Inspiration Mondays! – Darker places…

  Sometimes inspiration comes from different places…  Darker places…  Thinking back to what may have creeped you out as a child…  That dark corner of the basement, that room in the house that always made you feel uneasy.  That street that you walked home on with that one block that got your blood pumping…

  I saw this scene during assignment at Hollins University in the middle of fun filled Alumni weekend!

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  The mood all around was fun and refreshing as a summer storm blew through, but this empty corridor beckoned to me…  What does it say to you?

A Dogs Life – Saturday Blog Posts…

A dog’s life…  It’d be pretty cool right?  This weekly feature on the blog will follow our two goldendoodles adventures in my photography.  Occasionally these will be phone images, occasionally DSLR images, maybe film…  The medium doesn’t matter, in this case it’s all about the subjects…

For those who haven’t met them meet Freyja and Luna!

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  Freyja is a year and eight months here and is the lighter colored doodle in the back.  Luna is one year old this week!  They are sisters from different litters with the same poodle Dad and different golden retriever Moms. (In Japanese they say “go-ruden do-doru”)

  Luna tried to steal the show with this thoughtful pose and insightful eyes here…

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   Freyja seemed a little aggravated with her sister’s attitude here…

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  Those eyes just kinda melt your heart don’t they?

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  Finally I got them to focus for this one…

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  Then I switched it up for one here…

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  Freyja must have told her little sister Luna a joke right before this one…

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  …and it must have been pretty funny!!  Compose yourself there little Go-ruden do-doru!!

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  Well they were both a little tickled after that so we had some fun with the firehose toy!

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  Is it just me or does Freyja have “CRAZY EYES”?!?

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  Doing her best Michael Jordan dunk face (example here)

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As always comments are appreciated!  I’m sure the girls would love to hear from you!

Technology Tuesday – Robots are coming!

  Welcome to an all new weekly blog post Tech Tuesdays!   Here we’ll be discussing tech in all forms!  It’ll probably be photography but you never know!

  This week we’re talking about the future…

Remember Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons?  Well, she’s here!  Well, not exactly, this one does the work (at least vacuuming) without the attitude that Rosie came with!

I know, I know, it looks like a Super Nintendo on steroids right?!?  Well, it is way cooler than that!  It runs Linux, uses a “LASER” (say that in Dr. Evil’s voice), maps out the room and methodically vacuums the space you let it out in, returning to base to charge when needed and picking up where it left off!  Can you throw away your old vac?  Well, probably not, it doesn’t do stairs, or under the couch cushions, you may have to get in the nooks and crannies that it won’t fit from time to time, but that’s okay.  With two dogs roaming the studio there is a bit of hair occasionally, I can schedule it to run when we’re not around, or push a button and have it run whenever I want.  It’s like science fiction!  I know iRobot has had their Roomba around for a while now but that thing is like a drunk turtle compared to the virgo-like thoroughness of Neato’s machines.  Take a look at this comparison video…

  It’s pretty cool that the majority of vacuuming is taken care of, just an occasional deep clean from time to time!

  Find them here for more info!  http://www.neatorobotics.com/

  As always comments are welcomed!

Inspiration Mondays

  I’m starting a new type of blog post so keep an eye out each week for inspiration Mondays!
  Every Monday I’ll detail something or someone that inspires me in some way, sometimes the post will be all about the artist or individual, sometimes you’ll see examples of how it affects my work etc.  This week it’s a big one, Ansel Adams!!  Now, I will be the first to tell you that I am NOT a landscape photographer, if I can’t “talk to my subject, or them “talk” to me I’m in trouble.  I’ve worked with people with disabilities  that have prevented the physical talk from happening but we worked it out and it was AMAZING.  Landscapes and I don’t speak the same language though…
   I’m trying to learn, but a new language is daunting!  So I have always marveled at the way Ansel (yes, we are on a first name basis!) was able to take you to these locations and give you such a sense of being there even though his most famous images are in black and white.  His images of Yosemite and Yellowstone have entranced me since my youth.
  Enjoy this gem! the Tetons of Yellowstone
  Not only was his composition and sense of timing perfect, but he developed the zone system (along with Fred Archer) for exposing images correctly, and printing.  Don’t get me wrong I don’t refer to the zone system during the hectic wedding day, but it is always there to guide me to what to look for in an exposure and processing for the final prints.  This latest maternity image of Katya in her last weeks of pregnancy was converted to black and white with special attention to the 11 zones the masters above worked out years ago…
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Feel free to share your thoughts regarding the image or the inspiration in the comments below.  Thank you all…

