Studio P Blog - 40/43

Feb 23 2010

Dinner and a Bargain

Where can you go to get a great dinner at a reasonable price — AND get a shot at some serious bargains at everything from a vacation getaway to a spend-the-night party for your kids?

Well, Thursday night you can go to the Freedom Christian Academy & Outback Steakhouse Dinner and Auction. One of the biggest fund-raisers of the year at our son Grant’s school, the Outback dinner is one heck of a fun night. First of all, there’s dinner, which this year is chicken and ribs, blue cheese chopped salad and vegetables from Outback Steakhouse at Strawberry Plains here in Knoxville. This some serious food, and at $15, it’s about as good as it gets. You’re not going to beat it, I can promise you.

Then there is the auction, both the silent and live varieties. You never know what’s going to be up for sale — I’ve seen works of art, cabin rentals in the Smokies, various themed baskets of goodies, brake jobs, signed football and basketballs — you name it and it just may be there. This year there are over 200 auction items available, so there is probably something there that will pique your interest.

All the proceeds go to Freedom Christian Academy, which is a K3-8th grade Christian school at Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church in East Knoxville. The teachers and administrators do an excellent job of educating children using a biblically-based curriculum, which is important these days. Not that I have anything specifically against public school. I am a product of a public school myself. But if I can give my son a Christian education, I think it gives him a spiritual advantage that I didn’t have.

There are still a few tickets left, if you are in Knoxville and want to come. Call FCA at 865-525-7807 to reserve yours.

By the way, Studio P is donating four items for the auction — a pair of one-hour portrait sessions (one studio and one location), a 20-page custom-designed photo book with the purchase of a portrait session and a 16 x 20 canvas wrap with the purchase of a portrait session. The photo books, especially, are becoming quite popular. We take a lot of pictures during a 1-hour portrait session, sometimes as many as 200 or more. Photo books are a way to get more of the images without having to find a place to hang them on the wall. Below is a page from a book that we have done for Bailey, one of our seniors that we have shot. The full book will be on display at the auction.

Hope that we see you there!

Bailey Book Dinner and a Bargain

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Dinner and a Bargain, 2011 - Studio P Blog » Studio P Blog - March 29, 2011 - 2:22 pm

[...] Tags: Outback, photography, products, studio No comments Last year, we told you about the Freedom Christian Academy Outback Dinner and Auction, one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for our son’s [...]

Feb 22 2010

Good Cheer!

I love high school gyms.

There’s something about being in a high school gym, with the sounds of a dribbling basketball and squeaking high tops that’s almost comforting. I guess it takes me back to a time when the most important thing in the world was whether or not a free throw was made. Not that I would be the one trying to make it. A basketball is to me what kryptonite is to Superman. I could always play a little baseball and football, but hoops pretty much confounded me. But I had a lot of friends that played and I have a lot of fond memories of sitting in the stands and losing my voice at games.

I do NOT, however, love shooting in high school gyms. Most of the time, the lighting is just north of pitch black as far as a digital camera is concerned, and getting a decent shot takes pretty good skill. But Friday night, LaDonna and I went to Grace Christian to shoot pictures of Abby, the daughter of our friends Chuck and Shannon. LaDonna is putting together a scrapbook for Abby, who is a sophomore and in her first year as a cheerleader at Grace Christian Academy.

All in all, it wasn’t bad shooting there. The lighting was actually pretty good for a high school gym and I got some decent shots. Plus I got to relive a little of my own youth. Fun times.

abbycheer7 Good Cheer! abbycheer6 Good Cheer!

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Feb 17 2010

When Will it Be Warm?

I’m cold right now.

No, seriously, I’m really cold right now. My feet are freezing, my fingers are stiff and nose is chilled. This has been the coldest winter in Knoxville that I can remember in a long time. It has snowed significantly at least four times since Christmas, and I can look outside my office window and see snow right now. The current temperature, according to weather.com, is 30 degrees, 22 with the wind chill. And that’s pretty much the high for the day. So, as cold as it has been, in order to keep the heat from running constantly and having us take out a second mortgage to pay the electric bill, we are turning the thermostat down in the house. In fact, it hasn’t been above 66 in a long time.

