Garrett is a senior at Bear Creek High School in Lakewood, Colorado. We had a great time shooting his senior pictures at Corwina Park in Jefferson County. The photos came out great, and Garrett was fun to work with.
If you need senior photos taken for JeffCo schools (Lakewood, Bear Creek, Green Mountain, Golden or Evergreen), contact me today to get your session scheduled. Slots are filling up fast, and yearbook deadlines are right around the corner.
I needed a headshot for an interview that is going to be published later this month, so I went out in the yard and took one myself.
We were at a friend’s house for dinner recently, and I just happened to catch Nat in this spot. Sometimes random moments work out well.
I recently had the opportunity to go with Jon, Shelby and Owen to Corwina Park (between Morrison and Kittredge) for a family photo shoot. We had a good time, and they saw a park in the mountains that they had not been to before. Corwina is a really good setting for family or senior pictures, and is nice and close to Lakewood. Contact me today to schedule your photo shoot in the mountains.
You never know when a good photo opportunity will crop up. This shot was taken at my daughter’s 5th birthday party at our house in Lakewood. I didn’t expect to get any good portraits, just normal candid snapshot stuff. One of our family friend’s 1 year old climbed into one of Natalie’s new present’s, a Barbie sized doll house. Then she put her face right up to the door. It was too cute to pass up, and this is the result. Many thanks to her mom for letting me share the photo with you.
Recently my 4 year old daughter, Natalie, and I took a drive in the mountains west of Denver for the express purpose of taking pictures for fun. She is starting to get better with her camera (Fuji A330) and I was wanting to play with my Olympus 50mm f2 (a superb lens in every way).
I can’t remember the last time I went out and shot for fun. It was probably 9 months ago when Jennifer and I went to Silverton the same weekend we were taking our oldest to college in Durango. I love my pics of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad steam engine 482. Nat and I were on our own this day, so we packed some snacks and headed to the hills. We took Colorado 74 out of Morrison toward Kittredge. First stop was Corwina Park, where the photo above was snapped. I have shot some senior pics before, as well as our family photo a few years back. Natalie loves the stone picnic shelter here and she took some pics in the area too.
At Corwina, we realized it was way too windy to much portrait stuff, and Nat didn’t like the dust blowing into her face. We packed back into the car and continued west on 74, through Kittredge (making note of a cool playground to have a picnic at sometime) and continued on to Evergreen. I thought it might be less windy by the lake, and that it could provide a good backdrop, so we turned right at the light just past Little Bear and started around the lake. As we were even with the dam, Nat asked what it was. As I explained it to her, she wanted to get closer and take pics there. So we turned around and went back into downtown Evergreen, parking just off Colorado 73 at the base of the dam.
We wound up spending the rest of our time shooting from there. All sorts of stuff to see, different perspectives, even a bird on a wire. The next three posts to this blog will be from our time at the dam. After we were done shooting, we decided it was lunch time and headed home. I really enjoyed getting out, and Nat said her favorite part of that day was taking pictures. Couldn’t ask for anything more.
If you are interested, you can see her perspective on the day, through her camera, by viewing her pictures.
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.
Been ordering some new gear, and yesterday my new Olympus Zuiko 50mm f2 lens arrived. I didn’t have much time to play with it yesterday, but I did take a couple of photos. This is not by any means an exhaustive writeup or review, I need to use it more first. Immediate reaction though: WOW. This thing is crazy fast. Can’t wait to try it on my E-30 when it arrives next week. And I especially can’t wait to try it with my EX-25 for some serious macro work. I love this thing already.
And of course, I had to try a candid portrait with it. I need to work on this a little more, but I like it alot.
In the DSLR world, most people think that there are just two brands – Canon and Nikon. They find it quite easy to forget about the other players in the market – Sony, Pentax, Olympus and others. I have never really understood why it is so easy to dismiss these other manufacturers. In fact, the Zuiko lenses from Olympus have long been regarded as some of the finest glass around.
I don’t know that I would say I take offense to this dismissiveness, but I guess I do. Back when I started shopping for a DSLR to move up from my Canon G5 point and shoot (a VERY capable camera I might add), I looked at Canon and Nikon. And then I participated in a test drive event Olympus sponsored. I took home an E-500 for a weekend and was hooked. Shortly thereafter, I bought an E-510 kit that included 2 lenses. Since then, I have created some stunning images that get rave reviews. I even put them up for sale, that’s how confident I am of the work. I have done headshots, portraits, landscapes, product photos, all with my E-510. None of my clients have complained in the least.
Why then is it time to upgrade? More importantly, why do I want an Olympus E-30? Well, it’s time. As noted before, I am looking to ramp up how much I shoot. In that respect, having a second body is always a good idea. Once I start my schedule of team photos, there is no way I can be out of commission if something goes wrong with my only camera. So this is indeed a primary driver.
My photography is continuing to evolve though, and this is really why I am looking to upgrade my camera. I love taking HDR pictures. Sadly, Olympus elected to not update the 510 firmware to allow for the kind of EV bracketing that is ideal for HDR captures. The E-30 is well suited to this, allowing a 5 frame, 1 sec burst that will be perfect for HDR. Overall, the upgrade in frames per second from 3 on the 510 to 5 on the E-30 should help with taking pictures of my daughter, as well as the various sports I take pics of during the summer (baseball, softball) here in Colorado.
The increased megapixels will be nice, but not necessary. The ability to interact with the Olympus Radio system for flashes would be nice too, but I already make do with Cactus triggers (and manufacturer flashes in general are way too expensive). Simply put, I am taking my photography far more seriously, and I want a camera that can keep up. Sure, I could switch systems to Canon or Nikon, but right now I don’t see the point. I think the Olympus E-30 will work just fine for me.
First Day of School – Class of 2023
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.