the circus

Unfortunately I’m not talking about my extended family and the holidays! I am talking about the for real circus, Barnum and Bailey style! We have made it a tradition of taking Maggie to the circus and she loves it! This year she was super excited to go see the “unicorn.” I know what you all are thinking, didn’t they get out of the side-show acts like a long time ago. Yes, they did. For some reason, Maggie thought there was going to be a unicorn at the circus and was excited to see it. We had to play off one of the little ponies as a unicorn so she wouldn’t get too disappointed. The sad part is, we have tried to explain to her what is real and was is not real, and we just didn’t have the heart to break her excitement while en route to the circus when she threw that curveball at us. After watching the entire circus, all I have to say is that last year’s was much better. More excitement, more tricks, more entertaining. This year’s was just kinda…ho-hum. In fact, I looked back on the action shots I had and the other cool pics from last year and realized I had nothing to compare to it. I did end up with a couple of pics of Maggie that I decided to share (hence the post). One is similar to last year where she is just sitting by herself watching and there was just a little bit of light falling on her face. The other is a sweet memory of Maggie sitting on mommy’s lap…

Please know that both of these pictures were taken via available light. No special light modifiers or hours worth of Photoshopping required here. These were just like I remember them and just how I want all of my clients to remember their sessions and those they love. No special magic or endless hours processing photographs to make them look artificial, just some good old-fashioned creativity and talent 🙂

…snow days and circus…

Alie’s good friend Lyndsey loves the circus. Last year she found out that the Ringling Bros. were coming to Nashville and she really wanted to go. Alie wanted to take Maggie and I thought it would be fun so we went and had a great time. Well, the circus was back again a few weeks ago and guess who was just dying to go! So we all loaded up again and got to go to the circus. We had some great seats and I couldn’t resist taking my camera. Here are a few shots that I managed to get while we were there. I just loved the look in Maggie’s eyes as she gazed at the show:

This last shot was a personal favorite. There were these two guys that did an act with a cylindrical roll cage attached to a large swinging boom-thing. (Technical, I know!) While they were getting setup, the tiger act was in center ring with all the lights directed towards it. Luckily, our seats put us in the best place for the upcoming act and I couldn’t help but to take a picture of the guy as he “psyched himself up.” I have experienced those same kind of moments before basketball games, meetings, presentations, etc. and it is just a personal moment you need to get in touch with yourself. It was also one of those moments where he probably though no one was paying any attention to him, but I sure was following his every move.

Overall, we had a great time and Maggie loved everything about the circus.

A little change of direction here, but I would have to say that becoming a teacher has been the most rewarding experience of my life. There are some rewards that come from working with my students that I will never be able to explain. However, there is one reward that we have all experienced and that I have grown to love again — SNOW DAYS! Growing up in Indiana, we had our share of snow days, but here in Tennessee it is another story. Were we live, we usually get out for bad conditions in the northern part of the county, but we just don’t get anything at our house. Well, this year proved to be an exception. We had a great snow fall were we got around 5 inches and Maggie was so excited to go make a “no-man.” The snow wasn’t wet enough to make it packable, but she still loved getting out and playing in it. We even got a make-shift sled and took her for a ride (which she loved!). Here are a few pics of my snow bunnies and even Dexter got to make an appearance. You have never seen a dog get more excited than when he is out in the snow. He loves to run around and stick his face in it!

Thanks for taking a moment to see what I have been up to. As most other photographers will confess, the winter season is a slow season unless you live some where warm and sunny all year-long. I am grateful for the break, but I do miss seeing all of my clients and finding new ways to impress them! Until next time…