This week is another ‘cheat’ week since I didn’t actually post anything last week (give me a break it was Christmas Day!!) but I can’t put my blog ahead of everything. This blog has been a blessing and a curse in some respects. A blessing in that it forced me to try and take pictures and to write about photography each week. Really I have a years worth of ‘diary’ entries which might be nice to look back on someday. It’s been a bit of a curse in that every week I’ve got to try and find something to shoot and then write about it for a couple hours (it takes a while to do one of these posts well!!!). But I think I’m better for it.

I figured I’d share some stats for all the nerds (or just people who are nosy). According to my Lightroom albums I have taken about 14,000 pictures in 2011. Over 4000 of those were for people/families/businesses and not just my personal enjoyment (apparently people like my work!). My Google Analytics tells me that there were over 3,700 visits to my photo blog with over 2,100 unique visitors and almost 13,000 page views. Looking at the locations of visitors it appears that I’ve had visitors from both Nepal and Iran this year – pretty crazy.

As for the past 2 weeks I’ve enjoy some time at home in Bonavista for Christmas and spent a good bit of time with family – very mellow. We had great weather so we took a couple walks in the woods which is where the birdie picture above came from. Jennifer got me a new softbox and stand for Christmas which is great and will get some use in my future projects (the picture of Jennifer above was shot using the softbox for lighting her). She also got me a star wars lego set which is currently still in the box on my desk. That may get tackled tomorrow.

For New Years we went to a friends house and hung out – eating and playing Rock Band 3. Fun times. We rang in the new year watching NTV (in HD!!) and reading out all the community names (kind of a tradition now).

Anyways that’s about all I’ve got for this week. I truly appreciate everyone who has supported me during this year of photos and words. It’s been a positive experience for me and I’m looking forward to my next challenge(s). As always you can keep up with me on Flickr, Facebook and right here. Hope you had a great 2011 and that 2012 is even better. Peace y’all.

Event 1: Nerf war at Verafin

So I work for a software company and software companies are know for being ‘non-traditional’ in nature. Some companies have casual Fridays – we’re always casual and we sometimes have full-scale Nerf wars on a Monday morning. I luckily had my camera brought with me so I went all ‘war correspondent-like’ and started going deep into the action trying to get some good shots. Below you can see me being pretty happy with a very cool nerf gun and I wanted to include some of my teammates who have been loyal readers of my blog throughout the year rocking the 6-shooter Nerf Maverick (shout out to Kelly, Sherri and Colleen)

Event 2: Christmas evening/party with friends

So on Tuesday night Jennifer and I were at our friends house (Peter and Bethany) for a little get together to eat and play a gift exchange game. This used to consist of just adults (or man-childs) but now babies have started to take over (as you’ll see from the pictures below). A lovely time was had and we got to see some people we hadn’t seen in a while before the Christmas holiday rush. Lovely. Below are the handsome Mike Rowe and cutie-pie extraordinaire’s Calleigh and Aubrey.

Event 3: Verafin Christmas Party

This past Friday was the Verafin Christmas party (another Verafin thing!) at the Johnson Geo Centre. As always, I was the camera nerd with a giant camera and flash hung around his neck all night. BUT that means I have some nice shots of everyone dressed up (which as I mentioned above doesn’t happen much) with their friends and/or significant other(s).  I know Brad is a big fan (and he jumped into a couple photos) so I’ve got him in 2 of them. You can also find my wife in one – it’s like a game! All my shots from the party are available on Facebook.

Event 4: Christmas program at church

So today was the kids Christmas program at church. For those not ‘in the know’, every year the kids are forced to perform for the adults to make us feel good and to make us clap for them. It’s a nice time – lots of family comes out and you see some faces you don’t always see. I was going around like a weirdo taking lots of pictures of people (mostly kids if you notice the shots below). Our church doesn’t have the best lighting so the shots are going to be a little grainy, but I think the cute kids make up for it. The main picture up top is from today too – Shepards, Angels and some wise-men.

Well that concludes the end of another picture-filled week. I know my posts are getting less humourous and whatnot but it takes a lot of time to make these happen each week and between writing and editing it takes a lot out of me (I’m a wuss, leave me alone). Anyways, hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them – peace in the middle east!

