St. Claire

4-26-2012

Pool

4-25-2012

Moo

4-24-2012

St. Joseph's

4-23-2012

Park Here

4-21-2012

Above Us

4-20-2012

Measured

4-19-2012

Ashen Beauty

4-18-2012

Drip Drip

4-17-2012

9 Ball

4-16-2012

Smokey Eyes

4-14-2012

Getting Back To It

I have recently noticed that I have kept my camera in the bag way too much lately. I've been spending a little too much time working on my post processing skills and learning how to use my software more in depth that I have forgotten to continue to create. I hate that. I have been going back over old images and trying new things to a point that has kept me away from what I love to do, and that is simply taking pictures.

Every so often this happens. I lose myself in perfecting certain images. Being away from Facebook has kept me away from the photography group that I belong to on there. That simple weekly challenge always kept me working on new techniques and kept me creative. I have noticed that my creativity level has dropped recently and that bugs me. It is like I get stuck in a rut every now and then and I need something to help me out. That something is simply taking pictures. I need to get back to shooting so I am going to do just that.

From now till the end of the year I am going to take and post one new picture a day (Except for Sunday's). To challenge myself I am going to try and make sure that each image is more than just any old picture to fulfill my obligation. I am going to concentrate on creating something striking, something that can make you feel connected to the subject, something that can make you feel like you were there.

In doing this I hope to find my creative side again and also hope to find my "Style". My biggest criticism of my work is that I have not created my own "Brand". By that I mean I want to create images that people see and instantly know that it is one of mine. That is one of the hardest things to do in this photography world. With the number of new budding photographers and the level of technology in cameras and software, it is hard to find your own "Brand" these days.

My quest begins today. My first post will be tomorrow at Noon, and a new image will be posted everyday at Noon from then till the end of the year!

All pictures will be posted here on my blog.

I have also created a Flickr account that will be dedicated to just the images for this challenge. You can see all the cataloged images here...

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfp21/

Well wish me luck and pray that I find the creativity to fulfill this quest, and pray that I find my "Brand" on this journey!

Mark

Family Time

Easter weekend turned out to be a fun and relaxing weekend for us and the boys. (Well if you take away Saturday's migraine that lasted all day then it was relaxing.) Normally we go up to my grandpa's place up North but this year he came down to us. My aunt and uncle drove him down and it was nice to see all of them because we don't get up there enough. Of course they were excited to see the boys and the boys were happy to see great gramps!

We basically turned the weekend into one big event. Friday was used to prep everything for the weekend. I spent much of the evening playing pool while the 2 pork shoulders were sitting in the smoker. Saturday morning we arrived at my parents house early to get cooking. The pork shoulders needed a little more time and there was still tons to get done before the guests started to arrive. For those of you who don't know me all that well.....I love to cook. I don't know how I picked up all of my skills but I'm going to say mom helped me out with some. I don't just mean grilling and BBQ, I can throw down in the kitchen as well, so bring it on Bobby Flay!

 We decided to have family and friends over on Saturday and leave Sunday to be spent with just the family. So Saturday was way more hectic! Cooking, running back and forth to the store, trying to play a game or two of pool in between, and trying to fight off a migraine through it all was draining. It was all worth it though. We had a great time with all of our friends and family. My cousin from San Antonio even made it over with her new baby. It was so crazy to think my boys were that small at one time! Crazy how time fly's! Everyone stayed pretty late and mingled into the night. The food turned out great and everyone seemed stuffed by the time the desserts rolled out. By the end of the night I was spent and ready for my bed. Migraine still raging! Yup all day!  Home was nice and my bed even nicer.

Sunday morning we headed back to my parents for breakfast. Migraine finally gone, it must have sneaked out in the middle of the night. By the time we got there my mom had breakfast all ready to go and coffee in the pot! After a yummy breakfast and a cup of coffee where do I find myself again? Yup, right back in the kitchen preping the ribs for dinner. We went a different route with dinner this Easter. Since it was nice out for the weekend we decided to keep the cooking outdoors. Everyone was able to relax in the sun and get some fresh air. We enjoyed the afternoon talking and playing with the boys. With the ribs finally on the grill and smelling delicious we snuck in a few games of pool. Once again the food was great and everyone was stuffed. We hung as long as we could taking in the time spent with gramps and finally had to call it a night. It was time to head home and give the boys their bath and get them ready for bed and myself ready for the work week ahead.

