The Best Gift Ever

The Best Gift Ever, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

At the age of three what could be a better gift for a little boy than a toy gun? There are so many fun things you can imagine to be, the white knight that comes to save the damsel (and if you were wondering, yes you can be a knight with a GUN!) or the evil guy with the GUN. Hopefully this little guy is pretending to be the white knight and he is protecting the damsel behind him from the evil photog guy pointing the camera at her.

Brett Meyer

Brett Meyer, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

I had the wonderful opportunity of spending the holiday up at the Meyer Family cabin in caribou hills outside of Ninilchik Alaska. We had a great time enjoying each others company and of course playing in the snow. I followed along as we ventured into the back country on snowmachine where I had the chance to take some really fun shots of the guys riding. The condition were perfect, subzero temperatures with high winds. The few brief moments I was able to get my camera out of the bag my fingers where numb trying to take photos. All in all, I had a great time and got some pretty cool shots of the boys. Thanks Meyers!!

Give the Gift of Cooking

Give the Gift of Cooking, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

"Give the Gift of Cooking with Allen & Petersen Cooking & Appliance Center"

www.aphome.com

www.vikingonly.com

Happy Holidays!!

Dave

The real highlight of Christmas

Nativity2, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

The highlight of the Christmas season should be on the birth of Jesus Christ and that is what I was hoping to capture with this photo.

Strobist: One SB-600 camera left with homemade vacuum attachment snoot 1/8 power

Plush Moose

Plush Moose, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

I finally received some of the lighting equipment I have been waiting so long for and had the chance to stay up all hours of the night experimenting. This shot was taken with my new Micro Apollo Softbox camera right with about 1/128 power. I have some other shots from tonight posted here. I am loving my new found tools.

Grandma's Hands

Grandma's Hands, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

Even Ice Get's Cold

Even Ice Get's Cold, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

A good indication of cold weather is when the ice gets frost build up on it! It has been so cold up here lately that everything has this frost build up on it. The best thing about cold weather in Alaska, is that's when it is blue skies and beautiful.

Cere (aka Cereal)

Cere (aka Cereal), originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

Eating Cereal is a very serious event, one cannot be too careful with the those lurking around who at any moment would take your cereal from you. A good box of cereal is only so deep, for those who lallygag around they do not get to enjoy as much of that box. There is no substitute for a late night snack of cereal.

Strobist: One SB-800 camera left and above, shooting through a diffuser.

Christmas Gifts

Christmas Gifts, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

Having lots of family can be both a blessing and a huge pain in the neck. Each year as we get toward the end we add the stress of coming up with something to send to our family members and friends to tell them that we appreciate and love them. I of course look to the local merchants to come up with something that does just that, but each year I am vetoed and my wife proceeds to stay up all hours of the night working on her creative ideas that end up saving us huge chunks of cash.

She is so good at coming up with a cute idea that we can make from things we have around the house. I am not sure how she does it, but each year I end up amazed at the beautiful things she makes. I hope each of you enjoy her long hours and creativity ( I sure do).

Trina's Creativity

I am always amazed at the creativity of my wife Trina. Last night she decided that she wanted to make a card for a couple we know, from our church, that just went through the adoption process. She made this beautiful card from scratch. It is times like these that I realize that I really am okay with her having a giant "tool box" of scrap stuff to make these cards with. She was so excited as well she even wanted me to take pictures of it. She helped me come up with the lighting for this shot. We tried several different methods and ended up shooting through a household umbrella camera right.

Old Friend

I found that an old friend of mine Erik Massey is a fellow Strobist follower. I must say that I have been very impressed with the photos that he is producing. Erik called me the other day to say that he was in Anchorage and wanted to get together to talk strobes. We got together and he gave me a good run down of what he uses and how he likes to do things. Since I am pretty new to strobes it was very useful, Thanks Erik! This is one of the test shots we took as we discussed how to set up lights. We had one strobe camera left with a shoot through umbrella and one background light behind Erik. Thanks again Erik and sorry for posting this "test" photo of you for the world to see.

A Mothers Love

Dayton and Mom4, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

I can just feel the love in this shot. Same lighting set up as previous photo.

Dayton and Mom

Dayton and Mom1, originally uploaded by dave_mdavis.

We finally decided to take some photos of the family, so I pulled out a couple of flashes and we went to work in the living room. I really liked this photo of Dayton and Trina as it shows Dayton's true character. The lighting set up for this shot consisted of one SB-800 with diffuser at camera right, one SB-600 bouncing off ceiling at camera left and one SB-600 behind Trina and Dayton. At first I did not enjoy the wrinkled sheet look but it started to grow on me.