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We had a good time with Billy & Jennifer at Hillsborough River State Park doing there engagement photos. I had been wanting to do and engagement session  for some time and it worked out really well (except for the mosquitos)! Everyone got ate up, at least Jenny had some repellant...I am not sure it helped much. I am pleased with the photos and look forward to their wedding next year at Laurel Wood Gardens.

        

We are so happy to be photographing Anita and Chad's wedding in September. You see, Anita was Jenny's chemo nurse while we were doing the cancer thing. Anita is awesome. So, when she called to book us to do her wedding, Jenny and I got so excited.
We went over to Anita's house for an engagement session. Her house is wonderful! We did stuff both inside and outside trying to get it done before everyone got too sweaty from the heat.
Enjoy the show!!
 

        

Today is my 35th birthday! Took off work today to hang out. Went down to Ellenton to the outlet mall to get the kids shoes and clothes for school. Ironic,  my birthday and I go and buy the kids stuff! One cool thing we did (Jenny would beg to differ)...in order to get from Ellenton to Clearwater, we had to cross the Skyway Bridge which I have never been over, Jenny doesn't like the thing. We went to Clearwater Beach to run in the Sunset at Pier 60 5K. This was Tommy & Chris' first ever 5K. Chris got 3rd in the 10 & under division and Tommy came in just behind him. I forgot how much harder it is to run on the beach so my time wasn't as good as lately, but I ended up with 3rd in my new division of 35-39 (holy crap!!).
Overall, not a bad day, time for bed!

        

Although I usually like to hang back to capture what is happening, sometimes you have to move in! This is a great photo Jenny got from the last wedding. We usually stay out of eachother's way, guess I messed up her shot! The shot I got wasn't bad either.

        

Corey & Lindsey's album design is done! You can view it HERE 

I am very pleased with how it came out and I am sure they will love it!!

        

I made it! Ran the Bridge of Lions race this morning with no problems.


I finished 2nd in my age group and 27th overall with a time of 21:46. I am pretty happy with that since I haven't run in two weeks.  


After the race, we picked up some breakfast at the St. George. It was cool to have my photo hanging over the breakfast bar where everyone can see! We then went to the Castillo de San Marcos to see the canon firing.



After an afternoon nap, we went out for some pizza at Pizzalley's. Their pizza has one of the best crusts I have had. We then got to see the changing of the guard at the Government House which was really cool. The sun came out and put some nice light on the Basilica, Jenny got a nice shot.



I didn't bring my camera this trip, so all photos you see is what Jenny has done!

Later tonight at 10:30, we will be going to the St. Augustine Lighthouse for a night tour that they do only when there is a full moon. Unfortunately, it is cloudy and raining periodically, so no moon.

        

We made it with the kids to St. Augustine today. Came up for a relaxing weekend and The Bridge of Lions 5K race in the morning.
We are staying at the St. George Inn again, this time had a nice gift for them. I had contacted them after our last trip about printing up a photo of the Inn for them. I finally got to present them with a 20x30 print in a nice walnut frame to them today. They loved it and will be putting it up in their lobby area!

In the morning, I will be running in the Bridge of Lions 5K. Hopefully, my calf will hold up after straining it training a couple weeks ago. I was hoping to get my time near 20 minutes in order to place in my group, but now am just wanting to get through unscathed!
Other than hiking the kids around town, we don't have much planned. We'll have a nice dinner at Outback tonight. Of course we will have Kilwin's ice cream tomorrow. Kilwin's is at the bottom of the stairs to our room which is driving the kids nuts! It's the best!
I will also be finishing up Lindsey & Corey's album and "should" get it up Sunday night and definately no later than Monday. I am really happy with it so far...
Check in tomorrow to see if I am still walking!

        

Congratulations Corey and Lindsey!! Your wedding was wonderful and Jenny and I thoroughly enjoyed being your guest. God bless both of you and the long road ahead.
The wedding was held at The Rusty Pelican and was a fantastic place to shoot. The weather cooperated and provided beautiful lighting for the garden ceremony. After, we moved inside for an elegant reception turned frat party! Lindsey, you do a great worm (awesome for wearing a wedding dress)!!

Check back later in the week for the album design...

        

Jenny and I woke up early this morning for an engagement session with Corey & Lindsey at Sand Key Park. We had a great time with them and can't wait for their wedding Friday!

