Boston is Cool

Scratch that. Boston is cold. Actually, I'm just a big baby. It's not that cold here... yet. But when I'm comparing the weather here with the sunny, low 80's weather in Dallas, it's justifiably frigid. I got in this evening, dropped my bag off at the hotel and took a quick walk to find some dinner and grabbed a few images along the way. I really like coming to Boston because it's got such a rich history and cool things to see and photograph at every turn. And downtown is so people-friendly with all the greenery, parks and cool little neighborhoods. There's plenty of hot sports opinions waiting to be heard here, too. With the Red Sox winning the world series, the Patriots steamrolling everything in sight, and the Celtics off to the best start in the league this year, it's hard to argue with them.

Check out this big guy sticking his tongue out at me when I took his picture.

Suzanne and Ryan {engaged!}

Suzanne and Ryan recently got engaged and made a trip up to Dallas to spend a Saturday afternoon with us to create some images of this amazing time in their lives. Both are graduates of Texas Tech (all Tech graduates reading this post with their guns up, it is now time to put them back down), and I had to apologize to Ryan within the first five minutes of the session. It seems when Suzanne's mom and I spoke on the phone and scheduled the appointment weeks in advance, we failed to take into account the Red Raiders would be playing Texas during at the same time as our session. Oops. Sorry again, Ryan. I felt your pain, though, as my Buckeyes were also playing at the same time. Hey, in hindsight everything turned out for the best, though, as we had a lot more fun creating these amazing images than we - or at least I - would have watching both our teams go down in flames.

Both Suzanne and Ryan were great... very laid back and willing to do anything I asked... I wish all my sessions were that easy. Very fun couple, and I can't wait for them to see all their images. Here's a few sneak peeks (click on images for larger previews).

Stay tuned for a slideshow in a future post.

From the Memory Box

I was looking through some old photos tonight and came across two of my favorites of little Zoe from years gone by.

I love the first one from way back on her 4th birthday. And the second one is just classic Zoe. She loves the belly rubs.

10 Reasons You Aren't Getting Anything Done

The following text is from a post penned by the good folks at lifehack.org. If you haven't checked out their site, give it a try. It's been rated as the #38 most popular blog in the blogosphere by technorati with a self-described goal of helping you get thins done faster and more efficiently.

This post really hit home with me because I sometimes get frustrated and/or overwhelmed with where my life is or isn't going, and I'm guilty of several things on the list. Ideally none of you need to read this post and you're lives are progressing exactly how you desired/planned. If not, though, I hope this post inspires you to take back control of your life. Enjoy.

If you’re not reaching the kind of success you imagine in the areas that are important to you, one or more of the following things might well be true of you:

1. You don’t have a goal.
A lot of time we find ourselves “spinning our wheels”, struggling through a day-to-day routine that isn’t getting us anywhere because we don’t know where we want to go. Sometimes we had goals when we set ourselves on a particular path, but we’ve changed along the way and those goals are no longer that important. Sometimes we simply did what was expected of us without ever stopping to think about what we eventually wanted to accomplish for ourselves. Whatever the case, figuring out what your goals are and, just as importantly, whether your current actions are helping to achieve them, is important.

2. You don’t have a vision.
Setting goals is important but isn’t enough to drive you to the finish line; it’s important, too, to be able to imagine yourself as the achiever of your goals. How will you feel, what’s the payoff, why is it worthwhile to follow these goals and not some other ones? If goals are the end result of a journey, your vision is the fuel to get you there.

3. You don’t have a plan.
If goals are your destination and a vision is your fuel, your plan is the map to get you there; without a plan, you have no idea what immediate steps to take to achieve your goals. Planning means taking stock of the resources you have, the resources you need, and the steps you have to take to put those resources into action. The world is full of people with goals they have never accomplished because they didn’t have a plan — don’t you be one of them.

4. You’re too certain.
Too much certainty creates inflexibility. If you’re sure that your plan is correct, and refuse to accept the possibility of error, you may well find yourself stuck when an unexpected change comes about, or when your plan takes you in an unexpected direction. However strong your plan and however sure you are of your goals, make room for periodic reassessment.

5. You’re not certain enough.
At the same time, too little certainty will paralyze you. If you refuse to take a step because you aren’t positive it will move you towards success, you won’t make any better progress than if you had no goals at all. Keep your eyes open and be willing to change, but have faith in yourself, too.

6. You don’t learn from your mistakes.
A lot of people take their mistakes as signs of their unworthiness. They take setbacks as proof that they were never meant to achieve anything in the first place, and that they were stupid to even try. Mistakes are crucial to success — if we take the time to analyze them and learn from them. Even when they bar us irrevocably from attaining a goal, the lessons we learn from our mistakes help us to make new and better goals.

7. You reject outside influences.
A lot of people see the influence of others as a weakness, or worse, a restriction or even “pollution” of their innate creativity. This is, in a word, hogwash. We are first and foremost social beings, none of whom has ever accomplished anything without the help of others. Welcome and accept other perspectives on your strengths and weaknesses, your successes and failures. Accept help graciously when it’s offered. This doesn’t mean you should take every piece of advice offered you, but you should listen seriously and openly and weigh carefully the input of others. And learn from their mistakes, when you can.

8. You worry about being copied.
Often we close ourselves off from other people not because we’re afraid that they will influence us but that we will influence them, that our brilliant ideas will be taken up by someone else and no longer be solely ours. So we avoid sharing our passions, and spend our energy jealously guarding our “secret” rather than simply moving forward. In the end, we turn our passions into burdens that become difficult to carry instead of a joy.

