I am falling in L-O-V-E with Miss Madalina! She has more personality than I could ever ask for. My photo story following her is going great, I’ve been to a number of pageants and am excited to get to attend more. It was great getting to see Madalina interract with her little pageant friends. Congratulations to Madalina for winning Most Beautiful in her age division.
Madalina Ehret is a spunky little 5-year old, who loves to be in front of the camera. My challenge was outlined. I photographed the Gateway Beauties 2012 Sweetie Pies Pageant. It was an all glitz pageant, and no one was holding back. Madalina and her mother Barbara were a joy to photograph and get to know. Congratulations to Madalina for winning the Ultimate Grand Supreme title. I am hoping to follow Madalina and her family further as she works towards more crowns!
Ted Mueller is giving First Christian Church in Chester a well deserved face lift. “To me, this isn’t art – this is restoration,” Mueller said. First Christian Church is the oldest operating church in Chester and hasn’t been painted since Mueller’s dad painted it in the 1940s, which make the project that much more special to Mueller. He makes his own hand-cut stencils, in this particular project, to resemble his father’s original work. Mueller has worked on over 150 churches doing restoration work. “To me this is not art – this is restoration.” Mueller carries on the business Mueller Painting that his father started in the 1920s. “Restoration is important to me because I’m a history nut!”
As part of the South of 64 Weekend Workshop, I was assigned to the high school marching band. I was excited to take on the challenge of finding the details and moments that make up a great marching band. Big thanks goes to Andrew Ellis for being so helpful and welcoming as I photographed the Carterville Marching Lions. It has truly been one of my favorite stories to tell and I look forward to continue photographing this story. You can view a multimedia presentation of this story here :)
During the South of 64 Weekend Workshop in Carterville, IL, I stumbled upon a group of young girls dancing their hearts away at Arabesque Dance Studio. Selena Letinske, 6, was the cutest little girl with more spunk than her mother could have ever asked for. “I like just dancing with the music,” Letinske said, “I like the music really loud!” I enjoyed the opportunity to pick up on some tiny details and the motion of these little dancers.
I spent 18 hours this past weekend, photographing the Murphysboro Barbeque Competition. I met a lot of really nice people, it’s like their own little BBQ community. Everyone was so inviting and welcomed me and my fellow photographer with ease. It did rain over night and continued for most of the early Saturday morning, but we worked with it. I met some crazy fun guys of Party Q BBQ from Batesville, AR, where it was a “party all the time!”
Making Use of a slow shutter speed for the fourth of July..
I shot this in black and white of my sister Roberta. I hate the smoking, but it made for a great photo :/
