You may recognize Lora from some of my Budo Fight pictures, she is one of the ring girls for the event. Lora and I had been trying to get together to shoot for quite some time, she had torn her ACL and was doing rehab and getting back it shape from the time off. She kept telling my she wasn’t as flexible as she used to be, but as you can see below, I had a hard time believing that.

Lora had wanted to do some sports modeling and we decided also to do some more glam work. After we got done in the studio,we went outside and let her climb around some of discarded metal in the area.

Special thanks go out to Lora’s beau for standing in as my VALS (Voice Activated Light Stand) while we were shooting outside.

enjoy.

This just hurts me looking at it.

I’d like to introduce William O’Connell, the latest Images By Tracy Smith senior high school studio rep from Bend Sr. High class of 2012.

William is an accomplished swimmer for the Bend High School Lava Bears Swim Team. During his short swimming career William has won both district and state titles/medals and plans to continue competing during his Sr. year, with his eye on collecting even. William was a pleasure to work with during our session and I look forward to following his progress this year in the pool.

If you know William or are a Bend High student with questions about getting your senior pictures done, feel free to speak with him, or you can call the studio directly.

Call today (541-312-2151) and set up an appointment to discuss/book your session, as the summer progresses prime spots will get harder to secure.

Also make sure to “Like” us on Facebook to stay updated on the latest happenings with the studio and special events/promotions.

Here are some more selects from our session.

He’s coming for you Phelps!

May and June have turned in to dance months at the studio and with my event company. 2 sets of dance school portraits (one done and one this weekend) and 2 performances (on done and one in week).

I don’t know if I have photographed anything more cute than the group of kids I had the opportunity make portraits for a couple weeks ago. These kids are all members of the Dance Velocity dance school–which my 2 daughters go to for their dance classes. These little dancers ranged in age from 3 to 11, and from first time dancers to “seasoned veterans”. We spent the day shooting both individual and group portraits at the studio in preparation for their big show which took place last weekend with 3 other dance groups (checkout the  recital and show highlights-many different styles of dance from ballet to hip-hop).

I had also done a session with the Velocity Dance Theater dancers a few months back. VDT is a group of older (high school sophomores and older) girls who train at Dance Velocity as well.

Some highlights from that session

Check back shortly to see more dance photos from this weekends Academie de Ballet Classique portrait sessions and next weekends Peter and the Wolf show.

Normally I wouldn’t post photos from events like this here (I usually do that on CascadeEventPhotography.com), but this event was a little different. This year I am a sponsor for the Tri-county High School Rodeo Team and had the opportunity to go out to see some of these young athletes compete this past weekend. While I didn’t get to see the whole event, I did get to spend one afternoon watching some amazing athletes, human and equine…and a few of the bovine variety…compete.

The rodeo was held at the Crook County Fairgrounds in Prineville OR. and included high school competitors from around the state, including Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, Harney and Grant counties. The young athletes competed in bronc and bull riding, calf roping (individual and team), barrel racing and pole bending, as well as calf and goat tying and steer wrestling. It was fun see the rodeo again, I’ve only been to one in recent memory–I grew up going to the rodeo probably every year up to high school in Colorado.

I find the challenge of shooting something that I’ve never done before to be invigorating. I’ve put together some highlights of the afternoon’s events and have posted more to view/purchase in a gallery over at CascadeEventPhotography.com. I would totally shoot another rodeo given the chance, it was a lot of fun and an interesting new challenge.

Hope you enjoy

Links: Highlights | Gallery

How to describe Heather?

A journalist, check; a bicycle racer, check; a super sweet, fun-loving friend, who’s always got a smile on her face, check, check, check, check, check.

Heather came over to the studio for a session and I wanted to encompass the different aspects that make her…well, her. I borrowed a sweet J. Livingston retro rebuilt bike from Eric over at Bend Velo, grabbed some newspapers and Heather brought her ever-present smile and wardrobe. We decided to do a few some lifestyle shots and some more sports type portraits. It was a blast shooting with Heather and I am looking forward to doing it more now that the weather is getting nicer here in town.

Enjoy!

PS you might recognize Heather from my earlier Earth Day post