A Look Back 2009 in Photos

2009 was a year of growth and transition for me. I believe it is important to look ahead, but one must also look back to see how one came to be where they are, and to help map out the future.

2009 was a challenging year in many ways. For me. tighter client budgets resulted in fewer advertising assignments and stock sales. Tighter personal finances prevented me from doing as much international traveling I had hoped to do.
I did however  focus on more personal projects, develop new business relationships locally, and take part in family adventures closer to home. As a result my work shifted a bit with a growing emphasis on portraiture and further developing my fine art photography sales.

At the heart of my work has always been creating images of people that tell a story. This last year allowed me opportunities to further develop "my style" of portraiture. I have been taking supplemental lighting into the outdoors and mixing it with natural light. I have been endeavoring to produce images with an emphasis on story telling through a single image.

(If you are an e-mail subscriber you may need to visit the actual blog to view the slideshow below)

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The Making of our Holiday Card

Happy Holidays to all of you! 
We're Stirring Up Some Holiday Spirit !

We are a bit late getting out a holiday card this year. Not for lack of planning however. I had the idea for this card in June while Shauna, Cameron, Cora, and I were rafting on the Gunnison River here in Colorado. There was a huge rain storm while we were camping at the mouth of Escalante Canyon. You have seen Escalante Canyon on this blog before, here (this is from the same day) and here. It's an amazing place that has recently been protected with Wilderness and National Conservation Area Status.

The rain caused Escalante Creek to flood. Cameron and Cora couldn't resist jumping into a pot hole that was swirling with foamy chocolate colored  water. I couldn't resist photographing them. It occurred to me while I was watching them swirl around in what looked like a giant vat of hot chocolate that I could put them in a cup and that it would make a great holiday card. I like the idea of a hot June day turned into a warmth filled morning on a cold December day.

The missing link for the image was Shauna holding the cup. I photographed Shauna in our Kitchen. I posed Shauna pre-visualizing the image paying attention to the orientation the cup so that the photo of the kids would match. With a little Photoshop magic I placed the image of the kids into the cup. Below are the two seperate shots.