It's Hockey Season!

Well, its that time of the year...Hockey season. Some of my friends are in an ice hockey league and I offered my services of photography to the team. Erin, Our friend Jenni and I all met up at the mills mall for the game. I was able to get there early enough to catch the pregame warm up. This is where most of the keeper pictures happened. It offered a great view over the goalie and at the shooter while keeping all the essential items in the screen. The hard part was shooting through the smudged glass. So half way through, i was able to go onto the bench (as a coach of course) and take pictures. I used my 70-200mm lens with a 2x adapter on it for the long shots. Suprising is the fact that even with all the ice, it was hard to get fast pictures without a high ISO. But I managed. What was also difficult was how the faces were all darkened due to the helmet shadows. Post processing fixed all of those issues. After about 260 shots and running around the rink to get the shots, I was done. My friends and i all went to the steak and shake for dinner and I was able to show off the unprocesed pictures and all who where there was awestruck. They were all so happy that the pictures made them look good and as if they all knew what there were doing. We had fun crititiquing the team and how they looked in the pictures. After a bunch of laughs it was time to head home and fix the pictures so when everyone bough the pictures there was some good shots of everyone.

For pics click here.
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The battle of the bulge!

My favorite red head cousin from Washington came into town for a coed baby shower. Uncle Ted and Aunt Sharon hosted a barbecue for the family to celebrate the upcoming baby Louis. While i was there, we were able to have Laura and Marcie battle it out for who had the bigger baby belly. Laura won, but she was about 8 weeks more pregnant. After a wonderful dinner, Marcie opened up her baby gifts. she was blessed with a hand made quilt from grandma and hand painted art by Kate for the baby room. The rest of the big stuff was mailed to her home near Seattle. After the gifts, the cake was cut and we started catching up, while looking at Marcie's baby pictures, conveniently placed on the coffee table. we had a blast as stayed a while having fun chit chatting. Laura even stayed up late with us and enjoyed every one's company. I has tons of fun talking with everybody.

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A Gift for Brad's mom; family photos!

A while back by buddy Brad called and asked if i could take some family pictures for him. we wanted to put these pics on a digital frame and give it to his mom for her birthday. We set up a day and a time early in the morning for some good light and cooler weather. Erin and got there and we scoped the area out and found a great spot for photos in the back yard under some trees. We started with the basic family photos, then the fun started. Since the pictures were to be in a slide show, Brad suggested it would be cool to each consecutive picture add in the next person added into the family. We would start with the whole family and remove a member one by one in reverse order they were added to the family. We did this so when the order was reversed in the slide show, members were added in order. then the goofy pictures started and with all the creative minds, we got some good ones. The kids had fun playing around and hanging in trees. The guys had fun giving trouble to their mates. The whole Schaefer family had fun and as a result, the pictures turned out wonderful! After all the posing, i brought in the camera and gave them a preliminary slide show of what the pictures looked like and they all liked them and were excited. Erin and i wrapped it up with lunch with brad and mari at bandannas. thanks for the fun time and great pics Brad!

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Camping 2008

Another summer has come , and you know what means; camping! Erin and I ventured to a different camp site, the Bass river resort. We chose that location because we would be able to use rafts on the deeper waters and thus greatly reduce the time we were dragging as compared to canoes. Jeff and I packed up the suburban all day on Friday and when Erin got off at work at three, we jumped in the sub; and left. After a seemingly quick drive, Jeff, Erin and I unpacked and set up our tents.

Then Shortly after, rad and Mari arrived. They (Brad) unloaded and set up. Soon after we started drinking the drink of the trip; lemonade and blue raspberry vodka. It was a great drink. Then Jeff, Brad & I started in on he rum & coke and screwdrivers. Brad quickly reached the goofy drunk stage and the laughter wouldn't stop. We had a good time hanging out around the fire. then late that night, we called it a night.

The next morning, Eric, Kayla and Joe joined us to float. Then we went to float. We used rafts for the first time this year. I thought it was fun, but at some spots we would move and it got a little tedious. We talked and relaxed for the six hour float. we got back to the tents with an appetite and cooked up our dinner of hamburgers and potatoes. They turned out great. We ate up and had a great time. Everyone drank that night but Brad because he was still recovering from the night before. We all crashed early that night. The next morning we went to the front house for breakfast. Afterwards, Eric & I played in the water, making our annual dam. When our dam was complete, we dried off and ate around the fire. Shortly after, Brad and Mari left. Jeff and i decided to make a huge fire and see what was flammable. When our consumables for the fire were out the rest of us packed our the suburban and went on our merry way. We had tons of fun, thanks everyone who attended.

For pics click here.

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