Congratulations Amanda!

I had a great time photographing Amanda for her senior portraits last week. She has certainly grown and matured in the years I have know her. Now look out world - she's ready to take on anything!

Fun with tomatoes

Recently I heard about a fun idea using water in a photograph and have been looking for an opportunity to try it out. I got it when I saw this contest for the Florida Tomato Growers. My entry was chosen as one of the final 15 entries and will be touring the eastern US. Check out all the great entries. And be sure to vote while you are there!

http://www.floridatomatoart.com/winners_florida_art_tour.html

I had a wonderful time photographing this little guy - when I could get him away from the girls. He is going to be a handful when he's a teenager.

But then, knowing mom, I think this is a case of life paying her back for her younger days.

We have a website!

Thanks to my brother, David Marcy, waterlilygallery has a real website -- finally. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Things are moving along at the studio, too. These images were taken for YS Cabinets of Panama City, Florida. If you are looking for a great cabinet company check out their website - http://www.yscabs.com/

And our seniors are looking good as well. Meet Brian from Bay High School.

He's heading into the Army after graduation. Good Luck, Brian! Stay safe.

More people are becoming aware of a new trend in photography - oil paintings inspired by portraits. This is from an image by Al Gordon, of Alfred Gordon Photography, in Bradenton, Florida

Meet my daughter

I had the opportunity to photograph my daughter over the holidays. She is finishing her last year at college as a photography major. This was the photo we used to create her business cards

Our second session with Lauren went beautifully. She was a dream to photograph

Her mother even let me take a few shots of the two of them, even though she didn't think she was properly dressed. Karen was a great assistant, too. Maybe I can hire her for my next session.

Fun Senior shoot

I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with Lauren and her buddy, Tex, last week. Weather permitting I will be able to finish the session with a shoot downtown on Saturday. Lauren is a beautiful girl and a real pleasure to photograph.

My daughter is doing great at photography school. She took this image of me recently and I actually like it!

I recently entered my first Florida Professional Photographer’s competition. The results are in and, if I may say so myself, I think I did pretty well. Four images scored high enough to merit. Now we will see if I can repeat that success at convention at the end of the month.

An Old Soul

This is Sofia’s sister. She is only 6 years old and yet still knows that Sofia will plague her life. Sofia is 2 years older with blond curls, blue eyes, perfect lips and not a brain in her head. Sofia’s sister knows that she will spend her life following behind Sofia fixing things. Grades she doesn’t want her parents to see. The car she wrecked while putting on make-up for the third time. Boy’s hearts. Even at 6 she can see all this because Sofia’s sister is an old soul, wise beyond her few years. One look into her eyes can tell you this.

Of course, the only thing that is true about all this is that this is Sofia’s sister and she is 6. Every year on their birthdays Alfred Gordon of Bradenton, Florida, photographs the girls for their parents. When he told me all he could remember was that she was Sofia’s sister this whole story evolved in my head.

I guess I read too much, but sometimes its fun to speculate on the unknown. And sometimes images just create their own story.

This last week I spent time learning Photoshop secrets from a great teacher, Al Audleman, at the Florida Professional Photographer's school. Every morning some of the teachers would head out to the beach at sunrise to teach anyone interested. This shot was from a session with the Simones, a french couple who produce amazing images.

I finally had a few minutes to get back to painting. This is from a photo taken by a friend in Kentucky - Teri Fortney of Fortney Photography. She takes beautiful photos of children.

There were three people out parasailing on the bay near sunset today. It looked like they were having a blast! I don't think I have the nerve to try it but it was fun to photograph.

I had an enjoyable opportunity to tour 4 beautiful gardens this weekend. A lovely swan lived at one and was patient enough to allow me to take several images. One begged to be painted.

My husband and I planned to have an early dinner followed by a nice drive down the beach. Instead a forest fire and a crazy woman with a camera changed all that. I ended up standing in the thick smoke surrounded by swarms of bugs. (Oh, what a photographer will do to get the shot.) Fortunately I have a very understanding husband. I think the results were worth the effort, although I may never get the smoke smell out of my clothes.

While our website is being built I thought we could share a few images here.

The fog was heavy a few days ago resulting in a perfect picture taking morning.