9. You use up your reserves.
When I’ve found myself at my lowest points, it’s always been for lack of a reserve — whether of money, of time, or most crucially of energy. In part this was the fault of inadequate planning and over-certainty — I should have reassessed my situation more realistically before exhausting my resources — but whatever the cause, it’s a dangerous place to be. A mistake that could be easily recovered from under normal circumstances becomes overwhelming when you’re too broke or too exhausted to respond adequately. Keep track of where you are financially, materially, and emotionally before you find yourself too worn down to continue.

10. You fear success.
Forget fear of failure, it’s fear of success that kicks us the hardest. It’s the darnedest thing, too — the kind of thing that you don’t imagine possible, until one day you realize that you really don’t know what to do with yourself if you ever accomplish your goals. On the other side of success is the unknown, and believe it or not, the unknown is often scarier than the known world of struggle and unfulfillment this side of success. When I realized this, one night as I drifted unhappily to sleep, it jerked me straight up in my bed!

The Holiday Season Can Now Begin

Well, it's finally happened. That annual ritual that signifies Christmas is right around the corner has transpired, and the holiday season is now officially open for business. Call it the Groundhog's Day equivalent of indicators that Jolly St. Nick is packing up the sled. Yep, the Chambers family scheduled their annual Christmas pictures. Every year, I use the Chambers as my gauge that it's time to start thinking about getting serious about the holidays. Laura and Andy were brave enough to volunteer to be my first official clients back in December of 2004, and we've been creating images of every year since.

I was shocked how much little Emma had grown in the past year since our last session. And her hair! Wow... she's a Julia Roberts starter kit! And John, this little guy wasn't even around yet for our very first session, and now he's well on his way to becoming a big boy who looks just like his dad.

Here's a few images from our session last Sunday. Click on the images for a larger preview.

Ava Turned 2!

Yikes, where does the time go? I still can't believe it's already been a little over a year since we created images to commemorate Ava's first birthday. And now this little princess is already two. Well, 2 and change, really - her birthday was a couple months ago, but we pushed out her session a time or two, but this way we also were able to do some Pulitzer-worthy Christmas card images while we were at it. If you're friends of the Gaonas, check your mailbox around Christmas time to see this beautiful family.

I'm so glad we waited. The weather yesterday was fantastic, and so was Ava - a diva starter-kit for sure. She's already melting hearts, so watch out boys.

Here's a couple sneak peek images for mom and dad. Click images for larger previews.


































I love this image. Such a rockin' outfit... and a matching suitcase! Are you kidding me? How cool is that?

Drive-By Instant Classic

We don't get much fall color here in Dallas which is to say if you want to see some red, orange and yellow leaves you better call someone up north and have them ship them down.

This was a fun image from when we were driving around Nashville. I just slowed down the shutter speed a bit, pointed the lens out the car window at some passing trees, and presto... instant masterpiece. Monet-Schmonet... poor guy spent days and weeks painting his timeless Impressionist classics. Mine took 1/8th of a second.

Just Plain Fun

I love this image from a recent session with BA and his daughter, Emily. The 'love junkie' graffiti on the wall is so appropriate... BA is a self-proclaimed addict to his little girl.

That's all, just wanted to share this little piece of gold.

Rolling Through Nashville

Kylie and I went to Nashville last weekend to have some fun in the Music City. The weather couldn't have been better and the city had a quaint, welcoming feel to it. Between the Grand Old Opry, the "Batman Building", downtown Nashville, Music Row, Vanderbilt, Bicentennial Mall, Percy Warner Park, historic downtown Franklin,Centennial Park, and a host of other things to see and do, there's never a shortage of things to do. Oh yeah, and did I mention all the rolling hills. Beautiful!

Oh, and I wish I had a photo from the Pancake Pantry. We ate breakfast at this legendary establishment near Vanderbilt on Friday morning, and while we unfortunately didn't see any country music stars during our visit, apparently it's not uncommon to be eating pancakes next to folks like Keith Urban or Leann Rimes when you're there. In fact, I can't confirm this, but I overheard the waitress tell another table that Jessica Simpson was in that day before we got there. Hmmm... wonder if she had to wait n line, too?














These were big columns in Bicentennial Mall (btw, it's a park, not a shopping mall in case you were wondering what these columns had to do with shopping) that chimed every hour and every 15 minutes (and sometimes seemingly just whenever). They played "Rocky Top", too. Fun stuff.




























This is the courthouse in downtown Nashville. They actually have night court here, and apparently it's a popular date night event. What?











Here's the view from the hotel room inside the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Pretty nuts isn't it? Amazing how freakin' big this place was and how they've built these little cities inside.

The NEW Reagan Era

The baby wagon made a stop at Michael and Amanda's last week and dropped off a brand new, shiny little girl. I got to meet miss Reagan Adelle Styer last weekend when I was back in Ohio for a little getaway, and let me tell ya, she's a keeper. She's beautiful, likes to eat all the time, needs lots of attention, and loves to sleep... truly a girl after my own heart. Watch out mom and dad... this one's gonna attract a lot of interest from the boys when she gets a little older.

What a blessing that she was born into such a solid family. Schrode and Amanda are wonderful people, and Reagan will never lack for love and guidance. Grandma and Grandpa Styer were there for a bit when I stopped by this weekend, too, and you could just tell they're hooked on this little girl. In fact, when grandma heard I was stopping by and had my camera with me, she hinted that baby Styer was billboard material. Too sweet. You've got it good, Miss Reagan.

Well, it took a little while for her to warm up to the camera (literally I think she cried every time the camera came out for the first 30 minutes), but after a couple new diapers and a little food, Reagan finally found her happy place and fell right to sleep. Here's a few images we stole while she was napping.

As always, click images for larger previews.