JD has shoulder surgery next Tuesday.  The doctor said that MRI's usually aren't very good at telling the whole story so it's best to go in and take care of what is found.  Hopefully the surgery isn't extensive but he will likely be in a sling for 4-6 weeks with the shoulder immobilized.

We've been catching a little breather this week, able to work on some other things that needed done.  I finally got my truck into the garage and started replacing the upper control arms and shocks.  Naturally, the spindle is giving me issues as I haven't been able to get the ball joint stud to release.  It took an impact to get the spindle bolt out and now this.  I've been spraying it with penetrating fluid, hoping it will help.  Jodi told me before I started to take it to the shop but I wanted to save the money.  As usual, this is how my projects always go. 

I have to work Saturday and then have a photo shoot afterward.  We have about 5 shoots left to get in before graduations start.  It's been a great Spring and the summer should be fairly busy as well.

Here is the first image from our biplane shoot that we recently released.  It turned out pretty cool and we will be getting more out soon.  As always, you can click on the image to see it larger.

I'm looking forward to the weekend as I have both days off and it will give me time to work with some of the new studio gear.  One of my current models is going to meet up with me and I'm going to photograph her in her designer prom dress as their prom is Saturday.

We have come to a little break in our schedule.  We have 4 more seniors to photograph for this class but they won't take place until next month.  That will give Jodi a little breather and allow us to work on some other things.  We have had a very good Spring, a record for our studio and we are looking forward to a busy summer.  Our intern will likely be staying on with us part time, as a photo assistant, occasional retoucher and possibly doing some video work for us.   

JD gets a second opinion on his arm issues today.  Either way, it looks like surgery for him and the recovery time will be much longer than the last surgery.  I know he wants to get it done as soon as possible so that he can try again next year.

We've mostly been keeping busy with sales sessions of late as well as our model team party this past Sunday, which was a huge hit with our girls.  All 9 were able to make it and we revealed their images from their model sessions to them, handed out their swag bags and ate a lot of food.  We're off to a great start with the team.

Jayson was with us last night and he is really getting big.  His vocabulary is surprising at times and he says some of the sweetest things.,  He likes to run around the house imitating a motorcycle and when he falls down he says, "I'm OK" and starts running again.

Our hair and makeup artist had her baby yesterday, a week later than her due sate so we are having to reschedule a few sessions for next week.  The baby and mom are healthy and we are looking forward to having a little one around the studio at times to play with and spoil. 

I haven't shown any of our work lately so here are some images from some recent sessions.  Click on the image to view larger.

We have another week of a super busy schedule before we get a little break.  We've never had a spring like this before and it's been harder on Jodi to keep up than me. Jodi has our intern assisting with some of the editing right now to meet deadlines and get product to clients in a timely manner. 

We are planning some travel where we will do some on location photo shoots with models either in the area or who will travel with us. The Valley of Fire outside of Las Vegas is top son my list followed by the beaches of San Diego.  We have also discussed the Black Hills and parts of Colorado as possible photo shoot locations.

I recently did some equipment upgrading for the studio and I'm proud to say that I now own the same equipment that the world's best use.  It wasn't a huge cost to upgrade as selling off some of my old gear paid for a big chunk of it but I'm really excited to work with the same gear that some of the people I admire do.  My goal is to take my photography skills to the next level, not just create pretty pictures of people which I feel I'm already pretty good at, but work on controlling light better and getting more creative with it.  I'm really drawn to some of the editorial/fashion photography I see and I now have the majority of the tools I need to do so. 

My plan was to paint our house this year until I heard my neighbor just paid $5300 to have his done.  WHAT?!!!  So, now I'm going to paint it myself, maybe with the help of a friend. I don't like the idea of working 25 feet up on a ladder but that's about $2000 more than I was willing to pay.  I think I can get it done with help for under $2000. 

The doctor thinks JD has a torn rotator cuff.  Not good. MRI being scheduled.  He is going to try to redshirt.  Recovery time is 9 months though.

The days are getting longer meaning I'm not getting home from photo shoots until after 8pm now.  I've shot the last two nights and have a sales session tonight,followed by a shoot tomorrow and Friday.  More sales sessions tomorrow, Thursday and two on Saturday.  Bu$y time$ for us. 

With a lot of photo shoots, consultations and sales sessions booked, we are staying quite busy.  This has been the busiest start to a year we have ever had.  The mild weather has helped considerably but our popularity has grown immensely over last year and that has helped keep the phone ringing. 

JD's season might be over.  His shoulder is a problem again and the tendinitis is unrelenting.  The school has scheduled an MRI for him and I don't think it will turn out very well for him.  When he "can't" pitch, it isn't good.  I'll provide more updates as we have them.

Well, back to reality!  After 10 days off and an amazing time in St. Louis, I'm back to the daily grind.  Retirement is going to be awesome though! 

The photography conference was a blast and we had some great photo shoots, the highlight being the Steampunk themed biplane shoot.  It was incredible to watch the hangar doors open and reveal the yellow Stearman.  I think I got goose bumps as I marveled at the plane. 

We had our intern with us and we brought two models from the convention along, all dressed in Steampunk attire.  We helped wipe down the planes leading edges prior to assisting with pushing the plane out of the hangar.  The pilot fired up the engine and taxied to the nearby grass runway.  We positioned it so we could shoot to the West as we hoped for a cool sunset.  It's always a challenge on shoots like this as I'm usually running around at a hurried pace, trying to get everything setup as the others don't know the lighting equipment and what needs to be done.  Once I had everything set up, I started shooting the models individually and then grouped.  All was going fairly well although in hindsight, I missed some shots I should have got.  It's always like that after a shoot where I have my afterthoughts. 

The pilot suggested he do a low pass flyover with a smoke trail.  HECK YEAH!  It's a two passenger plane so he tried to get Jodi to go up with him.  That was not about to happen!  So I went up with him.  Jodi was not too sure about my adventure as I got a very nervous sounding "I love you" as I got into the plane and buckled in.  I told her not to worry as if the plane were to go down, I went out doing something totally awesome!

We let the engine warm up a bit as it was sputtering some but then he accelerated and we were careening down the grass airstrip.  It was wiggling quite a bit as we gained speed as the cross wind was a bit strong.  We roared past Jodi, the girls and the other spectators of the shoot and took flight.  It was pretty wild being in an open cockpit as we gained altitude, almost surreal.  I'm not sure how high we wound up going but then we did a hard bank over a sports complex and headed back to the airport for the first low pass.  I could see the smoke as we flew by the models.  Jodi and a photographer friend snapped pics as we raced by.  We quickly gained altitude again and came around for a second pass.  It was awesome.  We flew into the colorful cloud filled sky as sunset approached.  I really didn't want to land but we came around and landed on the grass runway.  It was incredible.  How much do one of these things cost was the first thing on my mind!

A relieved Jodi met us as we taxied the plane back to the photo shoot site.  We weren't done yet as I had a 25 foot pink parachute were were going to use as a dress on one of the models.  The sunset and sky was amazing as we photographed the parachute and model together.  What a thrill.

Here are a couple short videos I have from the shoot.  I will be posting images at some point as we get caught up with the editing.