Senior Model

Alright, much as I know you all are dying to see more photos of insects, I thought I would post a much prettier subject tonight instead. :)

This fall I am prepared to photograph seniors, so have been looking for a few "models" willing to be photographed for my portfolio and for marketing purposes. Here is my first one; she is such a sweetheart and I'd be thrilled to photograph her anytime! So far I am using two shots from our brief ten-minute shoot.

When I saw this umbrella I just had to have it, and it's the first thing I thought of when C. agreed to be my subject




I could still use a couple more senior models, so if you know any young people who would be interested, have them contact me at rmdphotography@yahoo.com. They will receive complimentary 5x7s of two of the photos as a "thank-you" for their time, as well as the web-sized files to share with their friends online.

That Time of Year!

One of those signs of late summer--today the girls and I found a couple of cicadas in our yard. They were a little skittish (the girls, not the bugs), but I grabbed a few photos of one before removing him (her?) from their play area. I put them in the girls' bug cage so they could show them to Daddy when he came home.







Tonight my 2-year-old and I went out and released the cicadas.



After staring at them and feigning disgust for a few minutes, she decided they were "pwetty" and "I like dem, Mommy!" "Take a pitcher of dis one Mommy!" "Now dis one!" "Dey so pwetty!"

Don't you agree? ;)

RAGBRAI

I can't believe it's over already! We had a good time, though it was an exhausting weekend--I can't believe how much I walked on Friday! Because we were hosting a couple families at our home, I was only able to get out to see what was going on that morning, and for a brief half-hour before dinner. While I was walking around (because any other mode of transportation would have been less efficient, with all the traffic jams!), I was thinking how impossible it would be to *really* portray what our town was like that day...but I gave it my best shot! I think it's easy to see it was a bit crowded and chaotic, but overall things were organized well enough that the day seemed to run along smoothly in spite of the traffic congestion. Here are a few of the photos from Friday:

Courthouse lawn Friday morning.


Vendor stands were along both sides of the streets around the courthouse. My sister and I took the kids for a walk around the area to check things out and have some food before most of the crowd arrived.


The kids were thrilled.




The main street in front of the courthouse was blocked off with an orange barricade that also went around the sidewalks to control the flow of traffic.


Everywhere you looked there were bicycles, riders resting and chatting...




...and since I take such stunning port-a-johnny pictures, here is another one for ya :) They used them to block off a street!


By 1PM, everything was a campground!
The library




The school and practice field




The park




...and the backyards of homes all around town.


Including ours! :) Our girls were so jealous of all the tents...we had to set up their little purple butterfly one too so they'd feel included. But in the end they decided the "new" tents were much more interesting!


Our house is pretty close to the route the bikers were using to get into town, so we could stand on our porch and observe some of the traffic cutting across the main street headed to the park--and be glad we weren't trying to get anywhere. :)


While the girls napped I walked up the bike route and watched the endless stream of riders!














It was all pretty interesting...a lot of the riders had team names, some had painted buses...


...and some came dressed in costumes or had things attached to their bike helmets.


We hosted two families, totaling ten people. Our girls loved eating dinner with their new friends, and we truly enjoyed their company--they were wonderful guests!




It was over all too quickly and we were sad to have to see them off so early the next morning, but we hope all had a safe and enjoyable trip back home again!

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow our town is a stop on the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). RAGBRAI started in 1973 and has turned into a big event; people come from all over to participate. Each year the route changes and different towns are selected as "stops" along the way. The riders spend the night in the hosting city, and it is the duty of each city to present its warmest welcome for the riders. :) This should be interesting. Our population is normally around 3,000. Tomorrow night they are predicting to have about 20,000 people crammed into this little town! We agreed to host a few riders at our home...and were asked to take 13! A lot of work and planning has gone into this, and tonight I managed to find 20 minutes to spare between supper and church, so I grabbed the D40 and ran out to get a few shots of the preparations.

Interesting things have been popping up around town here and there over the course of the last few weeks...for starters, the arch over the highway the riders will be coming in on:


I was startled when I happened to catch a glimpse of...bikes on telephone poles?


...all along the route!


Continuing down the street towards the park, where many riders will be able to camp and shower...the city distributed a map with separate routes for bicycles, pedestrians, automobiles and shuttles.





Hard at work preparing the downtown area. There will be entertainment stages set up, food vendors...and I am fairly certain there will be no chance of driving through here the next few days!


The orange barricade is being installed all over downtown... (and yes, I am the crazy photographer who stopped at a green light to take a picture)


...and everywhere you turn are trash cans and, of course, port-a-johnnies! (Let's just admit it, I rocked the port-a-johnny shot. It's my new calling)


I had to get a shot of the Hawkeye truck!


At the park entrance


More bikes on poles...


...and, someone has set up a tent already!


So, this should be a really exciting event for our town. I am thinking I won't get much work done tomorrow--just might have to take the girls (and my camera!) for a stroll downtown and check out what's happening!

New Logo

With a new name comes a new logo! After much blood, sweat and tears (well, not really, but it *was* a time-consuming task!), my new logo is ready to go on my forms and soon-to-be website!



I am also going to be in the new phone book being distributed this fall, so be sure to look me up! :)