chris

vintage color

It's been a wild week of work, and thus no posts. I'll make up for it this weekend!

I was playing with a vintage color action here that a kind photographer colleague shared on a forum...not sure what I think. The color on blogger continues to not match what I see on my computer. It's endlessly frustrating.

triathlon

The Finger Lakes Triathlon is wrapping up as I post. It was a pretty amazing site down at the lake this morning, as 1,000 athletes prepared for the race as the sun came up. Results are not yet in, but Will looked great in the water, coming out way in the lead for the relay wave.

nora

Nora agreed to a quick trip into the studio this evening. I love the more dramatic lighting with her beautiful face.

And for those who called me on yesterday's "no post." Thank you! It's good to know people are actually checking this out. Gudrun was the first one to email first thing this morning, so she'll be getting a 5x7. I had a wonderful time working with her family in the summer of 2006 to capture photos of her beautiful Melissa and the whole family at their lovely house in the woods.

cool kiddo

Here we go with some fun pictures of a great kid. I'll fill in the details in the morning...I'm whooped, but wanted to get a photo up tonight.

baby baby

I'm getting lots of visitors and links from the babycenter.com article, which is really fun! Thanks for visiting! In honor of that, it seems only fitting to share a few more of my favorite baby, niece Leela.

swimming for hemophilia

This Sunday, my son Will will join a team from the Polimeni London Montessori School (Rachel's preschool) to compete in the Finger Lakes Triathlon to support the Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Center. Will will do the one-mile open water swim for the team. When we were asked if Will could do this, it was impossible to say no, remembering Steven Byrum, who lived across the street from us in Wappingers Falls, and all his sweet family endured. I promised Will I'd help him raise money for this in memory of Steven and in honor of Adam, the little boy his team is sponsoring. I invite you to consider making a contribution.

To donate, click HERE! Let's help the school get to the $1000 goal or above. Many thanks for your consideration.

And while I very much wish I had photos of Steven or Adam, I do not. So the photo of the day is Will, swimming in July at the Niagara Long-Course Classic at the University of Buffalo.

zoo day

An article in the paper about the new meerkat exhibit at the local zoo reminded me that I snapped a few special "portraits" at the Toronto Zoo a couple of weeks ago.

That's 8 days!

my senior

My most important senior has yet to consent to a session. We grabbed a few in Montreal, but we've yet to do the real shoot. And we're running out of time! It's a little too much like the shoemaker's children having no shoes.

painting, grouting, sanding

We're in the thick of this kitchen/bathroom renovation. Rachel helped with both today...painting in the new kitchen and cleaning up the grout in the new upstairs bathroom. We're all whooped...calling it a day.

Day SIX... I'm on a roll.

nicholas

I've always meant to stop at the court house just doors away for a shoot, and Nicholas was the perfect subject for this majestic historic building. Thanks Nicholas for a great session. Nick is one of my swimmer boys. I've had the pleasure of watching him and photographing him over the last three years, and it was great to have the opportunity to work with him to capture this exciting time in his life, as he contemplates his college options and gets ready to move out into the world.

I love this first one and will likely print it as a 10x20 for the studio, a bit of an odd size, but great to capture the height of the columns.

That's FIVE days in a row of posts. I don't think I've done that since the early days of the blog. Do I get a prize???

quite a sight

Yesterday, a red-tailed hawk stopped on the quad on campus for lunch. He was amazingly tame and unfazed by all the people gawking at him with their cell-phone cameras extended in front of them. It was only afterward that I realized that was probably the REAL picture... all these students and faculty members from all over the world sending images of the big catch to parts near and far. While I didn't have my favorite lens that would have rocked for shots of this guy, I was glad I had the camera at the office for the first time in a month.

Phew! 7:20 and the pressure is off for the day. Coming tomorrow... my friend, Nicholas.

brynne

OK, so to my charming sister who chastised me for a lack of a post before the day was done, I'd like to introduce Brynne, whom I had the pleasure to photograph over the course of two days last week. While this session takes all records for rescheduling due to weather and other weird stuff, it was certainly worth the wait! Beautiful and poised, Brynne was game for anything. Isn't the red dress great!?!

