Cool or not cool?

Hi guys,

I've been experimenting and I'm looking for honest feedback here...is this pic cool, or over the top? You can click on the image itself to view a larger version fyi.

Let me know...I can take it

2 new slideshows

Since some of my friends that check this blog every now and then are Rams fans I thought I should create a slideshow featuring photo's just from the Seahawks/Rams game last week. Sorry folks, but I used the same song so you will have to sit through listening to Guns and Roses again if you want to watch it. The slideshow I posted last week had limited amounts of pics from both games I shot to give a brief example of what I can do in case someone wants me to cover more NFL games.

http://www.mathaywardphoto.com/hawksrams.htm

Also, I mentioned last week about the Queen for a Day event in which 150 women were bussed in from battered women's shelters around the state to be wined and dined, and all around pampered. The following link will take you to that slideshow if you are interested. Some of the photo's were taken by another local photographer Steve Paxton.

http://www.mathaywardphoto.com/queens.htm

Eagle

Here is a pic I just finished working on...

Digging for Gold

We took the girls out yesterday to do a photo session for our Christmas Cards and I got this shot of my pretty littl girl Sophie digging for Gold. It probably won't make the card this year but don't think for a second I didn't consider it!

Updated Slideshow

Hi everyone,

As some of you know I got to return to Quest Field on Sunday to shoot the Rams game in addition to the Raiders game. It was cold, wet and rainy and one of the best times I've ever had! For those of you that missed the game, you missed a doozy! A last second field goal (again :) by one of the premier kickers in the league Josh Brown gave the Hawks the win and allowed them to remain in first place while Hasselbeck and Alexander have been recovering from their injuries (My apologies to the Beckham's and Martino's:).

Anyway, instead of creating a second slideshow of just the Rams game, I created a one song slideshow (only 4 minutes so you don't get bored:) using photo's from both games. Those of you that already watched the Raider's slide show will have to endure viewing some of the same photo's for the first half, then the slideshow ends with some pics from the Rams game.

As always, please let me know what you think. Your feedback always is great to read!

http://www.mathaywardphoto.com/hawks.htm

I told Grant Wistrom about the slideshow and you can see from his reaction in the photo above what he thought of it :)

Mat

How bout them Hawks!

Here is a photo taken seconds after Jeremy Stevens touchdown this afternoon. I think the flex was his way of affirming his masculinity is still intact after the "shot heard around the world" last Monday.

I will be posting a slideshow from the Seahawks/Rams game asap. Stay tuned..

Tomorrow (well, technically today) I am photographing a great charity function through our church called Queen for a Day. 150 women housed in battered women's shelters in the Puget Sound will be bussed up and pampered head to toe. Massages, Hair styles, makeup, pedicures, manicures and more. I'm really looking forward to it and will let you know how it goes.

Take care,

Mat

Slideshow

Hi Everyone,

I made a 5 minute slideshow featuring some of my favorite pics from Monday night...check it out!

http://www.mathaywardphoto.com/seahawks.htm

Oh No! Another Raider Fan!

In response to a comment from my Uncle Mark to my previous post I thought I had better issue a warning....Turn Alex away from the Raider Nation! The Seahawks are a winning team and you don't want Alex to end up looking like this guy do you (click the pic to see a larger version)?!? With Mike and Ryan it's too late, they are already brainwashed. But Alex is still young...Is he too old to ground from watching Raider games now? :)

By the way, a slideshow is coming soon! Stay tuned....

Monday Night Football Part Deux

The word of the night...Surreal

What can I say except it was an incredible experience! Truly an amazing event to be a part of. I was literally feet from the action and was so amazed by the intensity of the entire event. We were on the Raider's sideline moving up and down with the action usually about 10 yards up facing the Seahawks both on offense and defense. Then in the endzone when touchdowns were imminent. I was literally 5 feet away from Deion Branch when he scored his touchdown. The photo of him was taken seconds after his touchdown. The lens I was using was a long lens not designed to be used for when the subject is so close so that is why it is the way it is. A couple of other shots posted, Coach Holmgren right after the win. Marcus Trufant enjoying the Seattle Sunshine. One of my favorite players Grant Wistrom making one of three sacks on the clearly outmatched Raider's QB and for two of my Brother's in Law (Mike and Ryan) that for whatever reason are part of the pitiful Raider Nation I have posted a pic of the angry, mean and....FAT..Warren Sapp and the overrated, angry egomaniac that ran over a cop and should be in prison Randy Moss just after he missed a pass he should have caught. That was another moment that took place just a few feet from me. I haven't had a chance to see all the pics yet, I have to get to bed while they are uploading as my work week is starting over in a few short hours so good night for now.

