more za, more josh

The holidays slowed us down a bit... Very few posts, let alone photos, of late. But as promised, here's a quick follow-up post from last week's wedding of Za and Josh. As always, check out our public Picasa gallery for the whole album...

winter solstice

Last weekend we attended a beautiful ceremony for one of my good friends, Za. She and her new husband, Josh were both magnificently beautiful. Pere Marquette, Ill. also was beautiful. What a way to bring in the winter. Stay tuned for more photo posts and a link to our Picasa album of the whole shoot. Above photo taken by bam, lit with one Alien Bee to the right of the photo, ISO 125, f6.3.

photos of the day

Burrrrrr... It's cold in St. Louie; thank goodness for coats and car heaters. But the chilly air wasn't about to stop us from heading out to Forest Park for an engagement shoot this morning. It never broke the 36 degree mark, but Karl and Cherise were troopers and stuck it out. (Beck was a good sport, too.) As always, the rest can be seen in our Picasa album. PS, Happy holidays. This will be one of our last posts before Christmas!

Dog.

Some random people were walking by with their dog, so we asked them if they wanted their picture taken. They looked cold anyway, and it's the holidays. We're nice like that.

Somber? Nope.

We've chosen these two pix to post because of the mood they evoke. Something interesting about how dark they are (and yet they still portray a happy aura)... Both shot with one 800 w/s Alien Bee at medium power. Click here, and watch the slideshow of all the images from Saturday afternoon (we recommend viewing it this way because of the black background).

red, green, and yellow?

With the help of Lightroom and Photoshop ... we turned one of our recent "discards" into a pretty cool, smoky silhouette. We used Lightroom to change the color initially, and create the dramatic contrast and Photoshop to import a couple custom textures and filters to give it its "weathered" look and create the duplicate color copies. Photo taken by bam.

just kidding around

We promised more pix from the Williams family shoot, and who are we to disappoint? The first of the three photos here (blm) was a bit of an accident turned into something cool. We were a bit on the overkill side when it comes to lighting, but it really brought out the twinkle in Ainsley's eyes, even though we stripped it of almost all color. Photo #2 (blm) was shot more traditional-style, with a softbox stage left and an open bulb aimed at the ceiling to the right of the frame... Camera set to 1oo ISO, of course. Ahhh...what a couple of funny kids. Picture 3 (bam) was shot with the on-camera flash and our 50mm lens at a 1600 ISO. This was a hard shot to get since I was trying to get Porter to look at one hand whilst holding the camera with the other hand, and the real problem coming because, at f/1.8, it's hard to find a focal point (three or four completely missed the mark) in low light. Want to see more? Visit our online Picasa album for the entire shoot.

'tis the season

It's December, which makes Christmas right around the corner. Time for goofy pictures of goofy things to remember the fun times... you are only almost two at Christmas once in your life. The photo above is our home teacher, Chant, and his beautiful daughter, Ainsley. It was shot with one umbrella (left side of frame), 200 ISO and 24mm zoom. We shot their family Christmas photos last night with our portable studio.
More photos to come...

photo of the day

Such a serious look! Pretty sure she must have been in a daze still after her hair styling session a la Aunt Becca. As with most of our recent posts, this was shot with a 50mm 1.8, 400 ISO, flash fired, 1/200 second. Converted to b/w using Picasa 3.

june bug hawaiianized

Need we even say a word? Baby June is not Baby June any longer. Man, we love those eyes n' curls! This photo was shot with a Canon 50mm 1.8, 500 ISO, no flash (shot at dusk). Custom color treatment done in Lightroom.

maui wowee

A wedding ... a wonderful occasion to get together as family. A destination wedding ... an even better reason to get together as family. Our sister Andrea and her fiance chose beautiful Hawai'i for their union. Many photos are taken on the Ritz Carlton Kapalua property and beaches. To view other photos of the day's events, visit our Picasa album. Since we were not part of the Ritz wedding package (which included two photographers), we had a lot of down time while the hirelings did their work. So in this album you are guaranteed to find plenty of cute pics of our lovely nieces as well.

"smushy"

'Tis the season... the season of newborns in our ward at church. Mom wanted some pix of Baby Sam "while he's still all smushy," so on Saturday morning we obliged. I learned something important that day: when you're shooting with a fixed focal length (Canon 50mm), make sure you have room to move forward and back.

