Monday, September 6, 2010

Baby Dylan

This is Dylan. . . and he is my "second cousin, once removed" . . . at least I believe that is the official relation. This beautiful little boy decided to meet us all 10 weeks early, and this was the first chance I to visit him (I refused to come down unless I felt perfectly healthy. . . no need to risk an illness w/ this one) Now several months later he is doing well, and is already full of personality . . .




I am not sure if there is anything cuter than baby feet . . .


This is my beautiful cousin Catie (umm, I mean "Cate", unfortunately for her, I have lived w/ her as Catie for my whole life, so it probably will not change) who is Dylan's Mommy!



Dyaln and his daddy Eric!


I love this pic so much, He looks like one of those porcelain dolls you can buy in the back of the old TV guides, he was sitting up SO well, but as you can see he was so tired, since this was the end of our day!

McBride - Pregnancy

I have known these two since before they were married, and I am so honored to be able to shoot some pregnancy pics for them.


Miss Mollie getting a "hug" from her mommy.


not many are privy to watching a man go through the process of trying to woo a woman, but being in Bre's small group at the time, I was able to meet Brian while he was in the middle of that process. . . It was so very refreshing to see.



This one might be my FAVORITE of the day!






Thanks guys for a great day. . . can not wait to meet her (and to get some fabulous pics of this cute little girl's face)

Darst



This is the Darst family. we have been trying for several months now to get together, but due some ill timed injuries, we had to put it off until early August. SO, what was one of the hottest days of the year, we ventured out to the St. Chuck river front for some pics.


I can not say enough about these two. Fantastic parents who love Christ, love each other, love their kids and love their community . . . in that order . . . like I said, they are pretty fantastic.


this is probably one of my favorite photos ever . . . yeah . . . EVER!


not much to say. . . a pretty family on a pretty bridge



The whole crew relaxing after a long sweaty day. . .

Monday, June 28, 2010

Tour de Grove pt2

Saint Louis was able to welcome a new professional cycling race to the area this year. The Tour de Grove (spawning from what was the tour of winghaven, in previous years) wound its way through the southern side of Saint Louis city stretching from Tower Grove to Forest Park, and coinciding with the now beloved Open Streets.






though it was early June, the temperature was nearing triple digits, and everyone felt it. Cyclist were picking up ice before the race started in an effort to keep their body temperatures down. . . a few, who I think are ingenious, put lumps of ice in small nylon stockings and slung them around their neck to keep themselves cool.




on the start line in Saint Louis. . .




Making the turn out of the Forest Park region and returning to the grove district














Disappointment Brings Forth New Opportunities

As some of you may know, the Tour of Missouri has been canceled due to a lack of funding, by the last minute removal of funds by the State's Department of Tourism. (if you would like more information please ask, though this is not the time or place to launch into the details and history)
with that, the only opportunity I had this year to shoot Professional level cyclists flew out the window (Tour of Missouri was 1 of only 2 top level bike races in the nation) and there is still a part of me that is heart broken and I have basically abandoned any hope of getting to any races to photograph riders, because all of the big races (UCI professional) left this season are over in Europe (like the Tour de France) and that means all of the racers are over there as well.

That all changed a couple of weeks ago. While driving through mid-town, I passed some cyclists out on the road wearing Kelly Benefits and Jelly Belly jerseys, both teams are mid-level professional cycling teams, and I could not figure out what they were doing in town, since the Tour of Missouri had been canceled. Soon after, I discovered that STL was hosting a set of small bike races, the tour de grove. As you can guess I immediately rearranged my schedule in order to make it out for both the Saturday Mid-Town Sprints and Sunday's Tour de Grove.




I found out about the races from the twitter of rider Jeremy Powers, of team Jelly Belly, about 5 mins before the race began. I made great time getting down to it, but during the drive clouds began to over take the sky . . .



and as you can tell it began raining . . . raining HARD. The floodgates opened just as I was arriving at the race.





The race was in one of my favorite parts of Saint Louis, on Locust in Mid-Town.







it was so good to see fans come out in the rain to watch the race. you can not see it here, but the road is almost completely flooded on the edges where the fans were.





that is Jeremy Powers on the right, and the race winner Brad Huff (a Missouri resident) on the left.


more photo's from Sunday's events to come . . .

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Cannan

recently I was privileged to hang out w/ this little man and his wonderful family . . .


he is not quite a month old and already he is quite aware of the camera



this little boy LOVES looking over people's sholders



Cannan and his daddy, Matt



this is Cannan and his lovely mommy, Celeste



They are quite adorable. . . don't you think

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Some days I simply have to take pictures. . . this was one of those days. . .

For the longest time. . . I have been in love with the Irish Wolf Hound. . . it is a dream of mine to one day be able to own one. . . but living in the city. . . that is not very realistic.

I have since learned to love another breed, one much more reasonable to city living. . . the BOXER! I had never really been around boxers much and had NEVER been responsible for anything other than an XL-sized dog (yeah boxers are on the small side, in my book) . . . that was until the Huse's brought home Hailey . . . and thus my love for Boxers was born.


this is Hailey. she might be the cutest/ugliest dog EVER. . . not sure why her face is so deformed (seriously, the overbite and her gremlin ears are hilarious)




this is Missy. . . she is a recent addition to the Huse household. Her former owners had to move for employment issues, and were unable to take her w/ them. . . sweet dog






This might be one of my favorite pics right now. . .

Saturday, January 23, 2010

C &T "the Wedding"

I love this couple. . . in case I have not mentioned it. . . thought I should let you know.
As we all know, wedding days can be quite stressfull, even more so if you get a few last minute surprises. . . the worst of which was that the church did NOT allow flash during the wedding ( because the "ceremony is viewed as a worship service", though I am not sure as to why that should matter, as long as the bride and groom do not care, which they did not) . . . even from the hired wedding photographer . . . so as you can imagine my day went from needing to be inspired/focused to "How do I make use of the limited natural light?" ( it was a 3pm wedding, in Oct. with a large window silhouetting the bride and groom. . . need i say more)


but now that I am done whining. . . lets get to the photos . . .



i am in love w/ shoe photos. . . especially wedding shoes. . .





It really is a lovely venue, but having to shoot w/ a High ISO for a wedding was heart breaking. . . you would think that wedding coordinators (church/venue) would understand that light is a MUST for the photographer. . . I do not know why they insist on darkness for ambiance. . . this is a wedding not a concert. . .


Milli, the Maid of Honor / Sister / former room-mate of the bride




I love this cake. . . it was made by a good friend Jessica Johnson. . . this was here first wedding cake EVER. . . isn't it good (it fits the couple perfectly)



I love me some solar flair. . . it is an acquired love, by seeing the amazing pieces by Lisa Hessel








Looking forward to catching up w/ these two soon. . . because of the scheduling of the day, we were unable to get any shots of just the two of them . . . so we are planning on rectifying that when the weather gets warm again.