The snowboards

Greetings from Seven Springs.

Something cool

Captured by Damon...

Inspirations and Improvements

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite "non-wedding", "non-portrait" (in a traditional sense) photographers that I love to follow for inspiration. Each year I pick something "technical" that I want to really hone in on and improve upon. Last year it was flash on and off camera. I learned a TON and really improved the way I can light things when I have too. My hat goes off to Zack Arias and his One Light Workshop for showing me how to do a LOT with little equipment.

This brings me to my first inspiration.
1. Zack Arias - You can see his music work here www.zackarias.com. His other site, www.usedfilm.com. Besides being a stellar individual and an excellent photographer, Zack is a wonderful teacher as well. I hope to see him again soon.

2. Jeremy Cowart - Jeremy Cowart is a commercial photographer that lives in Nashville, TN. His work is beautiful and gritty at the same time.

3. Jill Greenberg - Jill the Manipulator is an incredibly talented Canadian-born photographer. Her portfolio is huge and awesome.

4. Dave Hill - Dave Hill Photo. His work is off the hook. He does some crazy photoshop magic to give the images a surreal feel. Very cool.

I have many more inspirations, but these are my current favorites. Who are some of your inspirations?

So this year I actually picked 2 "technical" areas to improve upon.
1. Custom Printing - I have a fantastic professional printer that enables me to print large images. I want to master my Black and White custom prints. This is something new that I want to offer my clients.

2. Studio Shooting - I want to continue my exploration of off-camera lighting with the intention to create unique portraiture of individuals. Simple and clean is the name of the game.

I will be sure to post my progress throughout the year.

How Brayden eats an apple.

Random iPhone pic

I want to try and upload one random pic that I take with my iPhone,
everyday. Why? No reason, just thought it would be fun.

This is my production machine's keyboard.

Contest Extension and some new Bryleigh pics

Firstlly WE HAVE EXTENDED THE CONTEST ENTRY DEADLINE TO FRIDAY JANUARY 25, 2008. We will still post the winner on January 28, 2008. Get those entries in!!!

We have been asked for some recent images of Bryleigh, so I grabbed a few before her nap today. Looking at these, I just cannot believe how quickly she is growing up. My goodness she is 7.5 weeks old now! She is such a great baby and a joy to have around. We love her sooooo much.

Check her out:




Brayden wanted in on the action. I love how the motion is shown with his movement. Brayden is so mesmerized by Bryleigh. I also LOVE how she is looking up to him! ISO 400, 1/50 @ 2.8

CONTEST: FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY!

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Details:
1. Please email stories and recent photo to info@davidburkephoto.com with subject of Free Wedding Photography 2008 (Wedding can take place anywhere in the United States)
2. Couples must have date and location selected for wedding already (subject to our availability as well)
3. Package includes 8 hours wedding day coverage, 20 page 10x10 Leather Album, Online Hosting of Images, travel expenses and a DVD of High Resolution Digital Negatives (once your album is delivered)
4. Our panel of judges will go through the stories and vote. Most votes for the couple wins.
5. ENTRIES IN BY MONDAY 1/14/2008
6. WINNER ANNOUNCED MONDAY 1/28/2008

Good Luck, God Bless and spread the word!!!


Good Luck and God Bless!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all! It's 2008 and life is good! We had such a wonderful Christmas and New Year's with our family. The kids were awesome and they enjoyed everything thoroughly. Spending so much time with them over the Holidays was such a treat. I wish that I could do that everyday. Unfortunately I have to work... Fortunately I work, doing something I LOVE!

I am very excited for this year and happy to be back at it. We have so many cool things going on this year with our business and I cannot wait to share with you.

So a New Year's would not be complete without a few goals. Here are a few of my personal goals:
1. Lose 20 lbs by March 15 (accomplished with a much better diet and exercise)
2. Do something Physical everyday, outdoors rain or shine (walk, bike, skate, kayak, hike)
3. Blog about more useful things
4. Start cooking and creating new meals (I love to cook, but have not done it much)
5. Spend more one on one time with each of my kids, individually
6. Date night with Bridget, at least every other week

I created two lists. Personal and Business. I think setting goals and writing them down are very important. It acts as a roadmap for you to follow.

What are some of your goals for the new year?

Here is an image from New Years Day. Lil Bray was sleepy (captured by Bridget):

Bryleigh's First Bath

Last night we gave Bryleigh her first 'non-sponge' bath. I love seeing a baby's reaction to the first bath. She was just like the boys... Didn't like it at first, but then grew to love it.

Brayden was a spectator and then he said 'Daddy will you take my picture in the bath too?' How could I say NO??

Here is a video and some stills.

Merry Christmas!

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Boys being boys.

I had a fun 10 minute session with the two little guys tonight while Mommy went to the hair salon and Bryleigh was napping. Simple setup, but lots of fun!!

**For Photographers** Grey seamless paper background, Nikon SB-600 bounced into a 45" umbrella at 1/8 power (fired with Pocket Wizards), Nikon D200, 17-55 2.8, ISO 200, aperture f/4, shutter 1/100 :-)
**End Geek Speak**










My Favorite.

Christian in the Christmas Story

Christian played Joseph in his school play this morning. It was awesome! All of these kids did such an incredible job. They are all so darn cute. Moments like these just remind me of how good it is to be alive and to enjoy the things we are blessed with.

Enjoy. **Edit - Yep that is Bryleigh Crying at the beginning... :-)***

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3 weeks already

Do you believe it has been 3 weeks already? She is growing so quickly.

Xbox LIVE and Call of Duty 4

OK, one of the great things about having sons, is that you still get to be a kid yourself. Enter Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. What a combo. Santa delivered the game console last Christmas and we have enjoyed it tremendously. Lately we have been playing Call of Duty 4. Recently, my Bro-In-Law, Darren, got me hooked into playing our favorite game online. The game is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This game is great! I only wish I had more time to play it!! (Extra time is not something we have lately...)

Anyways, if you are an Xbox LIVE player and are playing Call of Duty 4, my gamer tag is DaYzeZ. (Christian came up with that name Daze-ez. So cute.) Look me up and we can play!

Recent Kids Shoot

Check out these lil guys. We had a blast! This is a sneak peek for mom.

Big Brother Brayden

Bray is so proud to be a big brother. He LOVES to snuggle Bryleigh and give her kisses. Check him out.

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Test Video

I found this new site Blip.tv that has excellent web-quality video. So I wanted to put a test clip up there and who do you think it stars??? Yep. Bryleigh.

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I so love having a little girl around

**EMAIL ISSUES**

We had a major malfunction with our email system over the past two weeks. For some reason, our main email info@davidburkephoto.com was missing from our server. If you have sent an email to us, using the info address, over the past two weeks it is likely that we did not receive it. Please accept our apologies and I believe that the issue is resolved. Please resend any emails that you may have sent.

Also, we have started to use SPAM ARREST due to the large amount of spam we receive. If you send us an email you will be asked to verify your address. I hated to enact this line of defense, but we waste so much time deleting junk mail that the junk filters do not catch. Thank you for understanding :-)

Free Rice

This site is fun and promotes a good cause. Check out Free Rice. I saw this on my friend, Kevin Von Qualen's site. For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger. You get to educate yourself and help the hungry :-)!