First off, I took a few pictures at work on Friday. We have this community site for our customers and there was a big push on to get everyone to update their profile with info and a picture so that people could see who we were (most of us don’t talk to customers but it still looks good to have everyone on the site). Anyways I got a request from Holly to get her a nice picture for the community site. We didn’t take a lot of time and I’m still pretty horrible working with flash photography, but I got a couple images that I think turned out nicely (hopefully Holly doesn’t mind me posting these.

Also, Gord jumped in and got a picture too. If anyone else from work wants an official Samuel Russell Photography session, just let me know and I’ll bring in my camera – no charge!

Friday night Jennifer had a work party, so she was all dressed up so I took a couple quick shots of her at the house. This is the one I like the best (not a fan of the stuff in the background, but she’s looking HOT! Brownie points right!?)

Saturday morning brought more photos with a trip to the St. John’s Farmers Market. Jennifer bought a bunch of stuff (finger puppets, felt play things for some kids presents, some fudge ..etc). It’s a pretty snazzy spot – especially if you like waffles or indian/ethnic food. Next time I gotta skip breakfast! (Full set is up on facebook). We ran into a couple friends/former co-workers too which was nice. Below is Mr. Geoff Boyd and some tasty-looking food.

And other than that I didn’t really take many pictures this week… Looking at it now though, I kinda took quite a few pictures (compared to most people probably) – but who’s counting? Anyways, as this year winds down I’m wondering what to do in 2012 with this site. I don’t think I’m going to commit to another years of weekly blog posts, but I don’t want to stop it either. Have to figure something out soonish I suppose. Got any suggestions, let me know. Stay with me!

So after almost a full year of these weekly blog posts I have yet to feature my wife – the lovely and talented Jennifer Russell (formerly Keel). It’s not for lack of pictures of her that’s for sure. I currently have 534 (probably more than that) photos of her in my Picasa albums, so I have lots of material to choose from. It’s probably more the fact that she’s not a big fan of being photographed (bit of an issue when your husband is as accomplished a photographer as I!) and maybe I’m trying to keep her all to myself, locked up in my basement, away from prying eyes and the Kardashians* (damn Kardashians!!!)

* I would like to make it clear that my wife does not like or watch any show related to or supported by the Kardashians (the name just popped in my head – damn Kardashians!!)

Anyways as per the requirements of my weekly posts the above photo was taken today on a walk around Long Pond (lovely Fall day!). I should probably mention that the hat, scarf and gloves are newly purchased (last night!) and look wonderful. Also, if there’s a theme in the pictures of my wife it’s her smile – you’re going to be seeing a lot of her pearly whites.

Anyways you can probably tell that my wife is quite the cute/hot little ‘thang’ (that’s how the kids talk nowadays I hear…) – I may be a little biased, but the comment still stands. Jennifer and I have been together for many moons (approx. 164 new moons if I were to calculate it – I’m a geek leave me alone). For those not into counting new moons, that equates to over 13 years. We’ve been married for over 8 years and we were together for just over 5 years before we got married. We are committed people (not the insane asylum type of committed though).

Jennifer and I were kinda ‘high school sweat hearts’. She was actually just about to go off to university (MUN) when we started dating. I was still in high school (2 grades behind her!!) – yes, she DID rob the cradle. Actually I’m only 11 months younger than her so it’s not quite as bad as it sounds… haha (if you really want me to explain it talk to me in person). Both our families are from Bonavista, but Jennifer is a tried and true Bonavistonian/Bonavistite whereas I am not (again if you don’t know the particulars, ask me in person – this is a post about Jennifer, not me!! Jeez).

Besides being very beautiful and from the lovely town of Bonavista she’s also a smarty pants. She’s got a B.Sc. in Psychology (minor in Biology) and a Masters degree in Education in Counselling Psychology. It is possible that she’s using me in a very long-term experiment from which she will make earth shattering findings making us very famous and wealthy – but even if this isn’t the case it’s fun to pretend. Jennifer works with kids a lot in her job and in past jobs. Kids love her generally. She’s a stickler for rules and respect, but kids seem to respect that and then go finger paint with her and show her the space ship made out of a refrigerator box.

Jennifer has a few quirks as well. She has ‘some’ food issues (some == a lot). She can’t eat corn (anything corn, corn syrup, corn starch, maltodextrin – I read a lot of labels now) and after consulting a fake doctor (naturopathic – I kid, I kid) she now stays away from soy, gluten, nuts,  milk … and the list goes on. It makes eating out tough (steak and potatoes work!) but all my suppers are homemade and generally pretty yummy. I definitely eat better than 90% of people I know so I look at this as kind of a blessing in disguise (except for the price of the gluten free food – $8 for tiny little bread!!!). The main thing is that Jennifer feels better eating this way, which means I get to feel better too! (not sure how people will take that… which is ok with me!)

