And while you are out surfing around, stop by this site. www.ct40futurestar.com and vote for Katy Keenie, she is a new client that I just love.

There is even more cool stuff coming for me and my Gypsy Friends…I can’t tell you about it just yet, but it won’t be long.  Here is a sneak peak….I have also done several shoots lately and have my calendar pretty booked for the fall, so if you need some pics taken before ole Saint Nick gets here, you should call today and schedule your shoot.  Here are a couple from a senior shoot I did last month.  Livia is a doll.  She is absolutely sweet, trust me I know.  What a day we had, I got terribly lost in the middle of nowhere, on top of the fact that this was an early morning shoot.  We were out and about before the sun!  Livia, you are a doll, and you are going to be such an amazing woman I hope your senior year is everything you want it to be and plenty more. 

I love this shot.  A little more edge…

I have also had some cute kiddo shots….I am just going to share one, because if I share more I will have to share them all and we will be here all night and I can’t do that because I have a show to go to.  Talk about a run on sentence…moving on.  Here is Miss Avery.  SO SO Darling, and that bench she is on is a painted old church pew, which may or may not go missing from my friend’s porch at some point.  If it ends up on mine, I have no idea how that happened! 

Now you see why I can only post one, they were all that cute.

Oh!  Oh yeah!  How could I even forget this…I really didn’t I am just pretending.  I did a photoshoot with the great, lovely and just awesome owners of Frank Kent Motor Company for one of their new billboards.  How freakin cool is that?  Seriously, I’m stoked but don’ttell anyone I try to play these things cool.  Here are a couple of shots from that shoot, which may have been one of the easiest shoots I have ever had.  If their salesman are as sweet as they are, they have my business forEVER!  Go over and check out their website, cause it’s pretty cool and has a really cool little commercial that plays. I love love love that last shot, it makes me happy.  Thank you to the awesome people at Frank Kent Motor I can’t wait to see the billboard!

Okay, So I will try to blog again soon…..But right now I have to decide what to wear to a show tonight and that could take awhile.

Okay so I grew up raising cattle, and my family still does, so the beef industry is very important to us.  Every year the Texas CattleWomen have a competition known as the Texas Beef Leaders of Tomorrow Contest, they select four out of the contestants to travel the state with them all year and educate people about the importance and nutrition of Beef.  The top point earner in the competition goes on to Nationals, and the Texas bunch has almost made it a tradition to have someone make that team.  Congratulations to these four great, entertaining and very smart ‘kids’. (I can say that, Im old!)  So last year I volunteered to help out by taking pictures and did the same this year, its always a lot of fun to get to meet the kids although it does make me feel really old.These are last years winners, from Left to Right – BoDavid Williford, Jordan Symon, Austin “Pimp” Joyce (who went to the National Competition and made it on the National Team) and Trevor King.This is Mason Parrish, he was on the team two years ago and was the state FFA president this past year, he starts at Texas A&M in the fall, remember his name he will probably be Ag Commissioner or Governor one day (Lord Help Us All! – Love you Mase)

Here are some shots of the other contestants, they all did great, and I hope that the ones that didn’t make the team and are still eligible will come back next year.  

Drumroll Please…..this years winners are…..from left to right – Codi Coulter, Charley (I’m a lucky guy can’t you tell) Martinez, Lauren Grainger and high point winner who will move on to compete at Nationals Emily Jack.  Congrats again!  More info on each below. Codi Coulter of Naples, Texas, is a freshman at Texas Tech University majoring in Agricultural Leadership. She was active in FFA where she held several offices and competed in multiple leadership, career development and speaking events. She was a member of the National Honor Society and the editor of the school newspaper. Codi shows Santa Gertrudis cattle and currently serves as the Mid-Coast Santa Gertrudis Association President and on the National Junior Santa Gertrudis Association Board of Directors as Secretary

Charley Martinez of Desoto, Texas, is a sophomore at Texas A&M University-Kingsville majoring in Agriculture Business-Ranch Management. Charley currently serves as the Texas Junior Simmental/Simbrah Association Treasurer and was President in 2010-2011. He was awarded the Bronze Merit award in the American Junior Simmental Association Merit Program as well as other awards. Charley is on the Texas A&M-Kingsville livestock judging team and will be a member of the inaugural meats judging team in 2012

Lauren Grainger of Brenham, Texas, a fourth generation rancher, is a freshman at Texas Tech University majoring in Agricultural Communications. She was active in FFA where she held several offices including Chapter President. She was also a member of the Brenham High School Theatre Department. Lauren shows Santa Gertrudis cattle and serves on the National Junior Santa Gertrudis Association Board of Directors as Chairman of the Communications/Social Committee

Emily Jack of Giddings, Texas, is a freshman at Texas A&M University majoring in Animal Science. She was home educated and attended a college preparatory academy interning in Pre-Calculus. She gained college credit for both Calculus I and II as a high school senior and is a member of Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society. Emily was team captain of her basketball team and is a gymnast. She plans on attending veterinarian school in the future.

A big thank you to the Texas Cattle Women for having such a great program and to the women who devote so much time to these kids, Rosemary, Anne, Melissa and all of the rest of you wonderful women you do a great job and thank you for doing it.

Also a thank you to Anderson Bean Boots for outfitting this years winners with new boots, really cool of them to do that and I know the kids appreciate it.   

