Baby Judah...

Yesterday I had the pleasure and honor to photograph my good friends, Kylie and Jake Baird's son, Judah, born 12 days ago.

I've never done a newborn session before and I'm sure I've got a lot to learn, but what I do know is that I was very lucky with having this child as my first. I've heard stories of newborn sessions taking several hours, possibly multiple days because the baby was always crying or uncooperative. With 3 changes, a couple diaper changes and a couple feeding sessions in the mix yesterday, I was able to get some amazing photos in just a couple hours and I'm very pleased and thankful which, by the way is what Judah means.

I hope you enjoy the photos and a special thank you to Brandy Profancik for loaning me the sleigh. It was the perfect prop for baby Judah. Click on them to see them larger if you'd like.

Raising the Stakes for Noble

I had the pleasure to serve Noble of Indiana for the second time this year in their efforts to serve children and adults with developmental disabilities.

The first event was this summer at Sagamore for their golf tournament and this past Friday was their casino benefit Riverwalk in Broad Ripple.

Enjoy the photos, if you want to see the full set, click on the link or title and of this post and it will take you to the pictage website to preregister and there you can not only see the whole night but order any photos you'd like to have.

10% of all orders will be given to Noble. Thanks!

Stefon Harris & Blackout Showcase for Sat. PASIC

Saturday was quite a day for this amateur drummer and professional photographer. I not only got to play a gig with my band "The Occasional Blues Band" helping entertain the homeless for an afternoon of service with the Pourhouse.org but I also got to photograph a number of amazing percussionists.

I haven't really had the time to fully explain yet how I got "lucky" this weekend and while I'm lucky, & grateful I'm pretty sure PAS will be very grateful they gave me a media pass and got free work from me. Here's the story, it's pretty simple. I saw a posting on Craigslist about the Percussion Arts Society convention, PASIC and pasically, I mean basically I went downtown because I wanted to learn some from the Stanton Moore clinic and watch his trio. I initially purchased a 2 session pass which would get me the clinic and in to watch his concert, but then I asked about bringing my camera, they asked if I was in the media, I asked if I could get a media pass and that got the ball rolling.
So, as luck/good fortune/good living I'm not sure which, would have it, Jon Feustel, marketing/communications director of PAS gave me a pass, reimbursing my initial $30 fee and I gave up access but not copyright to all 2000 photos of this remarkable showcasing some of the world's most prolific and talented percussionists.

My college percussion instructor, Ronnie Bedford ought to be honored, perhaps he already has. But I know he would love this as in his 80'th year he's still lovin' rhythm and I believe still teaching! So that's my plug to PAS, look him up. Of course, if they have to look him up... never mind :)

Anyway, Saturday evening's showcase act was a Grammy nominated group Stefon Harris & Blackout.
Now I'm not an aficionado but I do know good music and well, as you can see from the photos these cats know music, breathe it, love it, and bring it BIG. It was a pleasure to not only watch but to hear. If I were blind I would've felt the passion. I highly recommend my readers that love jazz and funk and soulful good music to look Blackout up. And yes, that first pic is THE- Mr.Vic Firth. It was so cool walking through the hall earlier and seeing him with his name tag and looking all around and these people have his shirts, stick bags, lanyards all donning his name and all of us were in awe! It was like a cinematic feeling watching people realize they're seeing a living legend. I use Vic's love 'em... in case Mr. Firth wants to send me a few I use RockMaple SD4 Combos :)

So enjoy the photos, if you want to see them larger, click on them, they're Diehlicious!

A fun day of musical genius

I am really tired and don't have the time to tell much about what I got to experience by luck and a little bit of good timing. Needless to say, I brought my camera to the PASIC International Drum and Percussion EXPO and managed to get a media pass.

The reason I went there at all was to see Stanton Moore, the drummer of Galactic and the Stanton Moore Trio. This guy is brilliant, fun, and really fun to watch play. I wont' elaborate, enjoy the pics. I'll have more tomorrow as I'll be shooting a lot of other percussion things. Add in my own band playing at 1-3 I'll be about as percussive as I've ever been and then add on Sunday worship time and I'll be ready to do my own clinic!

Just kidding.... Even though I've played drums on and off for 25 years, I know where I belong and where I stand and I can't hold a torch to 95% of the drummers/percussionists in the world. Nevertheless, I love to play, I love music and am grateful to my God that I have the talents that I do have and that I get to use them.

All in a Day's work...

I know that I don't have a normal job or work life. Don't be jealous. Trust me, there's days I wish I had an office with co-workers and a paycheck bi-weekly with a 401K I could count on. So don't, don't, let me repeat, don't think that my life is better than yours.

I can say however and this part you can be envious of, and that is, that when I do my job, I do what I love.

Today I got to photograph Kelly Gerling, a branch manager from KeyBank and her son. I've included a couple of my favorites as well as a couple photos I made on my way home from Noblesville. In the air were these 3 hot-air balloons. I said "self, you should take some pictures of those" so, naturally, I had my gear with me and these are a couple I liked starting from Fishers over to Geist Reservoir.

All in a day's work... It's 10:55 and I'm 60% done with the Gerling's photos and the 100 or so balloon pix and I'm about to "Fall Back". Thank you God for your blessings in the work I get.

If you like what I do, tell your friends. What I do is priceless and Diehlicious!