Happy Easter !

Warmer days, later sunsets and colored eggs springs Easter joy once again to candy craving children. Over a dozen hard boiled eggs and plenty of colored vinegar later, Easter Sunday bunny hopped to an over easy delight.



Sharing is easy with your older cousin when you barely have four front baby teeth to devour egg hunting treasure. My 13 month daughter loves anything with sugar and will soon be walking on two feet to join the egg hunting festivities.



Easter means wear your Sunday's best, especially when photographed with the new Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Easter came early for me when I picked up my 22 megapixel full frame DSLR featuring a new 61 point auto focusing system and a 6 frames per second shooting capability. There are much more amazing features to list but that will have to wait for my upcoming Canon 5D Mark III Practical Review and Video Test.



Easter cupcakes are the new colored eggs this season. Think of sugary moist cupcakes covered with sweet icing and finally topped off with a Peep. It is Cupcake Wars versus the Easter Bunny.



You can view more eggs and cupcakes in my Easter 2012 Gallery shot with the new Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV.



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First Communion Photo Shoot !

The Blessed Sacrament soon approaches without haste. My daughter and her 2nd grade class have been preparing for their First Communion all school year. It began with Reconciliation and her religious obligations end this year with the Holy Eucharist.



As you probably noticed already, her dress traveled a far distance for her special day. The dress was custom made for my daughter in the Philippines. The ornate material,the intricate vale and the matching purse completed the outfit.



The photo shoot was quite an event. I had less than an hour at the church to set up, shoot and break down the gear before the next Mass service began. A main light with softbox and CTO gel powered by a White Lightning Ultra Zap, a circular reflector with arm stand bouncing the main light for side fill and a standalone battery powered Sunpak flash with a reflective umbrella for separation accomplished the lighting setup.

The First Communion Gallery was shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV and the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens.

Cheetahs 2nd Place in Spring Championship !

I thought my daughter's youth soccer team would never recover from three consecutive losses early in the season. Now the Cheetahs placed second in the N-Zone Sports Spring Championship against 4 other teams.



The first round of the playoff game ended in victory against the Lions. It was a nail biting game with mistakes made on both sides. Despite the early summer heat, the Cheetahs held their own against the Lions. Triumph followed!



The next team, the Green Hornets, remained the undefeated champs for three years. The Cheetahs were in for a mighty challenge. Already exhausted from the first game just an hour before, the Cheetahs had to overcome a mighty adversary.



The Lion's overwhelming experience got the best of the Cheetahs. Soccer goal after soccer goal, the inevitable doom approached the wary kids. Defeat!



My daughter's smile still shined through the gloom of conquest by the Green Hornets. They may have lost but my daughter caught the last little bit of hope in her second place trophy.



"My trophy is not a girl" said my daughter. I told her there is always next season.

See more N-Zone Sports Championship Soccer Photos shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark III and the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L lens version 1.

Fort Wilderness Resort

A physical and literary paradox smothers our new adventure into the Magic Kindgom. The irony I am talking about is the word "Wilderness" and "Resort" describing the outdoor Disney refuge in Orlando,FL.



Your eyes are not fooling you. Those are mobile homes disguised as authentic log cabins. The same log cabins that early pioneers of America settled their restless spirit to discover the wild west. I think Disney removed the trailer hitch to give the Wilderness log cabin some authenticity.



The kids could care less of the wilderness menagerie because there were bunk beds and a swimming hole to play in for hours on end.



I overcame the simulated wood grain with endless opportunities of picture taking and non stop charcoal grilling. With 40 pounds of marinated meat,3 bags of charcoal and a bag of real hickory chunks, I began my photo and BBQ odyssey. 20 pounds of leg quarters, 10 pounds of ribs, 5 pounds of italian sausage and 5 pounds of burgers challenged my grilling skill for two days. Why so much meat? The in-laws were invading in droves with savage hunger. Plus, I love grilling meat in the great outdoors. This was the closest to "Wilderness" as we got in the Disney Resort.



After the grilling and swimming, the family ventured to other parts of the Walt Disney World Complex. We traveled via train,monorail,bus and boat to different Disney themed resorts. Our first stop was to the Grand Floridian Resort with its Victorian style buildings.



We took the Resort Ferry boat to Disney's Polynesian Resort in the pouring rain. We joyously discovered in the Captain Cook snack bar of the resort with all you can eat Dole Pineapple soft serve ice cream. The only other place at Disney World that served Dole Pineapple soft serve was across the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House for a $5 small dish with no refills. As a side note, we visited an actual Dole Plantation in Hawaii that served the same Dole Pineapple soft serve.



Fond memories of Hawaii...it seemed only like yesterday we visited the islands. Sandy beaches,tropical winds, L&L BBQ and Costco souvenirs fill my mind when I think of paradise. You can view the golden treasure for yourself in the Hawaii 2009 Photo and Video Gallery.
The Hawaiian Gallery is shot exclusively with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.



