Outback Bowl 2010

Our third year of doing photos for the Outback Bowl. Weather left a little to be desired but equipped properly, we got the shots we’re hired to get. Great game between Auburn and Northwestern. THANK YOU OUTBACK STAFF!

Kaye & I at Outback 2010

Merry Christmas to All!

I love it when clients can think outside the box and have faith in our ability to do the same. These are both collaborative efforts with the Kent Family and the Schnurr Family to create an interesting Christmas card. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa to all!

Toys for Tots Delivered

Well friends, the fruits of our 15th annual Toys for Tots campaign were delivered today to the Marine Corps Toys for Tots distribution center. Over 120 toys were generously donated by our friends, clients, neighbors and business associates. Thank you to everyone who participated in making the holiday’s a little brighter for those in need. You’re the best!

Ally’s Senior Pictures

I had family in for Thanksgiving. First, my brother and his family of six, followed by my sister and her family of five – all from Atlanta. I had the pleasure of doing senior pictures for my niece, Ally. She wanted an “urban” look so we hit the pavement in Ybor City. Here’s a slideshow of some of her favorite images.

Brian Newsome & Family

My brother Brian, his wife Kim, and their four kids, Zachary, Savannah, Maria and Joshua made a quick visit from Atlanta this week. As is customary, I’m the family photographer… here’s a few images from their family session…

Mini Triathlon at Ft DeSoto

I’d never attended a triathlon before so when I found I had three friends competing as a relay team I jumped at the chance to cover the event. The mini triathlon held at Ft DeSoto October 24 was a huge event. My dentist, Dr Juliet Bulnes of Westchase Esthetic Dentistry, is a celebrated triathlete having competed for Team USA in Australia earlier this year. She kicked off the relay with a 1/3 mile swim followed by a transition run of about 200 yards. She passed off to Jamie Heggedal of Carrollwood Massage Therapy who biked a blistering 10 miles. He then passed off to Mike Trevor of Mike’s Auto Detailing who flew through a fast 5K. They turned in a time of 57:56 and crushed the next closest relay team by nearly SEVEN minutes!

What an awesome team effort. Congratulations guys! You’re an inspiration to us all.

Stephanie’s Sunday

In late August a very good friend of ours, Debbie Alcorn, was elected President of the Florida Professional Photographers. In late September, less than a month later, her 31-year-old daughter, Stephanie King suffered a brain aneurysm and spent 3 weeks in intensive care. A seminar to raise funds for expenses has been organized by a group of local professional photographers for November 15th at the Doubletree Hotel on Cypress here in Tampa.

Bruce Wilson, a second generation photographer from Kissimmee will be presenting information on high school senior portraiture; Alycia Alvarez from Brandon will be speaking on infant portraiture, and Cindy Strickland from Tallahassee will be covering children’s portraiture. These three one-hour seminars will be followed by a roundtable panel discussion on the photography industry consisting of Bruce Evensen of St Pete, Eve Sanz of Brandon, and Kevin Newsome of Tampa and moderated by Al Audleman of Brandon.

To attend, you may send your cash or check (made payable to The Stephanie King Fund) for $50 to Newsome’s Studio at 13910 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Suite 6, Tampa, FL 33618. If you cannot attend the seminar but would still like to make a donation, you may send your check to Newsome’s Studio.

It is amazing how quickly life’s roller coaster can change course and how draining that can be with your emotions. Kaye & I have known Stephanie since she was about 15 years old. She is now married and has a 3-year-old son. Her husband was laid off of work a while back (another casualty of today’s economy) and there’s a very difficult road ahead for her. This seminar is but a small token of our love for Stephanie, and her mother, Debbie.

Thank you to the Doubletree Hotel for working with us and providing a wonderful venue for next to nothing, and to Regions Bank for their assistance in setting up The Stephanie King Fund. Additionally, all the speakers, panelists, moderators, and mentors being auctioned off have all graciously donated their time and energy to make this seminar happen.

If you’d like additional information on how you might be able to help, please contact Kaye Newsome at 813-968-2810.

The Color of Summer

This morning Kaye & I made a trip to Riverview to photograph a pair of absolutely beautiful children.  We’re receiving more requests for outdoor sessions of kids being kids and getting out of the studio is always a treat.

