I was able to get in our photo session before the rain last night.  We had gray skies and dark clouds at times and I think for some of the shots it will add some drama and impact to the images.  Since Jodi was working late, Megan was my photo assistant for the shoot and she did fine.  It was a bit cool and windy as the storm front was moving through.  It felt like upper 40's by the end of the session.

It looks like JD is a weekend starter now as he is scheduled to be the starter on Sunday as the team travels to Tennessee to take on UT-Martin.  We hope his success continues for the balance of the season as they have three more series remaining.  Their next home series will be the last of the year in mid-May as they take on Austin Peay.  If they remain in their current position, they will qualify for their conference tournament in Nashville the following week.  If they are fortunate enough to win the tournament, they would then head to Atlanta, I believe, for their regional tournament. 

We were able to get two of three sessions in this weekend and will try to makeup yesterday's lost session today.  We had good weather for the other two and we're happy with the results.  This shot was created with a wide angle lens I rented for the weekend.  The lens would be a $2300 investment to purchase.  Although I want the lens in my bag, I don't know if it adds that much value to the business.  We will find out soon based on whether our clients buy the shots created with it.  Here is one of them: (click for larger image)

JD pitched very well this weekend.  He started Saturday's second game that was moved from Sunday due to the inclement weather forecasted for Sunday.  He wound up going 7 innings, surrendering just two runs on 5 hits.  When he left the game, they were winning 3-2.  That was the score heading into the 9th when Morehead scored 6 runs.  A grand slam in the bottom of the 9th got them back to within one run but they couldn't tie it up and lost 8-7.  My guess is he has solidified himself as a weekend starter for for the balance of the season if he continues to pitch well.  They are in position to make their conference tournament if they continue to win more games than they lose.  They won the other games this past weekend.  They have three more weeks to play, two being important conference series.  The non-conference series is against Northwestern, near Chicago. 

  

The forecast isn't looking very good for two of the three shoots we have planned this weekend.  Thunderstorms are in the forecast so we may or may not get the shoots in.  We can always reschedule the shoots but I rented a 24-70 f2.8 lens for the weekend since we had three clients booked so if we don;t get them in, I kind of wasted some money.  I guess if we get washed out I'll just go on a little photo safari and do some shooting for my own enjoyment.  It might be a good time to do some shots to create some HDR backgrounds to use for composites.  I'll need a tripod for that.  Hmmmm, honey, we need to go shopping!

I picked up our t-shirt order yesterday and we now have black shirts to go with the white.  I think they both look really nice but the black is my favorite I think.  I'm looking forward to taking delivery of our custom printed presentation folders for our client welcome packets that we will be mailing out this year. 

We have a model shoot tonight and I'm also suppose to do a group photo for some award winning youth's to be published in the Liberty Tribune newspaper. 

We had a great time with family in St. Louis yesterday.  It was my third trip to STL in the last 10 days or so and I have one more planned, to help JD move out of his dorm at the end of the year.  That will likely be my last trip until September.

JD pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief on Saturday.  He said his arm was not feeling very good and it showed in his efficiency but he only surrendered one run and kept his team in the ball game, giving them a chance to battle back from an early deficit but it didn't happen.  He may wind up getting a start this weekend during a home series. 

I thought I was going to have the Good Friday holiday off but since we need trucks, they called for a voluntary Saturday and now are running 10 hours.  I can't turn down double time plus the holiday pay so guess where I'll be?  I also have to work Saturday along with Jodi so we'll be driving to STL after we get off work for Easter with family.

We have 5 photo shoots next week plus a View & Choose session for a client we already shot!  We are going to be incredibly busy but that's a good thing in my book.  I have a feeling that once June hits, we're going to be pretty steady in our work. 

Apparently our fireworks show in Fenton is moving to a new location and a different weekend in September.  We've somewhat outgrown the park we shoot at as the Saturday night crowd is in the thousands and we'd also like to have more space for more shows, wider fields of view and be able to shoot larger shells.  We are currently limited to 8" shells but the new location will allow for 12" shells I'm told. 

We are discussing taking another vacation when JD gets home from college.  We're either going to go back out west so JD can see the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Las Vegas and San Diego or head to Florida.  Although we did the west last year, I think I prefer a return trip over Florida. 

We're back in KC after a weekend trip to St. Louis to visit Justin and family.  We'll make a return this weekend for Easter and then it will be awhile before we make it back again, in all likelihood, it will be September when we have our fireworks shoot in Fenton.

We have a busy schedule here the remainder of the month with photo shoots and I have plenty to do around the house.  The lawn will need mowing when it dries up and since I'm off Friday for the holiday, I plan on bringing in mulch for the landscaping in front of the house and do some planting. 

Our commercial begins airing on MTV today.  Who would have ever thought we would have a television commercial of our own?  It seems pretty crazy but it just may be the new norm for us here.  We feel at this point it is the best way to reach our target audience and share with them what we do.  It's an investment but we feel at this juncture, it's the best we can make in our business right now.

And here it is!

A shot from last night's model session:

JD was able to get back on the mound for the first time in over a month last night and pitched two innings of relief against Evansville.  He threw 32 pitches and 25 were strikes.  He gave up a couple 0-2 hits and had a walk but no runs scored and he will have that as a confidence boost to build upon.  They play SEMO this weekend so it's possible he'll be back on the mound Sunday. 

We received the first edit of our television commercial yesterday and overall are very pleased with it.  We requested a minor change or two and we hope to have it ready for broadcast shortly.  I will post the commercial here when we have the final edit.  I expect it to do well for us.

At some point, Jodi will need to learn to take photos as I have learned a little about editing and Photoshop.  Prior to a recent session, I had her take a few shots of me as the model.  With this shot, she learned to focus and then recompose. 

Tonight we get to meet with our accountant and do our 2013 tax return.  Looking forward to the wealth redistribution, not.  Jayson will be with us tomorrow and then Thursday we have a pre-session consultation with a new client and then a model shoot right afterward.  Friday we have some interviews with potential models booked.