Kids' favorite winter break activity is sledding!

If you live in a place like Summit County, Colorado, it only makes sense that we all love winter sports! So with a week off school, the kids have been sledding almost everyday! I took this opportunity to try out a new lens that I bought for wildlife photography, but I guess this is also a type of wildlife!

I used the Nikkor 80 to 400mm VR lens....great for subjects far away but with a zoom to get them when a wild animal charges or in this case a wild child sleds into you! Most of these shots were taken with shutter speeds between 1/400th and 1/800th of a second....and I had an exposure compensation of +1.0 for that bright snow!

The SLEDDING SLIDESHOW here!














And a photo that represents FUN, but REALLY bad photography is this one that I was having trouble getting the subject into the viewfinder of the 400mm lens....



But photography is always a learning experience, no matter how good you are!

A photo shoot at the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas during WPPI

During WPPI in Las Vegas last week, I had an opportunity to photograph several models at a museum being constructed called the Neon Boneyard.




Basically, this non-profit is getting all the old neon signs from hotels and casinos on the strip, and making it into a museum! Thanks to fellow photographer Emma Smith of Live Love Laugh Photography we had the opportunity to spend a couple hours at the museum with a lot of great models.







As usual, when in a group of photographers,I get caught up on what is happening on our side of the cameras and how us photographers are acting as much as what's happening with the subjects! Which is usually just as entertaining!

WPPI Conference in Las Vegas

WOW! I have always wanted to attend the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) annual conference in Las Vegas, but WOW! What an experience! Not only had I never been to Las Vegas before, but I have NEVER been surrounded by so many photographers. I think there were close to 10,000 photographers in attendance. Some of the workshops seated 1,800 people! I tended to cling to the smaller workshops with only a couple hundred people! And where I could see the speaker!

We stayed at the convention headquarters, the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, and it was almost a 10 minute walk indoors to get from the room to the conference center! The lights, the noise, the buildings, the people -were all a new experience!







My favorite workshop was one lead by photographer Terrell Lloyd, called "Diversifying your Portfolio." Terrell was a very entertaining speaker and he shoots weddings, families, commercial work, product shots, and he's a staff photographer for the San Francisco 49ers! Very inspiring photographer!

My favorite event was a shoot at the Neon Boneyard, a non-profit museum on 3 acres of land off the strip with all old neon signs from Las Vegas! I went there with at least 40 other photographers, and it was a riot! Below is my favorite photo from that shoot and the rest are ONLINE HERE!



And then I had the opportunity to do a mentoring session through Thirst Relief International with wedding photographers Chris and Katie Humphreys which was really wonderful! I love all of the Humphreys' wedding images and really admire how they work together as a couple! Having an opportunity to talk with them one on one was really a highlight of my week! AND I met with the folks at Livebooks and am soon to get a new Livebooks website! Yippee!

Mountain Log Homes of Colorado

These kinds of photo shoots I can handle! Taking photos of beautiful log homes that are beautifully decorated.....it's just fun to be in the houses even if it is work!

Mountain Log Homes of Colorado is based in Frisco, Colorado and have been building log homes here for many years. Owner Brian Wray has been building log homes since 1982. I had the opportunity to photograph two of their homes this week, and they were breathtaking!

Click here to view the whole SLIDESHOW!

Breckenridge Log Home:














Silverthorne Log Home:
powered by solar energy!