042311 Introducing Vivian! (and More wireless Ipad tethering)

Well I finally have a baby to hold! And I couldn't be more happy.

Vivian Elise Viltrakis

I'll tell you all about how the ipad's wireless tethering feature has been ridiculously beneficial in sharing the news of our daughter with friends and family, but first let me tell you about Vivian!

The morning of her birth i got up early and photographed all the spring flowers just blooming in the front yard so we could make prints and canvas wraps to decorate her room. I even photographed the morning dew.

(Vivian at 9:00 am!)

Then Terri and I took a few last maternity photos to remember it by and nervously headed to the hospital. :)

Then after a few hours of dazed craziness...

(Vivian 1:45 pm!!!)

We had a perfect baby girl!

Naturally I had my camera and I didn't want to leave Terri and Vivian at all...

But I know how anxious people are about news so, while we were in the recovery room Terri and I used the Ipad and Eye-fi card [LINK] to make a gallery of images for the relatives to crowd around while they wait of their turn to see our little girl in person!

It was a smash! I'm lucky it didn't break from tear damage. Another benefit of the ipad's wireless capabilities with Shutter Snitch (the software that is the "landing pad" and display for the images). It is simple to email single or groups of photos right from the gallery!

Now every time we have guests visit they can see all of the sorted images from the last few days and email the ones they want. It's a brilliant Point of Sale opportunity! The Ipad allows everyone to share in the sharing!

In the mean time I've been photographing her first week like it was a wedding. :)

I've also had some time off to play with these new fangled filtery-doo-hinkeys.

I like to record video of her waking up with the 7D. It's always amazing. :)

Mother Theresa and I had the fortune of attempting a photo shoot on Viv's 5th day (which turned out to be the only nice day since we got home from the hospital). Very fortunate!

Let the embarrassing photo ops used to scare off future boyfriends commence!

041311 1:45:23 pm

Hey everyone, we'll be back next week with "a brand new addition!"

until then, please enjoy this "bundle of joy" from flickr!

(PS- Typing with one hand is hard)

041011 My Beautiful Terri's Birthday

I'm going to Keep this short because even by typing this post I'm neglecting her! But, Today is my darling wife's birthday! Happy 26 baby! And speaking of babies, Vivian will be here Wednesday!

For her birthday Terri's parents took us to The Golden Lamb in "historic" Lebanon Ohio.

Turns out this establishment opened in 1803. Which is pretty cool. Lots of presidents and famous people have been through there because it was one of the only nice places between the railroad and Cincinnati (which used to be cool) or Lexington (for Henry Clay). Many if the rooms have been named for the people who have eaten or stayed there. There's the Charles Dickens dining room, or the James Garfield room, and of course the broom closet Dubbya got stuck in while there.

This room is by far the coolest (+) because it is named for and tells the story of Clement Vanlandingham who was an attorney (-50) who successfully proved that the victim in his murder case could have shot himself (+25). He did so in this room (+60), mortally wounding himself in the process.

In fact, here's the bullet hole! (+100000)

(I poked it)

(Remember this?)

In other news, Vivian will be here on Wednesday, so please forgive me if I don't post next monday. I have been faithful every Monday for 6 years now. I'm entitled to one! :)

I LOVE YOU TERRI! I LOVE YOU VIVIAN, FAMILIES, AND FRIENDS!

Here we go!

Baby time.

040711 CNE Career Day

One of the coolest things I got to do recently was go and present 3 hour long presentations for Clermont North Eastern High School's Career Day. It was SO much fun! I tried to keep it real and still make some jokes. Heck it's not normal class for a reason.

So because I'm insane most of the time, I decided to take the kids out of the class and have a group photo taken. I took the normal one, and then we did a cool one.

Outside was awesome, but wet. Sorry 1st period!

I really packed a lot of material into an hour. Thanks for listening!

040711 Long Exposure Burn for Terri

Friday night was my usual photo jam session with national car photog OJ Santiago and fellow mom-to-be, Kari. Tonight's experiment was long exposure, with speedlights, transmitting to the ipad wirelessly. We were also celebrating the birthday of my wonderful assistant Terri V. :)

(3.2 second exposure with Speedlight +2/3)

Terri chose the opportunity to play her fire pit like a nuclear reactor. It was awe inspiring!

(She was probably thinking about Kasey's Bonfire)

(3.2 second exposure with Speedlight +2/3)

Mr Santiago can't believe how cool the wireless Ipad tethering is... in fact, he shot lasers out his eyes just after this photo. It's that cool.

(10 second exposure with Speedlight +2/3)

Here Terri shoots plasma out of a bottle of plasma we have and ignites a small explosion. :)

(10 second exposure with Speedlight +2/3)

The result of the explosion. Fun.

(2.5 second exposure with Speedlight +2/3)

"The Crew" photographed by Kari!

It was a great celebration for a beautiful woman!

We even got in a vertigo era light show for the birthday girl. The long shutter speed test was a success!

040711 House!

I decided to take the last pre-baby photos of my house this weekend.

040211 Rob and Christi

I'm proud to show you a couple of the new images I have recently finished for a client! They are all prints from my good friends Rob and Christi's wedding. A wonderful affair!

It was a really cool and beautiful wedding, check out the original post here!

Call or email now for 2011 package prices and availability!

032611 TWIG CD Release Party!

It's finally out! The debut release for Cincinnati quartet TWIG is on the shelves!

Light Up the Sky

To mark the occasion the band held an exclusive cd release party for some of their biggest supporters. I was happy to be invited as their photographer!

(Every stage is cooler with lasers and fog!)

Let me just say that when drummer Dave picks out a house it has to have several specifications. All of which have to do with rocking. This stage is in his basement.

Half of the brothers Maley, Mike thumps out some smooth baselines.

The band even had a local caricaturist whose name I'll have to post later, but he was great!

Check out more about the new TWIG cd Light Up the Sky Here!

The CD art is pretty awesomely designed by local artist David Estep from Liquid Lines. It features some sweet images form recent shows from me as well! Check it out! TWIG has a rocking sound with early rock homage! Great stuff!

Light Up The Sky

Get it Here