I'd also like to thank Brynne's parents for supporting the Canandaigua Aquatics Silent Auction with their winning bid for this session. It was a pleasure to work with you and to be able to do this for the kids. THANKS again!

now i get it

OK, so I'm probably not supposed to have favorite sessions, but sometimes I do, for a variety of reasons. As you can see, this family is so sweet. They are friends of ours. We've traveled far and wide together to swim meets. Heather is one of my favorite kids to photograph swimming, as she is stunning to watch in the water. If you recall the beautiful shot of shoulders in the water from April, that was Heather. I had it printed as a 10x20 for her on matallic paper, and it was great to see it matted and framed in their home.

So, my hubby is a golfer, and I've really never really understood the appeal. But he likes it, and it keeps him out of trouble. Well, this lovely family lives on one of the most stunning golf courses anywhere, overlooking beautiful Canandaigua Lake, and I got to go out with them on golf carts from hole to hole for photos. It just got better and better at every turn. It was beautiful, and so now I get some of the appeal of golf. I'm still not sure about the struggling to put a little ball in a little hole, but it sure seems like a nice place to spend the afternoon.

my pledge...a post a day

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. As the Class of '08 seniors wrap up their shoots, my schedule is lightening up and I look forward to catching up on life and focusing more on home and family. Throughout the spring and summer, I continued to shoot just for fun and to chronicle life as we know it here in my home and in my travels. The photos have piled up, and I'm looking forward to sharing.

So here we go...I'm committing to a post a day, to include at least one image, between now and the end of October. For each day I fail to post, the first person to call me on it gets a prize. For family, friends, and clients, that's a 5x7 of your choice! And for my photographer friends, it will be a cool little photography related product, template, or toy. Keep me honest, folks. I've got lots of travel planned for October, so this will prove challenging, no doubt, but let's have fun with it.

For clients considering booking a session for the fall, please know that available slots are filling up quickly. Please be in touch asap to schedule, particularly if you are hoping to have prints made for holidays gifts.

I'll post today's photos separately.... a fun session, you will soon see.


P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEELA!

and she's off...

My baby boarded the bus this morning for her first day of kindergarten. It was a joy to watch her march up the steps of the bus confidently and excitedly. She took the first seat (as recommended by big sis).

I must confess that I'm not the sentimental type when it comes to these things. I know there are probably moms bawling all over town this morning, but I always love each new phase and feel pure excitement for her and all that is ahead.

laura featured in babycenter.com article

I was intereviewed and featured in a story that is now posted on www.babycenter.com. Five photographer moms "share secrets" and give advice about photographing their kids. Babycenter.com article

For those not familiar with babycenter.com, they are a leading online resource for parents of young children and expectant parents, with over 4 million visitors a month.

If you're interested, you may also want to take a look at my June post titled "last night i was interviewed" that I created after my interview, summarizing my advice. The one point they didn't take up in the article was knowing when to hire a pro. I don't say that for self-serving purposes, but rather from personal experience. I have very, very few photographs of me with my kids (I'm always behind the camera!), and that is something I regret a great deal. Also, having just returned from a vacation with my extended family, who have all come to rely on me to provide photos, I wish I had handed off the camera on occasion and jumped into some of the shots.

I think that the article does a really nice job of pulling together practical advice for parents. I really appreciate babycenter.com's care in fact checking and for spreading the gospel about the evils of "Say Cheese"!

tierney

Meet Tierney. We had a great session recently, starting in the studio and taking in the lake and my favorite alley downtown. Many of my seniors have experienced the alley. One wall is a beautiful worn brick and the other a lovely, fresh white painted brick. The white wall acts as an enormous reflector, casting a beautiful light on my subjects.

Tierney continues the fun run of swimmers I've been photographing. Thanks for a great session!

leela

Sweet Leela will turn 1 next week, but we're going to celebrate a little early with some fun pictures from our time together in Quebec. Leela is my darling niece and one of my very favorite little subjects. I have several client sessions lined up that I am looking forward to proofing in the coming days, but everyone keeps asking me for new Leela pictures, so here they are.