Sorry for the silence...

I'm sure my thousands of readers (or 1/1000th of a reader as it were) have wondered what I've been up to since quitting my job, driving cross-country in a honda civic, and realizing that the cold & dusty "Great West" is...boring.

Hi, I've missed me and I love me.

Ok, so I've returned to the beautiful state of Virginia. Randy, the dogs, and myself are quite happy to be reunited. Mom is staying with us, and that has been great. As Randy says, "She leaves a trail of cleanliness everywhere she goes. It's like having the best roommate imaginable." We love you Mom. (She might be the only person who reads this.)

I've had a few photographic challenges in the last month, and I thought I'd share them.

I somehow lost an hour worth of work on this blog posting, so now my sentences will be shorter and I'll be in a very bad mood.

Wedding. Beautiful & Happy Couple. Very little time to take the photos. I learned a lot.






Losing work for no apparent reason other than the fact that I accidentally deleted all of it is exactly why I don't blog. I prefer to phlog.

Next, Head shots. I thought I was ready to take head shots for a JMU senior we know... I was not ready. We will have a re-shoot next week. Anyway, Charlotte was a sport and helped me figure out that I need to work on directing models and putting them at ease during the shoot. Plus I need to study up on head shot photography and lighting. Charlotte made it into my previous post about contradictory elements, I love that photo of her. Here are a couple more.




Next... took some shots at a construction site for BRDS . Architectural photography should probably be left to the professionals but I'm cheap and so they hire me. Plus I try to find the details. Always a challenge, always makes me feel like a failure. Is that personal growth or just sick?




Kids. I love it but the challenges are obvious. These are a few of my favorites from a photo shoot with James & Emma. Notice Emma the little bull/devil child. ;-)





I met a great photographer out of Waynesboro this month. He shoots large format and has some really impressive stuff. And just because it tickles me silly to mention this... he looks an awful lot like Paul Giamatti. So unless Joe can prove otherwise... this is your man. (The below photo is of Paul not Joe, I am waiting for Joe to send me a photo so that we can do a side by side comparison.)



Not that you should go to my website, but I did finish My Family Photography.