Jennifer is also quite active. She will gladly tell you that she can do more sit-ups than me (but I can reach things on tall shelves!!) and she’s pretty big into running and kickboxing (not at the same time though – although that may be an untapped market). She and I completed the Tely10 10 mile race this year. She did it in just over 100mins (I was 88mins!!! Booyaa!) and I’m sure she’ll do better again next year. She also does some yoga at Shakti studio (owned by our friends Sean and Meg). Due to all this activity, she’s bucked the trend of getting ‘bigger’ with age and is actually fitter than ever (this again works out well for me!). As you can see from the pictures she looks great in a formal dress.

In this section I’d like to get very deep and sensitive and say how much I love my wife and how blessed I am to have her in my life and how I look forward to our long happy life together.

Now that I’ve gotten those extra brownie points I’ll end this post while I’m ahead and try not to get myself in any trouble by making a comment about boobies (whoops!). Night everyone!

Mike and I have known each other for quite a while now – going on 12 or 13 years. We met during the summer at church camp (out near Lewisport) when I was still in high school and Mike was going into St. John’s for Engineering. We’ve been going to the same church since I’ve been in St. John’s pretty much (VCC, mention back in a previous post) and so we see each other pretty much every week. Mike is a great guy. He’s had a wild streak in him during his younger years. He’s had a few nice/fun cars that have ended up being written off… (no fault of his of course). He’s now become a husband and father and taking to it all quite well – he’s also a pretty dedicated worker (in everything he does). Definitely a great guy to call a friend. He’s also a solid drummer and an awesome sound man!

Mike and Jessica started dating a number of years ago (I don’t know the number now) and hit it off well. I had known Jessica a bit before this, since we were involved in the Worship Centre (the church she grew up in) but she had been gone to Hillsong college for a year so I didn’t know her really well. She’s very talented on the keyboard and as a vocalist. She also generally laughs at my humour which makes her a-ok in my books! So Mike and Jess got married a few years back and just over a year ago had a baby girl name Calleigh (cal-ee). What is it with all these people getting married and having kids.. jeez, I’m getting old (I’m 30 now!!!)

Anyways, Jessica wanted some pictures after she saw all my recent, amazing family work. Of course I couldn’t turn down a friend so we got together today at Pippy Park to try and get them some nice shots for Christmas cards and whatnot. Working in the cold with a 1+ year old can be a bit challenging. Working with my camera with gloves is also challenging. Anyways, I hope you like these few shots guys and I’ll try and finish them up for you early this week!

Crazily, the year is quickly coming to an end. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for photos or posts in the next couple weeks, please let me know – it’s not easy trying to make this stuff happen myself each week!

Hugs and kisses.

Sam

First I’ll give a quick synopsis of our trip. It was my wife and I and my sister-in-law and her husband (Patricia and Cory). We arrived in Orlando and drove to Cocoa Beach to our hotel (Hilton) which was right on the beach. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that there was an air show going on Saturday and Sunday and the main area was just up the street. I had my 70-300mm zoom lens so I got some nice shots. After 2 days here we got on our boat (Freedom of the Seas) for a 7 day cruise.

Here are a couple pics of the interior/main promenade of our boat – in case you were interested.

The first day/night was a bit rough and it was pretty funny watching people stumble and fall around (it’s a big boat but you can feel rough seas!). The next few days were better but because of the currents we couldn’t make our first stop in the Bahamas (boo!). So we pressed on to St. Thomas and St. Maarten.

In St. Thomas we mostly shopped and walked around a bit. It rained a lot first when we got there so we were pretty soaked (but being wet in 28 degree weather isn’t so bad). Apparently these ports are all about gold, jewelry, booze and perfume (at least in the main tourist areas) which I wasn’t really expecting but it was similar at St. Maarten. We left St. Thomas and got to St. Maarten the next morning.

St. Maarten is a nice spot – an island divided into French and Dutch portions. We did an ATV tour which is a whole story unto itself. We were driving in a line of 16 ATV’s on the main roads with minimal safety equipment, a lady crashed and had her ATV flip on top of her (had to be taken away in an ambulance) and we didn’t really get to enjoy the beach we were supposed to be heading to… but it was definitely an interesting adventure.

