Swimming has been a big part of our household for several years now.  Since we have a community pool where we live, it's super-convenient to just spend entire weekends out there.  And we do!  To the extent that we take a little cooler with us (and sometimes even snacks!).  It's a bit much, I know, but there are some upsides.  The main one being that my son loves swimming and has decided to join the swim team this year. 




I'm so excited!  Maybe even more than he is.  It's the first time he's been involved in something that I can participate in too.  And hopefully this will be something he loves for a long time. 

I've spent the whole summer without a (slightly) willing model.  Since he was already headed out to play basketball, and I was wanting to practice my action shots, I decided to tag along.  And I actually managed to avoid being run over AND getting hit by the basketball!












This was the last shot of the afternoon.  Playing basketball and jumping around like a maniac for your weird mom will take a lot out of a guy!  Although I don't necessarily love that sweaty, little boy, puppy smell it will always make me think of this boy and his childhood.

In other news, I've been trying to make a decision all summer on how to handle proofing.  I'd already decided on on-line proofing because it's easier for my clients to place orders, and it allows me to accept credit cards.  But after deciding that I was left with even more options:  do I choose a company that will also fulfill my orders, or use my own lab and fulfill them myself?  Since I'm overly-paranoid, I decided to fulfill myself, and ultimately decided on Instaproofs.  I was so excited after setting everything up last night that I dreamed about it!  Completely crazy, but sometimes that happens to me when I can't get photography off my brain.

I've also just ordered my first sample canvas, which I'll be showing as soon as it comes!

I meant to post about this a month ago - but I've been completely ignoring this blog for most of the summer.  That's about to change though, I promise!

Anyway, all you Birmingham folks know about Barber Motorsports (I hope!), but maybe you don't know that Patrick Dempsey races out there during the Porsche 250 held in July every year. 

Here's proof:



What?  You don't see him blowing kisses to me?  WHATEVER.  He totally is. 

My friend Missy got us hooked up with free tickets and passes to the VIP section, which came complete with free beers and chocolate chip cookies.  Not to mention seating in the shade (which was nice since the temperature was nearing surface of the sun levels).

Here's Missy enjoying herself in the sweltering heat (probably thinking about P.D.):



More racing:



And then my other friend Missy (yes, it's confusing that there are two), stole my camera and tried to get a better (closer) picture of P.D.



The great thing about Barber is that wherever you sit you still have a great view and are also really close to the action.  All these pictures were taken with my 50mm prime lens - so there's not really much zoom going on.

Here's us girls:
 


Can I just stop here and say how I LOVE the feature on my Canon 30D where, by setting the camera to the regular old green square setting, all the custom features go away.  I have my camera set up with slightly strange controls, but by just putting it on "green" I can hand it to anyone and they can use it just like a regular old camera.  So great!

Anyway, I'll be back with more soon.  I've got several fun things planned for this fall that I can't wait to get started on (and to show you!)