All in all, I feel pretty good about the photo's I got considering it was my first attempt. I am so grateful to my friend Maurice for bringing me along. It truly was an incredible, indescribable opportunity. Please let me know what you think of the pics, I'll be sure to post more when I can.

Take care,

Mat

Monday Night Football!!!

Woohoo! It's time for Monday Night Football! I'm getting ready to drive downtown. Some people have asked me to let them know what number I will be wearing on the sidelines tonight. I won't know until I am down there and I don't know what kind of time I'm going to have to be calling people so my wife will post a comment to this thread with my number in case you are watching the game and want to look out for me. I am so excited about tonight I can't even tell you! Friday night, one of the players was in the restaurant and he and I got to talking for a while about the game, their practices and whatnot. I told him what I was doing and he told me to make sure to find him on the sidelines and say hi. I don't know if I will or not as I'm sure he'll be busy, but heck it was pretty cool getting to BS with a Seahawk anyway. He is a heck of a nice guy too. Well, think good thoughts for me, I'll be sure to post some pics asap!

Go Seahawks (Sorry Mike, Sorry Ryan :)...both are huge Raiders fans, but they are going down!)

Mat

Monday Night Football!!!

Woohoo! It's time for Monday Night Football! I'm getting ready to drive downtown. Some people have asked me to let them know what number I will be wearing on the sidelines tonight. I won't know until I am down there and I don't know what kind of time I'm going to have to be calling people so my wife will post a comment to this thread with my number in case you are watching the game and want to look out for me. I am so excited about tonight I can't even tell you! Friday night, one of the players was in the restaurant and he and I got to talking for a while about the game, their practices and whatnot. I told him what I was doing and he told me to make sure to find him on the sidelines and say hi. I don't know if I will or not as I'm sure he'll be busy, but heck it was pretty cool getting to BS with a Seahawk anyway. He is a heck of a nice guy too. Well, think good thoughts for me, I'll be sure to post some pics asap!

Go Seahawks (Sorry Mike, Sorry Ryan :)...both are huge Raiders fans, but they are going down!)

Mat

Happy Halloween!

Howdy Y'all!

It's been a spooky day here in the Puget Sound! We hit the Alderwood Mall to do some serious Trick or Treating where my Whoopie Cushion Costume was considered cute by the girls in Victoria's Secret until I pulled out the big guns...my Fart Machine! Woohoo, everybody loves a Fart Machine! Well, everybody but my wife who was forced to endure it for about 6 hours tonight :)

After the Mall we headed out to Cory and Leslies house for some Pizza, Sugar and Good Times. Trick or Treating is enhanced by sub freezing temperatures. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. It's amazing to watch Savannah trick or treat. She was literally running from house to house. She was having a great time and raked in a serious hall of candy. Sophie had a good time too, but it's a lot easier for her being hauled around by her Mom Dorothy.

Compromise

The way I see it, Marriage is about compromise. Give and Take. If you don't give, you shouldn't take. Now, in my marriage as some of you know, if I don't give I don't have the option to take so I'm going to compromise publicly. Tonight I was feeling a bit...hmm, well for lack of a better term...random. I was looking through photo's I haven't finished and there is a folder with about a trillion pics from my birthday on June 12 (mark it in your calendar if it isn't there already, I like vintage PEZ and Canon L lenses). One of the pics from that day I did finish for whatever reason was a photo of a boot. Yep, a boot. Not my boot. Not Lea's boot, nor either of the girls. Just a boot on a wall. Why it was on a wall I don't know, but it was a boot. I took a picture of it, I processed it before a million others but I couldn't tell you why. Nor could I tell you why I felt compelled to post the picture of the boot on the blog tonight when I should be in bed getting rested so I can give a big meeting early in the morning for all of my eager staff members (there was a sarcastic tone there in case you didn't pick it up.) Anyway, I told my beautiful wife whom I love and adore with all of my heart that before I went up to bed I was going to post the pic of the boot on my blog. She in her feminine tone of disapproval asked "aren't you going to post a pic from the pumpkin patch?" Me in my infinite wisdom didn't pic up on the fact that this was not merely a comment or suggestion but rather a serious comment that should have been perceived as a deadly threat should it go unheeded. Needless to say I am posting a photograph of my beautiful family (and me) on my blog for you all to see. This was taken last Sunday at "The Farm" where we joined our friends the Parris family to get Pumpkins, go in mazes and all that fun stuff. My friend Cory who happens to be one of the top wedding photographers in the Seattle area (http://www.coryparris.com) was kind enough to take the photo for me.

