the actual Pacific Ocean —we had the chance to hang out with one of Gina’s friends from high school & photograph her little ones as a surprise birthday gift for their daddy (kind of a recent theme at MS Photo!).

She brought up the idea of having her daughter have a tea party on the beach & I thought it was an awesome idea! So at the end of the day we got out the big lights & headed down to the beach just in time for the wind to pick up & the waves come crashing in. In all, we only had about 5 minutes of actual beach shooting before the little model had enough of the cold & wind & we called it quits—not before getting some great shots, IMO!

Fortunately the weather was more than accommodating for the rest of the session & it was a blast for me to catch the kiddos going from being shy (notice the first subject I was offered to photograph was ‘Doggie’ the sheep) to playing it up for the camera.

Take a look by clicking through. FYI, once you open up the window, you can just arrow through the photos with your keyboard which is very cool, try it!

Calvin just turned 2 and his parents thought it was a good idea to get some photos taken of him as well as some of their family. The entire time I was editing these photos I kept finding myself holding back the laughter since Calvin is such a cute & expressive kid. How can that joy not be contagious. From seeing the moon in the daylight sky to blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. Every photo was a different face—and I think it’s great.

Thanks to Kelsey who came along and helped a bunch. Click the thumbnails to see the photos…

I was asked to take photos at an elementary school dance and decided that it could be a fun project if I break outside the norm of what’s expected for the genre. So I set some rules for myself.

1. Photos have to be affordable. I saw the price list of previous photographers who did this and I was astounded by the prices. I felt like these should be priced like an impulse item rather than something that needed to be worked into a family’s monthly budget.

2. Photos have to be fun. We’ve all seen the all too common and boring photos of people standing there looking blankly at the camera.

BOOOO-RING.

The dance was fun. The photos should reflect that. My answer: PROPS!

3. Photos should be printed on location. People don’t really want several 8x10s or wallets of the dance photos. So what’s the reason for filling out forms and waiting to get 1 or 2 photos? After doing tons of research and finding a portable photo printer that could print 5x7s and get great photo quality, I ordered it and figured out the best way to get it to print at the dance (the toughest & most time consuming part). More fun for everyone that way.

What I learned: Doing it the old way has to be way easier. Boring photos are easy. Getting a reaction is tough. Expensive photos mean less photos to take. That’s easier. Sending the files to a printer and dropping them off at the school a couple of weeks earlier would have been way easier.

I worked my butt off for a couple of hours. That was harder work than shooting a wedding. Was it worth it & would I do it again? Without a doubt. It was a blast!

P.S. As a little extra, I emailed digital photos to everyone who ordered a photo so they could upload it to facebook or whatever they wanted.

Here are a few of the photos: