2009

Well folks the new year is almost here. Life definitely blew by me the last 360+ days. I've been thinking a lot about my resolutions for 2009....those of which I'll probably blow within a week...





So, knowing that I will probably fail, I'm going to at least list them to make myself accountable.



1. Smile more



2. Go to church more



3. Spend more time with family



4. Double my freelance income



5. Make others smile more



6. Have at least 2 images published in Sports Illustrated or ESPN The Magazine



7. Don't drop my cellphone



8. Win a photo contest



9. Drink half the amount of soda that I do right now



10. Spend more quality time with my wife

11. Visit the Smoky Mountains, a beach and a forest I've never stepped foot in.

12. Take more vacation!!!

So...if I can accomplish HALF of these then I'll consider it a success! God bless and Happy New Year!!!

The End.

A few recent publishings.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Hopefully with the new year coming I'll be able to knock out some doozies!

Busy busy busy....I'll stop complaining

So the past week has brought working later than midnight 2 of the 4 nights and one past 10 p.m. another night. It's Thursday night, meaning we have officially less than 20 hours to order whatever we have to get ordered for the Christmas orders.

So far so good..I think for the most part we've done okay. Palmer and I look like a bunch of rag-tag scruff bags about midnight.....just imagine psycho hair and desks full of 2 liter bottles of Dr. Pepper and Coke. If you can do that you'll be able to see what it's like right now at Captured Images.

Enough complaining. Occasionally I feel the need to take a break from it all and do something a bit fun. I designed 3 new business cards today, two of which I'll be putting into circulation as soon as they get back from the lab. All 3 new designs are posted here. The top two are the ones you'll be seeing shortly!

Another set of firsts

Well, it's been awhile. My apologies! Work seems to keep me busier than usual these days.

Had a few new firsts in the past week. My first phonebook cover!!! Go Bates County, Missouri! Haha....that is in the Hume, Mo. area for those who aren't on top of their Missouri Counties!

Another was my first photo in TV Guide. Never really thought of that ever happening but it did soo...that was an unexpected coolness! (It's the football photo on the right side.)

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm blessed. More than my fair share.

Today Megan and I spent the day at my dad's Thanksgiving celebration, without father since he is in San Antonio. This party consisted of my aunt and her family and my uncle and his family as well as Megan, Myself and twin Kathy and her boy toy, Adam.

We don't see this side of our family often enough so it's always a blessing to spend time with them. There are quite a few characters to say the least.

I'll keep this short, but here is a photo of the entire family (with the exception of Dad and his wife).

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Chiefs and Hair

I have this newfound love for crazy hair. When taking photos I now look for hair that's flying all over the place. You will understand by a few of these photos. There are some hair shots and some of my favorite images from the Chiefs as they sucked against the Bills...

NFL Fans of the Week

Tuesday's after covering a Chiefs home game are always pretty stressful for me. That is usually the day cnnsi.com posts photos from the previous Sunday...I always want to have images used somewhere and it generally happens that the Fans of the Week section picks up some of my images.

That was no different this last week as they used 5 of my photos - the entire gallery only consisted of 25. I'll take that any day!!! Here they are....

Kori Page

Several week ago I gave myself an assignment to photograph something for the Tribune's basketball preview. I wanted to use a subject who loved basketball more than any other sport...someone who LIVED for basketball.

The location was the tough part. As I was driving one evening I spotted this old barn out near my hometown. It had the hoop on it so I figured and old school look would work the best. I had planned on just standing her in front of the barn and shooting. She came with a pair of Chuck Taylor's - the perfect old school basketball shoes.

We got there about 30 minutes before sunset and the light was low in the sky - perfect for a back-lit photo since the barn had no back walls...the light came through and lit up her hair perfectly.

These are three of my favorites....

A Down Day That Turned Out Great.

So I ain't gonna lie. Sunday was a pretty sucky day for me as far as getting good shots at the Chiefs game. I downright sucked in the first half. Couldn't make anything work well. I did have a few good moments but for the most part I was walking around like a head with its chicken cut off....or a chicken with its head cut off. Something like that.

Anyway, I turned it around and ended up with some quality stuff. Check em out! The majority of these were shot with a 300mm or my 80-200mm.

Stop. Watch. Spread.

http://www.xdrtb.org/

Grand Adventure with Wife

Last night after much haggling (90 seconds worth), I convinced the wife to go to Rock Creek Lake to shoot some fall foliage and a waterfall she'd never seen before. Photographing water is tough - showing the movement requires a tripod - and is something I've enjoyed lately. Waterfalls are my new thing...wish we had more in the area! Here are a few takes.

My Prized Art

I own several pieces of fine art photographs that I consider one of my most precious possessions. Not because of their value but because I can look at the images on a good day and smile or on a bad day I can fall into the locations and feel like I'm part of the scene.

They are shown in reverse order of which I acquired them.

Each photo was made by renowned nature photographer Thomas Mangelsen (www.imagesofnature.com). His work has inspired me to get into nature and show off it's beauty.

The top image I haven't received yet - it's a gift for Christmas that I accidentally found out about. And it is the most special image of all because it's what got me interested in Wyoming, which I think most of my readers know that I am obsessed with.

The image below it, called Changing Lanes, was purchased this October while in Jackson, Wyoming. I've had my eye on it for quite some time and finally picked it up!

Under it, Time for Reflection, is actually a photograph from Jackson, Wyoming that I got at the beginning of the year. I LOVE snow and this image evokes peacefulness.

Wife picked out the panoramic shot of the aspens, titled Time of Falling Leaves. It was a gift from several family members for Christmas last year.

Tree of Life, the image of the tree with the sun setting behind it, is an image from Africa, a place every wildlife lover wants to go see. I'm no different!

Gentle Giant was picked out because Megan and I are both Gorillas - both graduating from Pittsburg State University!!!

And the final image, His Majesty, was a gift from boss and friend Gary Palmer. It was my first print and was given to me for Christmas because he knew how obsessed I am with bald eagles.

The Jones Wedding

Congrats! Beautiful bride and a beautiful wedding. And a beautiful day.

I met Jessica through her older sister Jaime, who has become a great friend. I'd been looking forward to this wedding for quite some time since I knew it would be an absolute blast. It lived up to the hype...we arrived at 11 a.m. and didn't leave until after midnight we had so much fun!

Family Photo Shoot

Had the great pleasure of photographing Ron and Susan Eldridge and their two daughters and their respective families this past Saturday. We had a great time and got a lot of good photos of the little ones!

Away from the Game

I enjoy shooting images away from the action almost as much as I do photographing the game itself. Here are a few cheerleaders and one of a referee applying eye drops to his eyes after, wait for it...wait for it......, an extremely bad call. Coincidence? I think not....