Okay so I have decided that all of the drummers in the world need to protest their stage lighting.  I get they have to be in the back, but does that mean they have to be in the dark?  Or worse, the RED DARK?  Join forces guys and demand the light you deserve. Did I mention that he could sing?  No?  Well he can and really well!  Multi-Talented Overachievers!

I didn’t get to stay for Mike’s set because I had to leave and get to College Station for what he called “cow conference”, which I will post about soon.  So here is a shot of Mike and Waldo backstage before their set, don’t ask….I can tell you Mike danced a little jig before this pic was taken, but I am saving those pics for another time or blackmail whichever comes first.

Have a great week everyone and get out and go see a live show this weekend!!  Have some fun!

Kendall was Gypsy Soule’s modeling contest winner this year and was one of the models we used in the May shoot.

Kendall is a sweetheart and obviously really pretty, but go check out her bio on the Miss Texas page, wow she is impressive all around.  To think she spent the day with all of those crazy women from Gypsy Soule and me, can anyone say trooper?

So if you don’t know what Gypsy Soule is, well where have you been?  Amy, Lorinda and the rest of their fabulous team of women at Gypsy Soule produce some of the coolest things ever; from flip flops, boots, clothes and jewelry.  I have two pair of their flip flops and they are the MOST comfortable shoes I own, I wear them ALL the time as some of you may know.  These aren’t your grandma’s comfy slip ons, these are rockin flip flops that sparkle and shine with every step you take.  You can see their stuff everywhere….Miranda Lambert wears a lot of their products and her puppies were sporting some custom made goods during her wedding along with flip flops for her and her bridesmaids.  Leanne Tuohy rocked a custom hard hat on ‘Extreme Makeover Home Edition‘, and you can see more of their jewels on CMT’s new show ‘Texas Women‘.  Speaking of Texas Women, another client of mine (along with some of my artwork) made an impromtu appearance on the season opener, The Clay Wilson Band’s album can be spotted during Ali Dee’s segment with Kevin McCoy from 95.9 the Ranch. Here it is, see if you can spot it when you watch. (PS, you should really go buy this album on iTunes or TXRDR or Lonestarmusic.com; its really good!)

Back to my Soule Sistas, this year’s shoot was so much fun, it was a long day but worth every minute.  I will be posting pictures as they use them in their ads throughout the year, but here are some that have already been used.

The 80′s Rocked!  So much fun with this set-up.  Earlier in the day my hero Bob Moorhouse stopped by to help us out.  If you have never seen his photography you are missing out on amazing thing.  I would give anything to have his talent.  Check out Bob’s new ride “The Thing”, totally customized and suits him to a T.

Last but not least the new ad in Cowboys & Indians Magazine for Gypsy Soule, perhaps my favorite shot of the whole day, I just love this picture, it is so fun and flirty and rockin, just like my Soule Sistas.  Amy & Lo, thank you again for allowing me to shoot this years ads, it is ALWAYS a pleasure.  Melaina & Kendall thanks for making my job so easy, you are both gorgeous!

And now for the pics from Wet Willies, which is a great venue by the way.  I know it is hard to get to and hopefully you can make it out there and sign their petition to help fix that problem, worth the hassle though, good venue.

and last one.  I love this one.  Not much to it at all, but I love it….I’m weird I know.

I had the pleasure of being invited in to the basement to get some shots of The Damn Quails in studio with Mr. McClure.  Let me just say I felt like the dork in the corner afraid to talk and say something stupid, but I feel like that a lot, so nothing new.  Mike has his own amazing world in his studio and proves you don’t have to have a HUGE studio set up to produce amazing music, you just need to know what you’re doing, and he obviously does. I will blog the in-studio shots with the Quails later, but wanted to blog some of the things you will find/see at The BooHatch, be prepared to herd chickens if you go to visit Mike.

and of course…. 

Thanks for letting me see inside your world Mike McClure it is an experience I will not quickly forget and I look forward to visiting again soon.

This has to be one of the coolest videos ever, on top of the fact that this band just ROCKS.

So after Brian Keane last night, we hopped on over to Bostocks for the Matt Wayne & Co. show.  It’s been a while since I have seen Matt live, I think Christmas Eve was the last full band show of his that I caught.  He never ceases to blow my mind.  I forget how much I just love his music, which bugs me because I listen to him all the time, but with every single live show, he just blows me away.  He has a new song that he wrote with Rodney Parker that is so so so so so so good.  Matt’s manager had told me about the song, so I had fair warning and it still blew me away.  I actually didn’t take that many pictures, because frankly I was too busy dancing and having a great time.  some gherm…just kidding that’s Rita Ballou helping Matt out with her favorite “Hard Luck Woman”Roy doing his thang on the bass. Johnny got a lil intense, but he rocked it.  Randy Gray you are a badass.if this picture doesn’t say “I work hard to put on a great show” I don’t know what would.  If you haven’t seen Matt live, go see a show ASAP, you will not be sorry.  He also has some great new merch in, so support your artists by picking up an album or  t-shirt, lets keep these guys on the road and the radio.  Speaking of radio, pretty sure Matt’s new single is out there and just waiting for you to request it, so call in and give your local DJ a hard time until he plays “Leavin You”.

I’ll leave you with one last shot from a great Saturday Night.  “It’s All Wayne-O”  - PS I hear if you like his facebook page they give away merch every week, also a good way to keep up with where he is playing….