Thomas family

How can you not love a smile like that! I photographed this family today for a Christmas session. These three boys were just wonderful to shoot, and the little one had the most incredible smile. His either didn't smile, or he would giggle beyond belief. Each time he did that, I was awestruck. What a happy boy!

Only one for now. I'm going to end up editing for days, but I'll share more of the session later.

Family Session

This is the 3rd year I've taken Christmas portraits for these kids (last year was an all black and White session). It's amazing how over the years I can look at the images and track how they went from just cute kids to be stunningly gorgeous young adults. I guess they have some good genes in this family.

Trackday

A group of fellow photographers decided to get together today to work on motorsport photography. Firebird Raceway, a local track, was having a motorcycle trackday in preparation for a race event tomorrow. It seemed like a great opportunity for all of us.

It turns out that I already knew quite a few of the riders. I've taken several pictures for some in the group for various calendars, and for some other events. Overall, it turned out to be a great day, as I got to spend some time practicing some techniques I rarely get to use as well as hanging out with a great group of people. I enjoyed it so much, that I'll be going back tomorrow with my son to watch the races.

Moving!

Well, sorta.

I've been searching for a larger home for my growing family for some time now. Unfortunately, it seemed that with our current economic conditions the only homes available are short-sale or foreclosures. There are some beautiful homes available, but the short-sales and foreclosures have driven the prices down so low that investors are fighting for them (ala the days of 2004-2006). The normal homebuyer is pushed out. On top of all that, it seems that any house for sale that isn't under financial hardship is not moving at all unless the asking price is ridiculously low.

So, as of last week, my wife and I decided to bide our time, and maybe pick up a second home and keep our current one. Well, yesterday we got lucky. Brandford homes opened a new development in Mesa/Gilbert area and their introductory prices were insane. We couldn't pass it up. So, now we just purchased an Estate lot, with a 5 bedroom, 4 bath house. The price is so good that we can still keep our current home until home prices return to some sort of sanity.

So, I'll be using our current home exclusively as a studio space after the new home is ready for move-in. This is going to be awesome!

Susan

Susan was referred to me by Keith from last week. She recently graduated from Real Estate school, and needed images for her business cards and website. She brought her husband Rich along for moral support, and it was an absolute pleasure to meet both of them. Not only is Susan a realtor, but she and Rich also own Anzio Landing, a really nice restaurant out at Falcon Field in Mesa.

Any guesses on how long it took me to get the shot above? About 2 minutes. Not really difficult when you have such a beautiful subject to work with.

Best of luck with the new career, Susan!

KC

I'm always happy to shoot motorcycles, so I was really glad when KC contacted me a few weeks ago for some images of his motorcycle. We had hoped to complete the shoot a few weeks ago, but the temperature out here had been so high that it was best to wait until we could spend a couple hours outside without bursting into flames.

KC has a really awesome bike. It is a Triumph 675, which you don't see very often. The lines on this bike are just gorgeous, and it looks just plain sexy. KC is no slouch himself, so I threw him in the shot a few times to add some balance and effect. I'm really liking how these images turned out.

Keith

Keith is a realtor who needed some promotional shots for his website and business cards. Luckily enough for me, he found my website and chose me to shoot his portrait.

Corporate headshots can seem like assembly like work, if done too often. There isn't a huge amount of variety for posing/props when they are done in studio, as the requirement of maintaining a professional image is paramount. Thankfully, I don't do many of them, as a fine art photographer, but when I do it is always nice to shoot such a friendly and congenial person as Keith. Working with Keith was a real pleasure, and I hope he finds these images useful.

Anyone looking for a realtor may want to give keith a call. You can drop him a line at keith.george@azmoves.com