Love this Face!

Poor Alex. He always seems to be the unlucky victim hanging around within arm's reach whenever I need a 'test subject' to photograph! I was doing a shoot last night with my studio lights and wanted to do a quick check of my lighting, so I plunked him down in front of me for a couple of clicks.

It's hit and miss with Alex. Sometimes he's more than willing to give me a genuine smile. Other times his smile looks forced...and sometimes he looks downright annoyed.

Looks like I caught him in the right mood this time. I tried a couple of different actions on this shot from Lolly's Punch Pack .
On Photo #2 I used Lolly's Milk Chocolate B&W.
On Photo #3 I used Lolly's Antique Color
If you're looking for some Photoshop actions, check out her site.

:)

Still on Track :)

More track pictures.....'Tis the season for indoor track. Parker ran an amazing race on Saturday. He ran the 2-mile and took first place in his heat and achieved a personal record! Yay!!!

It was a fun race to watch. On the Weber State indoor track, the 2-milers have to run 16 laps. By the time Parker was done, he had lapped several people.

He also ran the 800-meter race, but really had nothing left to give at that point. It was still fun to watch him, though.

:)

The intensity at the starting line.

And they're off!

Parker was in the lead for the first couple of laps. Then he fell behind to third and fourth for several laps. He managed to pull into the lead again with just a couple of laps to go. He ran his last lap in 32 seconds. It was amazing the speed he poured on at the end. Woo hooooooooo!!!

Headed to the finish line. The guys on the far right still have a lap or so to go....The guy in the second lane is the second place finisher.

"What was my time, Dad?"

At the starting line for the 800-meter race. Look at those faces! Talk about intense!

Cubby's leg art. (Done with a Sharpie!) Translation: SPEED

The amazing Coach Wiley! He's the best! 

Parker, Kiana and Cubby smile as they get ready to go home. :)

It's a Major Award!

My friend Janae gave me this!

She wrote some very nice things about me on her blog when she gave me this award!

Thanks, Janae! You're the best!

Janae is one of my favorite people ever. We got to be friends a few years ago, thanks to photography. I've had the privilege of doing her family pictures for her, as well as taking pictures of her baby Traveller in the hospital not long after he was born. Janae has a great sense of humor and is always a blast to hang around -- with cameras or without. I've met so many great people through photography and am so grateful to Janae and my other fellow camera nerd friends. :) Love you all!

Now I'm supposed to answer the following questions....using one word....or so....

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? Messy
3. Your mother? Heaven
4. Your father? Heaven
5. Your favorite food? Salmon
6. Your dream last night? Forgettable
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Dream/goal? Photojournalism
9. What room are you in? Family room
10. Your hobby? Photography
11. Your fear? Dark
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Bountiful
13. Where we you last night? Home
14. Something you aren't? Organized
15. Muffins? Chocolate
16. Wish list item?  Lens
17. Where did you grow up? Brigham City
18. Last thing you did? Eat
19. What are you wearing? Skirt
20. TV? Jeopardy
21. Pets? No
22. Friends? Awesome!
23. Life? Hooray!
24. Mood? Cheerful
25. Missing someone? Nate
26. Vehicle? Suburban
27. Something you're not wearing? Earrings
28. Favorite store? Costco
29. Favorite color? BYU Blue!
30. When's the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Recently
32. Best friend? Derek
33. One place that you go over and over? Costco
34. One person who e-mails me regularly? Nate
35. Favorite place to eat? Pei Wei

Now I'm supposed to award this to two other bloggers. So hard to choose, but I'm going to say:

Tracy (whose blog is private...sorry to those who aren't her blog friends already!) She is one of my amazing photographer friends. She has the greatest sense of humor and always knows the right thing to say. She makes me laugh and is always fun to be with. She's also a fabulous photographer. I love her blog because she shares such funny, real-life stories about her cute family. Always brings a smile to my face. Thanks, Tracy!!!

And next, it has to be my nephew's wife Kate . Kate is a busy young mom of two little ones, but still always finds time to do creative, fun projects around her house. I always love reading her blog to see what she's up to now! You're awesome, Kate!

Now, Tracy and Kate, you get to answer the questions and spread the love around.
:)

Back on Track.....

......in more ways than one. First of all, I have to thank all of you who wrote such encouraging and wonderful comments to me based on yesterday's post. It means so much to me, and I appreciate you all very much. Your comments totally lifted my spirits and helped me see that I can't let a few haters ruin my day or dampen my enthusiasm for photography.

My shots today are from Parker's indoor track meet last weekend at BYU. It's always fun for Derek and me to go to Provo and relive our glory days as BYU Cougars. Interestingly enough, the field house still smells and looks the same.
:)

Parker switches the spikes on his flats in preparation for the race.

Parker's teammate Cubby shows off his awesome, custom-made Bountiful Braves racing flats.

Last lap......

Cubby and Parker pushing on to the finish....

