Sometimes from tragedy comes something good

During times of tragedy it’s hard to look down the road and see any good that can come from your situation.  On June 16th, 2008 we  lost our daughter Quinn to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) when she was just 3 months old.  Similarly, Michelle and Nathan experienced the same tragedy on July 31, 2009.  Their son “Baby Will” was found unresponsive when trying to wake him from his afternoon nap.  He too was a victim of SIDS.  Michelle and Nathan two amazing people and out of their loss have created www.babywill.org a non-profit organization aimed at a SIDS free future.  So, SIDS has brought us together.

Little did I know that from my loss I would meet so many amazing people.  I have had the opportunity to become friends with the Hurd family and Michelle came to me when they wanted to update their family portraits.  The three boys are totally crazy as they should be.  Boys will be boys!  Here are a few images from their session.  Can you tell which one may be the “trouble maker” out of the bunch?

Tour de France 2011

Last week I was in France for a wedding and being an avid cyclist I had to check out where the Tour de France would be traveling during my trip.  I really wanted to go to the 2nd day of the tour to see the time trials but that would have involved a 6-8 hour drive to the far western edge of France.  Instead we decided to rent a car and catch the finish in Lisieux, a small town about 100 miles from Paris.

The town was easy to find and we scored an awesome parking spot about 200 meters from the finish line.  I’ll admit, I had no idea where I was when I parked on the side of the road.  It just looked like a good point to pull off and have a lunch.  A British man approached and said he just found the finish line was right around the corner! SCORE!!

We walked around the awards podium a bit and tried to get into where the team buses would be parked.  No luck.  So we picked a spot at the 300 meter mark where we could see a bend in the road and the finish line. Now we wait…

Overall the kids were in great spirits.  During our almost 4 hour wait for the riders to come by, there was a parade of floats passing out candy, stinky goat cheese puffs, hats, shirts and even a car passing out laundry detergent?  All of the excitement trying to catch the schwag from the vendors made the time pass by pretty quickly.

Some of the more famous floats headed up the procession.  I love the lion.

As the floats and parade of race support cars started to thin out, the black clouds moved in.  The wind kicked up and the ran began to fall.  We scurried to put on our raincoats and I was doing everything to keep my camera dry!  Luckily it rained just long enough to get everyone significantly wet and then the sun popped back out just in time for the riders to come by.

The 4 hour wait was well worth it to be able to see the Tour de France in person.  I have watched it on TV for the past 10 years and to actually experience it first hand was a thrill.  More importantly I was able to make memories for my kids that will last a lifetime.  Here is an image of me (sporting my Pelotonia 11 t-shirt!) and my daughter.  I think she has caught TDF fever!

 

Sherry & Jay – New Albany Wedding

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet a couple last week who are truly in love.  Jay and Sherry met like any other couple these days, on the internet… I think it’s amazing how many people start their relationships after an online introduction.  I suppose it saves a lot of time spent with blind dates and all the other “old fashioned” ways we used to meet people.  Did  I really just type that? O.K., I must be getting old!  Regardless, fate has brought these two together into a new family.  Sherry with her two children and soon to be son-in-law, and Jay with his beautiful 7 year old daughter.  Together they have formed a wonderful new family.

 

Jay’s daughter brought up the rings to Damian King who officiated the wedding and Sherry’s children walked her up the walkway to meet Jay.  The wedding was held at a small green space in downtown New Albany and the rain was kind enough to break about 2 hours before the ceremony was expected to start.  We can all thank mother nature for that one.

 

The rings were exchanged and Damian announced Mr. & Mrs. O’Connell to the family followed by applause from not only the family but onlookers across the street.  As the photographer, I found myself taking just a few seconds to admire the awesomeness that Jay & Sherry just committed to.  It’s truly amazing.

Just a few days after their wedding and Sherry is busy closing on her home in Cincinnati and making arrangements to move to New Albany to convert Jay’s bachelor pad into their new home.  I wish them the best of luck in all of their journeys and hope to see them around town soon!   Help me to send warm wishes to them by commenting on this post, it’s here for them to read.

 

Matt & Jenny Paris France Destination Wedding

I’m so excited!  I just got off a skype call with Matt and Jenny who are getting married this summer in Paris.  We were just planning out the details of their wedding and all the sudden it hit me that I’ll be photographing a wedding in FRANCE!  Like Paris, France!  Yea, I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.  I can’t wait!

