Children's Portraits - Katie (aka Katarina) turns 3!

Katie has been coming for portraits since she was 6 months old! And she is always such a display of fun, beauty, personality, and an array of emotions. This shoot was similar! She starts out very shy - hardly can look at me, and at some point, she breaks out and talks a blue streak and entertains to beat the band!

She is the subject of a special section on my newest website, the Watch Me Grow section.

Slideshow here....

Optimists Basketball in Summit County - What a Great Season!

Tonight is the last game of the season for my son's 5th grade Optimist's Basketball season - Beaton Photography sponsored the team, so I tried to bring my camera and document a few great plays of the season!

Lighting is often difficult in these gymnasiums, and especially adjusting white balance. But I used the Nikon D700 with my Nikkor 70 to 200mm lens. No flash and usually ISO's of 2000 captured most of these images. Sports photography is interesting as it captures a moment in time, and sometimes makes the players look a little silly - or at least not in great basketball form. Sorry about that boys! You look better than that in person!

All photos can be viewed online....

















Thanks to all the volunteer coaches and referees that make the basketball program. And thanks to a few good volunteers, like my Heather & Kirk, for volunteering to keep score!

Utah Tubbs Romp to Stomp

We just returned home from a great weekend in Park City, Utah. I photographed the Utah Romp to Stomp on Saturday, then a day of skiing at Deer Valley with friends, and a big SuperBowl party with our old neighbors. My buddy, and fellow photographer, Bill Milner of Milner Photography in Salt Lake City helped me shoot the Romp.

The Romp to Stomp is a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer, and is held in 6 cities across the United States - you can join their Facebook Fan Page and see more images online. Operating since 2003, the Romp to Stomp has raised over $1 million dollars for breast cancer research. There are 3k and 5k snowshoe walks and races, and participants dress up in beautiful pink outfits and crazy team outfits. It's really a beautiful event - this is the third Romp that I have photographed!

A slideshow of the Utah Romp can be viewed here...

And an online album of the day's photos here...

And a few of my favorite photos of the day...


















This last photo of Danelle Ballenger, an extreme athlete and PrimalQuest participant. In addition to her many athletic achievements, winning 140 plus snowshoe races, Danelle had an injury in 2006 that almost killed her. The full story is on her website. What a story and what a woman! And what a dog, Taz!

We LOVE Keystone Science School!

I have spent the last two days at Keystone Science School, chaperoning my son's 5th grade class, and trying to capture as many images as I could to "document" the week in photos. I also played a little with lenses and settings best for snow photos.

A full slideshow of the week is online here.....

And I don't do video, but this Making an Avalanche is the closest to video that I've done for awhile! Just 30 seconds & fun!

I learned a lot about snow that I didn't know.... I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids!

And a few of my favorite photos....