Thankfully the weather finally turned back to pleasant enough for photography just in time for Matt's photo shoot. We started out in his wrestling room that was about 109 degrees. We followed that up with a nice session in an ally downtown with a windchill of about -3. My fingers were starting to tighten up on my camera and I could tell some of Matt's crossed arm poses were more for warmth than for creating a casual pose. The studio was a nice 70 degrees though so we were on easy street once we got back there. The wrestling shots turned out pretty cool considering wrestlers don't have a lot of built in props. No balls or equipment or anything else, just a big circle drawn on the ground. There's a cool selective color shot in the gallery. I hate to say it, but for anyone that hasn't gotten their senior portraits taken yet, you're either going to have to wait until spring or put up with being cold. I'm not sure how many more nice days we're going to get this year to do outdoor portraits.

What happened to the weather?

Well, everything was cruising along just beautifully then it dropped to 40 degrees outside! I had to do all of my scheduled senior portraits inside this weekend. Here's to hoping for a warm up for at least a couple of days so we can squeeze a few more outdoor sessions into 2008. We got some fun studio portraits of Brandon and his dog though. We also did some cool stuff with a huge US flag. We were hoping to do some stuff down on the dam, but with the huge drop in temperature and all of the nasty clouds rolling through we're pushing it off until a more seasonable day.

2008 LAA Photography Competition Scores

Advanced

Creative Manipulation
1st Ryan Buck Metal Church 6
3rd Susan Stewart Faded Caddi 53

Landscape/Architecture
1st Dale Sullivan Peggy's Cove 19
2nd Ann Weigand Desert Sanctuary 86
3rd Karen Nacke Ridgeview Lake 26
4th Ann Weigand Elegance in Architecture 88

Nature
1st John Troxler Hummer Tongue 11
2nd John Troxler Ruby Throat 8
3rd Dale Sullivan Gone Fishing 18
4th John Toxler Pollination 10

Open
1st John Troxler Sunrise Siding 9
3rd Susan Stewart Forgotten 59
4th Dale Sullivan Glacier 20

People
1st Ryan Buck On the Dock 7
2nd Susan Stewart Little Shy Guy 52
3rd Ryan Buck Little Angel 5
4th Karen Nacke Roasting Hotdogs 25

Amateur

Creative Manipulation
1st Jeremy Ashcraft Berries on Ice 97
2nd Don Weikle Lost in the Red 34
3rd Don Weikle Flowering White 33
4th Don Weikle Sunset on the Watseka 35

Landscape/Architecture
1st Ashley Meagher Behind the Window 58
2nd Arlene Puralewski Sunset on Lake Bruce 1
3rd Rosie Schafer Hidden Treasure of Cass County 74
4th Judi Barr Winter Valley Shadows 39

Nature
1st Stephen Goodwin Backyard Surprise 95
2nd Judi Barr Sky's the Limit 37
3rd Nancy L. Clark The Gulf Fritillary 64
4th Vickie Mechling Colorado Sagebrush 42

Open
1st Don Drone For Sale 84
2nd Don Drone Untitled 85
3rd Olga Khokhlova Fashion Time 61
4th Judi Barr International Charm 38

People
1st Arlene Puralewski Quinn at Park 3
2nd Vickie Mechling Goldminer 41
3rd Janet Fawley Honor and Courage 31
4th Olga Khokhlova Mother and Child 63

Youth

Kaylee Ervin Reflections 78
Tristan Kizer Reflections 67
Tristan Kizer The Forseers 68
Nicholas Kizer Shade Tree 71

Best in Show: Ryan Buck On the Dock 7
Youth Best in Show: Kaylee Ervin Reflections 78
Judges Award #1 John Troxler Hummer Tongue 11
Judges Award #2 Ryan Buck On the Dock 7
Honorable Mention Dale Sullivan Peggy's Cove 19
Honorable Mention Ryan Buck Metal Church 6

Luke Sparks

Little Luke didn't really enjoy his second portrait session with us. He seemed to really hate having the big shiny round thing pointed at his face. Every time I brought my camera up to my face he started squealing. It was kind of comical, but of course I felt bad for him. For all he knew my camera was some awful medical device designed to make his life miserable. We got some really cute shots and after about an hour of trying he finally figured out it wasn't so bad getting portraits made. Either that or we wore him out and he just gave up out of sheer exhaustion. I'm ok with either one.

I was so wrong!

I made a comment a few weeks ago about how the senior season was "winding down." I'd like to go on record now and say nothing could be further from the truth. I've never photographed so many people back to back to back like this before! It's really awesome. The only downside is I've had so much work to do I haven't had a chance to choose images for my gallery and I haven't had any time at all to blog about my most recent work. I also had a wedding about a week ago and I haven't had a chance to blog about it either. I'm so sorry the blog is being neglected, but as a photographer I'm absolutely ecstatic that I've got enough photography to keep me busy from morning till night. As soon as things slow down I'll try to get caught up on all of the shoots I haven't blogged about. Sorry everyone, but thanks to everyone out there that is making it impossible to blog! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Nathan's Senior Portraits

I haven't done any cool edgy portraits all year so it was really exciting working with Nathan yesterday. He had some really good ideas for poses and we put them together on some of the dilapidated buildings in down town Logansport. We created some extremely interesting portraits, one of which I'm planning on entering in a contest this month. This portrait is one of my favorites, we broke all of the rules for a good portrait and it turned out amazing.