Abby turns 14 - SURPRISE PARTY!!

Queen Creek Cancer Relay for Life

Between the hours of 6PM April 23rd and 6:30 AM April 24th the Queen Creek Cancer Relay for Life was held this year. I was privileged to be asked to photograph the event and was happy to accept. It involved an all-nighter and taking lots of photographs, but the fun and joy of the event was sufficient incentive to have a great time.

It was heartening to be part of this event that is celebrated by those who are cancer survivors and sentimental for those who have lost loved ones to this disease. I heard some numbers associated with how much money for cancer research was raised by this worthy event - and it was quite a large number. If you have a chance to become involved in an event like this in your town, it's well worth missing a night of sleep.

We got in this morning and went right to bed around 7AM or so. Couldn't sleep too long and was up around 11AM and went right in to check out the photos. I'll be posting some of them here over the next few days as I go through them.

As always, click the thumbnail to enlarge the image.


This kite enthusiast entertained us late in the afternoon and into the darkness hours. We had blustery winds which took the temperatures down and made it a two blanket night.

The Luminaria Walk is a time for survivors and family members to silently walk the track and remember those who lost their struggle with cancer. The track is lined with the names of loved ones no longer with us. Participants carry colored glow sticks which can be seen slowly filing past the luminaria posted as memorials to family and friends.

It's 2:55 AM and a few of the volunteers are walking their laps. It was unusually cold so those walking were bundled up in heavy jackets; some were wrapped in multiple blankets to ward off the chill. The walking continued throughout the night.

"Cure" is what it's all about. This shot is of the survivors and supporters walking silently by the luminaria in remembrance of those who succumbed to this disease.

Nauvoo Temple

My Temple images are for sale. Click the "Temples" link here on my blog and let me know if you're interested in a custom print.

Seniors Rule!

It's not too late to get your own grad announcements and wide-screen wallets.

Karissa & Barry

We're going to be seeing more of this couple. Stay tuned.

(Click to enlarge)

Logan Utah Temple

The Nelson 8?

Candice is the mother of 8 children and this is a portrait of them playing in their backyard. There are only 8 different children in this photo - perhaps there is a dog in there as well.

Sierra

Kids in the studio again...

Are you still there???

Cory & Sophie

Cory & her daughter Sophie were in town from their home in New Jersey for a family event and stopped by for some mother/daughter portraits. Here's one of our favorites from the shoot.

Erica

In July of last year, a couple of graduating seniors came by to help me sort out some new studio lights I'd just purchased. They were very kind to help out and I really appreciated it. Here are a couple of shots of Erica, a very pretty and, as I recall, a very mature and considerate young lady. Thanks Erica - we'll have to do this again.

Sneak Peek

Candace and Tyler had a great day from what I could tell. This handsome couple celebrated with family and friends in a wonderful backyard reception. I loved this photo that steals a moment of their excitement and dedication during their first dance.

Photo contest results

I had a photo place in the top 20 honorable mention recently. The contest was sponsored by Midwest Photo Exchange (MPEX.com). You can see the results on their Facebook wall by clicking here.

Here's the winning photo.

(Click to enlarge)

The photo is of Seth and Janette Winsor and was taken at the Mesa Temple. The shoot was a pre-wedding session and that morning it was raining, not to mention it was around 6:00 in the morning. Seth and Janette were troopers and never complained, in fact I think they had a great time. You can see some of their other photos here on my blog by clicking the Wedding label.

I had a chance to visit with Seth and Janette recently and they're doing fine and lovin' married life. They will be graduating from BYU this spring and heading off to North Carolina where Seth will pursue a Master's Degree. Janette's is receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Deaf Studies. I wish this great couple all the best.

Kansas

A surprise for a sweet young Kansas senior.

Little Family

A lot of personality and happiness here...

How well does your web browser display color?

Hi everyone, this is a little blurb on color accuracy in common web browsers, and I do mean little.

The International Color Consortium (ICC) issues standards for presenting color. Computer applications need to recognize these ICC standards (profiles) if they are to present "tagged" images correctly. In other words, if your web browser is ICC Profile aware, it will present the colors in photos that have embedded ICC Profiles in them (tagged) the way the artist intended. If your web browser is not ICC Profile aware, it will present the colors some other, unintended way.

Let me add that to really see colors accurately your monitor needs to be calibrated as well. If you go tweaking the color, brightness, contrast and other settings on your monitor, no amount of standards or profiles will help. Calibrating a monitor is a must for a serious photographer, but it is a topic for another time (contact me if you want to know more).

Why is this suddenly important to you? Good photographers will go to great lengths to capture and edit images in which true and accurate color is preserved. The sophisticated tools these artists use to create these images are ICC Profile aware and the images are tagged with a color profile which defines the color space in which the the image was created. In order to see the work as the artist intended, a web browser must be ICC Profile aware as well, otherwise the browser makes assumptions about the presentation of the colors; not always correct.

So, how well do the various web browsers implement ICC Color Profiles you ask. Well, I checked the four that are installed on my two computers and present the following brief ranking.

Apple Safari - BEST. ICC version 4 (the latest).
Mozilla Firefox - GOOD. ICC version 2 is implemented.
Microsoft Internet Explorer - POOR. ICC Profiles are not implemented.
Google Chrome - POOR. ICC Profiles are not implemented.

The test samples are shown below. You can test your own browser and read more about interpreting these images by clicking here. If this interests you, another good site that will show you how well your browser presents colors is here.

Essentially, less funky color is better.

Angela

A few more images from Angela's recent shoot. This girl will be famous in about three years...