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I have been working on the album design for Kathleen and Matt.  We are still working on it and when the final design is done I’ll post the slide show. Their ceremony was at the Shrine Church on Woodward Ave in Royal Oak and we had awesome images of our “Urban Shoot” in Detroit – everyone had so much fun.  There were more romantics at the Historical Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn on their gorgeous grounds – this is where the evening finished out for the reception.
Photographers on this wedding last July were Julie Proudfoot, Brian Geci and Faith Dew. 

Here are 2 of our favorite album spreads so far.

Gunther and Sandy went to the Ann Arbor Orchid show  today and got some awesome images.  He loves to photograph close up flowers.  He is using a Nikon D2x which is a 12 meg camera that he uses at work.  These started out as NEF RAW files at 16 bit , converted here to regular 8 bit jpegs.
He now has some of his fine art images at a gallery in Northville on display.

See his web site at: http://www.gunagraphics.com/

On January 26, of 2006, Tracy and Rick had small ceremony in their snow covered back yard with 4 friends, a 3 year old, and our dogs. They got married outside at -15 degrees F. It was a quick thing, that is for sure, before they all froze solid. It was so pretty out though, they didn’t want to do it indoors. They will have another ceremony for friends and family in July of 2007 so everyone can plan on visiting and enjoying their beautiful state.

View their wedding album showcase at http://www.wallyspicephotography.com/bridalalbums/tracyrick.htm/
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View inserts from her e-mail post – including the “Dr Suess vows” that I quoted in the album,  they are easier to read here.

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Some of our Family at Christmas in 2005. Top row is my brother Gunther, brother-in-law Steve, my Ex, Russ, my niece Dawn (who’s helping me with this blog – from Californai); In the middle is my niece Candice, Grandsons Steven and Aaron around me, and Julie in Front. That’s Julie and the boys in the grass last fall I’m in the blur with my daughters Julie aand Tracy – when she was home last May. Julie and finace Brian are by the pond.

You can see more family photos from the last Holiday season and last year on my personal flickr photos at  http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyspice/

The ceremonial start of the 34th annual Ididarod started in Anchorage Sat March 4.  The actual start is supposed to be in Wasilla, where Tracy lives, but for the third year in a row there has not been enough snow and the trails were too icy – so – it started in Willow, a Little north. Tracy and Rick had a party for some friends that Sat night  - some of them went on to watch the start in Willow on Sunday but Tracy had to work.  I saw the entrance to the Headquarters when I was there in 2-05.Jeff King of Denali Park, Alaska, crossed  the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, after winning his fourth Iditarod, March 15, 2006.
Photos from the Anchorage Daily News, AP by Al Grillo Love these images.

Sunday was an All Day seminar at the Detroit Professional Photographers Association in Novi.  Hanson Fong was our dynamic speaker and we packed the house with almost 200 photographers.  That’s me at the table registering people and in the second row in the overview.  I am on the board of directors here  as Vice President in charge of Programming - I will be installed as president in June of 2007.  I love this group and what we do to work with, learn from,  and have fun with our peers.
Julie was picked to be one of the models as “Mother of the bride” – here she is with John Glass who trying to be the dad that won’t smile while  the mom and the bride “hug in”

 

This map shows the area of Alaska where the Augustine Volcano is in relation to the other volcanos and cities. Anchorage is the largest city and this is where Tracy works. Wasilla is where Tracy and Rick live. I visited Tracy in Feb. of 2005 and we spent 2 days in Homer and photographed the eagles – it was so beautiful – we could see the volcano in the distance sticking out of the ocean like a cone from where we were. (Photos from this trip are on my older personal site www.wallyspicephotography.com/personal) You can also access this site at the bottom of the About Us description of my main site.