Now in July, 66 degrees is a gift from God. But when the outside temperature hasn’t been above 40 degrees in days, setting the thermostat at 66 degrees leaves something to be desired. So I’m trying to think warm thoughts.

In order to facilitate that, I thought I would share a couple of pictures of Grant from last summer. Take a look, close your eyes and pretend…

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A Little Reminder… » Studio P Blog - July 22, 2010 - 4:20 pm

[...] if you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that this past winter was not pleasant for me. My feet have just recently thawed [...]

Feb 16 2010

Flying High

Can motorcycles fly?

Well, they can look like it sometimes. Saturday night, we got the chance to go watch (and shoot) an indoor motocross event in Morristown. Wayne, who assists us on shoots and is becoming quite a good photographer himself, also races motorcycles, so we took the opportunity to check him out and get a little experience shooting an event like this one.

As you might expect, it was very loud inside the arena, but it was a ton of fun. There was everything from 4 and 5-year-olds racing minibikes all the way to professional riders. Most of the races were only five laps around the course, which made things go by very quickly. Once the riders get to around Wayne age or a little younger, they really start taking the course with some speed and can fly off the dirt-mound hills, which you can see in the images below. One of the pro riders, who won his race, was getting 20 feet or better in the air. It was very impressive.

Shooting the event was very interesting as well. The light was not very good, so we were shooting at a very high ISO in order to get the shots to come out. I was shooting with the Nikon D700 with a 70-200mm, f/2.8 lens at ISO 3,200. LaDonna was shooting the Nikon D90 with an 85mm, f/1.8 lens at ISO 1,600. My shots are on top and heres on bottom. The D700 obviously handles the lack of light a lot better than the D90, but both cameras did a more than credible job of shooting indoors without flash. The hardest part was trying to catch the riders on a jump and get them in focus. Not bad for a first try, I don’t think.

Oh, and by the way, Wayne won his race. Way to go, Wayne!

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Riding High! » Studio P Blog - March 11, 2010 - 4:45 pm

[...] Flying High [...]

Feb 12 2010

What I want to be when I grow up…

This is my first attempt at writing a blog post. Tony usually writes them but he wants me to write some too so here goes…

I have a new secret (well, not so secret now) passion or “what I want to be when I grow up.” I want to be a landscape photographer. I know, I know….you have to be one of the top landscape photographers in the world to make money at it but even if I never make a dime, I still want to pursue it. I have always enjoyed taking photos outside but didn’t think about it much until I went to a seminar taught by Scott Bourne at Imaging USA in January. He IS one of the top wildlife/landscape photographers in the world and after watching a video of his work, I was hooked! I could sit there all day and look at his beautiful photographs. Of course, many other people could too so that is why he has gallery showings all over the world.

My most recent attempt at landscape photography was last summer. Tony’s brother rented a house on Smith Lake in Alabama for the Fourth of July holidays. We spent several great days swimming and relaxing with his family. We went for boat rides, fished and played in the lake. I love to ride in a boat. It is like flying only better because you are so much closer to the ground. (I am scared of heights!) I also loved sitting on the back deck or the dock and watching the many boaters/skiers/fisherman go by.

I went out to the dock one night at sunset because the clouds were so beautiful. Please keep in mind that I was on a floating dock which meant it was rocking the whole time with the many boats that were going by. I would have to wait for the rocking to slow down in between boats to get a good shot. But it was worth the effort!

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wayne phillips - February 12, 2010 - 11:09 pm

good job on those pics those looks AUUHHHHMAZING!!!! love u guys!!

Elizabeth Schwengels - February 13, 2010 - 11:11 am

LaDonna… WOW! Go for your dream sweetie these pictures are simply breathtaking. I love landscapes too. I am always amazed at the imagination and creativity of our awesome heavenly father!

LaDonna Pettis - February 13, 2010 - 11:17 pm

Thanks Elizabeth and Wayne! I appreciate your comments on my photos. I hope to take more soon. I am also amazed at the work of God’s hand and the beauty of his creation!

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