Caitlin and Matt get married

Well, I am a little behind. But, here are some images from Caitlin and Matt’s wedding. We had a fabulous time, but boy was it hot. Beautiful bride, fabulous setting in the park, hot, nice people, did I mention hot, and a fun time was had by all. It was, however, a little warm that day! Anyway, here are the images.

Caitlin and Matt

Well, we went to Topeka yesterday to photograph Caitlin and Matt’s engagement session. What a beautiful day it was. We went to the park where Matt proposed, then we went downtown to do some urban stuff. There was a huge car show going on, so we got to see some nicely restored old cars. Then we went out to Lake Shawnee, where the wedding will be in June, then back down to the Capital building for some night shots. I will post a few here for your viewing. Working on getting Mathew’s Senior portraits done so I can show you those also. Hope all the mothers have a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Busy Day, must be Spring

Have a senior session this morning at 8:30 (what idiot scheduled that?) and then an engagement session this afternoon in Topeka. Looks like the weather is going to hold out, so I guess I better not complain. Hope all of you Mothers out there have a fabulous weekend.

Another Volunteer opportunity

Here I am again, up at 4:30 in the morning drinking coffee. Why, you ask, would I be up at 4:30 on a Sunday morning drinking coffee? Well, it is March of Dimes walk day, of course. Over the years I have done many events for charities. This year I have had to cut back to my two favorites. With many, many worthy charities and events, I had to ask myself which ones really meant something to me. My choices were the two organizations I feel benefit kids the most. March of Dimes and MDA are my two choices. Which ones will you support? Everyone should find a way to give back. I was so fortunate to have a healthy kid. I give back to help other parents be able to watch their kids grow up healthy. Find your spot, and volunteer. So, pack up the cameras, drink my coffee, and off to photograph 5000 walkers helping to raise money for healthy kids. Have a wonderful day!

A little nature is always good…

Headed off to Squaw Creek NWR this morning bright and early. The latest count estimates about 1.3 million Snow Geese on the refuge. Rented a 400mm f/2.8 lens yesterday to take up there this morning. Going to see the sun rise over lots and lots of geese. Pictures to follow. Have a fabulous day.

A foggy day

Got up this morning to pea soup fog. Sara and I decided to go see what we could photograph in the fog. I really love shooting architecture in the fog, and today’s fog was really good. So, here are a few foggy pictures to enjoy.

Pretty Ironic….

…that bad weather canceled the SkyWarn Training session. So, I figured if the ice and snow was going to mess up my plans for the day, I should just play with the ice and snow. So, I got out the camera and tripod and went out the back door. These were shot from my covered patio out into the back yard. These are my first attempts at doing HDR images with the new Photoshop CS5. There are eight images, all shot at different exposures, merged into one HDR file. I made one HDR Black and White, and the other high saturation HDR color. Kind of fun stuff. HDR has come a long way from the original versions just a couple of years ago. CS5 does some amazing things, and I have just found another amazing thing it does. Hope you enjoy these.

Snow on the ground…….

…….must be SkyWarn training. Yup, up and at um early this morning to go to SkyWarn training. Spring storm season is right around the corner. Got to get everybody trained to run the nets. For those of you that don’t know, SkyWarn is a bunch of Amateur Radio operators that act as storm spotters for the National Weather Service. During severe weather, we go out and sit on top of hills and watch the storms to give early warning to our friends and neighbors. I am Chairman of Kansas City SkyWarn, the group that works with the NWS office at Pleasant Hill, Mo.

After training today, I have a photo shoot at church. We have a group of dedicated volunteers that cooks for Uplift, the folks that feed the homeless in KC. I am going up to photograph them cooking today. Trying to help keep photographs up to date of everything that we do in our church community. We have a very busy group of people. Hope you have a great weekend.

I am ready. Temps this week are going to be upper 40′s to the low 60′s. Man, am I ready! I know it is too early to be Spring, but a little taste is good, I think. And, along with Spring comes Spring Specials. Looking for about 6 HS juniors or seniors to be models. I have a whole new website coming this spring that is going to be just for seniors. I need to get some fresh faces to make it look great. So, if you know someone that would be interested in helping with this project, and getting some really good deals on senior portraits, send them my way. Contact info is all on my website at www.sealsphoto.com .

An open letter to the NFL.

Wow, what a game. One of the better ones in recent memory. Wow, what a National Anthem! One of the WORST in recent memory. Come on people, why do you show segment after segment of patriotic clips, and then let some celebrity botch our National Anthem like that? Football is a game of rules, break the rules and the officials throw a flag. Well, I’m throwing a flag. And I don’t think I will be alone in this. Make a rule that the person you get to sing the National Anthem MUST sing it as written. No interpretation, no extra words (or forgotten words), no extra notes, just sing it! It is the prettiest National Anthem around (ok, I’m biased on that) so we don’t need any re-writing on it. This is not the first time the NFL has allowed a botched anthem, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But, I feel better telling you how strongly I feel about this.

OK, rant off. Sorry, had to say it.