Baby Georgia - Neenah Baby and Child Photography

My best friend Joey (Jocelyn) came up for a very special portrait session earlier this month. Her little baby just turned one and it was time for some awesome photos.

You might remember me doing her newborn session in their Milwaukee home last year. I designed custom baby announcements that were printed on linen paper...

Well little Georgia Grace has changed quite a bit. Here are some favs from the session. Enjoy!

This is a girl who loves shoes... and it was one of her very first words. I'm sure she makes mommy proud!

Cute dress Georgia wore for her first birthday - her daddy bought it while he was in China

We finished off the session with a trip to the library - one-year-old 's love books!

Congratulations Joey and Josh on a beautiful little girl!

City Night Gallery - Mosaic

click photo to enlarge

Updates

City Night Gallery – See updates here
My blog was down on Thursday – Read yesterday post here (p.s. it’s a good one)



Camera: Nikon D200
Exposure: 7.1
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 22 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

Afterlife would look like this - Short Story

I never thought the afterlife would look like this. Day three of sitting on this terracotta roof with this boy pointing a toy gun at my head. The shingles are pinching at my bum. Sally just peed herself, again. I am staring at three crufixes with four men standing in front of them. One man has a Che Guevara shirt on, that must mean something. The air smells of alpaca dung and will somebody for the love of God turn down that flamingo music?? Why is that boy holding on to cow guts pulled out of a bucket? How did I get this scar?

Pop, pop, pop, a man with a camera walks up to me and says, “You can’t have simplicity until you know confusion. Say cheese”. Pop, pop, pop the flash blinds me for an instant. The cameraman yell outs “bang, bang, my baby shot me down…this is way beyond funny, sonny”, and then he walks away.

I’ve been to Planet Hollywood, have not been to the mountaintop, I should have danced more often. I wish I had updated my style of clothing, as this is what I am going to wear for eternity in the afterlife. My cell phone rings, “Hello?” A woman’s voice speaks, “interdependence, interconnectedness, systemic risk, moral hazard, this used to hurt”, she hangs up…”OK.”, I respond. I turn left and see what?

Four men wearing black facemasks with pom-poms and tassels on top of their heads. The man in the middle is holding onto a chalkboard that has a message scribbled in Spanish: “I feel stupid”. My white stuffed puppy dog from my childhood is on the floor next to my giant silver platform heals from my disco dancing days. I think, “How did the McMafa get my shoes and stuffed puppy dog?”

Pop, pop, pop, the cameramen takes my photo again. “Never thought the afterlife would look like this”, he says to me. “STOP THAT!” I yell at him, the flash is blinding me. “That’s the bright lights of heaven’s gate…and you must wait”, the cameraman says to me.

Me & Elizabeth

Photo by David Burke

Me & Ella

Photo by David Burke

MN Bride {featured wedding}

This is a little bit of old news but I thought I would share Mariah and Tony's featured photos in MN Bride. Also if you haven't voted for your favorite vendors on MN Bride, I would love your vote!

Moment

Current Reading: America the Beautiful by Moon Zappa
Current Music: The Best of Rusted Root
Smells: Oatmeal and coffee
Sounds: Humming
Temperature: 18 degrees, cloudy
Thoughts: My favorite item of clothing is a single sock.

fashion photos {on Le Petit Connaisseur blog}

Jahna Peloquin has put some of my fashion images on her blog, Le Petit Connaisseur. Go check it out and come to the fashion show this weekend.

The letter “P” must die

The predicament with having a purpose in life is that it has to be attached to a problem for the purpose to be purposeful. What is practical about having a purpose if the only purpose is to point out a problem?

Answer: To persuade people to your perspective on the problem actually having a purposeful point in solving.

Sounds political so far, are you perplexed at this particular point?

My personal puzzlement is that I like pizza. If you want to eat pizza with pepperoni, pigs got to die. In principal I prefer things not to have to pass away to get on my dinner plate.

The purpose in solving my problem is; is it practical to kill all “P” to persuade you that my perspective is correct on getting pepperoni on my plate?

The letter “P” must die –goodbye to

Paris, Poinsettias, Poppies, Pasta, Peanut Butter, Pontiac, Porsche, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Peru, Poland, Pakistan, Palestine, Pens, pencils ….plea your case if you want me to ponder this predicament while I eat this plate that has been properly placed in front of face.

wedding chicks {featured wedding}

Check out this really great blog about weddings and inspiration, wedding chicks. I also have a featured wedding on there.

Living Room Series

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/1.4
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1250
Exposure Bias: +1 EV

RANT

America is waking up again as every generation has an opportunity to change the world, yet again.


“If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg.” - Haruki Murakami


As I write this there is a crowd gathered that is picketing and protesting the legalization of gay marriage, women rights to choose and other random thing that should be left to the individual to select... 2,103 verses in the bible on serving the poor and less fortunate and they pick the 4 vague sentences to stage a protest.

Wonder how many homeless people they passed on their way to the protest.

Simplification postponed due to instability issues…

Photo of the Week - Self-Portrait

WPPI 2009 - Red Rock Canyon Shootout

I've been absent from blogging... Vegas takes a lot out of you!

Here are some shots from a recent bridal session at the Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas... a full update early next week.

Stephanie {senior}

Stephanie and I had a wonderful time at her shoot. She is a great girl and I wish her luck in her senior year of high school!

