I thought I would share my photo session at Cape San Blas in Gulf County Florida with you. What a day that was....

It started with Brandy and Taylor picking me up at my house at 10:35 am with Owen in tow. I knew we had at least a four hour drive ahead of us.

I enjoyed our conversations throughout the drive but deep down inside I was so excited like a little kid waiting in line to ride a roller coaster.

We made a few stops on the way there (gas, food, snacks, bathroom breaks) so it took around five hours to finally arrive at our destination. Well worth the drive.

After we figured out where we needed to park and unload Owen we walked down to the beach. Oh my, it was so beautiful. Keep in mind this was only my third time being on an actual beach. I sat down on the white sand and took photos of the birds flying around while I waited for Brandy and Taylor to bring Owen out to the beach. I had butterflies in my stomach from the anticipation of what was to come.

Finally they appeared; It had seemed like hours because I was so excited to photograph Owen and Taylor galloping across the white sandy beach. It took Taylor around 10 minutes to get Owen use to the waves lapping at his hoofs. He is such an amazing horse.

I photographed Taylor and Owen for around two hours on the beach. It was magical. To watch those two interact with one another through my lens really touched a part of me. This moment in my life will always be etched in my memory. I can’t wait for my next photo session at the beach.

<Peace out>

So many people have asked me why do I photograph only pets/animals. My answer - because people are so boring and I love animals! You never know what you may end up getting when you photograph pets/animals but I do one thing; it's always a challenge and never boring.

Now don't get me wrong, I have photographed children, teenagers and adults. I found the photo session to be so boring. Pose here - snap, snap, snap - pose here - snap, snap, snap, and so on.... Just not my cup of tea. Animals do what they want to do almost all the time so you really have to work on getting that perfect image.

I love a good challenge. That's why I love photographing dock diving events or horses running around. There is so much excitement going on. My heart starts to beat faster and I start to sweat from the pure excitement of it all. It's such a thrill for me.

I know they say "You will never make any good money photographing just pets" but when it becomes more about the money and less about my passion then I need to put my camera equipment down. That's just how I feel about it.

<Peace out>

Well here is my second blog. YOO HOO!!! I'm really on a roll now.

This blog will be about my feelings towards event photography. I started to really get into event photography three years ago when I started to attend dock diving events for dogs. My friend Lori introduced me to the sport and I fell in love with it.

It was such a hard event to photograph and I love a good challenge. My first attempt at photographing dogs jumping off a dock into a pool were horrible!!! I had no idea how to focus on the dogs quick movement or deal with such horrible lighting conditions. I swore I would get better at it even if it killed me.

I started going to every dock diving event I could find that was no further then three hours away from where I live. Well I did manage to find a lot of events. I stood out under that hot damn sun for hours just trying to capture that perfect image. I soon learned that you are pretty much stuck with whatever lighting God has planned for that day.

It's been three years now photographing dock diving events and I'm pretty happy with where my images are at now. Sure I still have issues sometimes tracking the focus of the dog but I'm much better at it now. I shoot in RAW format which helps a lot with the lighting conditions. 

I did attend an Arabian Horse Show last year at Perry Ga and I guess I pretty much bombed that event because only two people ordered images from me. The lighting conditions were horrible!! So needless to say I won't be doing anymore horse show events unless they are outdoors with better lighting conditions.

It is a tough gig being an event photographer nowadays because everyone seems to take photos or videos with their cell phones. This is what will eventually kill the event photographer. Oh and don't forget the amateur photographer who takes photos and then just gives his work away for free. I really love photographing the joy a dog has when he or she makes that leap into the pool but I also have bills to pay and a life to live, so I believe my days are numbered as an event photographer. I hope everyone enjoys their cell phone images because that will be all you have left when the water settles.