Ninja

Ninja was a stray that wandered into Arielle's life several years back. She's had her share of drama, several surgeries do to what looked like being hit by a car while she was a stray.
Since we moved to Phoenix, Ninja has really adopted me as dad. In the process she's becoming my new lap cat. Most of her lap time happens while I'm at my desk, working at my computer.

She's very demanding and is definitely a pretty pretty princess, but she's my new little girl. Oops will always be my little big girl though.

PUG Christmas Party

Last week Arielle and I went to the Pictage Users Group Christmas Party, held at Dave and Busters. Melissa Jill was kind enough to do most of the leg work for the party. It was a fun evening and I met a lot of nice people. When socializing died down we headed out to the play some video games. Arielle and I ended up tagging along with Megan Resch and her crew. We pretty much played any game that spit out tickets.

Opening night at Conspire

Saturday, Arielle and I headed down to Conspire for the grand opening. First we had to grab some dinner so we stopped in at Fate which happened to be a block away.

At Conspire someone was taking portraits of all the opening night attendees for an art project to be displayed later. I think I threw her off by taking photos while she was trying to take mine. I've been on that kick lately. Check out Melissa Jill's blog for the group photo from the PUG christmas party last night. How many cameras do you see?

Soggy Soggy Football

I love watching a good soggy football game. I also love looking at photos from such a game. I don't enjoy the act of shooting games those games. It's a constant struggle to protect your gear while still trying to use it to get the best photographs you can. In this particular instance, I found that my hiking boots are no longer water proof. Wet feet when it's 50 degrees and raining is not fun.

We had a unusually strong late storm that dropped over an inch of rain on the valley last Friday. Before that rain, we had a little over 4 inches for the year. I was surprised they actually played considering there was over an inch of standing water between the tackles from the 30 yard line on one end to the 10 yard line on the other.

All that said, the end result is worth the discomfort and exhausting working conditions.

Thanksgiving

For me, Thanksgiving has always been about family. That includes the extended family we choose to surround ourselves with. Mom would always start cooking the turkey before the crack of dawn and we would eat around 12 or 1, whenever was decided on before hand. Friends would show up about half an hour before hand as to not miss out on anything.

Looking back, those gatherings meant a great deal to me. If I wasn't able to get home for Thanksgiving, then I would find a group of close friends or the family of a close friend to share the day with.

Last year was the first time Thanksgiving was anything different for me. I didn't have family in the area and didn't really have any close friends to share the day with. I did have Arielle. Originally we hadn't planned on doing anything special for the day since she had a shift at the radio station and I had to work. We ended up cooking a chicken and making our own little special day. That day was special in it's own way.

It turns out Arielle has a lot of pretty cool cousins out here. The closest relation of any of them is 1st cousin, once removed and they get more distant from there. The first time we met them, if felt like the family that I was used to.

So, this year Thanksgiving was very familiar for me. Even if the faces weren't as familiar. We had dinner at Toni's house with about 20 other cousins. To them everyone's a cousin, so we're just the newest cousins.

Arielle volunteered to bring something, so I was up early making green bean casserole and cranberry sauce. I also roasted 2 jars of coffee, one regular and one decaf. If nothing else we could have good coffee and it's another talking point. Turns out I didn't need the talking point because I had the exact same feeling of family as I had when I first met all the cousins. We were welcomed as family with open arms and big hugs.

Mmmm... freshly roasted coffee

Toni's daughter Taylor was pretty cool. We're going to her 10th birthday party in a week.

Bella's pretty serious about playing.

Taylor had a turkey drawing contest. Looking back, I wish I had entered, but Arielle represented and got an honorable mention in the girls class. Next year, she'll own it.

Numbers

A while back in A Photo A Day there was a call for a numbers essay. Not so long ago Matt Mallams compiled a bunch of photos from APAD and posted is on his website. Seeing the APAD numbers Essay inspired me when I was out shooting a wedding earlier this month.

Amy and Jeremy

This weekend I assisted Jennifer Bowen on Amy and Jeremy's wedding. The wedding and reception was at Troon North Golf Club. It's a beautiful location. I was totally fascinated with the grass. It was a beautiful and fun day and I had a great time working with Jennifer.

The father of the groom during the pre-ceremony formals

The Guests are seated

Glasses down for post-ceremony formals

The bride and groom take a stroll on the course for some portraits

The first dance

The first dance

Scottsdale Fashion Show

I had the opportunity to shoot the Neiman Marcus Fall Fashions + Resort Wear show during Scottsdale Fashion Week. I'm not a big fan of fighting for space with paparazzi at the end of the runway, so I tried to spend minimal time doing this. Most of the evening I was looking for something interesting that most people wouldn't normally see if they went to the show. I was also looking to find a different angle or way to see what everyone is seeing and expects.

Friday night Football

I think only the mothers of the seniors showed up. It was probably the least attended high school game I've ever attended.

I...

walk on mountains...


...explore danger...

...have seen cruel acts committed by children...

...play peek a boo with ghosts...

...can travel through time and space...

AZ State Fair

We went to the state fair last weekend. Overall it was a fun experience, we got there just as the light was getting good. I know Arielle had a blast. For me, I think it was more about getting out and shooting than it was about making compelling images.



The Clovis Carnival had the dragon, this one had the Cobra. Later in the evening the Cobra lost a wheel and the riders were forced to disembark with a ladder.
Spiderman - fair security
One end of the chair lift was a huge purple gun.
"Arizona sky is nice and all, it beats NC sky hands dowe. But it's no Clovis Sky.
We saw some wedding photos where the photographer popped the flash and rotated the camera to give the swirling lights effect. I was demonstrating how to do this, if you had a flash, which my camera doesn't."

Weekend Outings

Arielle on top of Squaw Peak

AZ Republic Assignments

A couple weeks ago I started to get some freelance assignments for the Arizona Republic.

Mostly it's prep sports, but I also covered a symphony rehearsal down in Chandler.

Phoenix Art Museum

Phoenix created in SimCity?

I finally have the proof I need. The city of Phoenix was indeed created using SimCity.

More Camelback

Arielle flew in Ray and Tim for my my birthday. That Friday we dropped Tim off for some DDR action then took Ray to Climb Camelback with us.




A couple weeks later, we decided to head up the other side of the mountain. The first 3/4 of the hike are relatively easy then you hit the ridge line. That's were the fun starts.