Jenna and Katie

We purposely asked for brightly colored clothing and selected a playground that was painted in primary colors, then timed it for mid-morning so the kids would be in a good mood and full of energy.

Katie with a beaming smile

Jenna and Katie were true professional models for us and had some of the most beautiful blue eyes you’ll ever see.

Jenna being coy

Florida Convention Ends

Wow. Been a busy month. I just returned from Orlando where I presented a seminar on children’s portraiture. What a fantastic group to work with. The Florida Professional Photographers annual convention had a sold out Trade Show, a beautiful print competition and display, and about a dozen nationally recognized speakers giving programs.

The many faces of Ellie Salmons.

I spoke early Sunday morning and mixed my three hour seminar between preaching from the soapbox (Fixer Inhalers vs Pixel Pixies) and encouraging these two industries to recombine into one again, then working with infants, toddlers, and tweens. The best part was getting to photograph a handful of models and doing demonstrations on lighting and posing (or anti-posing as I like to think of it).

Young Keller, The Lady Killer

The images attached to this post are from those taken during the seminar. A HUGE thank you go out to Ellie, Susanna & Diego, and Keller, who all put up with me like true professionals.  Love you guys!

Diego giving the look that will melt mom's heart.

Susanna beaming with personality and body language.

B&B on Tiffany Hill

Selena Einwechter's Bed & Breakfast on Tiffany Hill

While vacationing in the NC mts last week, Kaye & I dropped in on a former classmate of mine. Selena Einwechter left Tampa for greener pastures and certainly seems to have found one. After decades of dreaming and years of planning, Selena’s dream of opening a Bed and Breakfast has finally come true.

Perched atop seven beautifully landscaped acres and nestled on the edge of the Pisgah National Forest in Mills River south of Ashville, B&B on Tiffany Hill has set a new standard for the Bed and Breakfast world.

Built from the ground up and incredibly decorated with attention to detail evident everywhere you turn, Tiffany Hill offers five bedrooms – each with their own bath - a large breakfast table to seat 12, a library, a sitting room with fireplaces, wi-fi throughout, a walking trail with several points of interest offering views to sooth the soul and Selena herself as your host, cook, and knowledgeable reference library for the surrounding area.

Anyone wishing more info on this wonderful opportunity for escape can visit www.bbontiffanyhill.com. Please tell Selena we said “Hello”.

Hello world!

I actually blogged back in ‘98 when I launched my first studio web site. It wasn’t called blogging back then, I was just posting images and the stories behind them. I haven’t done it in quite a while so this is a rebirth of something I really enjoyed. So… in the twisted words of that Poltergeist kid… I’m baaaaaaack.

14th Annual Toys For Tots Campaign Underway

From now till late December Newsome’s Studio will be collecting Toys for Tots. Bring in a new unwrapped toy to your scheduled photography session and Newsome’s will add an 8×10 to your order at no additional charge. The normal session fee is due at the time of photography. This is the 14th year Newsome’s has participated in the Toys for Tots drive and finds it to be one of the most heartwarming charities available.

Tampa’s Class of 2009 from Newsome’s Studio

Things  have changed. A quality senior portrait session is nothing like it was when I had my senior pictures taken at Bryn Alan back in 1973.  Here’s a slide show of some of the seniors that have graced our camera room at Newsome’s Studio with their laughter, style, animation, and spirit. Enjoy!

Barack Obama in Tampa

Last time I was this close to a Presidential candidate was in 1968 when Richard Nixon visited Tampa. I was 13 and my mom brought the whole family to see him. Barack is leading in the polls and could well be the next President. Like him or not, he’s a history maker and I wanted a chance to photograph him. These images were taken October 20th at a rally held at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. About 8K in attendance. The closest I got was about 12-15 feet away, and you know what?… in person he looks exactly like he does on TV.