What’s going on…

  It’s been an awesome, trying, stressful, productive year so far…
I know crickets have been singing from this blog for a while now and it doesn’t look good to the readers here. The truth is that we have been busy making clients happy with one of our best wedding years yet! From our first wedding of the year that was the biggest ever to our last a few weeks ago that was on of the most intimate we’ve ever had we have knocked out some amazing images with awesome clients in cool locations!

 To top it off we have had to move our studio (majorly stressful!!), Angel has graduated from nursing school and is now an RN (majorly stressful!!), and this blog is not only a showcase for our images but a writing exercise for me. I don’t just want to post a few images and a slideshow and a couple of lines of text, I want to let you know about that wedding or that session, or whatever.

  Frankly those creative juices that allow me to write the little bit that I do had dried up with everything going on. So stay tuned for some more from us, some fun, some cool, all beautiful though!!

Geneva’s gift…

(are you ladies listening?  Gift ideas follow…)

  Geneva wanted to do something very special for her boyfriend, so she contacted us about doing a calendar shoot. we sat down and brainstormed some ideas for the session and we put our heads together to find all the props and the locations and the wardrobe. This was going to be a birthday present that her boyfriend would not soon forget…

Tasteful images both in the studio and on location along with some very thoughtful props combined to make a spectacular calendar  that John will cherish for a long time.

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these are the 12 months from the calendar just as they were printed.  Had to keep my mouth shut for a while as John’s birthday wasn’t for a few months from the shoot, but I asked Geneva to let me know what he thought of it when he finally got it, and she wrote this…

I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful Birthday gift that you gave John.  I got a picture of him with his eyes popping out of his head as he took a glance at the picture on the cover.  It was so great, He didn’t even know they were my boobs!!! 🙂   His first question was, “who’s boobs are those?, they are AWESOME!!!”  My response, “Mine Duh”  He loved the calendar and thought every picture was super sexy and tasteful!!!  you and Angel did an amazing job, you can go ahead and post all pictures.  I think they are all appropriate.

Thanks again!  Can’t wait to do it again!!

-Geneva”

maybe I get that picture that she mentioned and posted here as well one day!

Kelly and Aaron’s wedding!

  Kelly and Aaron got married at her parents home in Troutville, Virginia.  The wedding was in the middle of June, typically the most beautiful time of year for weddings. Having the wedding outside always introduces a bit of nervousness in brides, this day was no different. They were calling for thunderstorms that afternoon right around the time of the wedding, and everyone kept the bride from finding this out, their was a media blackout for the bride! As the storm rolled in her mother and sister and all her bridesmaids sequestered her to the master bedroom with the blinds closed some music on and lots of good cheer. I cannot say enough about what these girls did for Kelly, she had no idea the downpour that was going on!

  We got some extra time during the day to photograph the flowers and the rings as we waited on the rain to pass…
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  what an absolutely beautiful bride (some of you may remember her from this post http://michaelsinkphotography.com/blog/?p=25 )016  along with mom this is the team of girls that helped make Kelly’s wedding day so special (well Aaron helped as well, but these ladies were there to make sure Kelly had nothing to worry about)042050
stunning isn’t she…065and what a handsome fellow this guy is…084as usual the guys had a good time and worried about nothing, cause that’s how we roll…096after a short delay, and the rain cleared family and friends helped dry off all the chairs and we got things underway. This is the first time Aaron has seen his bride on this day what a beautiful smile!158the storm created soft light for the whole wedding ceremony, and some absolutely unbelievable skies!177278I think it may have been impossible to take a bad picture of these two!289at the rehearsal during the first dance the happiness poured out of them like the rain had from the clouds earlier…334it is looks like these that you cherish forever, the love in both of their eyes is undeniable…340and a beautiful and tasty cake…379510
we had an amazing time with two amazing families and tons of friends!

( to see their engagement session click here http://michaelsinkphotography.com/blog/?p=34 )

just a photographer collaborating with individuals who want more art in their lives

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