After those 2 stops we were back to port. On the boat we made use of all the amenities. I was on the flow rider (surfing and boogie boarding), climbed the rock wall, played mini-putt, swam, relaxed in the Jacuzzi, ate lots, skated on an indoor ice rink (in the Caribbean!!!), watched Puss in Boots in 3D, watched 2 shows (picture from the magic show below) …etc. There’s lots to do for sure.

Probably one of the best parts of the cruise was the food! There was always tons of food available and every night (except 2) we at in the fancy, 3-story dining room with big chandeliers everywhere. Pretty swanky place. The other place to get food was the windjammer cafe and it was a buffet-style spot. So many options and desserts – I gained like 6 pounds on the trip (please be kind when you see me, I have body image issues). There’s also a pizzeria, a coffee shop a soft serve machine, an ice cream shop a cupcake shop and other little shops and bars. Really easy to go overboard (in more ways than one, am I right!?!?)

After returning from our cruise we headed back to Orlando to hit the malls and outlet stores. We spent a lot (good deals!), played some more mini-putt (Patricia is a fan), rode in 45mph go-karts, ate at an Olive Garden – everything you could want really… We headed back to the frigid north on Thursday and thus ends my story.

I’m sure I’ll be talking to a lot of people over the next few days about my trip, but this should give people a good overview in case they don’t want to interact with me in person (what’s your deal, man?). Now you’ll know why I’m so tall dark and handsome when you do see me.

I was only at the party for 2.5 hours or so, so I didn’t see the kinds of craziness that go on later in the night but I did manage to have some fun and get some good shots. Early on in the night, Andy and I concocted a scheme where he would photobomb all the pictures he could – it worked out excellent! If you check out the album on Facebook you’ll see that he’s almost always in the background somewhere with the same facial expression. Andy is priceless. Some pictures below.

The next day at 11am I was at Bannerman Park with Liz and Brad to take some family/engagement pictures. It was cool, but it was bright and not too windy. We got some nice pictures and I’ll be passing along a bunch to them soon. Here are a few from our time together in the park.

And then, finally, at 3pm I attended the marriage of David and Melissa. They had pictures done by the very talented Lori Moss so they didn’t need me (but I’m taking pictures regardless so here they come!). Also, at their reception they had a masquerade ball. If you’re interested in seeing those shots, check out my Facebook album…

Alrighty. So ends this weeks Samuel Russell Photography blog. I hope you enjoyed the visual journey that I brought you on. Please note that I will be on vacation in Florida and on a cruise for the next 2 weeks and will not be updating my blog. I know it’ll be tough without me, but I think you’ll manage. I should have a SHITLOAD of pictures by the time I return though so get ready for an old fashioned vacation slideshow!! haha.

So today I went to Bowring Park (again!!) with my friends Dwayne and Shaina Simmons and their 3 kids (Oldest-Youngest -> Victoria, Aidan, Ronan). The weather was quite nice (again!) so there was no need to for down-filled jackets or anything like that. Not much sun either so that helped with the squinting issue that often comes with harsh sunlight. And as you can see above, there were lots of LEAVES!!!

I’ve known Dwayne and Shaina for a number of years (like 9-10 or more probably) – we all went to the same church – VCC. I met Dwayne when I first came into St. John’s for University and he worked at MUN for the Computing and Communication department. Thanks to him I got a job with PC Support and got to make a decent bit of money working in between classes fixing PC’s and installing software for MUN staff. Thanks a lot Dwayne, that really helped me out in my career!

The past few years I haven’t seen Dwayne and Shaina as much as I used to. They’ve got 3 young kids these days, and with work and Master’s programs and all that it’s tough to fit in time to hang out. They’re still the same great people though. Their kids are a good looking bunch and although we had a few issues during the shoot (normal kid stuff – falling down, whining because they had to smile and not go to the playground …etc) most everything went off without a hitch.

I like when I get to capture some of the character of the people I photograph (kids are generally pretty easy to do this with as they don’t understand ‘social conventions’ yet). As you can see above, the middle child is always looking for ways to get attention… haha.

It was nice spending the afternoon (it was only 1h 15min really) with the Simmons family. It’s crazy to see how quickly kids and families grow when you’re not around all the time but it’s nice to know that for all the changes in their lives, they’re still the same people. Glad I could be a part of your day Simmons family. Hope you enjoy these few sample shots from today! To everyone else, thanks for dropping by. See ya’ll next week.