Jenny’s parents live in a town about 20 minutes outside Paris and the ceremony will be held in their garden with a quaint reception at local restaurant down the street.  We are going to do a (rather late) engagement type of session a few days before the ceremony in the city.

I don’t speak French.  I like French food but I am VERY nervous about going into a country where I can’t speak/read their language.  I’m just going to pop Ratatouille in the DVD player and brush up on as much French as I can.

Revoir jusqu’à la prochaine fois! (Thank God for the google translator!)

Check back for more updates.

 

MJ2Day Workshop Recap

Wow, what a long week so far. Monday and Tuesday this week I attended Melissa Jill’s MJ2Day Photography and Business Workshop.    The days were filled with shooting tips, off camera flash demonstration and just about everything else that is in Melissa’s head relating to photography.  Thank you Melissa for sharing all that you do!  I love it when photographers help photographers.   I also made about 8 new photog friends while I was at it.   Great to meet you Sara, Megan, Meredith, Amber, Tina, Leslie, Myra and Kristi. (yep, i was the only guy there!)

Now I have been to a number or workshops in the past year or so and I have been very clear to be sure that each has a distinct purpose.  I wanted to see how Melissa built her wedding photography business into what it is today.  I love her images and her branding is amazing, all of which I would love to emulate.  I’m being sure to emulate and not replicate.  I don’t want to be a carbon copy but I do love what she has going.

Some things I am going to work on post workshop:

Robb Shirey Photography Branding – I haven’t been completely happy with my whole identity since the new logo came out.  I loved the logo but my designer took a full time job towards the end of the project and we never really finished the whole package.  Good for her to have a job but bad for me.  I’m currently in the works to revisit the identity package.

Shooting Wide  Open – I love the amazing images that Melissa is able to produce and I know that I have the ability to make my images look the way I want but have always been hesitant to shoot wide open (to get that fuzzy background which is also called bokeh).  She showed me how to use the back button for focusing and TADA, it all clicked!  Check out some of the examples below.

Bio Page – My friend Dane Sanders suggested that you have a bio page on your website somewhere easy to access and front and center.  My friend Melissa Jill also echoed Dane’s remarks.  Yes, I know.. I know… I need to sit down and write my bio.  I have started a number of times but then start to think that this is boring and nobody will read it.  I’m important damit and someone will love me

Blogging, Blogging and more Blogging – I have fallen off the horse, many times.  This time I am going to get back on and stay on.  I am committing to at least 1 blog post per week regardless of what is going on.  I have a TON of things going on this summer (France, Leadville 100 MTB Race, Pelotonia &  my first triathlon just to name a few) so I should have plenty to say.

On the first day of the workshop Melissa had recruited a couple who has been married for about a year to hold a mock engagement session.  The point of the exercise was for us to see how Melissa interacted with the couple and how she is able to get them to loosen up in front of the camera.  We were able to shoot over her shoulder as long as we were also able to pay attention to what she was doing.  Here are a few shots that I was able to get.

The first image (above) is without a sharpen action run. The one below is with the sharpen action… Which one do you think looks better?

We ended up at a small farm where the owners let us have run of the barn. I absolutely loved the wash of light coming from the setting sun against this HUGE tree.  The second image is MJ in action.

 

Portraits for Pelotonia Fundraiser now OPEN

 

Make a $125 donation to Pelotonia and receive a Complimentary Portrait Session, 11″ x 14″ mounted print and a digital version for Facebook and your Pelotonia profile page.  This is a great opportunity for you to get an updated family portrait and donate to such a great cause.  Do you have a survivor that you would like to honor or maybe you have someone who is battling cancer right now.  Take this chance to come in for a portrait and capture the memories.  If you have a loved one who is unable to travel, please let me know and I will make arrangements to come to you.

Call me at (614) 906-2726 to reserve your Portraits for Pelotonia session.  This offer is limited to the first 50 sessions and will not be extended.  All sessions need to be booked/paid for before June 15, 2011 and completed by September 15, 2011.

The official page is http://www.robbshirey.com/pelotonia11 and I will be updating the sessions remaining in real time. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity!