Just a quick note to wish the love of my life a very happy birthday (May 26)!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Savannah the Singer
We could be looking at the 2018 winner of American Idol right here. My oldest daughter Savannah took the stage tonight in front of a huge audience at the Everett auditorium to belt out a few tunes. She did a great job and was quite the ham onstage. At the end of their songs she blew kisses to the audience over and over again. Pretty funny stuff.
It was a neat event, though it started off somewhat terrifying. The music teacher from Savannah's school in charge of the event took the stage, got on the microphone to begin the event by adamantly exclaiming SHHH! SHHH! SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The following is my exact thought process when she did that....
"Whoa"
She followed the Shhing with "Fine, I'll just wait until you are ready to listen." There were at least 1,000 people in the auditorium. It was literally standing room only with hundreds of small children and she wanted it absolutely silent. I've got to be honest with you, it freaked me out. She shhh'd another 12-15 times when a man sitting next to Lea leaned over and said "I think we've just been scolded." It totally brought me back to my school days when being a bit rambunctious in the back of the class. I know it's hard to believe, but yes...I could get a bit distracted from time to time as a student. I can assure you that I was absolutely silent as the music teacher had the mic...OH! I almost forgot the best part. She gave the instructions, they sang a song and a child went to the microphone to speak. The music teacher took the microphone from him and said "Some of you were paying attention and behaved. Most of you did not pay attention and see that someone was walking towards the microphone." Whoa, I am freaking out again just thinking about it.
Anyway, Savannah did great, she had a great time and it was a proud moment for me to see her up on that stage singing her little heart out.
Have a great day!
Mat
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
My buddy Tad
So a few weeks ago the neighbor kids were very excited. "Tadpoles!" We could hear them shouting from a block away. We grabbed the girls and walked to the shallow puddles and sure enough found some tadpoles swimming around. I scooped up a half dozen of them and brought them home. The next day was hot out and all of the water evaporated from the puddle/pond. Not a good thing to happen if you are a tadpole.
The 6 we caught are doing well at the house. They say it takes about 6 weeks to turn into a frog so we're about halfway there. You can see from the photo of this little guy that he is sprouting some legs. They really are fascinating.
See ya,
Mat
Monday, May 21, 2007
Shrek
So this afternoon Lea and I took the girls to see Shrek the Third. Shrek 2 is one of Sophie's favorite movies so she was very excited to see this one as was Savannah and well, I should be honest...me too :)
I had heard mixed reviews from people, but I wasn't disappointed at all. There were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments and the story kept me in it for the most part. The girls loved it too. Lea said she liked it as well, but then she asked what all the fairy tale characters were doing there. "What do you mean?" I asked. She confessed that she hasn't seen the first two! What! I could't believe it. I refused to answer any of her questions based on prinicipal. How can she have not seen either of them? I kid you not, with Sophie and Savannah I have probably seen each one at least 10 times. Unreal. Don't even get me started about how my wife "LEA" has never seen any of the Star Wars movies either.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Promise Me
So last night it was getting fairly late and Lea was settling down for the night. I started to make my usual trek downstairs to hit the computer and she laid the guilt trip on me. Those of you that know me, know that I was raised Catholic and those of you that know the Catholic Church know that guilt plays a major part in that. As a result of my upbringing I have a guilty conscience that I simply cannot escape. Lea did not want me to go downstairs. I tried to keep myself occupied. I plucked some nose hairs, I rearranged my sock drawer, I messed with the cat a little bit. The entire time I was sure to let out an audible sigh letting Lea know that I was bored and that I was only up there as a result of her exploiting my guilty conscience.
"Why don't you read your book?" She asked. "I finished it last night." For the last several weeks I have been reading a book called....read past this if you offend easily..."Whores, an oral biography of Perry Farrell and Janes Addiction." If you have never heard of Janes Addiction you can see a live performance of one of my favorite songs ever for just mind numbing adrenaline here at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIm6oTNMqko&mode=related&search=. I grew up with Janes Addiction and let me tell you if you want to read a book that will help you feel normal about your life and lifestyle (unless you are Paris Hilton reading this..and if you are, Paris give me a call I would love to do a portrait session with you) then you should read this book. When I was a teenager I went to see Janes Addiction perform at the Starry Night Club in Portland, Oregon while they were touring for their new album Nothing's Shocking. To this day I say it was the greatest show I have ever seen in my life. I have seen them multiple times since then but that was the best. A close second was the Enit Festival in San Francisco but I digrss...While my lifestyle...heck, not just my lifestyle but my entire life has changed dramatically since those days I still look back at Janes Addiction as my favorite band of all time. I used to listen to that album over and over and over again. Just a couple of weeks ago I bought their greatest hits album (very weird to think of Janes Addiction as a band with a greatest hits album) and I've been listening to it while reading the book. Wild stuff to say the least. Perry, if you google your name and this blog comes up give me a call, I would love to do a portrait session with you too. Much more than with Paris...though if we could get you both in the studio that would be pretty darn cool :)
Well, I've gotten beyond off topic here. The whole point of this blog was to write about the book I just read.