First to Vote

Yep, you read that right. I was the first one in my precinct to vote on election day. Thanks to the time change I’ve been getting up early the last few mornings, so I put that misfortune to good use today. I arrived at my precinct at 4:20 AM and sat quietly wondering where everybody was until the next early riser arrived at 5:00. The poll volunteers began arriving at 6:00 and by 7:00 when the doors opened there were at least 100 people in line behind me. I was the first in and the first out. I voted. I have proudly voted in every election since I turned 18 and I was not about to let this election go by without my vote. Number one, it’s too historic to ignore. Number two, my son commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army in May and I owe it to him to cast my vote. It’s people like him who’ve given me the right to vote and it doesn’t go unappreciated. Thank you!

Haley from Sickles H.S.

What a great senior session. We had a great time working with Haley and from the looks of it, she had a pretty good time too!

Tampa Bay Storm Chopper

Tampa Bay Storm Chopper

Dr Robert Nucci of the Nucci Spine Institute and owner of the Arena Football’s Tampa Bay Storm is raffling off a custom Harley. I had the honor of photographing it for their publicity shots last week. The proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Shriners Hospital. The bike was custom built by V-Force which is rumored to soon have their own show on cable, similar to Orange County Choppers.

Fast Trip to Houston

November 18th I flew to Houston, TX and presented a seminar on children’s portraiture to the Professional Photographers of Houston guild. What a great bunch of photographers they have. I judged their pre-program print competition as well and saw some terrific work being done by their members. Made some new friends and hope to go back again real soon.

I had great help from Kian Adkins, a wonderful photographer in Houston, who coordinated my equipment set ups and models. She brought me Logan & Tyler (brothers), and Stephanie & Jackie (sisters). They performed beautifully for me and made me look good. These are a few of my favorite images…

Great Day for the Beach…

This is Hubbell. Hubbell was a trooper. The beach session we did of Hubbell and his parents was full of laughter. In spite of the 15-20 mile an hour wind and a rather chilly sunset, Hubbell proved that a good disposition makes for great photographs.

Congratulations Haley!

Congrats to Haley Sidlasky from Sickles High School who won $300 in a drawing of all 2009 seniors photographed at Newsome’s Studio prior to Thanksgiving. We used to give away an ipod every year but these days everyone already has one – especially high school seniors! So this year, we’d planned on doing a $300 gift card, but then stories started hitting the news of all the folks losing out on using gift cards that were specific to stores that just declared bankruptcy (Circuit City, etc). In the end we decided that a $300 check would do just fine and the lucky winner could cash and spend it where ever they pleased. Haley (whose images are featured in a slide show on this blog) has a pretty cool trip planned in December, she’s headed to dinner at the White House. Hopefully the cash will come in handy for a little DC shopping. Way to go Haley!

Today a Senior… Tomorrow a Star

What can I say? If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here is one gorgeous novel.

Gift from Canada

Received a surprise via email today. This image was taken by famed Canadian photographer Henriette Plas when I was teaching in Vancouver in July. She caught a candid moment of me ’stirring the pot’ with Molly and her parents who were posing as models for me. What a wonderful spirit Molly was and what a surprise gift to receive this from Henriette. Thanks H! How’s the weather up there, eh?

Toys For Tots Delivered

Our 14th Annual Toys For Tots drive netted nearly 100 toys this year, down from previous years for obvious reasons, but still a thrill to participate. We delivered a very stuffed toy box to the Marine Corps distribution center on Thursday.

We’d like to thank all of our very generous clients who brought us toys (a few even came with ‘bags’ of toys), and we’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus, etc, etc.

We look forward to seeing you all again in 2009!

Steppin’ Out in Style

Typically, beach sessions are considered the most casual of family portrait sessions. Well the Ottingers are anything but typical and if anyone can pull off a formal look at the beach it’s this family. Not having discussed clothing prior to the shoot I admit I was a bit surprised when they showed up in formals… pleasantly surprised. No… make that thrilled! THIS is thinking outside the box. I love the idea of a formal look at the beach and may have just been shown an untapped niche. THANK YOU Ottinger Family!

Condo For Sale in Oxford, MS

Wow, how fast four years of college can go by! Our son, Logan, graduated Ole Miss in May of 2008. After his freshman year we purchased a condo for him to live in the last 3 years of college life.  

After he graduated we had renters for 6 months, who also graduated and just moved out in December. Kaye & I went up to Oxford in January to paint, have new carpet installed and list the unit for sale. 