Alee, the boys, and I had a great weekend and are very thankful for all in our lives. God has blessed us with an amazing family and a group of friends who are equally amazing. Thank you to everyone who helped us out with the boys this past weekend. It really helps a ton. It gives us a chance to relax a bit and get a much need break even if it is only for an hour or so. I didn't do a whole lot of picture taking over the weekend but here are a few from the weekend.........

The end of the weekend means that food truck night is tomorrow! Monday dinner at the Blossom lightrail station! More on that in my next blog.

Have a great week!

Mark

Ratzburg Baby Shower

This weekend I spent a couple of hours shooting at my friends sister-in-law's baby shower. All that was required of me was to get some fun candid shots. Due to the weather Saturday everything was held indoors which made shooting space kind of tight. However the end results were great and I got plenty of good shots for  the mother-to-be. She likes to digital scrapbook so she should have lots of fun with the pictures from her shower. Here is a sneak peek form Saturday's shower.....

So there are just a few of the many from the day...

Congratulations to Keith and Toni! 

Have a great day,

Mark

Happy Birthday Alee!!!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife! Today my better half turns another year older but she is still as amazing as the day I met her. Not only is she a wonderful wife but she is also a wonderful mother. Being a parent is a lot of work. Being the parent of twins is even more! Miraculously she manages to handle them all day all on her own. I'm not sure how but she does. The last few weeks have been tough because their top teeth are starting to come in. Needless to say they have been a little fussy. I think we have finally hit a wall where all the sleepless nights and constant attending is catching up with us. Both of us are beat and zombie like. For all of those who say it gets easier...no it does not. If anything it gets harder.

So to my hard working, amazing, awesome, wife....I love you and Happy Birthday! No one could do a better job than you have done. I am so proud of you and all that you do and all that you don't get to do for this family. We couldn't make it without you. You are my wife, my rock, my mamabear, and my world! I love you forever!

Family Pictures

Last month we had family pictures taken with the always brilliant Luke Cunningham. On Wednesday we got our disc of images from Luke and all I can say is he's done it again. The pictures came out wonderful and we could not be happier with the way they turned out. Alee can not stop looking at them! I was also reassured of something after looking through them and that is that god has blessed us with two of the most beautiful children in the world. I have also been blessed with an awesome wife who somehow manages to raise these two little guys all on her own while I'm at work. Enough can not be said for what she does. Simply put.. she is amazing. Thank you honey for all that you do!

With that said, here are a few pictures from our session.......

Thank you very much Luke!

For those of you who don't know who Luke is you can check out more of his work here...

http://www.1985lukephotography.com/#!

Luke's work speaks for itself and I have been a fan for quite a long time. He and his wife BreAnne are two of the nicest people I've ever met and you can tell from the first moment you meet them that they are genuinely good people. I can't say enough about how much of a joy it was to meet them and work with them as well. He has a style all his own, something I believe I am still trying to find in my own work as a photographer. If you ever have the chance to book a session with him, do so, you will not be disappointed.

Thank you again Luke and BreAnne for the great session and the beautiful pictures!

Love,
Mark, Alee, Easton, and Tyler

March is Exciting

March is shaping up to be a pretty good month. I have a bunch of new shoots coming up, two engagement shoots that should turn out to be a lot of fun. I also have a shower to shoot for a friend at the end of the month.

Planning for Frankie and Jessica's engagement and wedding has been under way and they seem to have all of their things in order. That makes things real easy for me. Now that I know what they are looking for in the shoots I can begin to do my part. I try not to get too tech crazy when it comes to equipment when I do any kind of shoot. I know my strengths and weaknesses so I try to just do what I do best. I can just relax and concentrate on taking good pictures and focus on composition. If all of my equipment is in good working order and I have back-ups just in case of an emergency I can be relaxed. I do not want to have to worry about whether or not my equipment is good enough or if I look professional enough. At the end of the day my work speaks for itself. My images book jobs not my equipment!

