Shooting (in a Good Way)

Casey, one of my photographer buddies, recently welcomed her newest little one to the family.  David was 12 days old when they stopped by the house for some photos.  It was great catching up with her and meeting her adorable son!  He was wide awake the entire session and is very strong and curious.

I’m so glad I had the opportunity to me meet David and appreciate the family’s time!  Here are some of the highlights from the session:

I’ll begin by saying that my wife is amazing!  She is a fantastic wife, mother and friend and is very humble and hates being the center of attention.  That being said, I sometimes convince her to model for me.  Here are a few recent shots from our very short trip to San Antonio.  She looked amazing in her new dress, and on the way to dinner I had her stop and pose for me a few times.  I’m a lucky guy!

Amanda is graduating from University of Colorado Colorado Springs this year and is ready to shape young minds as a teacher.  She needed a photo for her graduation announcement, so she stopped by the studio for a few minutes.  It’s not very often that every single image is usable and great, but this is one of those situations.  Nothing got thrown away.  I’m very glad that I got the opportunity to photograph Amanda and wish her the best!

One of the best things about being a photographer is the friends you make and the relationships you form. When you photograph the same family over a period of time you get to know them pretty well. It’s also very nice to see how people change and grow. Nothing quite matches the first year of life, though. Last December I photographed Tyler when he was only a few days old. Over Thanksgiving weekend this year I get to take some more photos of him. He’s such a cool kid from a really great family!

Tyler at 5 Days Old

Tyler at 1 year old!

Such a Cutie!

Tyler and his Siblings

UPDATE: I just got a christmas card from the family using these photos and it is absolutely fantastic. I really liked the photos before, but now I absolutely LOVE them. So Cool!

A few months ago I found myself in Liberal, KS and had the opportunity to do a senior session with Jimmy.  Jimmy is a senior at Liberal High School and is the son of my Mother-in-law’s best friend.  I am always excited to do a senior session, but this was extra cool!

Jimmy is very involved in the arts at his high school (very much like I was).  He is in the band and the drama department and we got pretty good access to the school because of this.  It was really fun shooting in the theater, the band room and the halls.  Then we moved on to an area in downtown Liberal with a great alleyway (photographers are weird sometimes) and a fountain.

Jimmy has got alot of irons in the fire between all of his extra-curricular stuff and just finishing up school.  He’s got a ton of potential and I wish him the best!  Thanks to Jimmy and Kay for letting me document a small part of Jimmy’s life!  Now on to some pics!

A few weeks ago I was asked do the Senior photo session for Julia.  Julia, her grandmother and I hung out for a few hours and got some pretty good photos.  We started at Memorial Park, which has a great little lake (and all kinds of interesting Olympic stuff, which I really need to explore more). 

We then headed over to the Printers Union Home, where we were asked to leave.  Who knew you needed permission when the sign out front says ‘Open to the Public’.  Oh well.  We moved over to the downtown area to the roof of a little used parking garage.

Here are a few of the photos from the shoot!

As part of the session, Julia ordered an album which is a fantastic way to have a copy of every photo in a format that you cherish for the rest of your life.  You may not be able to easily look at jpg files from a disk in 30 years, but the book will always be there.  Ok, end of rant! 

Here’s the book! Click on the image below to turn pages.

Thanks to Julia for hanging out with me. I had a great time!

My brother and his bride recently welcomed their first child into the world.  Brielle is a super sweet girl that has a wonderful disposition.  We got to go and visit them in Amarillo a month after Brielle was born and had a great visit.  My daughters love meeting new babies and it was nice to hold a little one again!

The new parents are doing such a great job with Brielle.  They are very laid back and chill, which is a very good quality for new parents:)  So far they are doing a great job.  You guys keep up the good work with that sweetheart!

Greg and Sara waited until I came to town to do Brielle’s first photos and I am very honored that they wanted me to do the photos.  Here are some of the highlights!

We are all very blessed that Brielle is in our family and I promise to be the best Uncle I can be!

Facebook is a pretty amazing thing. I was in Wisconsin last week and sent out a message to all of my friends and everyone who ‘likes’ my photography page saying that anyone in Wisconsin who was interested could get a free photography session. My message was answered by none other than Kirk and Stephanie Spencer. Kirk used to work with my wife back in the day and we hung out as a group fairly often I was really glad to get a chance to see them again.

Last time I saw them, they had one child who was just a few months old. Now Cameron is 3 (and a half, according to him) and they have a second son named Alex. We met at Grant Park in South Milwaukee in the evening. Unfortunately it was the hottest and most humid night of the whole week and there had been torrential rainfall the week before that washed out several bridges that the park is know for. We made the best of it and had a really nice visit/photo session.

Also, I have to say that Cameron is one of the most charming and outgoing 3 year olds I have ever had the joy to meet. The minute he jumped out of the car he was talking to me and we got to be pretty good friends throughout the evening. He was also a pleasure to photography and was an excellent model. That’s a good kid you have there, Spencer family. Anyway, here are some of the highlights:

Thank you so much to the Spencer family for hanging out with me last week. I had a great time! You guys have created a wonderful family and I wish you all of the best!

Last weekend I got to go up to Littleton, CO and do one of the most involved photo shoots to date.  It was an extended family with 4 generations, several different looks and just about every composition imaginable.  Luckily the weather and the kids were all pretty reasonable and we got some of the best family portraits that I have taken.

Of course it helps that these are all friends and we were pretty much able to hang out at a great park for a few hours!  Here are some of the highlights:

Thanks for bringing me up you guys!  I had a great time.

To see the full gallery, visit: http://dustinstone.exposuremanager.com/g/follett-valdez-vandervelde

I had the pleasure of going and visiting the Baltz and Bishop family and take some photos of the group, including their newest member, Briar.  We were only there for about an hour, but it was a nice visit and also fairly exciting.  We heard sirens getting closer and closer until a fire truck, ambulance and several police cars pulled up across the street.  Not sure what all happened, but we certainly wish the best to those folks.

We really had a great visit.  Thanks for the invite!

Thanks again!  To see all of the photos and download/buy prints, go here:

http://dustinstone.exposuremanager.com/g/baltz_bishop_family