Newborn photo shoot

Our good friends, Mark and Katherine, just had a baby. I think that, since Julie and I have one on the way, I was even more excited to photograph her. I'm also asking lots of advice on what to do once we have ours!
This is Kiera...






Their son, Marco, had to put his two cents in:



I think being a Dad is gonna be fun!!!

Christmas Pet Shoot

I spent a few hours photographing dogs on a Saturday before Christmas at PAWS salon in old town Scottsdale; what a blast! The owner, Tracy, brought in Santa and I photographed 17 people's dogs with him after they were groomed. I did a photo shoot for Tracy and her dogs in October and I'm framing a couple of prints for her store walls. I used two White Lightning strobes bounced into umbrellas and the pictures came out perfect; many happy dog owners! I love working with dogs except when one almost used my camera bag for a fire hydrant! Moved it just in time; I'll be more careful next time!











Working with dogs has its own unique challenges. For example, this guy was more interested in playing with Santa's hat than posing; he finally settled down. The key with dogs is shooting at high speed so you catch those fleeting moments.

Katrina two years later

Since I hadn't been back since before the storm I wanted to see what the coast looked like and it was heartbreaking. Mom and Dad took us through Waveland and Bay St. Louis and, although they are cleaned up, many buildings and homes haven't been restored.

Fortunately Dad built their house on high ground a little farther inland and suffered minimal damage. My sister Karen and husband Jeff weren't so lucky; their apartment was about a mile from the beach. They live in Las Vegas now and at least they have a happy ending. I didn't see any people out that day but captured a few images of what I saw; it was very emotional. Everyone hears about New Orleans; Mississippi got hit pretty hard, too.

I think what hit me hardest was seeing "stairs to nowhere" and knowing that someone's home used to be there.

Christmas on the Gulf Coast

My first blog post, ever!! My wife Julie and I just flew back from New Orleans where we spent Christmas with my parents in Diamondhead, on the Mississippi gulf coast. The first day there we drove an hour into N.O. because I wanted to see the French Quarter again; it was my first time back since before Katrina and I was very glad to see a lot of activity. Lots of people shopping and musicians playing in the street. I had my Canon "point-and-shoot" in case I saw anything interesting; don't always feel like carrying the "real" camera and lenses. I am very impressed with the quality this little thing puts out!

These two were playing some old-school bluesy stuff on the corner of Royal Street and Toulouse. That grey thing she's wearing is a washboard; very common in Louisiana for percussion or for when your washing machine breaks.

After that we saw a smokin' zydeco band on Bourbon Street; I love that style of music. It is very upbeat and has a celebratory vibe to it! Another washboard in this band, too, plus the drummer, keyboard player and guy on accordion. No bass player; the keyboard player covered bass with his left hand. They were fantastic, all we needed were some boiled crawfish!



More fun shots of the quarter: