Saturday, December 26, 2009

The day after...

Today was a pretty relaxing day where everyone, well at least on the Ellison side, just sat around, played games and just didn't do too much! In other words a pretty darn good day!

Michelle and crew actually went to Bakersfield to check on their house today and was gone for pretty much the entire day. I guess the house needs a lot of work so they still have their work cut out for them. Tomorrow they are heading for to visit their old Church so they will be gone probably before we get up.

On another note Arron is really interested in learning guitar and lately when he comes over he's really interested in practicing and trying to learn new things. It's really hard for me to think that I have a clue enough to help someone else but I'm trying. When that got back we kind of did an impromptu jam playing together on some chords and progressions he has been working on. It was actually kind of cool. That actually reminds me that earlier in the day Devin and I were doing something similar with Dev on the harmonica that he got for Christmas

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope, well we hope, that everyone had a great day filled with family, friends and a really great time! You would think with the tree down thanks to Cali (our cat) that it would have put a weird tint onto the holiday. But it didn't. We, and, Santa put all the presents on the fireplace underneath a beaded Christmas Tree Denise made a few years back. The kids didn't even seem to really notice or care and they were all very excited Christmas morning.

Everyone made out pretty good and the kids received things ranging from Legos, video games, dolls and a smattering of other things. (The really cool part is that it was a budget Christmas this year and everyone still seemed pretty happy). Devin even gave Desirae a game for her Nintendo DS and she was VERY excited and happy about that. It is really cool when the kids get to the age that they like giving things to other people!

I don't think I had mentioned this before but Denise Sister Michele and brother-in-law Fred and their kids Sarah, Aaron, Rachel, Caleb, Mary, Isaac and Justus are sending Christmas with us. Well actually them are going to Bakersfield to work in an orange grove for a couple of months and their house isn't ready for them. So they are crashing in our trailer until everything is settled. They don't really celebrate the gift exchange of Christmas so they just waited a bit before they came in side... And then everyone played with the new toys.

In the picture above Denise is putting together one of the new Lego® things that Devin received. Actually it is really cool because every other month he is going to get a new kit with I think a magazine so its like the gift that keeps on giving!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Early Christmas...

We drove up to my mom's last weekend for an early Christmas for the kids. After the Swing Flu Thanksgiving Debacle (of 09) we pushed off going until this last weekend. We drove up on Friday (took half a day) and came back on Sunday but it was still a really nice trip. I think everyone had a great time and the kids spent all day Saturday playing with their new games and toys. It was kind of a drag that we couldn't stay longer but at least we were able to make it happen!

For some reason we didn't take any pictures so I don't have anything to post for that. It might be that I'm still just thrilled that my fav lens is in the shop. Speaking of that, still haven't heard anything on that. It's at Nikon but has processed in their system yet.

Monday, December 14, 2009

iStock Silver...

Not that this is a big deal but today I reached the SILVER milestone today on iStock. This means that I have sold 2500 images. Since I am not an exclusive iStock photographer it doesn't mean too much, but it does allow me to submit more images in a week so that's kind of cool. Now if I ever do go exclusive then I would also make another 10% more per image sold. Anyway it was kind of a cool achievement... Hopefully next year will be better than last year in photography!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Photo shoot!

Today (well actually yesterday) was the photo shoot with Julia and her friends Kelley, Heather, Jessica, and Wendelyn. This was the session we schedule a few weeks ago and it was a REALLY great shoot. I wasn't sure what to expect but all the girls were really great to work with and I think everyone had a lot of fun! We shot a total of 500 frames and really it was the strobes that were slowing me down. All of them had great ideas and a bunch of wonderful poses. Honestly the only bad part of the afternoon was when my Nikon 17-55 2.8 DX lens rolled off my lighting case and onto the tile floor... It didn't shatter (might have been better if it was just dead) but it isn't working right either. But we pressed on and kept on shooting.

Unknown to me Kelley is a very promising stylist and volunteered to act in that capacity. I really think she was key in making some outstanding images. It is always good when there is someone there looking at the fine details of the scene to make sure the hair, makeup and poses are all working.

Bottom line though all of these wonderful young ladies was great to work with and once I can finish editing the images I hope they will be very pleased with the results.

Honestly the only reason I am still up right now is because (like an idiot) I had a Grande Latte way late before I headed back home and I am WAAAAAAAY past my window...

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Scouting...

The photo shoot I had planned today didn't come together so Kris and I did a little bit of scouting up at Shea's Castle. Okay, first thing first the place is really cool because of the castle. After you get over that and realize that it's 1500 acres of area there are A LOT of places to photograph in and around the property. So we basically drove all over it checking out the different areas. One place that was kind of cool was over near the old landing strip. There was a really neat view of the castle in the background and I think that spot would make a really great location for a portrait like the one above.

So it was a really cool day and we both got a lot of good ideas for different photo shoots. Not it just a matter of remembering them and then pulling them off. I do have a pretty big shoot planned for Saturday the 12th. It's a multi-person shoot and should be a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we're just going to hang around the house and decorate for Christmas!