The day my life changed.

It was 1968, I was a new kid at school and was on my first band trip.  I was in the eleventh grade.  We were headed to Washington, D.C. to march in the Cherry Blossom Festival.  My family had recently moved to the area and I had only been in the band a month or so, but I had noticed the band secretary from my back-row seat in the trumpet section as she carried out her duties in the front of the room.  Besides being secretary, she played saxophone and sat a few rows in front of me.

A few hours into our train ride I went looking for the few guys I had gotten to know - we had planned to play cards on the long trip. When I got to where they were the only seat available was next to her.  What should I do?  Then she said, "sit down, I don't bite."

Funny how I still remember those first words she spoke to me after over forty  years.  But, then that was the day my life changed.  I never went out with anyone else, we went to the junior and senior proms together.  In fact we've never been apart since that day.

We graduated high school together, and were married one year to the day from graduation.  And that only because her mother insisted we wait a year to see if we were still together.  You know how those teenage romances are.  June 12, 2010 was our fortieth wedding anniversary. I guess it's going to work out after all.

We currently have two grown and married children that we are immensely proud of and three wonderful grandchildren and one due to arrive in July.  Like I said, that was the day that my life changed and it couldn't have been a better ride so far.

The photo posted above was made on that train ride the day I was invited to sit by her.  It's easy to see from that smile why I jumped at the chance.

Below is a short slide show highlighting our time together.

Mixing fun with business

Stacy and Blake's wedding at Hilton Head, SC, was fun all by itself, but it also gave us the chance to spend a little time in Savannah.  After meeting them on the beach for a "morning-after" session on Saturday, we drove down to Savannah and spent the night before coming back home on Saturday.  Although we spent only a little time there, I was able to make few photos that were keepers.

What an amazing recital.

Amy Murphy is an amazing woman.  I've photographed many many events and worked with lots of directors and have seen several recitals, but Amy's event was one of the best organized and stress-free I've ever photographed.  Her students are also amazing.  Such talented and fun people to be with.

These photos are from the Amy Murphy Studio recital at the Virginia Samford Theatre a few days ago. John and Angela from Main Street Productions were on hand to capture the whole event on video.  Can't wait to see their final cut.  I only have room to show a few here on the blog, but you can see many more on our site. Click here to see them.

Dee Dee and Randy got married!

The wedding was beautiful!  You guys picked a beautiful location at Chateau Toots, and were so blessed that the predicted rain held back.

Train up a child...

I know it's a bit of a stretch, but Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."   I hope this applies to training photographers as well as spiritual matters.

Hallie, one of my granddaughters, and I went out this morning for a short photo excursion.  She's only six, but already shows some signs of becoming an artist and photographer.  Naturally, I am encouraging this every step of the way.

 These are a few of my photos from this morning.  You can see Hallie's in another posting.

Hallie's photo excursion with Grandpa

My granddaughters are now six years old.  Old enough to begin making photo excursions with grandpa.  Hallie and I went out this morning, I with my Canon 5D Mark II and she with my Canon G11.  When we got home we immediately sat down to edit our photos.  From her photos these are Hallie's choices for the blog, edited to her specifications.  I wanted to make a few in black and white, but she has strong opinions about her art and only wanted color.

My Favorite Subjects

There are three of them and one more will be here in July.  My grandchildren.  It is evident from my website and the large amount of disk space devoted them, that I love to make their pictures.  They get a bit tired of it now and then, but overall they like having a photographer-grandfather pretty well.  Maybe one of them will develop a passion for the craft.

If you keep up with BlueMoon Studios on facebook, you know that we recently moved our studio back to our home.  We were at Mt. Laurel for over three years and only had to walk out the front door of the studio to find good outdoor locations. These photos were made in our backyard and I believe that between what we have right here and the locations available within just a few miles of us, we have some really good places to photograph.

These few photos were made as impromptu tests and to give grandpa an excuse to photograph his favorite subjects.  I think they look pretty good.