Scared to DEATH

I know it's been a while since I blogged, but my son Noah has been in town, then we went on vactation in conjunction with returning him to his mother. I'll write about that soon.

Things up untill now have been pretty quiet on the pregnancy front. Untill yesterday. Yesterday was the "Official Anatomy Review". Sounds so, uh, official right? Anyway, we were both excited going in. The radiologist kept us in suspense long enough that we thought we'd have to come back. Finally she said "Well I'm pretty sure I know it's a girl, but I really want to be sure. I want to be the first to tell you!" The baby was sitting such that she wasnt able to get all the measurements the radiologist needed and made it hard to tell if it was a CJ or Caroline. Finally she moved enough to be sure. Caroline it is! I think Amy and I were both sure it was a boy. That would be convieneint. Just throw him in JJ's clothes, and take him along on all the boy things JJ, Noah and I will do. JJ knew way ahead it was a girl. Everytime he refered to the baby it was "She": She's hungry, she's this big, she's this or that. Oh, and he'd say "her name will be Caroline" (even though we had a boys name picked out too-Charles Jackson). He would even sing "Sweet Caroline" without being prompted!

Immediately after the appointment, Amy called like 5,000 people and I just called my parents. I really didnt know what to think. A newfound sense of protectiveness came over me. I'd love for my boys to have a long life of motorcycles, hot rods and fighter jets. Heck, that's what I still want for myself! But Caroline's already so much different in my mind. Will she play soccer or want to cheerlead? Will she want to chase a high paced career or be a housewife? Will she be a tomboy or girly girl? What should I want for her? Anyway, I dont know what to think, all I know is I'm scared to death about having a girl. I feel like having boy's is no problem. They're so much fun. I know what to do with boys, exactly what I do/did. Now with a girl, what do I do. Have tea parties, play dressup? Am I allowed to do that? All I know for now is that after she's born, she's mine unless she's feeding.

So all you men with daughters, give me some hints.

What would one of my blog posts be without some pictures?

Here the arrow supposedly points to the proof that we're gonna have a girl:



In this picture you get a good view of her face. Unfortunately it shows more of the bone structure of her face making her look like skeletor:



Here's the nice normal ultrasound shot people show their co-workers. The radiologist was nice enough to color balance it pink (even though Amy doesn't like pink):

Engagement Session

A co-worker of mine is getting married next year and asked me to shoot her wedding. Engagement sessions usually come with the package, so I was glad for the opportunity to shoot her and her fiance (who's a senior at a university in Montana) this week. What a great young couple. The seem perfect for eachother. So young with big lives ahead!

Maternity Pictures

I love kids. I know that's not the manly thing to say, but I really do. They're such a blessing. They carry on our names and our traits. They're just amazing in so many ways. That's part of the reason I love maternity pictures too. It's such a happy time in a new parents life. This young couple go to our church and I asked them if I could shoot some pictures of the belly. I wanted to try some off camera flash in the field and take some portraits in a different place. The shoot went better than I thought, and I learned alot.

I'm planning on taking some pictures of their daughter when she's born too. I'm excited about getting into that area of photography. Let me know what you think.













And of course some film. My first roll with a $200 Craigslist steal!

When Momma's Away...

...The boys play. I wish I could say he asked for this.



Then I might be in a little less trouble. She said he could have a mohawk if he asked for it.

Mommy's in Dallas for the last part of this week for a church food service conference. She seems like she's having a good time. She'll think twice about leaving the boys at home alone again. Next time I might use our savings for a motorcycle. Shoot, I might do that anyway with these gas prices! I did get all the laundry done though.

10 Weeks

Amy just went to her 10 week appointment and we have our pictures of the baby.

Here's Pat:

Amy hates me calling him/her Pat. She says it reminds her of the Saturday Night Live skit. The baby's real name will be Caroline (middle name to be determined, either Marie or Grace. My vote's for Marie) or Charles Jackson (C.J. or Jack).

Anyway, Pat and Amy are doing well. Amy's still tired all the time, but seems to have more bursts of energy lately. She's going to Texas this week for a church food service conference so hopefully she'll be well enough to participate and learn what she needs.

Amy's due January 15th. I'm hoping Pat will come about 2 weeks early so we can claim him/her on our tax returns! Start the baby pool! I'm taking bets on the due date.

I've got two amazing little boys so it'd be nice to have a "daddy's girl". At the same time, I know how amazingly fun boys are. If we have a couple more boys, we can start a hockey team!

So anyway, start ordering those prints from my last post. Proceeds go towards having a new baby!

Selling Pictures

I've set up a website specifically for YOU to order prints.

http://callen.zenfolio.com/

I'll update the gallery regularly to hopefully keep interest. I've got 20 of my favorite summer pictures up right now, and in a couple months, I'll add a fall album.

Check it out even if you dont order prints, and forward it to all your friends!

Let me recommend this print in honor of the July 4th Holiday!

I Shoot People...

..and by shoot, I mean photograph.

I put that up on my website as the first line of my "About" page as well as the about paragraph to the right here. A friend of mine laughed and laughed about that. It is meant to be funny but it can be very serious too. In this day and age, people are getting shot left and right, and it's a very scary prospect bringing up a young family in the DC Metro area.

This all comes to mind because David Hobby (THE strobist at strobist.com) put up this fathers day post: "A Father's Day Reminder: Shoot Your Kids". I immediately thought of people who might read that out of context and the repercussions people have had from saying shoot instead of photograph.

As most of you may know, I'm a US Marine Corps Veteran. I that's where my funny tagline comes from. When I was in boot camp, my drill instructor had a USMC license plate frame that read: USMC Infantry. I kill people for a living. Fitting I guess, albeit a harsh way of saying it. I thought I'd play on that to a photographers favor.

A colleague of mine is also a Marine Veteran of over 25 years. He told me of a day he was tasked with going to shoot the president as part of his official duties as a Marine Corps Photographer. As soon as they drew their weapons, he knew the mistake he made. When he told the security detail what he was there to do, they detained him immediately! It took quite a while and a bunch of phone calls before he was able to be released to his command. Needless to say he didn't shoot the president with film or otherwise.

These days I'm very clear that I photograph people and shoot landscapes.

This is me after shooting a bunch of people (with a video camera that is. I was lucky enough to never have to fire a weapon in a hostile environment):