M2 and the wee tykes

What originated as a family photo shoot for a Christmas card ... transpired to a funny post Halloween costume parade (and the pink futon has a story all of its own)! Natalie and Julia were good sports through it all. These girls are very near and dear to our hearts and we think they are just so adorable! To view the entire shoot, visit our Picasa album. To view the distributor of the cute hair accessories the girls are fashioning, check out What Matters Most (and yes, they are for sale!). The above photo was lighted with two Alien Bees 400's.

November 1 and 72 degrees

Just when we thought we couldn't get luckier, November rolled in last Saturday at a welcomed 72 degrees. Needless to say, we had to take advantage of it with Shane, Sharla, and the gang. Our favorite shack is back! See more from the shoot at our public Picasa album.

October 29 and 67 degrees

Mary was prayin' for decent weather ... and she got more than she asked for. We enjoyed the afternoon at Quail Ridge with new Missourians Cam, Mary and 5 mo. old Hudson. And we even got a few pics to show for it.

(textured) photo of the day

With the excellent fall weather yesterday, it's a shame Bec n' I didn't have more than one quick shoot in Wentzville. The way things go here in the STL, we'll have highs in the 40s all next week and all the leaves will be gone. Regardless... Here's one of Becca's shots, texture added in Lightroom and Photoshop.

nikko smith in concierto

A few American Idol stars have come from Missouri, including last season's David Cook from KC. But the artist closest to home out of the seven seasons so far has been Nikko Smith, who performed at SCC last night. When I got my sneak peek of the set list beforehand (thanks, KP, for the media pass), I'll admit I was a bit intrigued... Carrie, Marvin, Chili Peppers, Usher... He pulled off some amazing covers (and did a great job mixing them in among his own work from his Revolution album). Of course, you can always check Nikko out on MySpace.

honorable mention

Okay, so I'm making our first non-photo post (and I hope it's the only time I do so) but this one is worth it. Check out this guy's story... A 70-year-old chap living on the far side of the world who overcame all odds and survived 26+ hours swimming in the ocean. Thanks to Cass 'n Eric for sharing it: http://tiniantimes.blogspot.com/2008/10/jim-bell-still-alive-and-kicking.html.

down by the boardwalk

Meet weird, tall, slanty posts. Just off the boardwalk in Duluth was this eerie construction site. In addition to the neon signs entry below, check out s'more pix from my September trip to the north on our Journeys page.

"I am lining up my heroes like big paper dolls"

Meet Paper June. This is a life-size (or possibly larger) cutout of our adorable niece who lives in Pasadena, Cali. My sister-in-law mailed it to the 'Lou to get photo opps will all the extended family out here. June's daddy loves Imo's pizza, a St. Louis original, and in fact so does June! See all of Paper June's travels at: nandemunson.blogspot.com

*Disclaimer: Post title courtesy of Innocence Mission - check them out on MySpace or at: www.theinnocencemission.com. They're an Oldie (debut album containing paper dolls was released in '89), but a Goodie!

Check out s'more Journeez

This weekend I got to talk to one of my best friends from high school, Kimi Christensen. It reminded me of my travels West this summer in which I got to visit a bunch of amigos from the past. Click here to view the pics on our Journeez travel blog. Buckets 'o Fries anyone?

for no other reason...

We've been a bit busy these past few days, so there hasn't been any new shooting goin' on in or around the Munson house... So, for the sake of keeping our blog postings regular, here's a b/w image from a college shoot a few weeks ago + a little texture dropped in, similar to Tyler's photo in a previous post. Rosie's a great subject for shooting; this is one of her outtakes.

life passes us by so fast

The weekend flew by, but it was fun nonetheless. Included in our festivities was The Taste of St. Louis (on our trip downtown for the penultimate Cards game), which won over these poor souls with a pile of spicy yellow chicken, white rice, and some darn good ice cream from Blue Sky Creamery. No pictures were harmed by Photoshop during the development of this product. You can also see it at the Post-Dispatch site.

Men rescue 66-year-old from river

A joy ride turned into a rescue mission Tuesday evening in O'Fallon.

Kendall Smith, 22, of Wentzville and Jason Gjere, 18, of St. Paul were riding all-terrain vehicles when they spotted something floating in floodwater that covered Firma Road.

The aftermath of Hurricane Ike sent torrential rains and high wind through the area last weekend, causing flash flooding."We thought it was a log or something and then I saw it waving - it was kind of freaky," Smith said.

under a neon sky

The Canal Park area in Duluth, Minn., has more neon signs in one small stretch than any other place I've been (except Vegas, which doesn't count IMO). Hope you enjoy the different look than you'd get if you were just standing there in person... For info about neon and LED signs, ask Joe.