Taylor Swift Concert Photography

Taylor Swift is such an expressive subject to shoot. She is cotton candy, kittens, and Hollywood glamour all rolled into one.

For concert photography, the last thing you want is for your images to look like everyone else's. What many don't understand about concert photography is at each show there is at least 10 photographers in the pit. They shoot for blogs, webzines, local news media, and for the stock photo houses. After a while, all the pictures start looking the same, because all photographers are given the same time frame to shoot: the first three songs.

Finding different ways to capture the artists is probably one of the biggest challenges I enjoy the most with concert photography. I always try to break away from the herd. Photographers have a bad tendency to bunch up inside the pit ( and somedays there is just no avoiding that due to space, or lack of).

Yes, you need the "money shot." The one picture of the artist which makes them look most appealing, good facial feature, expressive. But, after you have 50 frames of that shot, use the rest of your time to be creative.

Look for quirky facial expressions. Look for a chance to become artistic. Look for fan interaction and for moments that you are NOT going to see in every other photographer's portfolio.

Trick ® Treat !

Halloween is, without a doubt, my most favorite holiday. The only other one that comes close to it is Christmas.

Each year, my husband and I hand out over 15 pounds of candy to our neighborhood kids. We deck out of front porch and take pleasure in the fact we have a reputation as being 'one of the good houses' for parents to bring their little hobgoblins to.

I love the fact we live in the Heartland where people can still bring their children to a neighbor's front door and not really have to worry about safety, or what some nefarious person has put into the candy.

So, here is to Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfingers, Snickers, and Hershey Bars. Blow Pops, Dum Dums, and Double Bubble. Last year we had almost a 100 trick or treaters. Can't wait to see how many we get tonight.

One of our family traditions is homemade paper lanterns. We make 20 each year and light our walk and front yard to welcome our trick or treaters. I love the response from the kids, especially the ones that have been coming to our house for as long as they can remember.

Happy Halloween everyone.

30 Seconds To Mars - behind the scenes with Leto

This is one of my favorite candid shots taken after the 30 Seconds To Mars concert.... after shooting the show, I was able to sit back and enjoy the band taking time to do autographs for their fans.

Jared Leto was in rare form and I live for capturing moments like this