Giving Back

A year or two ago I went to the petting farm with my nephew, Dylan. He really loves a specific goat there named, Colin. I decided to take a picture of this goat and transform it artistically into something unique. It did receive a winners badge at Betterphoto.com awhile back but Most importantly, my nephew got a picture of his favorite animal friend.

Last month I was contacted by Juli Kouri who asked me to donate a copy of this image to raise money for Food for the Hungry (http://www.fh.org/). 20 images were auctioned at the event, which contributed to raising over $32,000 for Ehtopian orphans. The auction was held at Grace Covenant Church, in Austin TX.
I am pleased to know that my image could help such a worthy cause.

Winning Work

This evening, Betterphoto.com announced winning images for the month of September. My image, "Of Sound Mind," received a second place win in the People category.

See below:

In addition, two other of my images obtained Finalist badges for the month:

"Comfortable Company" in the Monthly theme category- Interaction.

"Frozen in Time" for the Digital Darkroom category.

Digital Image Cafe also recently recognized two of my images in their Photo of the Day selections.

" Let's Play Ball "

" Born Free "

Onexposure.net published an image of mine last week as well:

"Between the two of us..."

It is always wonderful to be recognized at sites where SO many fabulous artists submit entries and interact each day. My memberships there help me learn and grow and I am thankful for such terrific communities. :)

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

Three years ago today my niece, Tiffany, was born. It is hard to believe time has passed by so quickly. She has an adorable laugh and such beautiful big blue eyes.

Below is a candid I snapped of her as she was sitting on her deck- eagerly watching her Aunt and Uncle arrive at her birthday party yesterday.

Happy Birthday little one- hope all your birthday dreams come true.

Autumn in the Park

This past weekend I was fortunate to spend lots of time with my nephew, Dylan. The pictures above were taken at Maybury State Park. We visited this location so that he could stop by the barn to see the animals and go on a little hike where he collected many different types of Fall Leaves.

He is not usually thrilled about being in front of the camera- but he tolerated me on this particular day... for a whole ten minutes, LOL! ;)

He also enjoys taking pictures himself! For the past two years he has been tagging along at least 1-2 times per month on shoots with me. His favorite picture subjects are animals.

I promised to post a few pics of him on my blog. Enjoy the above pics- My favorite season and my favorite little boy.

Recently Awarded Work

Below are a handful of some of my images which received recognition during the past few weeks at various compeitive photography sites. From Photo of the Day, Finalists, Winners, etc... I was thrilled to see each one acknowledged. A few of the below images were even recognized at more than one site.

The good thing about belonging to many photo sites is that different styles are appreciated at each of sites. There is an abundance of talented artists who interact with one another regularly on all of them. Learning and inspiration is inevitable.

Aruba Fun

I got back from the island of Aruba yesterday evening. Wow! If you haven't yet visited the gorgeous location you should take some time to do so. I was there with my fiance for nearly two weeks. He attended the Ultimate Bet Poker Classic Tournament and did very well. :)

I have lots of pictures from the trip to share- but, for now look below to see a handful of shots from an evening poolside performance we saw while we were there. Pearl Aday (Meatloaf's daughter) and Scott Ian (Anthrax)....they put on a fabulous show! Look for their new album next month.