So have you ever wondered what a snow day looks like in Atlanta?  Well here is a quick sneak peak at the fun you can have! Some personal pics, but still fun stuff.

Not sure how she can see from behind that hair……..And she told me that she was not cold!

This is our the street in front of our house.  Pure ice.

The kids and I spent the Christmas week in North Georgia on Lake Hartwell.  The wife has abandoned us (ok not really, but it sounds better) to go see her father in India.  So the kids were left to our own devices and ended up having a blast togther.

Below are a series of images I took during the week.  The portait work is really just some fun, personal work;  Nothing outstanding, just fun stuff.  The landscapes: I wanted to try and capture the cold that has been running through Georgia this month.

As always, let me know what you think!!

I had a hard time with the below 2.  I could not decide if I liked the color or BW version better.  I shot this with the intent of turning it into a BW.  But in looking at it, I really think I like the color better.

Our two very good friends!!

I shot this @ 2.8 with an ISO of 8,000.  I am still amazed that I can do that!

And my favorite people in the world………..

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope that it was all that you wanted it to be.  I knew that these three little people were happy Christmas Day!

This past Saturday I helped, along with 6,000 other photographers from around the world in 22 countries, photograph people who might not ever get the chance to have a formal portrait taken.  It was one of those moments that you can feel that you have the ability not only to give back, but to see people who appreiate what you do.  The smiles that happened that day, both in front of the camera and behind it, were just amazing.

Stats for just Atlanta:
337 portraits taken; 683 individual people were photographed; 157 Atlanta-Metro volunteers participated

Here are a few links about the day, some behind the scene photos from my location and other posts.  Amazing stuff!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/14/photo.shoot.help.portrait/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxshirley/galleries/72157622867020009

http://web.me.com/dvrosa/Help-Portrait/Movie.html

http://www.terzatendina.com/FTP/H-P_Timelapse.mov

And next year?  Why don’t you join us??!!

This is a quick sample of one of the reason that I love this time of year.  Who could look at this and not just smile?

We had gotten back late the night before from a trip to California.  I knew that this would be a hard day for the kids; getting used to the time zone change, getting back into the routine etc.  School seemed to go fine but within 20 minutes of getting home my littlest one was on my couch in my office fast asleep.

Yea, this is a parent/dad thing.  But I could not resist snapping a shot of my little princess.  And yes, I think she is way cute!!

And you thought your feet had to be the ground to play soccer!!

I try very hard to shoot each of my boys soccer games.  Normally, I will shoot about 1,500 images per game and end up with about 100 or so that I put together with the other games that I ultimately give to the parents at the end of the season.  I enjoy it because it is something that I don’t normally do and they enjoy the memories that makes for the kids.

As I was looking through the photos from this past weekend, I saw how many shots I had where the boys seemed to be flying off ground.

These boys might be Blue Angles in the making!!

This is my little guy below!

No question, this was my favorite shot of the weekend.

Just a quick post before we head off into the weekend.  We were up at Lake Hartwell this last week (North Georgia) and discovered that we had recently received so much rain that our dock gangway was almost completely underwater.  I was able to walk out to the dock but I was chest deep in water.  That is how much it has rained recently!

I shot this about 7am last Sunday.  The fog was intense;  But the sunrise made it all disappear.  It was simple amazing.  Not sure how that works.  If you look at the image on the right side you will see half a dozen ducks swimming away.  I must have just missed them.

I always keep telling myself that I need to carry my camera with me more then I do;  But then again, if you ask my wife, she will tell you that I need to stop carrying it as much as I do.  Perhaps there is a middle ground there somewhere. Anyway, I digress.

Last Friday my 6 year old daughter was helping her mom (my wife) get ready for a party at our house for a women who was about to have her baby any moment.  As you can imagine, my daughter was having a ball helping out. The best part of it for her was that she got to spread colorful confetti all over our house. As she picked it up, it seemed to spread everywhere.  I saw the color and the magic of that moment and I asked her to stand still for just a moment.

I shot this @ 1,000 ISO 1/30th sec, f/1.4 with my 50mm.  I almost threw this out, but in the end I grew to like it.  I enjoy the fact that it is not crystal clear and that so much is left to the imagination.

I think over the course of the last 72 hours I have spent more time staring at my Mac then working on it.  Over the last few days I have been reading and listening to other photographers talk about passion and vision.  Talking about doing what drives you, doing what makes you happy or gives you satisfaction.  It has made me think about where I am and where I want to go.  In other words, what do I want to be when I grow up!

As my photography business has grown, I am amazed at the people that I have met and the ideas that they have.  It has made me appreciate what I do and how I do it.  Through all of the ups and down, my wife, Priti,  has been there for me.  While sometimes she thinks that I spend too much time on a project; she is always supportive and understanding about what I am trying to do.  But maybe, as I sit here, it is not about what I am trying to do, as much as where I am trying to go.  Priti will tell you that I am having a mid-life crisis.  I am not sure I am old enough to be having one of those, but she may have a point.  I am always looking for a direction; Where do I want to go and what do I want to do.  Photography for me is not just a job, but it truly is a passion.  It is something that I think about, dream about and even fantasize about.  I love being able to take the tool that I have and create a story without words.  I know that I “got the shot” when the person’s eyes tells the whole story.  That single focused goal is what makes me get get up each and every day to do what I do

If there is something that my mother instilled in me many years ago, it was to never stop learning.  To recognize that you are not the best at something and that there are always people out in the world who know more then you do.  She told me to learn from them and to never stop having a passion for knowledge.  Those thoughts, I believe, have taken me to where I am with photography today.  I am a prolific reader; I will read anything on a subject that fascinates me.  I will listen to anyone who I think knows more than I do (and that is most people).  There are always 50 some odd podcasts in my iTunes folder that I need to listen to ( I never seem to get caught up);  Always books by my bed that I am always in the middle of.  But that is how I am.  I want to learn;  I thrive on it.  If my mom had any mantra, it was to never stop learning, no matter how old you were.

I have learned a lot over these past years trying to find out who I am as a photographer.  I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and technical knowhow. But, maybe after these 72 hours of thinking,  I am now realize that I am at a point where that knowledge needs to become wisdom.  I need to learn how to do that.