To view a video tour of the unit and the property, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTMcfzA2b24. It’s a beautiful complex (very quiet) with about 70% of the units owned by alumni who just want a place to stay during home games, and many of the rest of the units owned by parents of enrolled students. It’s only a mile and a half from campus. It’s a 2/2 upstairs and the asking price is $103K. For more info, please contact the listing agent, Matt McGraw at 888-980-5000 or 662-801-5170 or via email at matt@kessingerrealestate.com.

Southeastern Tour

As President of the Southeastern Professional Photographers Association I’ve had the honor and pleasure of attending 4 state conventions in the last month. February 8th and 9th I went went to Maryland and South Carolina, staying just long enough to attend their Awards Banquet and present the Southeastern Award to two very deserving individuals, Jill Bochiccio and JeeJee Cowherd. I flew to the Virginia convention February 24th and presented the SEPPA Award to their past president, Anthony Rumley, then to the North Carolina convention March 3rd to present the SEPPA Award to Danny Daniels. What an honor to recognize such worthy recipients with this award.

Long Awaited GET LEGAL Seminar

Is he talking about YOU?

Monday, March 23rd, we’re hosting a two hour seminar for new photographers titled “The GET LEGAL Seminar”.

Since the advent of digital technology, our industry has experienced a tital wave of newcomers. In the film days, it took real guts to make a go at calling yourself a professional photographer. Reason was, you had to really know lighting and exposure intimately because it was typically 3 or 4 days before you saw your negatives and knew if you “got the shot”. That gut-wrenching period was eliminated when they added a preview window to the back of cameras.

In the film days, you also had to have a few other major things to be considered a professional… You had to shoot with a medium format camera (not 35mm), you had to have a yellow page ad (not just a listing in the white pages), you had to operate a legitimate business (have a Sales Tax Certificate and an Occupational License), and you had to have a camera room possibly in your home, but most likely in a commercial or retail location.

These days, professional digital cameras look nearly identical to consumer grade cameras and having a web site has replaced the now obsolete yellow page ad. Template driven web sites can be purchased and launched for as little as $100 these days and can be maintained for as little as $7 per month. Compare that with the several hundred dollars per month commitment that came with a yellow page ad and it didn’t possess a fraction of the information you can post on a web site!

As for shooting in a camera room or opening a commercial/retail location, that has been brushed aside by today’s newcomers as unnecessary, allowing them to promote their “style” as more “photojournalistic” by conducting all their photo shoots in parks, the beach, or the homes of their clients.

The sad reality about this industry evolution is that it is now so easy to launch a web site and call yourself a professional photographer that the last, most important step (operating within the law), has been largely ignored by many of today’s newcomers. They’ve skipped the whole “sales tax certificate/occupational license thing” and are operating cash under the table businesses. Some may be collecting sales tax from their clients, but not reporting or summitting the tax to the Dept of Revenue. Others are quite up front with their clientele that they’re “just doing this on the side” and don’t believe that they need to collect and pay taxes on their transactions. Most of them truly do not believe they are doing anything wrong and are oblivious to the fact that the law says otherwise and they may be guilty of a third degree felony by operating in this fashion.

Having worked in this industry over 23 years, I can chalk up their felonious ways to being naive and clueless as to how to properly start or run a legitimate business. Rather than contact the Department of Revenue and sick ‘em onto the competition, I’ve chosen to be supportive of their efforts to follow their “passion” (the most overused term in our industry today) and assist my newfound competitors in obtaining the necessary paperwork to legitimize themselves.

On Monday, March 23rd, I’m inviting all interested parties to attend a two hour seminar in my studio and bring their laptops. Using my wireless network, I will walk them through the necessary steps to obtain a Sales Tax Certificate (free), a Federal ID Number (free), an Occupational License (costs range from $22 to $200 depending on your business location) and Fictitious Name Registration ($50 if necessary).

The cost of this seminar is only $40, a small price to pay to guarantee the DOR won’t be hunting you down and pressing charges of “theft of state funds”.

I invite all my newest competitors to stop bastardizing my industry and come put on the uniform and play ball in a real ballpark – the truly rewarding and LEGITIMATE field of “PROFESSIONAL” photography.

