Mmmm... Delicious Chocolate and Photos

A while back, at a wedding reception more than an hour's drive away, we met Angie (pictured), the super-friendly owner of Chocolate Falls out of O'Fallon, Mo -- coincidentally in our backyard, more or less. Convenient.

Most of the photos were shot with the Sigma 17-70 mm lens, with a late switch to the trusty 70-200mm for the last 15 min. or so. I love the color accuracy and clarity that Canon L series lenses produce... I guess sooner or later it's going to be time to seriously consider Canon's 24-105 f/4 L or the 16-35 f/2.8 L...

On the Scene: STL MoTab

Spotted: Former British boy band singer Alex Boye, MoTab Choir president Mac Christensen, and former Missouri Governor / U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft all on one stage on Saturday, June 20, 2009. The reason? The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The place? St. Louis' Scottrade Center (home of the St. Louis Blues). The show was the first for the Choir in St. Louis since 1958. From the audience's reaction, it was worth the wait. ** More pictures from the VIP reception and the concert are available for viewing through our Picasa account.

baby o.

What a beautiful little angel ... A good friend of mine from work, Anji, and her husband Roger, were blessed with this wonderful little soul about six weeks ago. She was a trouper yesterday throughout her baptism (below) at Trinity Lutheran and later on in her backyard. We feel blessed to have been able to share this wonderful day with our friends.

the party's not over just yet

So grad season is nearing its 2009 farewell. I, for one, thought it was already over, but apparently not -- at least not as of yesterday, as the St. Charles Family Arena was spinning Francis Howell school district grads through left and right. Word has it there were three ceremonies basically back-to-back-to-back (baseball commentators use that term freely, which gives me the right, but is it actually physically possible and does it make sense?). Anyway, that leads us to today's post, a selection of photos from the amazing dinner party we went to yesterday evening at a friend's house 20 minutes down the road (basically on the way to the college), in honor of Meghan, a Francis Howell grad, and Kelsea, a Peachtree Ridge grad.

No details on the camera settings other than the lenses we used: the handy 17-70 Sigma f/2.8-4.5 (which actually has been having some issues lately not maintaining a sharp focus [a problem for the camera shop, not a psychologist]) and the trusty Canon 70-200 f/4L.

happy days are here

Ahhh... Spring-summer in St. Louis. The inevitable switching back and forth from fans, open windows and outdoor dining to air conditioning and watering the lawn five days a week that comes this time of year.

While freeing up hard drive space, we were sorting through our Lightroom catalog and came across a theme: happy guys. These photos were all shot in the fall, hence the sweaters, but that's what got me thinking about the current "season" we are in right now. Yesterday: 68 degrees. Today: 85. Tomorrow? Who knows?

Simple editing performed on these pictures: b/w conversion and a contrast increase in LR, cropped to 1x1 ratio.