First day of Kindergarden

Today is the first day of school for kids in Lakewood, Colorado (and all of Jefferson County I believe). More importantly, it was the first day for the Class of 2023. This is my youngest daughter’s first day of Kindergarden.

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Cascade

Cascade (by Chester Bullock)

Water cascades over the top of the Evergreen Lake Dam, driven by high winds.

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Gears

Gears (by Chester Bullock)

Gears to control a spillway or other valve at Evergreen Lake Dam.

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Evergreen Lake Dam

Evergreen Lake Dam (by Chester Bullock)

As seen through the trees at the base.

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Steps

Steps (by Chester Bullock)

These steps led from the bottom of the Evergreen Lake Dam to the top.

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Victoria, a Lakewood High School Senior Photo Session

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of doing a senior photo session for Victoria, from Lakewood High School. She chose Red Rocks Park for her shooting location, and we could not of had a better day. Blue skies, mild temps and little wind made for a fun time. We captured some great images of her that her family and friends will treasure for years to come. Thank you Victoria, and good luck to you.

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Far From Dead

Megan's Graduation Day
Yes, it has been quite some time since I have posted. I have been in a creative funk since February. Haven’t been inspired to write, haven’t been inspired to take pictures. It’s been kind of strange actually. But I am starting to come out of it. I have read three books I need to write reviews for. The flowers are starting to bloom. And my oldest daughter graduated from Lakewood High School last weekend. Naturally I had to take some pictures (the one above I think is the best).

The point I am trying to make is that this site is far from dead. Keep coming back for more, and I promise I’ll get more active again.

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Christmas Lights HDR
Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all. I have been seeing great pictures of holiday lights this season, and finally decided to try and take one of my own. The photo above is an HDR Exposure Blend (using Photomatix) of 7 exposures I took one morning. I also took some photos just using the ambient light and not doing the HDR thing. After reviewing these shots on the computer, I decided the white lights just aren’t very interesting. Normally we decorate the two large fir trees in front of our house with colored strings, but we opted not to this year. Rest assured, we will next year. That will give it some “life” I think. So instead, I will go out in search of other homes in our neighborhood to take pics of. I had better hurry, only a week to go before most people take their lights down.

Oh, and I should point out that the inspiration for this, besides the photos I linked to above, was a Strobist article about holiday light pictures. As is the norm with Strobist help, this article was wonderful for a rookie like me.

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Elusive moments

Natalie
This black and white candid portrait of my daughter is one of those rare, elusive moments that make you feel lucky you had the camera out. Whenever you ask a young child to actually pose for a picture, there is a 50/50 chance you are going to get some sort of oddball response. But you have to keep at it, as you never know when lightning will strike. When taking photos of other families and kids, you have to put them into situations that allow them to be themselves. If you take yourself out of the equation, you are much more likely to get “the shot”. I certainly think I was able to here.

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School Pictures

Natalie's School Picture
My daughter goes to an in-home preschool/ daycare with a few other kids here in Lakewood. My wife thought it would be cool for me to go over there and take some “class pictures” of them. So I took my new Homemade Softbox and went over. I think the pictures came out pretty well. But let me say this about groups of young kids (ages 3-4) – you have to have patience. When one would start to do something silly, the rest would start doing similar things and bedlam would ensue. It was all good fun though. They were excited to be in front of the camera and look nice for their parents. And thanks to Whit House Custom Color, I’ll have prints by the end of the week, in time for the holidays.

I did learn one thing though – I definitely need to get some sort of mobile backdrop system for portraits. Relying on surfaces on location just isn’t giving me the kind of background I want. Oh Santa…

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