The “Stupid Question Seminar” April 6th

Hot on the heels of the “GET LEGAL Seminar” comes the “STUPID QUESTION Seminar”. Monday, April 6th, Kaye and I will host an ALL DAY (9AM to 5PM) seminar geared for all those good folks who’ve recently (within the last 5 years) joined the ranks of professionals in our industry. Anyone can attend, provided they submit a copy of their SALES TAX CERTIFICATE qualifying some degree of commitment to our industry. No ticky, no come in.

The seminar will prove to be invaluable to those who wish to tap the 30 years experience I have in this industry and get the answers to those questions that you feel are just too stupid to ask out loud.

Here’s how it’s gonna work…
You bring me all your stupid questions anonymously written on 3×5 index cards. I will randomly pull them from a box and provide the answers to the entire class. No one is embarrassed, everyone gets educated.

We will automatically cover studio lighting for a one light to a five light set up; environmental lighting; sales by projection; pricing; and digital workflow.

Lunch will be included, along with a signed copy of Kevin’s book “Children’s Portrait Photography – A Photojournalistic Approach”.

Thirty years experience available to you all day, lunch, a book, and answers to all the stupid questions you can muster. Heck, we may even give a prize for the stupidest question of all!

All this for only $149.

To register or to ask stupid questions ahead of time, call the studio at 813-968-2810. Seating is limited. Save yourself a lot of time correcting stupid mistakes by knowing the answers before you do something really, really stupid.

Folks Got Legal

Congratulations! A small group of photographers officially obtained the right to legally call themselves “professional” photographers by attending the GET LEGAL workshop at our studio this evening. I’m proud of each of you who demonstrated your commitment to our industry and to your new vocation and will do everything I can to assist you in becoming successful in this profession. 

You are my friends…. now, those other folks who don’t feel it’s necessary to operate as a legally established business and would rather commit a felony by “stealing state funds” as the Florida Statutes put it… well…… Let’s just say that illegally established photographers are bastardizing my industry and I really don’t appreciate it. They’ll get theirs in due time.

Lookie Me… I’m a Star!

Grayson Kamm & Kevin Newsome shot on Kaye's iPhone

Took my wife to lunch today at Chili’s. As we were getting out of the car, a young man with a video camera approached. Turns out he was Grayson Kamm from the local CBS affiliate, Channel 10.

He was doing a story on how restaurants are marketing very heavily right now to draw customers into their dining rooms. He wanted to know what prompted us to eat out today and were we at all concerned about spending money to eat out considering the economy is in the toilet (well, he didn’t quite put it like that but it was close). 

I gave him my best sound bite (no pun intended) and then went in to eat lunch. I eat out very rarely for lunch, usually opting for a light cesear salad in the studio but had a few errands to run today that just happened to overlap with mealtime.

As for how the economy is affecting my eating habits… I haven’t lost any weight so I reckon it hasn’t gotten that bad!

If I don’t wind up on the cutting room floor, it should air today/tonight. Film at 5, 6, & 11…

A Face for Radio?

I apparently wound up on the cutting room floor… I found the story on their web site – it didn’t make the air at all – and I’m not even in it. I reckon I didn’t give them the doom and gloom sound bite that the media so desperately wishes to promote these days. Oh well. I guess for now, the only network willing to air anything I have to say is YouTube – the poor man’s network!

Brainstorming with Top Pros

The sour economy has been felt by many in our industry. When I travel to conventions and speak with other photographers I typically find that the only ones telling me business is up are those who are so new to the industry they had no business at all last year. Hard not to be up when you have zip to compare it to.

However, for those of us with a long history as full time pros, there’s been a drop in business – some more than others, but nearly all have felt the pinch.

That’s what makes a weekend like this past one so great. Kaye & I just spent three days in Okeechobee brainstorming marketing and business ideas with the owners of six of Florida’s most successful studios. Networking with others in the profession is a great way for us to share ideas that can be easily implemented in our studios, providing our clientele with new and better products.

The studios represented were from all different corners of the state so our marketing areas will not overlap, making sharing and brainstorming so much more effective. Now that we’re back, we cannot wait until we get to the studio and can begin implementing what we’ve learned and introducing these ideas and products to our clientele. We believe our clients will be pleased too.

