Christmas reaction

Christmas is such as great time of year. I love Molly's reaction to Katie opening her gift Christmas morning. Priceless.

Colorado

Jim on top of Arapahoe Pass near Eldora Colorado looks out at the 14,000 foot Rocky Mountain Peaks to the west. What a spectacular view of almost 180 degrees.

Halloween

Here's the pumpkin I carved for Halloween. I like the eye lashes which I used a drill to make the cuts.

Oldest Burr Oak tree in State

This Burr Oak tree, just off the Katy Trail near Columbia, is over 300 years old and it all started from a small acorn.

Bosnia woman

I shot pictures at a center for victims of the Bosnian war. I could tell from this woman's eyes that life has not been easy for her.

Maple leaves

I love fall and in particular red maple trees because of their terrific color.

Portrait of Nun

Balancing flash fill with the background blue sky so that it looks natural can be tricky. Sometimes I think the light from a softbox works best and other times I like a harder more direct light.

Photos of my woodworking

Several people ask me to post some woodworking projects I have made. At first I hesitated since this is a photo blog, but I did shoot the photos of the items. Woodworking is a craft much like photography. It takes time to perfect your skills, it takes patience, a sense of color, design, harmony, etc. Anyway I made a vaniety for a new bathroom from Cherry. The book stand I made last year for a client in Columbia who gave it as a gift to his wife. It's made from walnut, the top is a walnut burl and the center post I used a process called bent wood lamination. I made the inlay using contrasting wood. The fish handles were for kitchen cabinets I made for my brother-in-laws' cabin on a lake in Ely, MN. The different colors are all natural from different wood species.

Colorado @ KU

The French photographer Cartier-Bresson published a book titled 'The Decisive Moment' in 1952. It's a photographic principle where all the elements of a photograph come together in a split second. And it's critical in sports photography.

Emotion of high school sports

I played football in high school growing up in Kansas City and when I was there last weekend I thought it would be fun to shoot a high school game. The thing that struck me was the emotion of the players. Here Blue Valley North players were so excited about beating Bishop Miege that they rocked their bus after the game.

St. Louis Arch

St. Louis Arch photos shot at sunset in downtown St.Louis. The Arch was constructed in 1965, is 630 feet high and made of stainless steel. It represents the 'gateway to the west' and is a thing of beauty. The other thing of beauty is Katie.

Kujenga

Shooting in a dark meeting room with boring backgrounds her face just lit up the room at an African American Catholic Youth Leadership Conference. I added strobe light to the room but did it so the lighting looks natural.

Spaghetti kid

Aiden loves spaghetti but only if he can eat it one piece at a time. I wanted to capture his wonderful expression during dinner.

Belle

'Belle' is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Cocker mix she looks like 'Lady' in 'Lady and the Tramp'.

School Principal

Sister Gail is principal of an elementary school in St. Louis and is at the center of everything in the school. For the portrait I setup a strobe with a grid spot to light just her face with a slow shutter to capture the blur of students around her.

Homesick

Jeanne homesick while riding a train in Europe

Wedding dancer

I shot this photo at a recent wedding. I used a slow shutter speed with the flash set to fire on the second curtain while I rotated the camera during the exposure.

Kiwi fruit

Kiwi is a beautiful fruit

Wheat field leap

I just shot University of Illinois’ Arrelious Benn for the Sporting News college football preview. He was great to work with during the portrait shoot. Benn is known as a speedster so the idea was to shoot him airborne over the Illinois wheat field. Fortunately I had a portable battery pack to power my strobes.

Ignition

One of the joys of photography is capturing ordinary things in a unique way that the reader may have missed.

Katie and Mickey

I'm been editing portfolio photos for my website and found this image of Katie. I shot it with my Leica and vivitar strobe about 1983.

Hanna portrait

I shot an illustration today and also shot this portrait of Hanna. She is lit with a single strobe mounted above her which emphasized her hair.

Golf in Breckenridge

Here's our golf group after a beautiful round of golf. The scenery was beautiful not the golf. John did win the trophy AGAIN.

Mike and Elizabeth

Rocky Mountain High at 10,000 feet

Humming

This is a hummingbird outside Tom's cabin, it's only 3 inches long. I mounted a strobe inside the cabin so it would light the feeder through the window.

Martha in waterfall at Bass Lake

Northern Lights

I captured this stunning display in Ely,Minnesota with a 30 second exposure one night in August.

Evening cast

Tom fishing under a stormy ski, I like the way the clearing in the clouds frames him.