Run Road Atlanta

Whew! Run Road Atlanta just raced by. I signed up to volunteer for my son's charter school fundraiser a year ahead, and before we knew it the first inaugural race was here and gone with success. We had over 300 participants, despite the looming thunderstorms, flash floods, and tornado watches. A challenging course, even for race cars, toughened racers on foot with it's rolling hills and twists and turns, all on the paved raceway that race cars travel with 700 hp. My duties? Just keep the twitter and facebook feeds rolling, respond to followers on social media, handle all graphics pre-race, and keep my sweet camera dry while capturing action shots admist the soaked environment and approaching storms. After all that, I feel like I ran the race myself! Thanks to a great race director, April Brass, the RRA planning team volunteers, sponsors, school staff, and participants who helped make this a great kick-start to an inaugural event. World Language Academy benefited from the race to enlarge their Spanish-English library. Next year I'd like to actually lace up my running shoes. As a general rule photographers are to avoid background mergers; I'm used to moving around and getting in uncomfortable positions to miss shooting those, but there was one on race day I couldn't resist. Some rules have to be broken, whether for creativity or for a good laugh. I found WLA's own principal, David Moody, standing in front of a Rolex sign hanging over the race track behind him. I couldn't resist capturing the shot which looked like a crown on his head - he is a king of principal afterall ...

Rosy cheeks • The Rose Family

I had the fun opportunity to capture The Rose's again. A sweet bunch of five who bared the cold weather and rosy cheeks with me as we played and explored a tree house, among other things. These are dear friends of mine who have moved out of state recently, so our time together on their visit was more than just picture time. I hope you see some of the sweet wonder of these active boy's and their parents here in our time together.

New beginnings

Kameron arrived in Jenny and Kyle's arms in late October and the sweet time with him is flying at already five+ weeks old. Jenny has been a dear friend of mine for years as I've watched her grow into a young lady who has such a sweet spirit and now she's a beautiful mama. I relished my time with her this weekend hanging out like old times, but with a new precious star in our midst - Kameron. Most little ones do a lot of sleeping during their photo shoot, but not this active guy. He was awake for nearly the entire shoot. Here's the little cutie-patootie and his proud parents.

   I LOVE how Kameron's demeanor grows even sweeter with each kiss from his mama. So presh!

For the Mama

Many families have too many treasured moments to count and recall all at once. Such is the case with our friends of the Barwick family, but their fantastic kiddos have so much fun energy it's hard to get them to settle down for a pretty picture. In fact, it's been since their youngest Daniel was a baby since they've had a family portrait. So, the family gave in to mom's requests and agreed to stop for a minute, capture some of their sweet time before they grow up to fast, and on they were, back to being kids ... the parents too - I got them to jump off a bridge (really, really low to the ground ... don't worry). So here are a few from the day.

New Beginnings for the Bensons

Kalib and Abbey are some great friends of ours. We met them at church and they seem to think we're cool enough to keep hanging around. We are so excited for them as they begin their journey as parents and I was so honored they asked me to capture this moment for them. In fact, they've never had pictures taken together professionally since they've been married - can you believe that from this good looking crew? See? Being a parent has already rocked their world. It's just the beginning. And they're gonna be great. We had fun walking through the park as I claimed various baby names - every single one was turned down. What's wrong with Benson Benson? Too bad it's a cute first and last name. Congratulations to you two!