Our e-session

So Jasen came up to my parents place today with Michele and I to shoot our engagement session. What a great time!! Many stories from our adventurous day... too many to share. Here's a few pics from the session that he uploaded to his blog. You can check out even more pictures at jmasterphoto.com/blog.

Thanks again man your the best!

Cody

Michele's brother, Cody, left for his army training in Georgia this morning and will not return for another 8 months. He has signed on to become an Airborne Ranger Medic and I'm sure is going to be a damn good one. He will be back just in time to be able to stand beside me at our wedding and I will be proud to call him my brother in law and now officially family.

Cody, I wish you all the luck in your new found journey and can't wait to have you back. We'll see you soon!

An Ode to the American Soldier

by

Noemi Pina

An ode to all of our brave men and women
Serving our country.
Fighting for justice; fighting for us to remain free,
Proudly defending America, our very precious
Lady Liberty.

Our American soldiers left for the Middle East,
To fight terrorism - the man consuming beast.

And behind their families they left
Their friends, teachers, children - all of them, they left behind
But they keep them in their hearts - and
Even this, death cannot unbind.

Patiently, their loved ones await for their return
As they pray and yearn;
Their flame of hope in their hearts brightly burns,
With every passing day of news they learn.

An ode to our brave men and women,
Giving their all, giving their whole,
For a single great cause.
An ode to them our American soldiers!

Brodie's Surgery

Well Brodie had surgery today to help correct his severe hip dysplasia. I got a few pictures of his gnarly scar (about an 8" incision/8 staples) but since it was oozing a little, I thought I would bare you squeamish out there the images. Poor guy he is so out of it right now. He should be good as new in about 4 weeks :) ...hopefully!

Ben's Proposal

So my good friend Ben from high school (...that I never seemed to be able to beat back in the wrestling days) proposed to his girlfriend Chase yesterday and I got to shoot every little moment. OK, so here's what went down:

1. Ben calls me about taking some pics when he pops the big questions
2. We scope the spot out a few days before and devise a plan to capture the moment
3. The big day arrives
4. I pose as some random dude about 20 yards away behind a bush taking pictures of the "sunset" with a monster zoom lens
5. Ben rocks his guitar and asks the question on a 100 ft. ledge ( I guess it was a backup plan if she happened to say no...)
6. She says YES
7. It is revealed I was a photo sniper on the hunt

Awesomeness!




What-what, check out the bling!




In the next two pictures it almost look like they are overlooking the ocean or something but it's actually the cloud cover in the central valley. Totally awesome view above the clouds, nasty weather below! You can even see the coastal range far in the background of the pictures. Gorgeous!!




I wish you both the best in all your future adventures and can't wait to see you guys again!

Coonce Family

The Coonce family are great friends of my family and I. Mike and Doylene have been around to watch me grow into the person I am today. When we finally got around to deciding a location, Mike had a hook-up at a local wrecking yard thought it might be cool to do them there. I was like a kid in a candy store with possible shooting locations and ideas when we showed up. It was totally worth it and we all had a blast exploring the site and checking out all the old rusted up cars. Maybe one day I will be able to go back and try to do another shoot there if I'm lucky enough.

Hope you all enjoy...

Sunset Silhouette

On the way back down from another day trip to Shaver, Michele and I stopped at a secret location that overlooked the entire valley for a few sunset pics with the dogs. I had my mini tripod and my camera and after seeing the following silhouette picture in the viewfinder I wished I would have brought my flash strobes to give us a little pop! I guess that means another trip to the mountains... bummer :)

Window Cleaning

How do you wash your windows?

Snow Day

We decided to tag along with my Cousin Serena, her Husband Mark, and their dog Copper for a day trip of fun up to Shaver lake with the dogs. This was the first time that they had ever seen the white stuff and it was hilarious to watch them walk in it for the first time. After awhile they warmed up to it and then we couldn't get them to calm down for a minute.

What a gorgeous day!



Brodie kept putting his head down under the snow looking for something. We couldn't figure out what he was doing actually but it was pretty damn funny! I tried to get one of his with his head under the snow but it was pretty tough to get one with a point and shoot camera. You have to try and time it just right. They just don't have the response time to a DSLR :)

Christmas '08

Well Christmas has already come and gone this year and it's seems to come and go much faster with each year I get older. It's one of those things that your parents tell you comes with age and they couldn't be more right! It never lasts as long as you would hope for :(


My grandpa got be an entire box full of some antique cameras that he has collected to add to my personal collection! It was probably the coolest gift of all coming from him. There were a few that even had the original box, instruction manuals, cases, straps, extra flash bulbs and everything. Super cool to a photo nerd like me! I've always wondered with old cameras just what exactly was shot through those lenses and the history of how they ended up in my hands. The fact that I am holding something that has created a snapshot in time many years before I was born and that someone out there may still have that picture... crazy to think about it in those terms.


Bear and Brodie were playing ALL DAY running around in the rain and I happened to get this shot of Bear before he jumped all over me. I just missed the focus but I liked it too much not to share.


The sky was just awesome the entire day. It's ever changing and always brings something new that you have never seen before and will never see again.


I hope everyone had a great Christmas and was able to spend it with their family and friends or if you don't like your family and friends that's cool too, just buy yourself presents and you'll never have to worry about returning a gift because you don't like it :)

Merry Christmas

Steve and Ben

Steve contacted me awhile back about wanting to setup a shoot for the California Waterfowl Association. So about a month later we set out to the Kings River for a little fun. Other than freezing... I had a blast capturing them interacting together. Ben was so excited to be hunting with his daddy, there wasn't one thing that Steve did that he didn't copy. On the way home it wasn't a few minutes and both boys (Ben and Bear) were passed out in the truck from a hard days work, haha. Here's a few moments I happened to capture...