JD pitched pretty well on Friday, winning 2-1 against the #3 team in the nation.  He finished with 8 K's and he said there was at least a dozen pro scouts with radar guns behind the backstop.  We don't know if any were there specifically to see JD or not as there are some guys on the opposing team that are supposedly possible draft picks. Well, he shut them down pretty good, while lowering his season ERA to 1.86.  The next closest pitcher on the team is at 4.91.  The team wound up taking 2 of 3 as well with an extra innings walk off win on Saturday. 

JD takes the mound again today at noon against the #3 ranked team in the nation, Missouri Baptist.  Not sure how his arm is feeling as I've pretty much stopped asking.  I know it's nowhere near 100% but he continues to play and I think just wants to get this season in before he has surgery to clean out or repair it. 

Jodi and I are looking forward to our photo conference the week after Easter.  There is a trade show and I know it will be quite tempting to get a lot of new gear while there.We will also be doing a whole lot of shooting while there as there are over 200 models and we are meeting up with some groups to do some side shoots and I am attending two hands on classes where I will be photographing models as well.  Jodi will be along on some of the shoots as well as attending some classes on her own. 

 I just got my new Canon 5D MKIII yesterday and today will be the first time I get to use it as I have a Model team shoot scheduled.  The controls are a bit different than my other body but I had it setup in a matter of minutes.  The greatest thing about this camera is the amount of focus points it has over my older body.  I will have to focus and recompose less which will allow me also to shoot at shallower depths of field and still get sharp images.  Since I now own the Canon 85mm f1.2 II USM lens, I want to be able to shoot at that razor this DOF and it be tack sharp.  There is no room for error shooting at f/1.2. 

Another tough loss for JD this past Saturday and he allowed two unearned runs through 6 innings and left the game leading 4-2.  After a total of eight team errors, they lost 5-4 and he took a no decision.  Needless to say, he was not pleased with his team's defensive performance and apparently he let them know in the dugout.  He reportedly received a team apology in the post game huddle.  He'll try again this coming weekend.  His ERA is 2.05, averaging over 1 K per inning and is 1-2 on the year.

Yesterday I ordered my new camera!  I took advantage of a couple rebates being offered and purchased the Canon 5D MKIII.  It will be my primary camera going forward with the current 5D MKII serving as my backup and DSLR video body.  It should be here Thursday, just in time to try out on Friday for our last Model Team shoot of the Spring.  I'm looking forward to getting acclimated with it prior to our photography convention in St. Louis in just a few weeks.

Jayson is really growing fast and it's quite funny to listen to all of the new words he is adding to his vocabulary.   He really loves baseball and went to JD's game this past Saturday.  At home, he likes to play baseball, hitting the ball and yelling "HOMERUN!"  We may just have another ball player on our hands.

  

JD took another hard luck loss as he isn't getting much run support.  He left the game with the score tied 1-1 but men on base as he reached his pitch count.  The reliever gave up a game winning single and that was the ball game. 

We enjoyed our brief visit to St. Louis and getting to see most members of each of our families.  We'll be heading back the week of Easter for a photo conference downtown.  I'm looking forward to learning new lighting techniques from a couple highly regarded photographers and Jodi will be taking some retouching classes to see if she can learn any new techniques or tricks to speeding up her workflow.  When not in class, we will be out shooting with other photographers throughout the city.

We photographed three of our Class of 2016 models yesterday and have three more scheduled for today.  Next week, we shoot 5 more and then we expect to have a number of sessions in April.  I'm expecting to have a busier summer this year to go with a busy fall.

 

JD's start didn;t go as hoped as they lost 5-4.  He allowed one earned run but a late rally couldn't get him off the hook for the loss.  He leads the team in ERA (2.70) and K's (11) in 10 innings pitched.  They travel to Tennessee this weekend for a 3 game series.  I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch at home.  This past weekend he didn't have his normal velocity so his arm may be bothering him a bit again. 

We have another photo shoot scheduled today, three next week and two the following week.  We'll be busy for some time now and our marketing campaigns will begin for the next class soon.  We are hoping for a 20-30% increase in sessions this year which would likely be our max we want to take on while we both still currently work full time. 

JD starts the noon game today at Harris Stowe.  Hopefully he feels well today and has a good performance and gets some run support.  They are playing a double header and then a single game tomorrow before heading home. 

We chose 11 models for our team this past weekend and may add one more.  We're going to be real busy here soon.  We already have two shoots scheduled this week and we'll be getting a lot of procrastinators calling in a panic needing pictures done prior to graduation.

We'll be heading to St. Louis this weekend for a bridal shower.  We will be driving in Saturday afternoon and returning Sunday.  Seems like it's always short visits for us. 

Here is a sneak peek of the room we created in our studio for our clients.  Since the photo was taken, we have added some additional clothing, shoes and accessories.  We will gradually be filling it up with a lot of choices for our clients to choose from.  Click on the pic for a larger view.

We did it.  We had our room pretty much ready for our Model Team shoot.  We were only missing an end table we had to order in and there are a couple wall spaces we would eventually like to put some prints up on but overall, it looked great for the reveal.  When the girls came in to see the room, some of their jaws literally dropped.  We heard comments like "I want this to be my room" and "I want to live here".  Even our makeup artist said she was moving in and thanked us for her "new office".  It really made all of the frustration, time and expense worth it.

JD will be pitching in St. Louis next week and he is their #1 starter and is scheduled to pitch the 7 inning game either on Monday or Tuesday.  The games will be played at Harris Stowe, next to St. Louis University.  It will be his second appearance of the season and so far he feels pretty good.  His velocity in his last bullpen was 86-87mph so he is pretty much near where he was when fully healthy.

We will be in St. Louis a couple times over the next month or so as one weekend will be for a bridal shower and another will be for a 3 day photo conference/event.