So I told Lea I had finished my book and she points to a book on the dresser that she bought last week. Promise Me by one of my favorite authors Harlan Coban. http://www.harlancoben.com/static/novels/pm.htm
I had seen the book there but didn't check it out until last night. When I did I realized that he had brought back some of my favorite characters of all books...Myron Bolitar and his sociopathic-but-lovable friend and savior Win. Had I known that I would have bought it hard back whenever it came out. So I started to read it last night around 12:30 or so and I finished it about 2 hours ago. We went to church this morning and I had lunch with the girls. I did some work on my web page (check it out, a couple of new galleries) but other than that I spent the day reading. It was awesome! I have been working so much lately. I finished Michael and Maya's wedding. I've almost got the Queen, It's a New Day images done and tomorrow I go to work at 5:45 AM for inventory to begin a 13 day, 145 hour work week at the Fish House. I decided I would take a "me day" I don't know if I've ever read an entire novel in less than 24 hours but this was the one to do it with. If you haven't read Harlan Coben before you should! He is so funny, his books are action packed and you immediately relate to and root for the main characters. They are all good. You could pick this one up and read it without having read others, but I would recommend you start from the beginning because once you read one of his books you will want to read them all.
Have a good one!
Mat
"Why don't you read your book?" She asked. "I finished it last night." For the last several weeks I have been reading a book called....read past this if you offend easily..."Whores, an oral biography of Perry Farrell and Janes Addiction." If you have never heard of Janes Addiction you can see a live performance of one of my favorite songs ever for just mind numbing adrenaline here at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIm6oTNMqko&mode=related&search=. I grew up with Janes Addiction and let me tell you if you want to read a book that will help you feel normal about your life and lifestyle (unless you are Paris Hilton reading this..and if you are, Paris give me a call I would love to do a portrait session with you) then you should read this book. When I was a teenager I went to see Janes Addiction perform at the Starry Night Club in Portland, Oregon while they were touring for their new album Nothing's Shocking. To this day I say it was the greatest show I have ever seen in my life. I have seen them multiple times since then but that was the best. A close second was the Enit Festival in San Francisco but I digrss...While my lifestyle...heck, not just my lifestyle but my entire life has changed dramatically since those days I still look back at Janes Addiction as my favorite band of all time. I used to listen to that album over and over and over again. Just a couple of weeks ago I bought their greatest hits album (very weird to think of Janes Addiction as a band with a greatest hits album) and I've been listening to it while reading the book. Wild stuff to say the least. Perry, if you google your name and this blog comes up give me a call, I would love to do a portrait session with you too. Much more than with Paris...though if we could get you both in the studio that would be pretty darn cool :)
Well, I've gotten beyond off topic here. The whole point of this blog was to write about the book I just read.
So I told Lea I had finished my book and she points to a book on the dresser that she bought last week. Promise Me by one of my favorite authors Harlan Coban. http://www.harlancoben.com/static/novels/pm.htm
I had seen the book there but didn't check it out until last night. When I did I realized that he had brought back some of my favorite characters of all books...Myron Bolitar and his sociopathic-but-lovable friend and savior Win. Had I known that I would have bought it hard back whenever it came out. So I started to read it last night around 12:30 or so and I finished it about 2 hours ago. We went to church this morning and I had lunch with the girls. I did some work on my web page (check it out, a couple of new galleries) but other than that I spent the day reading. It was awesome! I have been working so much lately. I finished Michael and Maya's wedding. I've almost got the Queen, It's a New Day images done and tomorrow I go to work at 5:45 AM for inventory to begin a 13 day, 145 hour work week at the Fish House. I decided I would take a "me day" I don't know if I've ever read an entire novel in less than 24 hours but this was the one to do it with. If you haven't read Harlan Coben before you should! He is so funny, his books are action packed and you immediately relate to and root for the main characters. They are all good. You could pick this one up and read it without having read others, but I would recommend you start from the beginning because once you read one of his books you will want to read them all.
Have a good one!