The first photo with the lifeguard chair is the one I picked out for their 8x10. It is a bit more bold than I usually do, but it just pops and will look awesome on the metallic paper I use. Another I love is the black and white close up which looks just naturally "them".

        

        

Hope everyone had a good 4th! We had a great time today. Started out at 6AM, ran a 5K race in Lutz. I ran another personal best of 21:11 beating my previous best by 2 minutes! Unfortunately, I screwed up by going out too fast. I missed out on the trophies for my age group by 10 stinking seconds. I then ran the 1 mile with Jenny, Tommy, Chris and Emily. Everyone did good and had fun.
After the race, we stayed for the big parade. Long parade, Bout an hour.
Then it was on to Jenny's grandmother's for a cookout. I cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs, stuffed ourselves real good.
And then...we ended the night in Dade City for their Sparklebration. They did a good job this year with the fireworks, the kids loved it.

Oh, and last night, we went to the drive-in to see Wall-E again. Another good movie from Pixar. If you haven't seen it, go check it out!!

        

Remember that Women's Studies class you considered taking in college? Allow us to summarize what you would have learned: All of our society's gender issues stem from the fact that fathers once used their daughters as currency to a) pay off a debt to a wealthier land owner, b) symbolize a sacrificial, monetary peace offering to an opposing tribe or c) buy their way into a higher social strata.

So next time you tear up watching a beaming father walk his little girl down the aisle, remember that it's just a tiny, barbaric little hold over from the days when daughters were nothing but dollar signs to daddy dearest.

And that veil she's wearing? Yeah, that was so the groom wouldn't know if he was stuck with an uggo until it was time to kiss the bride and too late to back out on the transaction. (There is also some superstitious B.S. about warding off evil spirits, but we think you'll agree that hiding a busted grill from the husband-to-be is a more practical purpose.)

        

Check in each day to find out how many of our wedding traditions started.

The white wedding dress

Technically, today's wedding gowns aren't white. They are "Candlelight," "Warm Ivory," "Ecru" or "Frost." But there was a time when a bride's wedding attire was simply the best thing in her closet (talk about "off the rack"), and could be any color, even black.

To convince her groom that she came from a wealthy family, brides would also pile on layers of fur, silk and velvet, as apparently grooms didn't care if his wife-to-be reeked of sweaty B.O. as long as she was loaded.

It was dear ol' Queen Victoria (whose reign lasted from 1837-1901) who made white fashionable. She wore a pale gown trimmed in orange blossoms for her 1840 wedding to her first cousin, Prince Albert.

Hordes of royal-crazed plebeians immediately began to copy her, which is an astonishing feat considering that "People Magazine" wasn't around to publish the Super Exclusive Wedding Photos, or instruct readers on how to Steal Vicki's Hot Wedding Style.

        

To view Andy & Rosy's proofs and to purchase prints, go HERE

All orders completed in the next 2 weeks will receive 15% off.
All prints are made on Kodak Metallic paper and each photo is color enhanced with minor retouching.

        

After losing 3 days to cleaning up the huge tree branch that fell in our backyard, I have finally completed the pre-design of Rosy & Andy's album...Hope you enjoy it!

You can view it by clicking HERE

        

Giving myself a personal pat on the back for being the winner of the Florida State Parks photo contest for the month of May. I shot this beautiful sunset in March while we were in Panama City for the Tyndall airshow.

        

Emily's birthday is tomorrow. So, today we took her to get her ears pierced. She is so happy to have gotten it done. After some nervous tears and the initial ouch plus some more tears, she loves her new look!

        

Had a fantastic session with my friend Hedi's daughter who is graduating high school this week. She is a beautiful girl with a fantastic smile. It was so much fun creating photos with her!!

        

Today was Tommy's 5th grade luncheon and awards ceremony. Tommy did great! He received awards for Best Male PE Student for his class, he was one of only about 5 5th graders total who earned a black belt in Recorder Karate for music class where he had to play a different song perfectly to receive a belt, he was  the one chosen for his class to recite his Most Memorable Day at Woodland essay, and best of all he received the Silver President's Academic award for getting all As & Bs plus being an all-around good kid.   
Jenny and I are so proud of him.
Way to go Tommy, and keep it up in middle school next year!

        

Thank-you to Rosy and Andy for inviting us to their wedding. Jenny and I had a wonderful time meeting all of their friends and family. The Dominican food was great...not spicy (as I learned, they don't spice it up)! It was a fairy tale wedding that everyone enjoyed.

Keep checking back as I will have the album design up later this week.