Heart Gallery Session…

I just finished a photo shoot with three very funny young men. They were sent by the Heart Gallery, a non-profit group that organizes photographers to create portraits for children who are up for adoption.

The images are displayed in a traveling gallery, accompanied by information cards about the children themselves and contact info that could lead to their adoption. Unfortunately, I cannot post any images from the shoot because of privacy laws, but suffice it to say that I’m confident I captured an image that truly portrays these children as the close, warm, and loving siblings they are.

Wish I could share it with you here, but I’m quite certain you can view it along with the images created by other photographers of several other children in the gallery once it is finished. The gallery is often set up in public venues such as malls in order to draw interest from potential “forever families”. I will post info here on its whereabouts when available. Good Luck guys!

The People of Earth are going to need him…

My son just sent me a text. “Landed in Kuwait… will call when I can”. Those words allowed me to breath a sigh of relief. He’d left his duty station in Hawaii Wednesday, flew to San Francisco, DC, then to Kuwait. It took a day and a half to get there. He’ll be in Kuwait a week to ten days, then on to Iraq. Looks like Camp Speicher in Tikrit right now. Should come back to Hawaii in October. Think the wife and I may decide to spend Christmas in Hawaii if all goes well. God, I’m proud of that young man. The people of Earth are going to need him. 

2nd Lt Logan E Newsome

Justin Scarle in Hospital

Word yesterday that Plant High School senior Justin Scarle was hospitalized after a brutal attack last Wednesday (Apr 8th) at River Oaks Park near Sulpher Springs. No word yet on the identity of his attackers. He remains in stable condition with a traumatic injury to his head at St Joseph’s Hospital. Justin’s mother, Melissa, had picked up Justin’s senior pictures from the studio just a few hours earlier. A Caringbridge site was set up for him at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/justinscarle.

It was a pleasure to meet this postive spirit and an honor to photograph him. Please keep this fine young man your prayers as he and his family work through this difficult time.

Southeastern PPA Convention Begins

Sitting in the Tampa airport on my way to Athens, Ga. The Southeastern Professional Photographers Association bi-annual convention begins this weekend. As President, I have this knot in my stomach that feels suspiciously like “wedding mode”… the same feeling I get the morning of a big wedding – anticipation of a great day coupled with anticipation of disaster.

The SEPPA convention only happens every two years, plenty of time to forget all the things you swore you’d remember to help this thing run smoother than the last time. I have a great team on the board and feel very confident that things have been taken care of (famous last words).

I’ll return Wednesday the 29th after passing the gavel to Mary Alice Ross of Georgia as the next SEPPA President. The only thing greater than being President is being Past President!

Update on Logan

Logan is now at COP Nepsa (combat outpost) north of Bagdad. The outpost is little more than an Iraqi home with a wall around it, housing about 80 soldiers. Their mail, laundry, and supplies arrive once a week via helicopter. They now have the Internet so we occasionally get the chance to IM him through Facebook. Their job is to work with the local Sheikhs to rebuild infrastructure – roads, garbage collection services, etc. It appears the only danger might be the loss in translation of Logan’s sense of humor. Those who know him know that he can amuse himself quite easily but the Iraqi’s are not exactly known for populating the planet with comedians. God help us all.

SEPPA Convention Ends

It’s nearly midnight on the last day of the 2009 SEPPA Convention and what a convention it was. While my official reign as President of the Southeastern Professional Photographers Association ends  June 1st, the bulk of my duties ended today. A huge thank you to all 15 speakers, 14 judges, nearly 100 vendors in the trade show, and countless volunteers who helped to make this convention a huge success. Athens, Ga ROCKS!

A 30 Minute Present

Logan with LTC Da’ud and School Principal

Logan on right lunching with Iraqi Police

Logan with Iraqi school children

Logan called from Iraq this morning to wish me Happy Birthday. A 30 minute phone call was the absolute best present he could possibly deliver. He’s still at a very small combat outpost about 75 kilometers south of Mosul. In the short time he’s been there he’s met with and had dinner at the local tribal Sheikh’s home, visited the village school, had photos taken with the kids, lunched with the police chief, and attempted to spread a bit of goodwill to the locals. He says the local kids are all asking him for pens, pencils, paper (for school) and soccer balls!  We’re working on another care package to include those items along with candy and snacks for the children and troops.  If anyone has any connections that might be able to provide us with some used soccer balls, it would be very much appreciated!

