Sorry

I've been so busy with life and everything else other than photography for the past week! I had my family in town, and other events, and the weather has been bad so we've had to postpone a couple photo shoots!

This week will be very busy, so I'll have a lot of work to catch up on and share. I'm sorry that I haven't been a good blogger lately, but I'll make up for it this week!!

I'm thinking about doing a drawing soon, but I'm trying to figure out what to give away. Stay tuned and find out!!

The Lovely Ladies of LB Hunt... oh and the one lucky guy!

Meet the lovely ladies (and guy) of LB Hunt Management Group. They contacted me a little while back about updating their photos for their website. We me in the Downtown Salt Lake area, and we had the best time. They found a fun little office building with some fun colors.

As soon as we got there I knew we would have a great time. It must be a lot of fun to work in their office, because in the short amount of time I spent with them, I had a blast! I really enjoyed working with them. It's really nice to work with cooperative models, that do exactly what you tell them to do, and hold absolutely still! Makes for easy work, and a great time!

Thanks for the wonderful shoot ladies. Sorry Clay, I keep leaving you out. It was easy and great to work with you too. I may be using your location again in the near future!

Go Cougars!

Brooke and Kahili are engaged to be married in July! She's a BYU volleyball player from Cali, and he's a BYU student, who likes to play volleyball, from Hawaii. Needless to say, they're both great looking, and I had a great time taking their photos!

We went to the BYU campus (how appropriate!), and had a blast! It's so fun to watch "young love" in action. Look forward to their wedding photos in July!!

Strength and Wisdom Part II

I didn't share this in my original post about Lisa and Todd. I wanted to respect her wishes and her privacy, but she just gave me permission to share her story, and I think it's a very important one at that.

A few weeks ago when Lisa originally contacted me about taking their photos, I was so excited to hear from her. As a I read a little further down the email, she shared with me that the pictures would have even more special meaning because she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. After my initial shock and sadness for my friend, I realized that there is always hope, and as long as I have known Lisa, she has been a strong willed individual. If anyone could beat cancer, it would be Lisa! It also made me think of my own father, who has been a cancer survivor for about 20 years now. The typical life expectancy with the type of bone cancer my dad has is about 3 years. I have plenty of reason to believe that with the right treatments, attitude, and courage, Lisa has her whole life ahead of her!

A day before the photo shoot, I contacted Lisa again to finalize the plans. We were gonna play it by ear, just wanting to make sure that the weather was going to cooperate. Lisa had another examination since our first contact, and she told me that they also found out that she has Bone Cancer, and she is Stage 4 at this point. That sounded really bad to me, but Lisa still sounded upbeat and positive about the whole situation. I thought that was amazing.

I sat at the computer for a little while and cried as I thought about it. I couldn't help but think of my wife, and family. What would I do if we faced the same circumstances. Would we be able to be as brave and strong. After those thoughts, I started to feel a little pressure about the photo shoot. These photos would have a lot of meaning to Lisa and Todd. Will I be able to capture the spirit of hope and love that Lisa was looking for. I then started to feel very honored that Lisa trusted me, and asked me to do such an important photo shoot for her.

Well, I had such a great time with Lisa and Todd. We were able to talk a little about everything, and I can say that they have such a great attitude towards it. Todd said there's no reason to lay down and cry about it. You have to do everything you can and fight. Keep smiling, and try to be as positive as possible. I know Lisa can beat this.

Thanks Lisa and Todd for your great examples. Our family prays for you and we're here for whatever you need! You two are awesome!

Strength and Wisdom

I've known Lisa for quite a long time now, and ever since I've known her her, she's been an example of strength and wisdom! I just met her new husband Todd, and he seems like such a great guy. I know he treats her very well, and they seem so happy together.

Lisa called me about taking photos for their 1 year anniversary coming up, and I was excited to do it! We had some good luck with the weather and and it was a really fun time. You can't ask for more than that!

Individual Worth!

What a great idea! Tini, one of the YW leaders in our ward over the beehive age (12-13 yr olds) girls, asked my wife and I for some help. The theme for her young women this month is "Individual Worth". She wanted her girls to have some nice headshots done for their own little portfolios that their putting together.

I thought it was such a fun idea, and we were happy to help! It was a simple photoshoot. We just met at the park. It was a little chilly so thanks for the Hot Chocolate girls. It really helped! We spent just a little time with each individual girl, and had a great time! It was really neat to see how each of these girls have their own personalities, and things they like. My wife loves the YW program, and is looking forward to one day being able to work with them.

I am happy that we were able to help with such a fun project. Thanks for asking us Tini. We love your young women, and we appreciate all you do for the youth in our ward!

For any aspiring photographers!

I have recently upgraded some of my equipment and I am selling some of my equipment that I've used primarily as a backup.

The D50 DSLR is still available that I listed a little while back. That's going for $500. It includes an 18-55mm lens. I'm also including tons of extras, 1GB memory card, Nikon Pro photo bag. All cords and accessories included.

I'm also selling the lens pictured above. Mind you that these are stock photos, but all my equipment has been babied, and is in excellent condition. This lens is a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8. It is very fast and has produced most of the images you see on my photo blog! It's been mounted with a UV filter since day 1 to protect the glass. It's also been my walk around lens for all the weddings I have shot. I love the lens, but I really wanted a new one, that I've finally saved up enough for. I've owned this lens for about a year, and I highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't have the budget to buy those lenses that cost over $1000.00. This lens compares to the Nikon Brand with the same Focal and F/stop range that is selling for about $1700 on BHPhoto.com... Check here

I'm selling this lens for $400.00!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment or email me directly. Thanks!!

Simple, Raw and Amazing!

I was invited to take photos at an Open Mic event last weekend by Jake Kongaika(Cubworld) up in the Salt Lake area. I was excited to hear some good music and get some great photos. I just have to say that all of my expectations were exceeded beyond belief!

I'm used to hearing the typical "Polynesian" style of music. I expected to hear some R&B, some Reggae, and other types that I'm used to. I was not expecting what I heard. It was nice to hear our people branching out with all these different styles of music. It was refreshing to see pure, raw talent. It was so simple, but it amazed me just the same.

No "Rock star" atmosphere. Just a simple setting, with real people, and great music. I would listen to a CD with all the music I heard that night. It made me appreciate music so much more!

I rarely work in black and white photos. I used to love it, but I've fallen in love with colors. As I was editing these photos, I felt like they should be in black and white. I wanted to share them in the simplest form. No distractions. I just wanted to show the pure passion and joy I saw in each of those who shared their original songs or covers. I'm grateful to have been invited, and I look forward to seeing and hearing more from each of these great people!