Oh yeah...I'm still posting the pic of the boot :)

Big News

Two big news items to report actually...

#1...The photo's from the Greenhorn Ranch Wedding are done and available for everyone to view! Click this link to see them (if the link doesn't work, go to KKstudioconnect.com and enter username Jeff and Jayme). http://kkstudioconnect.com/apps/customer/index.php?clientID=4656&albumID=5525

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and your patience while waiting for these to upload.

#2 Big News...I'm going to be on the sidelines at Qwest Field for Monday Night footbal November 6 photographing the Seahawks/Raiders game! I can't even describe how excited I am about it! I'll be one of those guys with the green jersey and my own number and everything! I'll probably text my wife from the stadium with my number and she'll post it here on the blog. That way if you're watching the game you can watch for me in the endzone when the Seahawks are scoring their inevitably large # of touchdowns. Even if Matt Hasselbeck is out for 4 weeks with an injured knee it is going to be an incredible experience! Talk about a bummer with Hasselbecks knee though. Shawn Alexander should be back in it by then, but it will be nice when all of the superstars are healthy again.

A couple more

Well Crap, the Blogger doesn't seem to be in the mood to let me upload pics right now. I'll try again a little later.

Check out these horses and you will be able to see that love was clearly in the air at the Ranch. Speaking of the Ranch, check out their web page here http://www.greenhornranch.com/. Not a bad shot on their front page eh?

I've found a couple other of my photo's on web sites recently...go to http://www.zoo.org and click on the carousel tab to see a picture of my youngest daughter having fun on the new carousel at the zoo. If you feel like digging further on that site, go to the Animal Facts page, click on Gorilla's and check the links on the facts about Woodland Park Zoo's Gorilla's group one and group two. Most of those shots are on display at the Zoo now too and I found out last week that one of my other Gorilla photo's is going to be on the cover of the Zoo Magazine next month! I'm very excited about it!

By the way, I love reading your comments and again, I really appreciate your comments. I've been getting a few emails from people that were wanting to post comments but couldn't do so without signing up for Blogspot. I've changed it around so you can post without being a member (choose anonymous). Just be sure to sign your name.

Take care,

Mat

Geoff

Here is a pic of the Father of the Bride. The pond at Greenhorn Ranch was filled with Trout and Geoff was quite the Fly Fisherman.

A couple more

Hey everyone, thank you very much for the kind words! I thought I would post a couple pics from the night before the wedding before I call it a night.

The guys at the bar are Ralph, Ellie and Bill. Ralph is in the middle, he owns the Ranch along with his great wife Trish. Ellie is the furthest from the shot, he's a retired rodeo guy whose son is the Marlboro Man and Bill is one heck of a great guy with an awesome sense of humor who was nice enough to let me sleep in his deluxe Winnebago the whole week.

The Frog Racing was too much fun. I don't even know how much money was raised all said and done, but I know the first Frog shattered the previous Ranch record by nearly 400%! I'm sure I'll be posting a couple more photo's from the Frog race because it was just too dang funny.

The Bride and Groom

I just learned that Jeff and Jayme (The Bride and Groom) are back from their honeymoon so I thought I would post a couple of photo's of them during the sunset on their Wedding Day.

The horses above were released just after the Bride and Groom said their vows. If you've never had an opportunity to witness a hundred horses running full speed up a mountain I highly recommend you do it. The sound is thunderous, the ground shakes and I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Really an incredible experience.

An incredible Wedding

Hi everyone,

It has been too long since my last posting I know...truth is, I've been incredibly busy, but in a good way. Last week I flew down to a Guest Ranch near a small town called Quincy in California where I spent four days documenting an incredible wedding event that included horse rides, frog races, fly fishing, camp fires and more. The Bride and Groom were incredibly great as were their families and friends. As I am typing this, I am waiting for Photoshop to catch it's breath as I've been spending virtually all of my free time working on the nearly 6,000 images I shot over the course of a few days! My shutter finger is still sore :) I haven't even gotten to the wedding day yet in my editing but thought I might post a couple of pics from the day for y'all to check out.

Be sure to let me know what you think.

Mat