Feb 24, 2006, Alaska Volcano Observatory

Some of you know I have been following the activity of Augustine Volcano in Alaska, a 4134 ft high conical shaped stratovolcano located  in southern Cook Inlet about 70 miles south west of Homer and 180 miles south west of Anchorage. It has been very interesting to watch and learn from – especially since there is NO danger to people on a totally uninhabited island.

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/index.php
When on the site go to activity page for current status updates and the Augustine Images section – It’s fascinating to see geological history happening before our very eyes.

Images courtesy of the Alaska  Volcano Observatory/UAF-GI

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I hosted the monthly “Photo Chicks” meeting at my in home studio last Thursday and we had a great time – We had about 10 girls and enjoyed each others company as usual – gabbing and sharing successes and problems – I love it – being able to share  and learn with each other. Our topic this month was to share a photoshop tip or trick – or something to make life easier on the computer – we all took a turn at the computer and learned some great tips that we could take back home and use.

I played with a new plug in called Lucis Art – very creative and artsy – It was advertised to “make something ordinary – extraordinary”. We played with many images – but I liked to soft watercolor effect on this image of myself – I have been looking for something to use for promo and was never happy with anything.  The original was taken at a wedding last summer.

I just received  Ericka and MAtt’s wedding album back from Art Leather – we worked very hard amd a long time on this one but ended up with a fabulous 60 page very deluxe totally custom digital designed album – it turned out fabulous.  Ericka loved it and was very involved  in the design – this is definitely her baby as well as mine.

 This is a quote of what she sent me earlier on the outcome of the design – ” I know I have said it before, but I need to say it a million times more for you to truly understand my sentiments: You are AMAZING!!!!! Thank you for being so patient with me, for working with me, and for delivering me the most incredible images to remember the greatest day in my life thus far.  I am beyond grateful to have found you!”

Follow this link to see her album yourself – This is a “Album Showcase” slideshow – there is music but it can be turned off if you prefer.  This will soon be added to my website under “Albums”

http://www.wallyspicephotography.com/bridalalbums/erickaandmatt2.htm/
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We just got back from a great wedding yesterday -
After getting ready at home and a beautiful touching ceremony at the American Hungarian Reformed Church on Allon Road in Allen Park we debated if we had enough time to go where we really wanted to go for romantics. The altar groups were done quickly and we had one and a half hours of daylight before we were due at the reception – including travel time and getting into the lino and vans. We decided to go for it and travelled to Elizabeth Park – they had spent a lot of time here in their dating years, his home was close by and his grandparents were married here – so there was a huge personal connection – but it was cold (38*). They were troopers – Wendy didn’t even wear her wrap – we loved the old bridge and walks along the lake – so much character and history in those old bridges. We even got the whole wedding party in our famous “walking” shot – We were quick to hop back into the limo and head to the reception – Lakes of Trenton.

Even here we decided to head outside to the beautiful lake, bridges and landscraped grounds of the country club. As we were right down by the lake – the “black swans” actually headed toward us and we were so excited to take a lot of images with the black swans right there. What an awesome sight – we didn’t even feel the cold as bad.

But they were getting ready to eat and we still had to bustle (No Ed that’s not a dance) and get ready for the grand entrance. We did it and enjoyed a delicious dinner and fun reception. A great party – We especially loved the chocolate fountain and all the goddies to dip. (what diet??)

We were able to get a slide show going of some of the very best of what we photographed earlier – everyone loved that and took our cards with directions on how to get to our site for viewing the previews in about 4-6 weeks.

Julie has all the cards so we will post a few images and perhaps a collage within the next few days!!

This January I was excited to go to my first Professional Photographers of America convention in Austin Texas. For many years I have always just gone to WPPI- Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Convention – in Las Vegas – so this was something different.
The most exciting part was visiting the Art Leather booth – my images were everywhere – including this large duratron display of I-mount albums featuring my images! Many other albums scattered throughout their huge display booth had my images in the designs. The trade show was pretty awesome and pretty overwhelming but not as large as WPPI’s. Read more