The tacky souvenir shirt and fake flowered lei will have to suffice for now in replace of the real thing. Hope was not lost during our "Wilderness" visit, we discovered all you can eat Dole Pineapple soft serve ice cream!

You can view more images in the Fort Wilderness Resort 2010 Gallery.
Shot with the Canon EOS 1D Mark III with the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS and Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS lenses.

Spring Jubilee Has Sprung !

The 9th Annual Spring Jubilee at St. Stephen Catholic School has arrived in full force with rides, games and lots of food! It began with an empty field and then the emergence of white tents and colossal metal arms in the sky. With school kids abound the metal menagerie, the spring fair sprung into action.



The Spring Jubilee has been the annual glorious event for my kid's school as well as the major fundraiser for the church. It has been a Fair tradition longer than I have been at the catholic school and the Spring legacy will likely continue past my kid's graduation.



My daughter is finally big and confident enough to ride the fair attractions herself. She has not gathered the courage to ride the roller coaster but there is always next year.



My son is a different story altogether. A little clingy at times but still wants to show his independence when he is in front of the ladies his age. He is not shy when it comes to the Fair food at the concession tent. Just like his dad, he targeted the fried chicken wings followed with a sugary soda chaser.



I do not want to leave out the amusement fair games and the wake of overpriced trinkets shrinking unsuspecting catholic wallets. It would not be fun for my kids without a simple carnival challenge to win a dollar store prize.



If you have not noticed already, the images are a little grainier than usual from previous posts. I have been using a three year old Canon 1D Mark III with ISO capabilities previous to the 5D Mark II, 7D,1D Mark IV and the Rebel T2i. Three years is an eternity in DLSR years. Technology has escalated the new camera model dynamic to exponential proportions. The 12 to 18 month product cycles are history. Image companies are paying a close watch with each other to see who wins the megapixel and ISO range war.

This brings me back to my Canon EOS 1D Mark III resurrection. With all the emerging technologies and highly critical DSLR technoblogs, the Canon EOS 1D Mark III is still a great camera. It will not win the current ISO competition but in my opinion the Canon EOS 1D Mark III has remarkable skin tone and dynamic range. These two aspects give the 1D Mark III images a film like quality.



To view more Canon EOS 1D Mark III images, check out the Spring Jubilee 2010 Gallery.

Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park

Combine a warm spring day with a lazy Sunday afternoon and you get playful family time in Tampa's Riverwalk. My family are not strangers to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park which is embraced by the new Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Tampa.



You can plainly see how much fun my son and daughter had by the huge grins on their faces. The atmosphere in the park was perfect. Good weather and no crowds proved to be a perfect recipe for fun and photographs. My son's mood turned for the worse earlier in the day and the remedy could not have arrived soon enough. As the picture above illustrates, the medicine worked well.



My daughter was glowing with victory this weekend because her youth soccer team won their first season game despite consecutive losses. Go Cheetahs! You can see her team rise to fame in my recent youth soccer post.



My son will have to wait one more year before he can tear up the turf. He has adopted one of my daughter's pink soccer balls to practice for himself and has no intention of giving the ball back to her sister. The only exceptions would be if there is soda, ice cream or Happy Meal toy for exchange, of course.



The stained glass mural behind my daughter in the photo is from the upcoming Glazer Children's Museum which is next to the Tampa Museum of Art. Every young boy and girl will have to wait until the Fall of 2010 before it opens to the public. I will be one of the many excited families first in line. For now, we can only gaze at the half empty building when we play in the adjacent Tampa Riverwalk.



I am not a fortune teller or a tribal shaman, but I can surely predict my family will be back to this wonderful park many times over. I am optimistic about Tampa's plans for its downtown to attract development, the arts and culture. My wife met the Mayor of Tampa, Pam Iorio, when my family went to the grand opening of the Tampa Museum of Art back in February. We told her personally we are looking forward to the upcoming improvements to downtown.





I will end this post with two HD DSLR videos above. The first one displays the water features of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. The second video showcases the Tampa Museum of Art Experience.

View more of the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in The Tampa Museum of Art Gallery.

View more HD DSLR Videos and photos in the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV Video Test Gallery.

Cheetahs Win First Soccer Game of Season!

My daughter's youth soccer team broke the losing streak that plagued the Cheetahs during the entire season. You could say this victory was a much needed morale booster to this tiny team of spirit.



Over the course of several games, I noticed my daughter's team build confidence in their soccer skill, learn about teamwork and realize youth sports are all about having fun. I also have to mention the much needed sports photography practice during these matches. I am slowly but surely improving this difficult skill.



The season is not yet over. Maybe this victory will bring the Cheetahs over the top to many more wins. Maybe, I will be lucky enough to photograph my daughter kicking the winning goal to the championship tournament.

You can view more of the winning game in the updated Youth Soccer Gallery.



Again my post would not be complete with a HD DSLR video of the Cheetahs in action. This is not the winning game but the game two weeks ago. So enjoy!