on the go

i'm alive and well..even tho i haven't updated my blog. the kids are out of school, i've been travelling and working.

my current project is real estate photography. still working on finishing the panos i shot last week as practice for my new website (hopefully up and running by end of august)

i'll post links as they become available.. i've been given some really great suggestions on ways to improve the panos. now i'm just trying to figure out how to make it all work :)

also i've been camping in canada. mostly i stayed in an area just a bit north or niagara falls. i have some pictures from the trip, but it wasn't the most productive trip as far as photography goes. thats not to say that i didn't have an amazing time. i'm hopefully going to get a chance to return there before the summer is over.. there is so much more to see and do!

next week starts my across the USA adventure. i'll be keeping a daily log of our adventure and will update my blog as soon as i find a wireless connection each day.

the adventure will start in detroit (home) and take us..(the kids and me) to the rocky mountains. depending on time, and moods.. we will take several day trips from our campsite to see what we can see.

i have a concert on the 25 of july with 3 rehearsals beginning on the 22nd.. so that means i have to be back in town by then. if i had planned better i would have taken 3 weeks to drive from home to california and back again... i'll save that adventure for another time. i'm not sure the kids have that much adventure in them at this point anyway ;)

in other news... a few weeks ago i took my sister in laws kids to the park for a day of shooting. i put together a bunch of prints and this past weekend i saw her. i framed some of my favorites and gave them to her along with the loose prints. my sister in law's reaction was incredible.

i should explain... she and i are not very close, matter of fact i'm pretty sure she can't stand me. she is about 10 years younger than i am and when i married her brother she was just a kid. she has been extremely critical of just about everything i've ever done.. usually i just see her at family events and we don't really spend much time talking.

when i offered to take her kids to the park and do a photo shoot.. i'm pretty sure she was skeptical about my motives. i was very honest with her.. i explained that i understood how hard it was to find the time to get pictures of your kids when they are that little. her kids are adorable, and quite a handful. also i explained to her that i would appreciate her signing model releases so that i can use the images as stock. if i sold any of them or donated them to be used anywhere i would make sure she knew about it first... she agreed

when i saw her on sunday she had been having a very hard day with the kids. they weren't sleeping well, and the babies both have colds. she was exhausted. she saw the pictures and got very teary... her entire face turned red and tears started streaming down her face. she loved the pictures :)

then my mother in law came over and she also got very emotional. it made me feel really good.

i'm not saying they are the best pictures ever.. but i knew when i was shooting them that the kids were just being themselves. they were playing, fighting, crying, laughing... just being kids.

i prefer candid shots of kids.. ones that show the personalities. not shots where the kid has a huge fake smile trying to sit still in an uncomfortable environment. anyway.. for the first time EVER my in-laws took a moment to see what it is i do, and why i love to do it.

i doubt that anything in my relationship with my in-laws will change significantly because of this.. but it was still very satisfying to me.