That being said....I do try to upgrade equipment every chance I can. Higher end equipment just flat out performs better. It does not make anyone a better photographer though. You still have to have that sense. You have to know when to anticipate that great shot. You also have to trust yourself and know what you are doing. If you are over thinking everything you are also sort of missing everything. I have a pretty good routine and I know when I can sneak away for a second if I need to swap batteries or just stop for a drink of water. I will admit that I hate flash units and wish I could shoot everything with natural light but let's face it, if you are going to shoot weddings you have to use a flash now and then, some times multiple flash units. I don't get lost in it though. If a shot looks good without it I will shoot it again with a little fill flash just to be sure. The one thing I have learned early on is that you can never take too many pictures. The more the better! Sometimes that perfect shot was the split second after you took your initial shot. Burst is your friend! I don't want to miss anything so I shoot like crazy, mostly during the reception, overall I load up cards.

Ok I'm sort of rambling now. The point of this blog was to say how excited I am for all the shoots that I have coming up! There it has now been said. Time for lunch!

Cheers,
Mark

Dinner and the Wall

Our new chalkboard wall received it's first markings from friends last night! As we had mentioned on our Facebook pages, we really did create a chalkboard wall at home that our friends can really write on. Last night we had some friends over for dinner and our wall got it's first posts (aside from the tic-tac-toe that Alee and I have been using it for). It was cool to see how people reacted to it. The best part was that our friends that we had dinner with last night are about the only 2 people that we know who are not on Facebook. They have been anti-FB all along. Needless to say our wall turned out to be quite a fun attraction and a great conversational piece.

Aside from photography I'm a pretty good cook, not to toot my own horn, just ask my wife.On the menu last night.....Top sirloin steaks, sauteed mushrooms in a red wine sauce, boiled potatoes of various crazy colors, and roasted bell peppers. Dinner was delicious along with the bottle of wine and Anchor Steam's our friends brought over. The best part of it all was that our little social experiment has started off just the way we wanted it to, less social time on the computer and more social time in person. We actually got to hang out and engage in  conversation. The boys also slept through the whole evening so aside from the routine of popping a head into the room to check on them, we were baby free in a sense last night. By the end of the night we were all stuffed and ready to wind things down and get ready for the weekend. Our guest departed and we called it a night and headed off to bed. 

Now it is time to get the day going. I'm already off to a later start than I wanted but that's life with kids who wake you up at 3 am. Off to the Almaden Creek Trail for a walk with the boys, and then a meeting with Jessica and Frankie to go over the details for their wedding. After that we have the rest of the day to do as we please! It's nice to have a day free from errands and such. Alright time to get moving! Get outside today people it is beautiful out.

Enjoy the day,

Mark

Welcome!

Hey everyone! I am going to be spending a little more time around here now. In the next few days I will be posting all my contact info and links to my Flickr and Shutterfly accounts. I will also start posting daily. Most likely my posts will be just random ramblings but there will also be updates on my photography and sneak peaks from my most recent shoots.

I have decided to take a 3 month break from Facebook as an experiment to see how it changes my daily routine and to see how in touch with my friends I actually am. Most of them sort of freaked out a bit when I first announced my plan. Almost instantly I began to see how much of our daily routine revolves around Facebook. Not just from a communication standpoint but also as a connection to our whole world.

Not so long ago people were still getting used to sending and receiving email and now it is almost impossible to get anyone to return an email, it's almost as obsolete as sending an actual letter. It seems the communication method of choice for a large portion of our society has become some form of Facebook message. Whether it is sending a personal message, writing on someones wall, or popping into the chat feature, most people prefer to communicate in this manner. I found it kind of disappointing that some of my good friends would actually prefer to keep up with me through pictures and text communication as opposed to joining my family and I for dinner or making a simple phone call to catch up.

I understand people are busy these days. I get it, really I do. But having a family with 2 new born children of my own, I do know it is possible to still get out a bit. Maybe it is just me preferring to have a face-to-face social connection every now and then. Either way, in the next 3 months I will get a first hand look at how social media impacts my means of communication as well as how it impacts my relationships with friends and family.

Mark