Mat
Michael and Maya
The wedding photo's from Michaeal and Maya's wedding on May 5 are finished. I am so happy with how they turned out. As I had mentioned in the blog before, the wedding day was filled with tradition, love, tears and laughter. All the necessary components of a great wedding and an even better marriage. Congratulations Michael and Maya!
You can view a slideshow featuring some of their images here...
http://www.mathaywardphoto.com/Pham.htm
The complete wedding is available to be seen here...
http://kkstudioconnect.com/apps/customer/index.php?clientID=6858&albumID=8100
Have a great day!
You can view a slideshow featuring some of their images here...
http://www.mathaywardphoto.com/Pham.htm
The complete wedding is available to be seen here...
http://kkstudioconnect.com/apps/customer/index.php?clientID=6858&albumID=8100
Have a great day!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Family Portrait
At my Dad's house on the lake there is just one old window remaining after the remodel has been taking place. I don't know if they are replacing this one too, though I kind of hope they aren't as it just goes to an isolated room in the back of the basement. Walking by it I came up with this idea for a family portrait. It isn't exactly a JCPenney Studio quality portrait but I've never in my life attempted to duplicate, replicate or imitate JCPenney, Sears, Picture People, or any studio remotely close to that so I guess I'm OK with it.
What do you think?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Published!
I absolutely love to see my work in print. Today when I got home from work I found the June Issue of Popular Photography Magazine in the Mailbox www.popphoto.com. On page 20 I found an image of the beautiful Beth that I had taken last year. Pop Photo bought the image from me through Fotolia. You can see my Fotolia Portfolio here... http://www.fotolia.com/p/19000. Currently with nearly 400,000 members, approximately 40,000 of whom are photographers, I am ranked #23! Not too shabby for a guy with zero stock photo's 18 months ago if you don't mind me tooting my own horn.
Anyway, I wanted to brag about the pic in Popular Photography. It's one of my favorite magazines so it was a great feeling to get an image in there.
Have a good one!
Mat
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Maya
Here is a nice photo of Maya from this past Saturday. I'm currently in the process of going through the images to pick which make the final cut. This was a nice moment just after her parents placed the veil on her.
Many photo's on the way
It has been a busy couple of weeks at Hayward Photography...there, now that I've got the understatement of the day finished I can tell you what's been going on.
Last Monday, approximately 200 women were bussed up from battered women's shelters around the state and given the royal treatment. Pastor Judy Hoff and hundreds of volunteers rolled out the red carpet (literally) and treated these extraordinary women to a 5 course meal, new hair styles, a makeover, massage, foot bath, waxing....the works. I was there all day to document the event and let me say that it was great to be a part of again.
The week before at the Woodland Park Zoo I was allowed inside the Grizzly Bear Habitat to photograph an awesome event. Zookeepers set up a campsight inside of the habitat and left food lying around to demonstrate what happens if you don't store your food properly while camping in Bear country. Wait until you see the pictures...they trashed the place! It was awesome. I was given access to the roof of the bear habitat for an unobstructed view. Talk about fun.
Speaking of the Zoo, if you happen to be in the area, stop by and walk along the Savannah Trail, there are tons of my photo's up along the trail, especially near and in the Lion habitat. Most all of the lion photo's are mine and many others as well. I absolutely love to see my work being used. It really gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. The Zoo has opened a new Maasai adventure. Children are able to hand feed giraffes, there are tons of other things involved with it, but the Giraffes are the main event. Sunday was the Grand opening of the event and to kick it off they printed off thousands of posters to give to zoo visitors. What was on the poster? I thought you would never ask...a head shot of a giraffe shot by yours truly. The zoo is great about putting photo credits on everything so my name is right there on the corner. It is so cool to know that so many people were given a poster with my photo on it.
On Saturday I spent nearly 15 hours with Michael and Maya Pham on their wedding day. It was such a great experience. The day began with a formal tea ceremony with Indonesian tradition, that was followed by another Tea Ceremony with Vietnamese traditions. They had a beautiful traditional Catholic wedding ceremony and a great wedding reception in Marysville to cap the day. It was such an honor to be there for the entire day. I shot wayyyy too many pictures, but it's so hard to refrain from firing the shutter when there are such captivating people and events right there for me to photograph. It was culturally enlightening. I really enjoyed it and I'll be sure to post pictures asap.
