I photographed the traditional group portrait for the annual National Puzzler’s League convention yesterday morning at the Red Lion Hotel in Seattle. They’re a fun, wonderful bunch of folks who didn’t mind at all that I spent my time there making fun of resident puzzle-leagite (puzzle-leagure?) and friend, Mike Selinker.

Here was my setup:

Unused on the right: Alien Bee 400 (didn’t need to cancel the sun and end all life as we know it). Middle light: Canon 430 EX naked on full power at 14mm triggered by PWII Plus. Left light: Vivitar 283 at full power optical trigger off 430 EX. This is what the group saw looking back at me (that and my shining smile, winning personality, and cyclops-camera-eye).

And here’s the result:

Out of the 128 people in the shot, I managed to find a frame that had only TWO people with their eyes closed! I call that a win.

Liz and I have a wonderful friend named Lisa who, in turn, has a wonderful dog named Jade. I owed Lisa a favor from waaaaaay back, so I finally had a nice enough day to cash that favor in by taking pictures of Lisa and Jade.

The girls (both of their names start with the letter ‘M’) across the courtyard from me and my family needed some new pictures—especially considering the oldest starts high school in the fall! So we headed out on an overcast day to a nearby fake-lake and walking trails and updated their portraits.

We started on a cool little hillside full of wild flowers.

And then the girls had to prove that their sisterhood isn’t all smiles.

But then we wrapped with some nice photos of the two of them together.

Our neighbors had their first baby, a boy, just 11 days ago. I had the honor of taking some newborn pictures of him last night.

Congratulations, Seth and Christy!

I can’t stress enough how much fun this shoot was. Jennifer is a great model who listens carefully, is great at taking direction, and was willing to splash water on herself for two hours to capture these images.

Lastly, I had many setups that day, but this one worked particularly well. Here’s a setup shot:

Ran around the local fields and forests today taking test shots for an upcoming portrait shoot. I think this turned out really well, you?

Here’s a preview of an awesome shoot I had with model Jennifer Sam today. I’ll post more as I process them (I have wedding pictures to process first!).

I was wowed tonight by the enormous, thick, boiling black clouds climbing over Tiger Mountain and hanging low over the Issaquah Highlands. So, naturally, once I got home, I grabbed the gear, hiked up to an empty field, and stood in a lightning storm trying to get this shot. And then I got this shot. I love the results.

One quick note: I’ve said goodbye to the one-a-day shooting. Paid work is actually “getting in the way” of my one-a-day time and I’d much rather shoot weddings.

My sister Alicia got married this weekend at a beautiful mansion in Kalispell, MT. Naturally, I was called into action to photograph her wedding–I’m sure glad I did!

Here’s the beautiful bride immediately after getting ready:

And here’s the bride with her maid of honor and bridesmaids:

And the lucky groom and his best man and groomsmen:

Happy wedding day, Alicia! May you and Jared live a long life filled with happiness! I love you!

Since Liz and I headed to Europe so I could photograph a wedding in Italy and we could visit her sister in the Netherlands, I feel woefully behind on Project 365 updates. That time is at an end! Here are the 11 updates needed to reach today (along with some extra photos I couldn’t resist sharing).

Day 99: In Brugge, Belgium.

This is the Belfort, so prominently featured in the movie “In Bruges.” We climbed all 366 stairs. And when I say “stairs” I really mean “rungs of the torturous medieval ladder that barely fit a slightly larger-than-normal American.” So that scene in “In Bruges” where Colin Farrell’s character warns the fat American not to climb the thing? He wasn’t kidding.

This is Liz heading back down from the top. I hope this gives you an idea of how cramped, tiny, and steep the “stairs” were.

The view from the top was amazing!

Day 100: Broken bird eggs in Schaijk, Netherlands.

Day 101: Trip to Aachen and Köln netted some great shots of both city’s cathedrals.

Inside Aachener Dom:

Outside Kölner Dom from the opposite bank of the Rhein with the Hohenzollen Bridge on the right:

Day 102: Liz mimics the french fry mascot in front of a restaurant in Oss, Netherlands. Yes, that french fry guy is eating his own head.

Day 103: A few shots from Amsterdam.

Dirty Amsterdam:

Pretty Amsterdam:

Day 104: Saying goodbye to Schaijk, Netherlands.

Day 105, 106, and 107: Spent these three days processing photos. Here are three samples from Reid & Heidi’s Italian wedding. I’ll do a more comprehensive post on the wedding once I have all of the photos processed.

Heidi’s wedding dress:

The world’s cutest flower girl:

Reid & Heidi:

Day 108: Liz and Lilia portrait.

Day 109: Some pictures of Lilia at the park.

My Flickr stream has also been updated with dozens and dozens of Europe photos. Click here to see them!