Syd . Nov 2012

As soon as I flew home from NYC, I met up with Syd for a senior shoot. She was up for anything, as long as it was atypical. 

I have become very interested on the distance portrait. It is the exact opposite of my norm. So I am still getting used to the feeling of the image as a whole.

I know they are cliche, but I love trains and their lines.

One for the grandma. Apparently her G-ma does not share her punk sentimentalities.

Her favorite outfit... her mom's least favorite.

It is always such a pleasure to meet new and wonderful people, while using a medium that I love. 

BigBang in Newark

So, it has been a little while, eh?

Quick update. Not to much has changed. Except my hair... which is currently a pixie cut (i know, I never thought I would cut off my locks either) and blonde this week.

Last month, I was able to travel to New York (well Newark, but lets not worry about small details) to photograph one of my favorite bands in the whole wide world;  BigBang (If you like PSY's music, they are apart of the same entertainment group, and I would recommend listening to ALL of their bands & artists)

G-Dragon singing "CrayOn" from his new solo album.

BigBang: Daesung, Taeyang, GD, TOP, Seungri

Daesung (D-Lite) singing "Wings" from his solo album

Singing "Stupid Liar" on one of my favorite stages I have seen at a show.

Probably one of my favorite shots from the whole concert.

It was an amazing show. Live Band, DJ on stage... Every song sounded as good, if not better, than the album recording. and some of the best fans I have been around in a long time. It is not everyday that you hop in a car with 4 strangers (looking for post concert dinner) and feel safe and secure.

*I do not generally recommend this and would suggest you don't hop in cars with strangers.

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. . .

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 . . .