Getting home late Saturday night, I immediately went through my post wedding tradition of uploading the images to my computer and then backing them up onto DVD's. With so many images this took quite a while, I looked at the clock on my computer and it read 12:30....OK, I thought to myself. I've got another long day ahead of me, better hit the sack. I spent another 20 minutes getting organized and when I went upstairs the microwave read 1:50! What the heck! My computers clock never was able to figure out the weird Daylight Savings Time this year I think so I was an hour behind. I woke up at 7 the next morning and drove down to Portland for a birthday party for Savannah and Sophie with our families from Oregon. We went to Jump Planet which features large inflatable objects for everyone to jump on...man, I am in seriously sad shape. It was great to see the family. I think we all had a good time. I'll be sure to post those pics when they are ready too.
After the party was done, we packed up and headed back up north...yowza, I was tired! We made a pit stop at my Dad's house on the Lake in Olympia to check on the status of the construction. They appear to be pretty behind, my Dad is such a pushover I'm afraid that the contractors are putting his job off for more demanding people. I'm going to try to get down there again next week. If they haven't gotten anything else done I'm going to wrestle their contact information from my Dad and raise heck with them to hopefully light a fire under their butt. I was hoping we could have a 60th birthday party for the old man there, but the "4 week job" has already taken about 12 weeks and they aren't even close to being done.
That's about it for now. Again, I'll be sure to post some pics asap.
Have a good one!
Last Monday, approximately 200 women were bussed up from battered women's shelters around the state and given the royal treatment. Pastor Judy Hoff and hundreds of volunteers rolled out the red carpet (literally) and treated these extraordinary women to a 5 course meal, new hair styles, a makeover, massage, foot bath, waxing....the works. I was there all day to document the event and let me say that it was great to be a part of again.
The week before at the Woodland Park Zoo I was allowed inside the Grizzly Bear Habitat to photograph an awesome event. Zookeepers set up a campsight inside of the habitat and left food lying around to demonstrate what happens if you don't store your food properly while camping in Bear country. Wait until you see the pictures...they trashed the place! It was awesome. I was given access to the roof of the bear habitat for an unobstructed view. Talk about fun.
Speaking of the Zoo, if you happen to be in the area, stop by and walk along the Savannah Trail, there are tons of my photo's up along the trail, especially near and in the Lion habitat. Most all of the lion photo's are mine and many others as well. I absolutely love to see my work being used. It really gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. The Zoo has opened a new Maasai adventure. Children are able to hand feed giraffes, there are tons of other things involved with it, but the Giraffes are the main event. Sunday was the Grand opening of the event and to kick it off they printed off thousands of posters to give to zoo visitors. What was on the poster? I thought you would never ask...a head shot of a giraffe shot by yours truly. The zoo is great about putting photo credits on everything so my name is right there on the corner. It is so cool to know that so many people were given a poster with my photo on it.
On Saturday I spent nearly 15 hours with Michael and Maya Pham on their wedding day. It was such a great experience. The day began with a formal tea ceremony with Indonesian tradition, that was followed by another Tea Ceremony with Vietnamese traditions. They had a beautiful traditional Catholic wedding ceremony and a great wedding reception in Marysville to cap the day. It was such an honor to be there for the entire day. I shot wayyyy too many pictures, but it's so hard to refrain from firing the shutter when there are such captivating people and events right there for me to photograph. It was culturally enlightening. I really enjoyed it and I'll be sure to post pictures asap.
Getting home late Saturday night, I immediately went through my post wedding tradition of uploading the images to my computer and then backing them up onto DVD's. With so many images this took quite a while, I looked at the clock on my computer and it read 12:30....OK, I thought to myself. I've got another long day ahead of me, better hit the sack. I spent another 20 minutes getting organized and when I went upstairs the microwave read 1:50! What the heck! My computers clock never was able to figure out the weird Daylight Savings Time this year I think so I was an hour behind. I woke up at 7 the next morning and drove down to Portland for a birthday party for Savannah and Sophie with our families from Oregon. We went to Jump Planet which features large inflatable objects for everyone to jump on...man, I am in seriously sad shape. It was great to see the family. I think we all had a good time. I'll be sure to post those pics when they are ready too.
After the party was done, we packed up and headed back up north...yowza, I was tired! We made a pit stop at my Dad's house on the Lake in Olympia to check on the status of the construction. They appear to be pretty behind, my Dad is such a pushover I'm afraid that the contractors are putting his job off for more demanding people. I'm going to try to get down there again next week. If they haven't gotten anything else done I'm going to wrestle their contact information from my Dad and raise heck with them to hopefully light a fire under their butt. I was hoping we could have a 60th birthday party for the old man there, but the "4 week job" has already taken about 12 weeks and they aren't even close to being done.
That's about it for now. Again, I'll be sure to post some pics asap.
Have a good one!
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