The Best of 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, I'd like to share a small selection of my favorite photographs that I've taken this past year. Some of these photos made it either to my website or this blog, while others did not. Many of those that did not make it to my website were either not "artistic" enough or I just didn't feel like sharing them. Either way, they still hold a special place in my heart, which is why I'm sharing them now in this slideshow.

The song selected for this slideshow is "Little Green Bag" by the George Baker Selection. I first heard this song in the movie "Reservoir Dogs", and then again while watching "So You Think You Can Dance" in which Pauline Mata and Peter Sabasino performed while in front of a giant backdrop of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. Their dance was one of my favorites and you can watch it here.

Enjoy the slideshow!

Christmas Portraits

A couple weeks ago I was asked by two friends to take some Christmas portraits of their sons and some of the whole family, as well as a couple of maternity shots. I had just bought some new equipment a few days prior and was eager to try it out (for those interested, I bought a new Nikon SB-600 flash, two flash stands, and one backdrop kit to hold the roll of 6' wide backdrop paper my Dad had sent me some time ago). Below are but a few of the pictures taken.

BTW, the second picture of Andrew has been Photoshopped. Can you tell which part? If you guessed the Christmas tree, you're wrong. It's the present sitting/standing/leaning on the overturned box! Andrew was becoming a bit irritable (most likely from the heat of the costume) and wasn't cooperating fully. We managed to get a smile out of him by fake coughing and gagging. In the rush to shoot the picture, we left the gift out of the picture, but I added it later by copying and pasting it from another picture I took after this one.