UPDATE!…

A huge THANK YOU to our friends and clients who responded to our call for school supplies and soccer balls! We’ve now shipped 20 soccer balls and a lot of paper, pencils, pens, and markers for the Iraqi school children in the nearby village of Bayji. An extra note of thanks goes to Plant soccer player and high school senior Lexi Rakestraw and her mom, Jeanette Jason for bringing us ELEVEN soccer balls! THANK YOU AGAIN!

Lifetouch Buys Bryn Alan

I received a disturbing phone call today from a young man insisting I remove this entire thread from my blog. I have only a guess as to who it might have been. After much consideration I’ve decided to grant the young man his request. 

I’m pleased many of you from Bryn Alan found this opportunity to reconnect and I encourage you to continue, however I will carefully edit or deny any posts that contain personal attacks toward anyone.

It is not for my protection that I’m taking this action, and I know this will likely piss off some of you but I hope you will understand.

Seventy replies to a single post shows great interest in this subject and allowed many of you to blow off a little steam. From this point forward I hope everyone can keep their emotions in check and maintain a constructive dialog.

All the best to all of you.

The Flutist

Photographed a wonderful young lady this week who, for a high school senior, is an accomplished musician. This is one of my favorite images from the session which netted several “fav” contenders.

The Flutist

Soccer Balls Arrive

Thank you again to all who responded to our call for soccer balls and school supplies. We shipped about 20 soccer balls, pens, pencils, markers and school paper to Logan who passed them out to the Iraqi school kids in the village near his post. 

In one image, the Iraqi police are unpacking things (Logan on right), in the other image you can see kids holding up pencils and soccer balls.

A friendly gesture like this goes a long way to build trust and respect for both civilians and troops. Thank you all again!

The House that Jim Built

Jim Larkin is retiring after three decades as Headmaster of St John Greek Orthodox Day School. Here he’s surrounded by just over 200 of the thousands of students whose lives he’s touched throughout the years. My own son, Logan, attended St John from K3 through the 8th grade.

Congratulations Mr. Larkin!

The House That Jim Built

Back to School

I’m headed to the Florida Professional Photographers’ Florida School for a week long workshop. The school is held once a year in Daytona Beach at Daytona State College and attracts 150-200 serious professionals to take classes from one of 11 instructors on everything from lighting, marketing, sales, digital workflow, web sites, etc. This will be the 11th time I’ve attended this school over the past 15 years and I never tire of seeing all my old friends from across the state (and southeast) who take their craft seriously enough to invest in conventions and workshops like these. It doesn’t hurt that the host hotel is located directly on Daytona Beach either!

Honey… I’m Home!

A full week staying in The Plaza Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach sounds like paradise. Problem is, my feet never found time to touch the sand! I spent five solid days at Daytona State College attending a workshop on building and optimizing web sites from Jeff Johnson, one of the most experienced web designers in the country. The school was hosted by the Florida Professional Photographers and was attended by about 170 people. My class had only 11 students and was very intense but Jeff has a great sense of humor and made learning “code” and Dreamweaver design far easier than anticipated. I’ve built a half dozen web sites over the last 10 or 11 years but I’m self-taught and knew there were tricks I could use to speed up my web workflow. Thanks Jeff!

NC Mts Worth the Trip

10 year old Madison caught dinner!

I do a lot of traveling and have logged quite a few frequent flyer miles already this year, but up till now it has always been work related. For the first time this year I was able to pack a bag and not bring the big guns (cameras) to shoot with.

Kaye and I were presented with an offer we couldn’t refuse – four days and four nights staying at a friend’s second home in the beautiful NC mountains. No agenda, no timetable, just a quiet little slice of heaven with a few good friends, a bit of trout fishing, and great food.

This is the largest trout I’ve ever seen in person, landed by 10 year old Madison shown here with her proud dad, Alan Eckelman.

Thank you to Jay & Barb Sinsley for sharing your home and hospitality, and thank you to Alan, Ellen, and Madison for showing Kaye & I such good times.