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7/17 Wow I am on a roll...
I believe that it is a record for me to update my blog 3 times in a little over a week, and let me tell you there is still more to come, probably not in the next few days, but in the near future. The reason for this post is to announce my STORE. Check it out by clicking HERE. You can now buy your very own BlackLine hats and shirts. This was something that I have had in my head for years and part of the reason BlackLine is named that as well as the logo. I want BlackLine to be known as a brand rather than just another small business. Anyway check that stuff out and buy if you like, don't buy if you don't like, hahaha!
One "teaser" that I can't wait to talk about is that we at BlackLine (me and my wife anyway) are going to be holding a women's Glamour Night Out. I don't know if we are actually going to call it that, but what it will be is a women's night out at my studio (no guys other than me). The reason I will be there is because I am the owner and photographer for BlackLine and what the night is going to consist of is glamour makeovers (makeup and hair updos), food and drink, and of course socializing. The part that I come in is for the photography, we are going to do brief glamour sessions with all participants. It is a pampering type deal for women. This is something that my wife and I talked about and she is extremely excited for this as are a few vendors that I talked to about providing their services to the night. The details are still being sorted out. We do not know of the day and time or the exact details of everything, but that is what will come later. We are thinking that the 1st Glamour Night Out will be later this summer and we will be limiting the first night to 10 females (no age restrictions, just gender). So if you are interested in getting in on this let me know HERE.
One last thing is that I will be updating all the galleries with some of the stuff that I have shot so far this summer. Later...
7/16 BASEBALL - The greatest game!
This post is not at all about photography, but rather my opinion on, well, baseball. Why? Because last night was the Major League Baseball All Star game and it was a dandy, (almost) all 5 1/2 hours of it. I finally went to bed last night at about 1:30 am when the game was over and I was tired, but being a baseball fan, I do not know that I could have given up on that game to go to sleep. If you watched it you know what I am talking about. All Star games are typically boring to watch, at least in other sports, because there is not much competitiveness going on. The NFL has the Pro Bowl (and they have a hard time selling tickets to it because it is such a boring uneventful game, the NBA and NHL have their All Star games as well, but as with the Pro Bowl it is not a real exciting game, more or less the "Stars" going through the motions to play their game. It seems like the whole point to the All Star games in all sports, other than baseball, is to have an honor of being named to the team, not actually putting on an entertaining game for the fans. There really is no incentives to winning or consequences to losing, so who cares? Well baseball did something a few years back and added perks to the winning team. That is whichever team (American League or National League) wins, that league's representative in the World Series will have home field advantage. That is a huge deal for professional sports. That makes the MLB All Star game a competitive venture, not just a relaxing run through for the stars of the game. I do not watch hockey or basketball, so I don't know if they have the same type of incentive for winning, but I have watched their All Star games and they are not overly exciting. Last nights baseball game was one of the better baseball games that I have ever watched. It went 15 innings (regulation games are 9 innings, so that is like 6 overtimes!) There were a few errors and it wasn't the prettiest game ever, but both teams which were complete mixtures of players from different teams, some of whom are bitter rivals, battled to the end playing as hard as they would if the game was for the world championship. Great game! The best thing about the game was how enlightening it was to see these normal rivals play together like buddies on a sandlot, their normal team did not matter, they were all on one team going against another team which was also made up of rivals playing together for one purpose, winning. I think the event of the night that topped it all off and summed up everything was when Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins scored the winning run and "teammate" Carlos Quentin of the Twins inter-divisional rivals Chicago White Sox guided him in to homeplate and then the two embraced in a celebratory hug. As American League manager Terry Francona noted, "every player was on the top step," as opposed to on the first flight home. In other words, it did not matter that it was 2:30 in the morning in New York, every one of these players put their own egos aside were there to win for their respective league. Can the NBA, NHL, or NFL do or say the same? I doubt it and that my friends is why I love the game of baseball. Just to give a little photography fix to you who read this, below is a couple of my favorite photos that I took of my daughter this morning for her 15 month portraits.
Side note: Sofie threw a temper tantrum and would not look at me until I gave her a sucker, then she was a little happier...
7/9 It has been less than a month...
But there has been a lot that has gone down! First, I moved my studio to a new studio space, have no fear the new location is exactly 12 feet away from the old location. We moved across the hall in the Franklin Arts Center to room 227. The space is about twice as big and a lot more roomy. I will be getting up some photos of the new studio in the near future (hopefully), but if you feel the urge, stop in and say hi and check it out! Other than that, the busy season is getting underway. Below is some of what I have shot in the past month...INCLUDING some concert photos that I did in May of one of my favorite bands from my childhood, Warrant (the Cherry Pie band for all you Guitar Hero addicts). Check back for the studio photos and another cool thing that I have up my sleeve.
6/11 I'm still here!
Yep, it has been like two months since I last updated my blog. I have actually been really busy lately with a ton of orders as well as sessions. Well, I tend to justify not updating the blog because I am keeping up with my "Photo of the Week" on the main page of the site. If you don't know, that is something that I kind of showcase off a photo that grabs my attention from the previous week that it is posted. It isn't always one that I shot that week, it could be a photo that a client orders that I have completely forgotten about until I put together the order and since I have people order from sessions that were shot 2 years ago, I may decide to put up an "old" photo from time to time. Anyway that is my justification. Anyway here is an update with some of the stuff that I have shot in the past couple months.
These first photos are obviously of a fairly new baby (a couple weeks old)...
Here is a wedding that I shot at the Whitebirch Golf Club with the reception at Breezy Point Resort. The girls started the day at J'Amelia's in Pequot Lakes.
Here's a family session that I did at a couple different locations...
Another baby session, this one was even younger (or newer). She was only a few days old for this session...
This was a wedding that I shot in Brainerd at the First Lutheran Church downtown. The girls got their hair done at The Hair Company and then the bride went to Herbergers for her makeup, yes they will do a bride's makeup. I for one did not know they did that. The reception and dance was at The Lodge in Baxter and one of the coolest things happened there. I recognized the DJ, but I didn't put it all together until I talked to them. They are called K-Hook and I recongnized the name because I have shot like 5 weddings in Bismarck, ND that they DJed. They came all the way from Dickinson, ND for this wedding (that is like 8 hours from Brainerd). Their rates including their travel were extremely reasonable, not much more than DJs from the Twin Cities or Duluth and they delivered probably the best wedding dance that I have ever beared witness to, seriously. Check out the chicken costume (I told the DJ from the wedding I shot the week before about this thing, they do the costume at all events they DJ). Also note the sailors cap that the bride is wearing for the YMCA dance, ironically her husband is in the Navy.
After that last wedding, what else can I say? Well here is another wedding, actually the groom was a good friend of mine from high school and it is always a pleasure to get hired to shoot a friends wedding, especially when it is because they like what I do, not because they get a deal. The last photo in this set is of one set of grandparents who had been married for 63 years! It isn't a great photo, but it has great meaning.
Here is a couple shots from my son Zakkry's 3 year session...
On a sad note, this past Sunday, one of our cats died. It was sad for all of us because he was a sweetheart of a cat and best friend to our other cat as well as our dog and son. We had him for almost seven years.
To me this whole experience just puts an emphasis on the importance of photos...photos like this one are all we have left to remember Ozzy. Until next time...think about what photos mean to you.