Rachel {senior photos}

Rachel is a fun loving high school senior. She was up for anything and I had a great time taking photos of her.

I Dream of Heaven - Short Story

Hung on a wall with a nail and black string is a photograph that nobody has looked at. There is no reason for people to walk down this corridor that leads to nowhere, void of light and purpose in the far back corner of a church hallway. Odd place for a photograph, empty space is your audience.

Me, I am a Catholic brother for St. Michael’s church. Life as a Catholic brother means that I have no holy orders, no sacramental blessing to dispose. I’ve taken a vow of living a life of no money, no honey, and I answer to a boss. In my case, my boss is Father Dougherty and let me tell you answering to God is easier than reporting to Father Dougherty. My day is spent counseling parishioners, mopping floors or whatever undertaking that Father Dougherty and the congregation need of me.

I spent the last two years walking by this empty hallway that lead to nowhere. For no particular reason this day I decided to sit down in front of this photograph and give it the viewing that it deserves. Sitting on this cold, slate hallway floor with my Bible and my journal I stare at this photo.

There is no background, no ambient quality to this photograph, only a subject of four people whose story is told by the expression on their faces.

A widowed grandfather, a happy and observant man, quiet most days is seated back center of the composition. The grandfather watches his two daughters playing a game of dominos. The daughter to his left is divorced, keeps herself occupied by reading and taking care of her father. Her father is not in ill health but the company is good for both of them.

His second daughter, Marie, the younger of the two is seated to his right, gazing outwardly, lost in thought. Marie has made bad life choices and lives with her anger, placing blame on no one for her place in this world. The source of her redemptive pride is her daughter, the grandfather’s only grandchild, Ella, stands behind her mother.

The two sisters sit face to face at this small card table playing their game. This time spent is a social responsibility to the family. Obliged by tradition, not of connection. Small amounts of coins, one ashtray clean and unused, a lighter, but no cigarettes, is on the table.

The granddaughter, pretty, twenty-something and well educated stands behind her mother leaning on her left shoulder. She understands the sacrifices that her mother has made for her. Like her mother and her aunt she is accountable for keeping the family together, although she would rather be elsewhere.

Ella stands behind her mother metaphorically and in body pondering her decision.

Carman, stay or go with him? Can Carman remaining faithfully to be after breaking his commitment? Should I leave my family and go away with him. I love him…I think. Will my mother be able to cope without me? Should I ask or tell or just go? Does Carman make me happy? I think so…most days. Independence without obligation, that’s what I want…I know it’s selfish. The gift of sharing my self whose life has ben given to another. If I leave will my family will they want me back? Yes. Look at my Papa…that is my dream.

The grandfather holds a small chalkboard pressed to his chest. In his own handwriting he scribbles “I miss Heaven”. That is what he called his wife…Heaven.
“Carman”, Father Dougherty calls out to me…yes Father, I’m coming.

We Heart You {erin, ellie & paige}

Happy Valentine's Day from our hearts to yours. In case you don't know who is who, I {erin} have the hot {pink} legs. Ellie has the big lips and long hair and sweet Paige is the lucky tall one.

Published

Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette – published a short story of mine, you can read it (here).

Moment

Current Reading: Color by Victoria Finlay
Current Music: Stories of a Stranger by O.A.R.
Smells: Lemmon’s and coffee
Sounds: Printer and white noise
Temperature: 37 degrees, cloudy and windy
Thoughts: Raise your child right put putting your left foot down

The Shepherd & Alpaca - Flash Fiction

I am in the mist of my first writing workshop. Here is a draft of my homework.

I am a shepherd of Alpacas, an animal that is stuck between creation and evolution not knowing if it was meant to be a large dog or a small llama. Misfits of the animal kingdom, abandoned by God and not worthy of being served for dinner.

As for me I have the easiest job in the world. I stand atop a Peru mountain at 16,404 ft. watching this slow mammal graze and grow hair.

In replace of a shepherd staff I carry a wooden spool with alpaca’s thread for making blankets. Alpaca are tribally one of the most boring fur covered beasts you will ever come a cross. No need for organizing them because they feel no need for chaos or even an outwardly sense of movement. Air, soil and water is all you need to keep an alpaca herd alive. It’s akin to being a shepherd of trees, hence, why the pay is so bad.

I get rewarded in fur, which magically becomes a fiber when your shave it off the alpacas’ backs. Fiber is what we call it when Alpaca hair converts into a sellable product. This magical fiber, not as valuable as wool, is a lot less scratchy when knit into blankets.

Spinning and knitting alpaca blankets, being the shepherd of trees at 16,4040 ft. atop this mountain I work. I am lonely…would you want one of these blankets? You, yes you reading these words; please take my photograph. Show the photograph to your people, and tell my story of the shepherd and alpaca blankets.

Intimate Weddings {featured photos}

A few of the photos I took at Doug and Diane's wedding are featured on intimate weddings. This is a great website/blog that talks about small weddings. Make sure you check it out.

Winston {our new love}

Ok so anyone that knows me well knows I am not crazy about dogs. I use to say "I like dogs as long as they don't touch me". I guess I have had a change of heart. A few weeks ago we welcomed this little guy to our family. I wasn't sure what I was getting into but now I really adore Winston. He brings joy and happiness to our little family. Who could resist sure a cute teddy bear face?