new apple custom art photo books

i completed a couple of books at the end of the year and are so happy with how they turned out! i have had these printed from apple before and am still impressed with the quality of these guys. i will probably do a lot more of these through apple but my goal is to work with a pro photo lab company in the future. if apple a computer company can print a decent photo book that i myself is pretty happy with then just imagine what a pro photo lab can do! i really had to test this out though. i am however not satisfied with their actual prints. they suck. and i have used the consumer online companies for prints and some are good and some are ghastly! but, it is wise to have a few choices out there to compare the print quality. one thing i will say about apple is that when they ship your item they don't mess around cause they ship with fed ex which is simply awesome! so i am ready to move forward into a new year and a new beginning. i am excited to venture out into the world to explore and provide my services for folks who simply adore their pets (and people). be active. be positive. and be CREATIVE! bring it on 2011!

doberman puppy

this is the FIRST time I had the privilege to photograph a puppy dog! he will be a gift (planned) for a friend of a family member of mine. this is no surprise, thankfully the recipient is fully aware of all obligations and responsibilities! puppy's are cute, soft, warm and stinky. it was a chilly afternoon and this was kinda a rushed photo op. we are working around the month of december and the setting of the sun drives me crazy! oh and did i mention the temps were a little on the frigid side? so 'doberman puppy' (he has no name yet!!) sat on my warm lap while i shot a heap of photographs. after 10 minutes, the shivering kicked in and the cute puppy moments were over. but ohh did i end up with at least 5 truly unique photographs. i am partial to black and white so that one is my favorite. in the words of charles schulz: 'happiness is a warm puppy' amen to that!

olympus photo gallery november featured photographer

another fine photograph that was selected for the 'olympus featured photographer .http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/oima_gallery_form.asp?view=month the photographs are selected based on originality, photographic quality, composition, and comments submitted with the photo. this image is one of my latest and greatest shots of leia and spooky. who knew a 12 minute session would be chosen for such a gallery? this is my second win for the competition at olympus. this is so cool-i literally stumbled across this tonight while browsing through my long list of bookmarks that i haven't checked up on in a while and wondered-hm, maybe it was there amongst the other fine photographs-and there it was! little leia and spooky! it's gonna be a fantastic book!

mama and mandy

i love all the surroundings and perfect backdrops on janet's property. the vivid colors from the fall trees made it spectacular! these feet shots are some of my faves. i just can't get enough of the crisp black and white images. i'm a color fan too but i just love the wonderful tonal ranges in a crisp and sharp b&w photograph. lr3 and cs5 does an amazing job at converting the photos to b&w. what an awesome model miss mandy and her mama is. stunning.

november kids at roanoake park omaha, ne.

i spent a fine afternoon with a coworker and her beautiful family. the kids were super behaved and put up with me for about and an hour of shooting at omaha's roanoake park/pool. it was kinda tricky to get them all together for group shots and the black and white family portrait was actually taken first-something to make a note of because the excitement starts at the beginning and the moods are peppy and cheery-kids tend to get board quickly and although it doesn't show, they did wind down and get sick of it after an hour. i can tell you that this was a perfect november day to shoot some truly photogenic kids(mom too!). this park is ideal for any future portraits of kids and pets. i don't mind the stray hairs in the face or the slobbery baby faces-it's true and genuine and using available natural light is the ultimate in bringing out perfect skin tones. my fave baby shot is the slobbery face being tenderly wiped down by mommy while gripping him with the other hand-creating a perfect balance-it's what moms do!

indian summer in november omaha, ne.

this weather in october and so far the first week of november has been FANTASTIC. 'they' keep calling for rain and that icky stuff that normally hits us but, the beautiful fall leaves are still hangin' on to the trees and i just can't get enough of it! i work at a plant store and today is open house at mulhall's nursery www.mulhalls.com/ where we have decorated the ENTIRE store to look like the north pole and it will be 70 degrees OUTSIDE. i love it.

dj lucy chapman and moxi aksarben, ne.

on a fine blustery day in november, when the sun is actually bursting with beautiful colors, i took some time out to visit my dj sister lucy who happens to be the owner of fuzzball moxi chapman. i wanted to capture the 'mama love bond' these two share and moxi adores her mama and i truly hope these photographs display their unique bond.