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Bribing Teenagers (Sandpoint Photographer)

Yesterday I worked with Tim on his senior photos, the second location that we went to was almost perfect, the only problem was that we were not there first.  As you can see in these two test shots a few Teens had claim to the spot that I wanted to use as a backdrop.

As you can see having them in the background does distract a bit from Tim so I thought maybe I might be able to bribe them into vacating their location for a few minutes while I captured some images.   Of course they all have Facebook accounts so I offered to take their portrait for them to use on Facebook.  Here is the payment of my debt to these five teens that were so gracious.

Kelsey Bradbury – Class of 2013 (Priest River Photographer)

This last Saturday I spent a good part of the day with Kelsey taking the first round of her Senior Photos at her grandparents’ home near Priest River.  Kelsey’s Grandfather graciously set up some hay bales for us to use and they worked out great!  You would not have even known it was 40 degrees out as Kelsey braved the cold in a sun dress, cowboy boots and for a few photos her dad’s hat.

Since it was a bit chilly still we are reserving most of our outdoor portraits for the warmer, greener months and spent the majority of our time on some studio style portraits.

The last part of our session we broke out the uniforms and did some sports themed portraits.

I had a great time spending the day with Kelsey, her Mom Sandy and Grandmother Jeanie.  We had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun, I can hardly wait for the weather to get nicer so we can schedule round number two!

Sandpoint Volleyball Club Magazine

It takes a substantial commitment of time and money to be a part of club sports.  The Sandpoint Volleyball Club works hard to come up with ways to raise funds to help offset the financial burden that club volleyball requires.  This year they are putting together a magazine featuring the teams with funds being raised through the sale of advertising to local businesses.  I had the opportunity to be the feature photographer in the production of the magazine which is scheduled to be finished the first week of February and should be available all over Sandpoint.

The first thing we needed was a cover shot, something that would be signature Sandpoint and also catch the eye.  Volleyball uniforms are not exactly insulated but nonetheless Beth Lewis braved the cold Winter day to work with us for a cover photo.  Here is the cover shot along with a couple more shots from the afternoon.

For the rest of the photography we moved indoors. We took some team photos and then moved on to some individual photos.  I wanted to be able to do some composite work with the shots so we took head shots and full body shots using a seamless paper backdrop like this one below.

Shooting this way made it a bit easier to do some composites.  Here is a single player version:

Now a single player along with a team photo.

The composite that I really wanted to put together was a team photo made up of each individual portrait.  I created one for each of the three teams that we created full body shots for.

To finish off the day four of the ladies stuck around to do some action portraits.  We set these up using five different lights, two high powered strobes were the main lights and then for some of the photos I used as many as three speedlights to ad some interest in the otherwise black background.

If you are interested in seeing all of the finished results from this project you can find them on my website at this link: http://bit.ly/ysPKG1

 

Coeur d’Alene vs. Post Falls 01/13/2012

A couple of great games were on tap as some of Idaho’s best basketball teams faced off last Friday night.  The Post Falls Trojans traveled to Coeur d’Alene High school to take on the Vikings.  The games did not disappoint, especially the boys game that ended up in overtime with the game winning shot coming at the buzzer.  Here are a few shots from the night as well as links to the galleries to see all the photos.

Junior Varsity Girls

Olivia Ellison, Post Falls

Tristen Gould, Coeur d’Alene

For all the photos from this game visit this link: http://bit.ly/yXIXqS

Varsity Girls

Sydni Parker, Couer d’Alene

Brooke Litalien, Post Falls & Kyeli Parker, Coeur d’Alene

For all the photos from this game visit this link: http://bit.ly/zpLaH7

Varsity Boys

Deon Watson, Coeur d’Alene

Marcus Colbert, Post Falls

For all the photos from this game visit this link: http://bit.ly/xxm4dg

Cheer, Dance and Fans

Fight For The Fish 2012

On Friday night a fellow photographer gave me a gift that I am still appreciating today, that gift was a set of ear plugs.  I am certain that had I not had those my ears would still be ringing tonight, almost 24 hours later.  The reason was that Coeur d’Alene High School’s Jordan Court was overflowing with students who had the goal of making a lot of noise to show off their school spirit.  Yesterday was the annual “Fight For The Fish”, the spirit games between the Coeur d’Alene Viking and the Lake City Timberwolf basketball teams.  Here are some photos from some of the different aspects of the event, at the end of this post you will find a link to view all the photos from the evening.

 Varsity Girls Game

Cheerleaders and Mascots

The Bands

We Love Bobby!

 One of the goals of spirit games is to raise money for a good cause.  This past fall Priest River football player Bobby Clark was seriously injured during the homecoming game against Timberlake.  The Coeur d’Alene and Lake City students chose to raise money to help Bobby’s family with their medical bills.  I live in the Priest River area and covered the game when he was hurt so when I heard that the students were donating $1,000 to help Bobby I was thrilled.  Then when they started chanting “We Love Bobby” over and over again had to grab a clip so that Bobby, his family and all his friends could see it for themselves.  Here is about 9 seconds of the chant:

Boys Game

Of Course, The Fans!

 

And the winner is . . . . .

For all of the photos from the “Fight For The Fish” visit my website at this link: http://bit.ly/xQY0Bj

Shooting the Moon with Shea (Sandpoint Photographer)

 This afternoon I was going through some photos and came across some shots that I took this summer and had totally forgotten about.  My assistant Shea and I were on the drive home after covering a vow renewal ceremony and came across a scene we could not resist.  It was right around sunset and the moon was low in they sky we did not have much time so we threw together a very quick one light set up and started shooting.  I think we came away with a few fun shots in our very quick, impromptu portrait session.

We also were blessed with a few minutes of some great color in they sky, so we stopped shooting the moon and captured some images with the last traces of sunset.

Lastly, I let Shea snap a shot or two as well, here is one of them.

Nikki’s Senior Photos (Sandpoint Photographer)

Just before the cold and snow found it’s way to North Idaho Nikki and I spend a couple of hours at her home taking her Senior Photos.  Here is a peek at some of the final images.

While Nikki was changing outfits for the photos in the barn her brother Shayne stood in to model for me so I could get the lights in position, here is one of the test shots of him.

 

The Osman Family (Sandpoint Photographer)

The day was chilly, but other than that it could not have been much nicer for capturing some photos for the Osman family.

By request, the Osman family Tree . . . . . .

Adam and Darian – Engagement

This last spring I had the pleasure of capturing the memories of the beautiful wedding of Phil and Britt.  At the reception while I was taking some photos of the bride’s brother on the dance floor with his girlfriend someone approached me and said something to the effect of “there is the next wedding you will be photographing”.   I have had a number of weddings since that day, but part of what they said was true, because in less than two months I will have that honor!  This last week my assistant Shea and I spent a couple of hours with Adam and Darian as they braved the cold to have their engagement photos taken.  You will be able to tell from the photos that we had a very fun time and it was well worth getting our noses a little chilly!

Thankfully we were able to make our way inside for a while where it was not quite so chilly!

 

Luke and Hannah’s Birthday (Sandpoint Photographer)

Every year my daughter Hannah has a special birthday celebration with her friend Luke who was born 8 days before she was.  This year’s party was bitter sweet because “Buddy Luke” is going to be moving away in a month and this might very well be the last birthday that they will get to celebrate together.  Along with the usual birthday events we also set up a photo booth for the kids to have some fun with.  We came away with some images that made us laugh and of course since this is quite possibly the last time we celebrate together it also brought some tears.  Here are some of the fun shots to help us remember the day.

Here are the ones to make the momma’s cry!