Last weekend, I had the pleasure of shooting senior photos of JoAnna. Like so many high school seniors, her school photos just didn’t capture her personality, and they certainly didn’t capture her at her very best. So we headed out to downtown Columbia to remedy that.

For a couple of hours we walked around the streets and parking garages of Columbia looking for the next great shot. With a young lady as lovely and energetic as JoAnna, the task was nothing short of a complete joy.

Tonight, she saw her photos for the first time, and I have to say, she was thrilled. In fact, she was thrilled enough to want to do a second photo session right around prom time. I really can’t give too much away now, but you’ll see it soon enough.

In the mean time, enjoy these from last weekend.

This is just a quick notice that all 5 of the winners have been notified via the email addresses that they used when voting. Winners were selecting using the best darn Random Number generator on the Internet. http://www.random.org/integers/ (Yes. I am a nerd.)

The results of those sessions will be appearing here soon. And maybe, just maybe, there will be another Baker’s Dozen contest next year!

This will probably come as no surprise considering the amazing efforts of her greatest fans and promoters, but Madison is the VICTOR!

The WINNER

All participants have been notified via email of the results, and everyone involved has received a small prize as well. By the way, the email I sent is the only email that you guys will receive from me.

I have also decided, due to the HUGE response, that I will be giving away 5 not 4 portrait sessions. The winners of these $200.00 prizes will be notified via email. (So, I guess that means that 5 of you WILL get one more email from me.)

When those sessions are done, you’ll see the results here! Again, THANK all of you who voted and sweated out the VERY close competition!!

Hey! I said that I’m announcing the winner on MONDAY, Feb 1st. This is simply announcing the end to the competition. I truly wanted to thank each and every one of you who participated! (Even those who “participated” 5,6,7, or 8, times.) Comments received AFTER 2:00 pm EDT Sunday Jan 31st (by MY watch), will be very much appreciated, but they aren’t going to count.

The winners of the portrait sessions will be notified very soon. If you have not seen the details of the prizes – The Baker’s Dozen Contest details.

I’ve begun tallying the votes, (including deleting the many, uh, “enthusiastic” 2nd, 3rd, and 4th votes from the same persons..) and I’ll post the winner Monday morning.

As a quick side note, I asked a number of my photographic colleagues to vote on their favorite image. (Their votes did not count toward the contest results.) Their choice, due largely to the composition and warmth of the light, was this one:

Photo 25

I love my clients. They’ve trusted me to capture some beautiful and very precious moments in their lives. They’ve shared those moments, through my photographs with many of you, their friends and family.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to give a few of YOU something for free, and all you have to do to be eligible to win one of four (4) – and maybe more… – portrait sessions – worth $200.00 – is to VOTE.

Below are 13 pairs (a Baker’s Dozen) of photographs of 13 portrait and wedding clients. Each photo is numbered, 1 to 26. Simply leave a comment in this post with the photo number you wish to vote for, and you’re entered. (Only one vote, and only votes with valid photo numbers are eligible.)

If you really want to vote twice, you can pop over to my Facebook page and you can legally vote a 2nd time there. (And that enters you twice!)

We’ll get to the details of your prize later, but now, it’s time to VOTE! And remember, only comments on the blog or on the Facebook photos, count.

P.S. Vote ONCE. Just one vote. Vote only one time. Do not Vote twice, for that would be too many. One shall be the number of times to vote, and the number of times to vote shall be one. Three votes is right out! And FIVE is utterly ridiculous. One Vote only. (You can vote ONE additional time on Facebook.)

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photo 10

Photo 11

Photo 12

Photo 13

Photo 14

Photo 15

Photo 16

Photo 17

Photo 18

Photo 19

Photo 20

Photo 21

Photo 22

Photo 23

Photo 24

Photo 25

Photo 26

The Baker’s Dozen Contest details.

It should come a no surprise that when a bunch of wedding photographers get together for one of the largest educational conferences in the business, they go out shooting.

In this case, we found our selves in the care of one of the great talents in the business, Chuck Arlund. He got us set up with truly exceptional models, and a beautiful church in downtown Nashville.

And the results?

In the slow months of fall and winter, many photographers take on personal projects. They do this for a number of reasons and the projects vary from photographing door knockers to documenting daily life in the rural southwest. My travels frequently take me by a field that has been cut. It’s not a particularly pretty sight.

Experience has taught me however, that beauty and mystery are often hidden from the casual glance. When I journeyed into the field, I found a world of texture, light and color that could not be seen from the hurried pace of the road.

This is the first in a series of projects – The Field of the Fallen.

As the husband of a graduate of the very fine Chapin High School, I of course tagged along to the 20 year reunion. I was ordered volunteered to take a group photo of the attending members of the class of 1989. It was quite a party. While I was there, I took the time to walk around and shoot a few impromptu portraits of the class members. I even set up a backdrop in a side room to shoot a few more formal portraits complete with the blue of the Chapin Eagles. (Well as close as I could get it with a flash and gels.)

A few from a very fun night!

I do have to say that these folks were EXTREMELY good sports to cram together like this and STAY PUT for almost 5 minutes while I made a couple of adjustments to the lights. It’s a little hard to tell at this size, but they all also kept up happy faces too!

My October couple is the very lovely Sarah and her loving groom,  Brad.  Rather than watch all those boring football games (all of them) Brad accompanied  Sarah out for their engagement session.  He quietly took his revenge by playfully coaxing me toward a 20 ft shear drop off,  while I tried to get the perfect shot of both of them, and later deftly failed to mention the dog poo only inches from my head during another shot.

It was all in fun and he was a great sport.  And with a bride to be as truly charming as Sarah, it’s easy to see why.

Just a couple from the day…

I’m a bad blogger… bad blogger!

Coming Up, look for our model shoot with the very lovely Spencer, and the engagement session of Sarah and Brad.

I may even post a few from our Alaskan Cruise.