Professional Photographers of Idaho 2009

What an incredible week! Think about drinking from a fire hose... that was what the PP of I conference was like. The theme for the conference was called "Week of Legends" and the conference lived up to it's name. There was so much good information and so many good speakers, it was hard to take it all in completely. I learned some cool things about location lighting from Doug Box, some great Photoshop tricks from Eddie Tapp and was inspired by David Beckstead with his unfettered creativity in his work. I also got spend some time with Steve Mackly and Dave Newman and got a lot of helpful information and advice.
This conference also marked my very first Print Competition where my work was scrutinized by a panel of experienced and distinguished judges. Honestly, I didn't do too bad for a rookie who had never seen a print competition before. Out of five prints entered, two were scored as Merit Prints and the other three did pretty good as well...ooooragh!
One of my best friends also lives there in Coeur d'Alene and I was able to spend some time with him and his family. I don't think I could have asked for a better week!

Getting ready for PP of I

This year will be interesting. This will be my first Professional Photographers of Idaho print competition, and quite honestly, it's stressing me out. By nature I'm somewhat of a perfectionist and I know that what I enter is going to be scrutinized to a level that I rarely experience. It's all good, it's a part of perfecting one craft...but trying to put what you feel is best forward is a daunting and humbling experience when you know that the judges are good...really good...and they know what good is. The results...watch the next blog.

Boise Valley Judo

Boise Valley Judo is hosting their 71st annual tournament on March 7th (10am?) at Vallivue Jr. High in Caldwell. In 1937, BVJ founder Maseo Yamashita (8th Dan) brought Judo to the State of Idaho and has been a driving force for the promoting and teaching of Judo all these years. Yamashita Sensai is no longer with us, but his legacy lives on at BVJ. Although technically I'm an inactive member (Nikkyu...2nd degree brown belt), I'm still regarded as part of the family and help out every year by doing some photography for the club around tournament season. I suppose I should go back and finish getting my Shodan (black belt).

Father/Daughter Dance

For the last four years I have had the privilege of being the photographer for the ECC Father/Daughter Ball. It really is somewhat of a charity that I'm involved in every year as the proceeds go to support the ECC mission program which is certainly a good thing.
Outside of that, probably one of the most endearing elements of this events is that it reminds me of why I'm a Portrait Photographer. For the past 4 years I've watched several toddlers become little girls, several little girls become teenagers and several teenagers become young women. How cool is that?

The New Year

It's been an eventful year at the studio. This last fall/winter season marks the 2 busiest quarters in the life of the studio. About the time that the economy got bad, business got good. Hmmmm.....
2008 was the year we launched the website with great results. I labored over the decision of where to host it, and how to host it for months and finally bit the bullet in January. I can't imagine life without one now! It's very much like a retail store on the web.
So what about 2009? I plan to expand my aviation image collection as I'm finding many enthusiasts who really dig pictures of airplanes, and there is a commercial market for aviation images as well. I plan to continue developing the portrait and wedding element of the studio, more equipment, more products and (hopefully) more clients. Stay tuned, more to come....

Amy and Lance get married

You may recognize these two...their engagement session shows up just a little while ago.
Amy and I go back many years, in fact I took her Senior portraits several years ago. It was an honor and privilege to now be the photographer at her wedding.
I hope to be photographing their family for years to come...

A tale of two birds...

Looking back over the summer, I recall a really fun project that I was asked to photograph.
Pat and Mike met in the Air Force and have been really close friends ever since. They fly Cessna 182 "straight tails" (for those of you who have no clue what a straight tail is...it's a Cessna built before 1960...tail is straight rather than angled back compared to the newer versions), they hunt together, fish together and fly together. Both of their Cessnas recently got a new paint job, and they hatched the idea to compose an AOPA article featuring the story of two ex- Air Force pilots and their airplanes and the friendship that has endured over the years.
So, a warm summer morning of photography, friends and formation flying...it doesn't get much better than that!
I'm looking forward to reading that AOPA article...