Mini 5x5 Album

I got a lot of comments on the post I did for the mini 5x7 wedding album (click here to see the post), so I thought I'd share another client album. This one is for Conner's mommy, who told me that she just loves having a little album to carry around in her purse!

This album is about the height of soda can (yes Kari, I borrowed one of Ethan's out of the fridge!)


As with this album, and all of my others, it is custom designed! Even though I only snapped these two photos, this book has a total of 20 sides.



Wouldn't mom just love one of these from your wedding or session for this mother's day? (*hint hint*). But don't worry my friends, another post to come next week with other photo goodies that would make great presents for mom, so stay tuned!

Bowser

Wow, what can I say about this photo shoot besides the fact that it was just plain awesome. Luke, singer and guitar player for the band Bowser, is one of my 2010 grooms! After Luke's engagement session with his beautiful bride-to-be Gina, he invited back to Elkhart Lake to take some pictures of his band. I was flattered to have the opportunity!

These guys are first class, and I had a great time hanging out and getting to know them during our session. I absolutely love their music, and can't wait until I can shoot a live show for them to hear them in action.

Before you view these pictures, I think it's only fitting to listen to one of their songs, so click play and scroll on down! (For those of you reading on reader, there is an embedded audio clip)

(Side note: anyone recognize this location? It's where I did my 19 frames challenge for the Youngrens! Thanks guys for introducing me to it!)

These next two are my personal favorites.

The guys then played a few songs so we could take a couple photos in action. It was like my own personal concert!

If you like what you here, head on over to Bowser's website! They perform almost every weekend in the Milwaukee/Elkhart Lake area, so check out their schedule. Or, head on over to Facebook and become a Fan!

Thanks guys for a great afternoon, I can't wait to catch a live show!

Sunday Ramblings...

Good Sunday morning to you! I've spent my morning deleting old photos off of my computer and reorganizing other photos, and after looking through my folders from January and February and seeing all the cold and snow - I'm sure glad it's spring!

In a little while I'm going to be headed out the door to two engagement sessions with two awesome couples! But I wanted to share with you a few things first. And in no particular order:

I won! Thanks to you all of you who took the time to vote for me in the Youngren's 19 frame challenge, I really appreciate it! This morning when I took a look at their blog it was surreal to see my name on it. These are two photographers who I have followed and admired from afar from a while, it is truly an honor to be featured by them. You can see the blog post here.

With being mentioned on the Youngren's blog, I have gained a few new followers out there. Thank you and welcome! Hopefully I can keep you entertained enough to stay! I am also on Facebook and Twitter, so please follow me. I'd love to follow you back, just leave your info in the comments! (Click on "Facebook" and "Twitter" to go to my pages)

I had an awesome engagement session last night, it was just one of those that all came together. The perfect location, the perfect light, and the most AWESOME couple! The above picture of the tulips was taken then (I think it's begging to be a motivational poster, something like "Be Different" or "You're one in a Million"), and of course, this little sneak preview below!

(A side note. During our session we saw two couples walking at us, the guys in tuxes, and the women in long dresses. One girl was wearing a beautiful white dress. I, being the wedding photographer that I am, thought they had just gotten married. I took it upon myself to wish them a "Congratulations". All four of them stared back blankly and kept walking. One of the guys muttered "That was the second one". Yes blog world, they were prom go-ers. I don't know who was more mortified, her or me! If you are out there white prom dress girl, I am sorry :) I'd be happy to take some pictures of you in that gorgeous dress for free if we ever meet!

Mental note - it is prom season. Do not tell random people congratulations. End of note.)

I hope you all have a great Sunday! Ta ta for now

Photo Friday! 365 Photo Project

TGIF! What a week it's been here in the Van Wyk household! I'm so glad it's Friday. I'm looking forward to hanging out with three amazing couples this weekend for their engagement sessions - it should be a blast!

My goal for the year is to take one photo a day, and although I've been rusty the past two weeks, I came back at it full swing! Without further ado, the photos!

4.10.10

Trying out some new techniques at the Blackhawk photo group.

4.11.10

One of my favorites from hiking on Sunday. I loved the layers in the background.

4.12.10

We were invited to an event at the Overture Center which promoted the upcoming musical "Wicked". They had hats hanging from the ceiling! It was really cute.

4.13.10

I just can't resist a beautiful sunset!

4.14.10

Flowers blooming outside my work

4.15.10

Brian thinks the weeds are annoying... I think they're pretty! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Blackhawk Photography Group

One of the things I love doing is getting to know other photographers, and I am fortunate enough to attend a church in Madison that has a whole group of them! We get together once a month to review photos and work on our skillz. (Yes, skillz with a "z" - yes, I know I'm a nerd)

This month we were working on stopping motion - how to convey in a still photograph that something is moving. Here are some of my pictures from the workshop:

Technique #1 for showing something in motion - capture the object at it's peek motion - like Steve here jumping

Or Matt here, however an unfortunate pants fail happened after this photo!

Technique #2 - Do the same but add flash. We were also concentrating on making sure we caught the runner/jumper in motion - so it didn't look like they were just standing still. I like to call this one "Jumping Super Canon Man!" ahm... sorry...

Ok, how about a Drive By shooting?

Some of our group members checking out their images:

Technique #3 - Stopping motion with flash. For this one, I had a four second exposure, and the motion was stopped by the firing of the flashes (from someone else)

If you'd like to see some more photos from the afternoon, or want to see some super sweet ones of me riding my new bike - check out our group's flickr page here.

Vote For Me!

I would never be one to try and beg (vote for me), or plead (vote for me). Or bombard Facebook with messages and status updates (vote for me). I won't tweet four times a day (vote for me), or I would never think of using my blog as a means of winning your vote (did I mention vote for me?).

:)

Many of you many have read my blog post on "19 Frames", a photo challenge I entered last week. The contest has been opened up to your votes to choose the winner! So, head on over to the Youngren's Blog, view all the entries, and for who's photos you like best!

Click here to go vote

Thank you in advance!

Since all posts are better with photos, here is one of my 19 images from the challenge

Birthday Hiking

It was my birthday on Sunday, and thanks in part to all of your well wishes and Happy Birthday's I had a great day! One of the things I am aiming to do this summer is to spend more time in the outdoors. To soak up a few more rays of sun and spend a little more time in front of a campfire under the open skies. So, when it came to what I wanted to do for my birthday, I knew I wanted to head up to Devil's Lake for a little hiking. I was blessed with a beautiful spring day, so we packed up the car and made the short drive.

We brought Edie, our 8.9 pounds of terror (aka terrier) with us. We weren't quite sure how she would handle climbing up the rock face to get to the top of the bluffs, but she handled it like a champ! If she had it her way, she would have dragged and pulled us all of the way up the bluff!

We had such a fun time, I thought I'd share a few photos.

The view from the top of the bluff:

Our little poochie mountain climber!

And then if the day couldn't get any better, we topped it off with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings (to feed my chicken wing addiction), and bought a little Dairy Queen cake - oh it was so good!

Thanks everyone for making it a great day!