Last week I introduced you to the Andrews family. This week we meet up with the Laing family. Let me introduce you to each member of the Laing family starting with the Patriarch, Peter.

Peter and I have been good friends for quite a few years now – I stood at his wedding, we’ve hung out a lot over the years and chatted about deep things over coffee/latte’s and once we slept together in nan’s bed, in Marystown (true story). I’ve always enjoyed Peter’s sense of humour and his insight. He’s a great writer and he’s got a really creative mind. He’s a great guy, you should get to know him.

As you can see in the pictures above, he’s a looker too with a dashing smile and rakish good looks.

A few years ago something magical happened – Peter and Bethany became a couple and fell in love. I knew Bethanybefore Peter and her became an item and it’s been pretty cool watching their relationship develop over the past few years.  Bethany is taking to her new role as a mom really well and as you’ll see below she’s a very pretty woman – I really like how her hair looks in the photos I’ve taken of her.

You’ve probably already figured out who the cute little person is in all these pictures – little miss Aubrey. Aubrey is just 10 months old and has a super cute little curl on top of her head. She’s a pretty happy baby and other than waking her mom up a few times each night she seems to have brought a lot of joy into Peter and Bethany’s life. Here’s a few more shots of just Aubrey.

So that’s the Laing family. Other than this shoot, I also took some photos at a wedding I was at on Friday and I also took a bunch today at church for a baby dedication. Both of those albums are up on Facebook if you’re interested. All in all I took 488 photos this week – not a bad week. Anyways, thanks for dropping by. More pictures below.

I mention the new lens, both because it is photography related and because I used it extensively today while shooting family pictures for some lovely friends from church, the Andrews’. The Andrews’ are: Mom – Jenna, Dad – Jeff, Daughter (oldest) – Emily, Son (middle) – Joshua and Son (youngest) – Ethan. Jeff’s dad is Pastor Harold (the pastor at my church) and I’ve known Jeff for a number of years now (probably 7 or 8). Jeff went to school in the US where he met his lovely wife, Jenna. Jenna is from South Carolina and has a wonderful southern accent. She’s very good about me making jokes about grits and mocking the accent which is great. I’ve known most of the kids since they were born (or very young) so it was pretty nice hanging out with them today and taking some snaps. It’s great working with people you know since you don’t have to go through the awkward ‘getting to know you’ phase of the shoot. Here are a couple of the nicer family shots I was able to get today.

Not a bad looking bunch, hey?! It’s surprising how difficult it is to get 5 people to look at you and have their eyes open (especially when kids are involved). Sometimes things work out that having the eyes closed or having them NOT look at you works even better (like in the bottom photo where Ethan looks like he’s asleep).

Next I’ll introduce you to the kids. They’ve got pretty decent looking parents so I think they’re going to grow into good looking young adults soon enough. Get the shotgun Jeff!!

Now kids are lovely/cute, but you can’t forget about the adults. As I mentioned before, Jenna is a lovely southern belle and a beautiful mother and wife. Girls/women often seem much more comfortable in front of the camera than dudes so you’ll often get more pictures of them ‘working’ the camera. I think Jenna was hoping to get some updated Facebook photos today – I hope I came through for her. Here are a few shots of Jenna.

Now Jeff is a dude, he like football and he plays a mean bass guitar. He’s a fun guy to hang out with and great dad. I didn’t get a ton of photos of him by alone, but I managed to snag one or two. Here he is below.

So besides the family and individual shots I got a bunch of pictures with the kids together and Jeff and Jenna together. The expressions that come out in these situations are very true and it’s great when you can capture those real moments. Hopefully I got some of them today.

As with most photography outings, there were a few challenges with this shoot. The sun came out a bit which caused some squinting and harsh light. My camera wasn’t doing a good job of reading the lighting situation (reflections from the water on the pond I think) so I had to do a bit of work in Lightroom to bring some detail back to some areas of the faces. Ethan wasn’t too cooperative when it came to the family shots (but it all worked out fine in the end). The main thing I try to do though is keep things light and not get too caught up in that stuff. I let the kids use the camera a bit to take pictures of each other and I’ve got one or two keepers from those – good thing there are no royalties to share!! Most importantly though I got to spend some quality time with some quality people and I got to take some great photographs – can’t beat that.

As always, thanks for dropping by – I appreciate hearing how people really enjoy the blog. It’s not helping my ego at all, but my wife keeps that in check anyways! Until next week, stay classy internet.