The after-race face...

Everyone's a Critic

Okay, I was going to stay quiet about this whole thing, but it's really been bugging me, so I've decided to say something.

Yesterday I noticed my blog was getting way more hits than usual, so I looked to see where they were all coming from.

Turns out, most of them were from an Ex-Mormon site. Someone started a thread on there about the fact that I had posted some pre-missionary shots on my blog. This person wanted to know when this "cheesy and ridiculous" trend started of having a pre-mission shoot.

Then several other people piped up to comment on my photographic abilities -- or lack thereof, according to them.

Here's a sampling of the things they said:

"These look like Sears or K-mart photos."
"They're in a studio and they can't get good lighting. Sorry. For some reason bad photography p***** me off."
"I couldn't resist browsing some of the other photos on the blog. Listen up people, owning a fancy camera DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PHOTOGRAPHER. It makes you a ******* with a fancy camera. So LEARN TO USE IT! before you start bilking people out of their money for your ***** family portraits. I have a fancy camera, but I know better than to think I'm a professional photographer."

Nice, huh?


I guess the thing that bothers me most about all these comments is the fact that they are all taking place behind my back. If people have something to say about my photography, I wish they'd say it to me instead of snarking away on some message board.

I know I'm not the best photographer on the planet, but I have worked hard, have invested a lot of time, energy and money, and know I have a lot of friends and family out there who appreciate the memories I have preserved for them.

Just wish there weren't so many haters out there.

Luke Who Is Almost a Missionary!

Okay, I swear it was just yesterday that this young man was one of my Webelos Cub Scouts. How can it be that he is now waiting to find out where he will be going on his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Luke is a great kid. It was fun to do these pre-mission shots for him.

Can't wait to hear where he will be going!
:)

Alex and the Bee

Back in December, Alex was one of the winners of his classroom spelling bee, which gave him the opportunity to compete in the school-wide bee this week.

We studied his words like crazy, but he was still N-E-R-V-O-U-S the day of the bee.

I went to watch and I think I was almost as nervous as he was. In the first round when it was Alex's turn, he stepped up to the microphone and, voice trembling, spelled his first word. He got it right. Round by round, competitors were eliminated, but Alex stayed in. He made it to the top three, and then was eliminated on the word "mosquitoey".

But the good news is, the top three finishers from our school advance to the next level of competition: the Davis School District South End Spelling Bee.

He was excited about his finish -- especially when they awarded him a $10 gift card from Wal-Mart! Woot! (By the way, I took him to Wal-Mart to use the card today and am so thrilled to say that Alex is now the proud owner of a Zhu Zhu pet. Definitely my kind of pet....doesn't smell bad, doesn't eat anything and doesn't bark all night!)

Y-A-Y       A-L-E-X!!!

:)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

I met up with Shantel and Jami, a couple of my photography friends the other day. Jami had mentioned she wanted to get some fun winter shots of her kids. I was happy to tag along. I told her my kids were all back in school, but I'd be happy to shoot hers! :)

We met in Ogden on 25th Street. Fun location. I had shot at nearby Union Station before, but had never ventured up the street. Well, it was freezing cold, so we didn't stay long, but I will definitely add this to my list of places to revisit. (When it's warmer, of course!)

Jami's kids are so cute, don't you think? Oh, and I did manage to give my fisheye lens another workout. That lens is just too much fun!

:)

Kempiak Family

While we were in Arizona, I had the privilege of doing family portraits for the Kempiak family. What an amazing experience! Kymberly, the mom of this cute family, was Nate's 4th grade teacher -- his favorite elementary school teacher, by the way. :)

Kymberly is one of those people who truly possesses a gift when it comes to teaching. Her students knew without a doubt that she loved them and wanted them to succeed -- that she expected them to succeed. She challenged her students to do their very best and encouraged and supported them along the way. When I volunteered in her classroom, I was in awe of the way she operated.

The year Nate was in her class, he had to have eye surgery, and I remember how excited he was when Mrs. Kempiak came to our house to visit him when he came home from the hospital. She always went out of her way to do things to let her students know how important they were to her.

In 4th grade, the students learned about map making, and each of them had to draw a map and give instructions to their homes. Mrs. Kempiak then followed each student's map to his or her house....and if she was successful in following the directions, she left a treat at the doorstep. Just another example of her amazing skills as a teacher.

Years after Nate and his classmates had moved on from Mrs. Kempiak's class, she sent all of them a letter congratulating them on their graduation from high school. She included each of their names and talked about the fun and challenging things they had done together in 4th grade.

Although we moved away from Arizona just a couple of days after Nate finished 4th grade, I've kept in touch with Kymberly through Christmas cards..and more recently, Facebook. It was so fun to see her after all this time and to take pictures of her family.

The saying "To Teach is To Touch Lives Forever" was written with teachers like Kymberly Kempiak in mind, I am certain!

Here are some shots of the awesome Kempiak family.
:)