having fun together...

Spent the weekend at the Gaylord Texan Hotel at Sherri & Terri's 20th High School Reunion.  Took a break from the reunion on Saturday morning to go eat breakfast at IHOP.  On the way back, we were stopped at a red light and I took the opportunity to get a picture of me, Albert, Sherri, Terri, Stratton and Sadi.  Not the best picture in terms of photography, but it definitely captured the mood of the moment...

tennis shots...

Got invited to watch a friend of mine play tennis today...  Actually, his dad Charles asked me to come down and take a couple of pictures while he played in a tournament at our local high school tennis courts.  It was a great day for tennis and a great day for pictures (like there is a bad day to take a picture)!  I don't know alot about how the tournament was set up, but I do know that Jordan won his division.  Great job Jordan!!!  Here are a few pictures of him in action.

deteriorated...

Occasionally, I love driving down the road by myself.  I get to listen to the music as loud as I want AND I get to stop wherever I want to take pictures without someone else complaining.  This is an example...  Driving down 380 on my way back from Frisco.  See a neat looking house on the side of the road.  First thing that comes to my mind is "that would be a neat picture."  But, the problem is you are travelling at 60-70 mph.  If I am with the family, I have to make a mental note to stop there the next time I am by myself (because of the previously mentioned complaints).  If I am by myself, I pull over on the side of the road and make a u-turn.

Of course, the neat thing about this picture is the fact that the house is deteriorating.  The roof is gone, however the small canopy over the front door is still barely there.  Either the house was built amongst the trees or the trees are growing up around an empty house.  I would assume it is the latter.  The windows are gone, but the frames are still there.  If I was a brave person (and I am not), I would have went in the house and taken pictures of the interior, but I have a fear of spiders and snakes that pretty much controls my decision on this. Maybe I will have to go back to this house during the winter months.

bentlee

Took these pictures of Bentlee a couple of weeks ago.  His mom, Shea, is a friend of ours.  I don't take pictures using my studio equipment very often because of the time that it takes to set up the lights and background (and take it down), but I couldn't resist giving it a shot with Bentlee.  What an adorable baby!  After the shoot, I figured out a few things that would have made it easier.  I didn't realize that you should have the room around 85 degrees to take pictures of babies without their clothes.  Poor Bentlee had to suffer through a 75 degree room.  No wonder he had trouble sleeping in the last photos...

us

We don't take pictures of us (Sherri and me) together very often.  Mostly because I am always behind the camera.  I do have plenty of the "arm-length" pictures.  I just have a couple of small problems with the "arm-length" pictures.  When I take them that close, two things happen; I get 2-3 chins and my forehead becomes bigger (more forehead showing = less hair showing).  Needless to say, Sadi took this one for us.

maci & tyler

Love taking those last-minute quick pictures right before we are heading out the door.  Maci, Sadi and Sherri know exactly what I am talking about...  When I see that everyone is "all dressed up" and ready to go, I can't keep myself from asking if they want a picture before we (or they) go.  Most of the time I get the "NO DAD!"...  So if I get even the slightest maybe, I jump all over it.  Of course Maci and Tyler were running late, but I thought I should at least ask.  They must have felt guilty, because they let me take them out in the back yard for the picture.  Really like this one of them...

never know what you will find while shopping...

On the way home from Dallas the other day, Sherri wanted to stop at one of her favorite places to shop for bargains.  Apple Store, Cooter's Camera Village or Arlington Camera and I will jump out of the car while it is still running to go in.  Big Lots...  I chose to stay in the car, since we had Sophi with us :)...  As time passed, I got really bored and decided to walk the parking lot and the surrounding area and take pictures with my EP2 camera.  Not exactly a lot of items that are picture-worthy in a Big Lots' parking lot.  This one seemed to be the only keeper.  I really like the contrast of the REALLY RED bench to the faded "no parking" sign that is supposed to be red.


So Sherri comes out with only one item.  A large hard-backed photo book that she bought for me.  It was only $1.  Not that I am endorsing Big Lots, but we went back to this store on another trip to Mesquite and came out with 8 more books (4 photo books) for $11.  Almost embarrassed to say that it was a Friday night.  All of these books are taking away from my blogging time...

grimaldi's

I find myself always wanting to travel somewhere so that I can see new things, and take pictures along the way.  What I sometimes forget is that I have many places that I haven't even seen in my own back yard (ok, maybe it is stretching it to consider Dallas my own back yard).  Sherri and I have eaten at Grimaldi's in New York (Sherri has eaten there multiple times now).  We have wanted to try the Grimaldi's in Dallas for quite some time now.  Finally, we can say that we have eaten there.  Let me tell you, if you make the trip to eat there, you will not be disappointed.  The Dallas Grimaldi's is wood fired pizza at it's best!!!  Of course, I took my EP2 camera along with me.  I still haven't bought a flash for the camera, because I have two very fast lenses.  Makes the camera very portable and easy to use.  Another neat thing about the camera is that you can change the aspect ratio.  I decided to shoot everything on this trip in the 6X6 aspect ratio (square).  I have tons of prints that I have had developed at Adorama in NYC in the square format.  I love this aspect ratio.  It seems you are seeing more and more frames that accept square prints.  If all else fails, I just get out my mat cutter and frame it under a mat.  Back to the trip to Grimaldi's...

This is the sign outside (duh...)

Looking inside at the entrance.  Looks like everyone is busy.  Notice the subway signs above the cooks...

This pizza looks very appetizing!  I love the bokeh (out of focus foreground and background) of the picture...  This is the EP2 camera with the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens at it's finest.

I think they like the drinks...

I can't believe I am posting this one, but it does show you that I really liked the pizza.

Finally...  Desert!

sadi self portrait

This may sound weird, but I love it when Sadi takes my camera without letting me know...  But hold on, here is the rest of that statement.  The reason that I love it is because she usually takes some pictures while acting crazy and doesn't delete them all.  Almost as if she thinks nobody will see them.  Many of them will be great pictures to put in the paper (if there is such a thing) when she turns 16, 18, 30, 40, etc (you get the picture...).  Anyway, this one is not necessarily crazy, but all that I can say is like father like daughter...  Thank goodness I don't actually post all of the pictures of me taking pictures of myself in the mirror.  Sherri just rolls her eyes when she sees them on the computer.  Maybe someday I will post an album of all of these.  It would be a good way to show the progression of my hair loss...