What a great way to spend a weekend afternoon – the 2009 St. Paul Summer Beer Fest held in the parking lot of Midway stadium. Midway stadium is home field for the St. Paul Saints baseball team and is just a block or two south of the state fairgrounds. Easy to find, easy to get and plenty of parking.

I guess there’s also a Fall Beer Fest and this was the first summer event. Fifty different craft breweries from around the country were represented. You get a tasting glass – about twice as large as a shot glass – as part of your ticket price. Then you just walk around and sample whatever beer you’d like to try.

The variety is endless – from blueberry and apricot wheat ales, to pepper flavored IPA’s, coffee flavored porters and oatmeal chocolate stouts. As you can imagine there are some you’d rather never taste again. But it’s always fun to try new beers and we all (except our daughter in-law Kelly who’s pregnant) came away with a couple new favorites we’ll look for in the stores.

It was a gorgeous mostly sunny day with a decent breeze to keep us cool. And as always, we hit the Nook for a great burger before heading home.

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Nick is a big guy who’s into football, wrestling and track. Track is his favorite and he’s a throws the shot-put???, puts the shot???, tosses that big metal ball as far as he can. (not sure which is correct but you get my drift) I believe he told me 48′ and 11″ is his personal best. I like the intensity of this pose and expression. I had him go through the motions of throwing and tried to capture the image at the prime moment.

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Getting a head start on my weekend bonus images. If you’re “into” photography, as I obviously am, maybe you’ll find these weekend images interesting.

Photography is all about seeing light. During an outdoor portrait session I am constantly looking for “light”. It’s direction, it’s color, it’s intensity. With that in mind I thought this little weekend project might turn into something fun and informative. Could I – could you – take two original images each weekend – from the comfort of our backyards.

Last weekend it was flowers. This evening Kate and I sat on our deck enjoying an after work cocktail and a really tasty Cobb Salad. We live two doors west of a water tower and I always enjoy watching the late evening light hit the side of the tower.

So here’s the Saturday image – a few hours early.

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This is an end of the week bonus that I forgot to post earlier. Ben was an outdoor kinda guy – all of his images were made at the Plummer House. I like the brilliant green of this image and the color harmony with his shirt and the background. (Apparently I’m into “color harmony”.) I applied an effect that accentuated his intense expression.

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I’ve wanted to try this little trick for sometime and Jon was the perfect candidate – big into computers and phones. And just like all the “young guns” he’s a Mac guy!!! I like the tough-guy look of the background image combined with the more sensitive image of a guy and his cat.

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Nathan is a football player for P.E.M. and we did this shot in our locker room set. I like the split lighting on his face which gives the image an edgy feel.

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This image of Abby was created using our new “french window set”. She’s a “huge” reader and brought lots of books to her session. I like the story-telling quality of this image and the all white works well with Abby’s soft pink dress.

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This image is actually from Monday but I couldn’t resist – I think it’s awesome. We were down along the river behind the studio and decided to use the pattern in the concret wall to create some interest in the image. I had Cory look up and the bright light reflecting off the back of the courthouse really made his eyes – POP!!!

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This image is from Paige’s – Senior’s Choice – portrait session. Hotter than blazes again today so we were keeping to the shade whenever possible. I liked the leading lines of the Coleus in the planter as well as the color harmony with her dress. Bright directional light from a building across the street provided perfect modeling on her face.

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This image was made in the family of Geoff’s home. Great natural light coming in through the patio doors combined with the soft blues of his shirt and the neutral background make for a nice portrait. And as a side benefit to the photographer – I was inside instead of out on this wonderfully sub-tropical day!

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