I have the honor and privilege of being the photographer for the Knoxville Force and Lady Force this season.  The 2013 season opener was at Regal Stadium against the Mississippi Storm.

The weather was perfect and the field was slightly damp providing great playing conditions.  Two of the Force starters were injured in the first half but will hopefully have a quick recovery.  It was an unfortunate loss however the coaching staff felt the teams performance was encouraging.

The next home matches are scheduled for June 1 at Regal Stadium for the Force at 7:30 pm and Lady Force at 5:30 pm.  Come out and support both teams!!!!

Surgery Care Package

I was introduced to Saving Little Hearts in 2012 photographing this very same event.  Karin began this organization after going through the experience of her son being diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect.  The organization provides help to children and families affected by heart defects.  At a small amount of $40, Saving Little Hearts puts together and sends care packages to families who’s children are about to undergo open heart surgery to correct a congenital heart defect.

The annual Silent Auction dinner helps the organization raise funds to create these packages and send them all over the U.S.  Several items were donated for the auction that was held at The Orangery.  Tearsa Smith from WATE came to show her support and was the MC for the evening.

Support Saving Little Hearts by contacting them today.

Help these boys keep their mom!

Last year, at the age of 36, Jen Thompson was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer.  After a long road of chemo treatments and many surgeries, her doctor can no longer help her.  She is waiting to start a trail that will be her only hope at survival.  Time is running out for her though.  Jen has a chance to receive a treatment that we hope will keep her alive until she can start the trial…but she needs help paying for the cost of the treatment.  This single mom of two precious boys needs our help!

When I ran across her story I immediately wanted to do my part to help.  Being a single mom is tough enough.  I couldn’t imagine going through something like this too.

Friday August 24th I will be offering mini sessions with all proceeds going to Jen!  Can’t make it this day?  If the response is large enough I will open this up to more days because that is how passionate I am about supporting her!

30 minute session

3 full resolution images with print release

Contact me today to book your mini session – $100 per session

Sessions will be held at Farragut Library Park

This is a perfect opportunity for anyone needing family portraits for the holidays, looking for senior photos or just looking for a few updated pics.

If you want to just donate, you can here.

Please share and help spread the word!!!!

AYSO Region 275 Extra All Star U10 girls team obtained the Section 5 games championship in the tournament late June.  The Fireballs traveled to Charlotte, NC to compete against other teams from a six state area in the southeast region.

It was an impressive weekend for the Fireballs.  They defeated Waynesville, NC 3-0, Huntsville, AL 3-0, Madison, AL 1-0 and tied Spartanburg, SC 1-1.  In the semi-finals the girls defeated Madison, AL 4-0 and then played against Charlotte, NC in the championship with a 5-0 win.

Great ending to an action packed Father’s Day Weekend!!!!

We were invited to this great match by my coworker and fellow soccer mom.  My daughter was very excited to watch the game and she wasn’t disappointed.  At one point she asked me if high school soccer was always that rough?

In the second half, she started yelling at the boys and sideline coaching.  TSK TSK…but it was funny none-the-less.  She was pretty dead on though.  It was such a close match and both teams played extremely well.

The original plan was to go to the beach.  That didn’t work out as planned to our dismay.  So as the backup we went to LEGOLAND!  After some bumps in the road with our tickets to the park, I wound up also getting us tickets to go to Universal.  Can’t go to Legoland and not also go to the new The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Universal was a bit of a mess of a day.  Go figure that I pick the busiest day they have ever had to go to THIS park!!!!  We waited for 3 1/2 hours (yes, I’m not joking) to get into the Harry Potter section.  This was the only reason I bought tickets to this park so we were GOING IN!  Luckily the park stayed open a bit later than normal so we were able to visit other sections too.  Our last day was spent at Downtown Disney which was a lot of fun.

Most of the photos are from Legoland.  The scale and function of some of these displays was absolutely amazing!

Someone is a bit excited

Rissa made some mini figures. Can you guess who they are?

Replica of Daytona. Simply amazing!

Interested in a session?  Contact me to schedule your own session.

P.S.  Share with your friends through FB or Twitter below.

I had a massage the other day and boy was I overdue!  I was happy to hear though that my many hours on the computer has not caused any signs of carpel tunnel.  My massage therapist was very surprised I wasn’t showing any signs in my hands or arms.  WOOHOO!

That got me thinking later in the evening about being ergonomically correct at my day job.  This in turn got me thinking about whether I was doing things wrong in my photography.  Not the computer part of it though.  I’m sure my biggest issue in this area are my camera bags.   My travel backpack houses all my equipment and my laptop.  People have commented before “That thing is as big as you are” which isn’t far from the truth.

Ergonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.  So for photography this would include things like how the camera fits in my hand, where the buttons are located, how many I need to press to get the setting I want, to the strap I use to carry it.

In my research I found a camera bag that I actually use to own.  The big selling point for it is that it is ergonomic.  I also found a camera strap with the same benefit.

Split Strap (photo kickstarter.com)

Evaluate your setup fellow photographers!  What things could you do better to make your photography more ergonomic?

P.S.  Like this?  Share with your friends through FB or Twitter below.

This time of year is usually my slow season so I was pleasantly surprised when I was contacted for these fun sessions with some friends.  First was Debbie and Izzie’s session.  Debbie is a well known and remarkable real estate agent in with Coldwell Banker Wallace and Wallace Realtors in Knoxville.

I also had the pleasure of a session with one of our soccer teammate’s family.  The Giddings are a wonderful family with two very talent girls that we have had the pleasure playing outdoor and indoor soccer with.  My daughter even got a few shots in during this session that they LOVED!

Interesting in your own session?  Contact me to schedule your own session.

P.S.  Share with your friends through FB or Twitter below.

What a BEAUTIFUL fall wedding in middle Tennessee!  The weather could not have turned out better for Shana and Ryan’s big day.  Uptown Events did a fabulous job catering the event at the Moore residence.

I met Shana several years ago and have seen her hit some major milestones in her life.  From moving into her dorm her freshman year at the University of Tennnessee to her marrying her love and best friend.   Thank you Shana and Ryan for letting me be apart of your amazing day!