New Photos Posted: Moody Family

It's getting to be that time of year again where the weather is nice and the circumstances are just right to do outdoor photos again. Not too long ago though, I did complete a batch of photos for our friend that I still have yet to share. We took the photos at the Grand America, and they turned out fantastic. I just haven't had much time for blogging or really anything of that sort. Until I can share those photos with you though, here are some that I just finished up recently.

My sister and her husband just celebrated their fourth year wedding anniversary and wanted to do photos to celebrate the occasion. Last year on this same occasion, we did photos at Memory Grove when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. This year, we did photos at the downtown library where there is always plenty of architectural interest to add dimension to any photo. I love the way the photos turned out with just the sort of dreamy edit I'm such a sucker for. 

New Photos Posted: Victus Creus

When our friend Amy described for me what she had in mind for this particular series of photos, I started to get excited. Not that I don't get excited every time I get to do photos for someone - I consider it a privilege more than a job really - but this was something different...

We met up downtown near an ol' favorite venue of mine and Eric's - Kilby Court. Kilby had been the place where I had seen Carissa's Weird, Nika, The Microphones. It was the place where I would first see Eric perform on the drums w/ The Annuals (later to be called Band of Annuals) before he decided to leave the band to live a life of spousal (and later parental) responsibility (hahahahahaha.... oh, wait).

Anyway, the area was perfect. The concept was perfect. The group was perfect.

Victus Creus is their name, and they are "a clothing and and art company working to empower everyone through artistic expression of all kinds." In other words, they are a unique group of people - Ned, Chris, Brin, and Amy - working to promote just the sort of thing we offer you here... art without boundaries, without exclusivity. Art that is not mass-produced or commercialized. Art that will lend itself as much to the artist as it does to the viewer.

And thanks to this awesome group of individuals, we are able to offer you a glimpse of just some of the art we produced that day! Here are some of my favorites: 

         

And, one more thing: a big THANKS to Mason for making our day! 

New Photos Posted: Seth and Keesa

It has been almost a month since our last post??? Well, I suppose there's a good reason for it at least... We have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY for the past few weeks what with a shoot almost every single weekend in April and more coming up! And I have been working hours on end just trying to get photos done and uploaded such that I haven't really had the time to do much else. Although it would be a wonder that we had done anything at all...

The reason why there haven't been any new photos lately is because we release any client-based work that we do fully to our clients who then must give us permission to share those photos here. We do this because we believe it's important that our clients gain the advantage of copyright privilege to their own photos. Otherwise, we just think it would be silly that we should maintain it for ourselves who really owe everything to our customers for their support throughout every shoot that we do. In the past, I have eagerly - perhaps overly so - shared photos of some of my family as well, but I've decided that it's really much more important to me to protect the interests of any and all "customers" we do work for. So, we share as we are permitted to do so...

These latest photos come to you courtesy of the happy couple we posted about not too long ago... Seth and Keesa. We met up on what was supposed to be another dismal day at the Temple grounds in downtown Salt Lake. Eric and I watched as the clouds blocked out the sun and threatened rain or even snow but then proudly rejoiced as they began to move away shortly after Seth and Keesa had arrived. The rest of the afternoon panned out to be quite nice, and we were able to get some nice photos at not just the Temple grounds but also this beautiful orchard my sister-in-law was nice enough to give us the directions to / contact information for.

As far as the post-processing goes, I wanted to try something different, so I did a Gaussian Blur on the vast majority of the photos, painting out various parts of the photos that I wanted to be in focus. You could achieve this same sort of effect with a shallow depth of field aperture setting on your camera, but it wouldn't be the same with wider angles like these (I was shooting with a 35mm prime lens). I also, of course, did my usual color treatment, playing up the greens, yellows, and blues for a more "Springy" feel on the Temple grounds and then emphasizing the greens, yellows, and reds in the orchard for a more country kinda feel. Yeah... I could go on, but I won't bore you with the details! Here then are some of my favorites from this particular series which you can see more of in the Weddings gallery:

   

From the Archives: Capitol Hill, October 2009

This time last year, I was taking several classes at the University of Utah while working to complete my second Bachelor's degree in English which is funny to me now because even though I have sworn that that would be the end to, at least, my undergraduate career, I am now considering going back to school one more time to get my teacher's certification...

That was an incredibly long sentence for an English major.

But, yes, you read me right. I really am thinking about going back to school, although I wouldn't be going back full-time. The plan at this point is to apply for this program through the Utah Department of Education that enables an individual like myself to enter a Utah classroom before getting my teacher's certification. And then I have three years to complete any of the additional requirements that I would need for licensure.

"Where the hell did this come from?" you might be asking yourself at this point... I don't know. I just get these ideas that pop into my head from time to time, and then I get all like, "I can do this." And then I do it. So, yeah. I can do this.

I know I want to teach. I've wanted to teach for a long time now. I did initially want to teach at the college level, but I just don't know how I feel about committing another 4-6 years of my life pursuing that route. I get this sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it, when I think about putting myself through an even more rigorous program than the undergraduate program at the U.

Don't get me wrong though. I could do it because like most every other idea I get, I know that it's entirely possible for me to accomplish something I want. But I just don't want to do it. I don't want to put myself through that hell one more time.

Okay, so why am I considering going back for another undergraduate degree then? Technically, I'm not really going back for another degree. I'm going back for my certification. Between the two degrees of Meteorology and English and all of the other unrelated courses I took while trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up (am I grown up yet???), I have qualified myself to be an elementary school teacher here in the oh so lovely state of Utah (sarcasm?)...

Do you even like kids?

Well, sure, I do. But, let's get to the point, shall we?

This time last year, I was sitting in a classroom at the U. Well, maybe. On the day that I took these photos, I wasn't sitting in a classroom... obviously. But I had just come from one. This year, I am sitting in an office. Maybe next year, I will be standing in a classroom... What does any of this have to do with today's photos?

Not a damn thing.

The end.