Shue Photos - doing weddings?

So Amber and I have decided that we will attempt to do wedding photography. When we first started this thing I said that wedding photography was one thing that I absolutely did not want to do. One main reason - no do overs! There is one opportunity to get THE shot. If you miss it, you can't just ask them to do it again!

Another reason I didn't really want to do weddings is because of the equipment needed to do weddings is so expensive! Churches are typically dimly lit places, some with stained glass to compete with. Some places don't allow flash photography and that sets up a whole new challenge. The way Amber and I have decided to combat these obstacles is to rent a couple of lenses for now. Once we decide wedding photography is something that we would like to pursue further then perhaps we can use some of the money we do make shooting weddings and actually purchase the lenses we would need most often.

I'm confident that our knowledge of photography will lead to some nice wedding pictures. And I'm sure that the more we do it the more we will come up with our own style.

But for now I ask you, the readers of our blog, what do you expect to see from your wedding photographer? You don't have to name names, but let us know what you liked or didn't like about your wedding photographer. If you're a wedding photographer and can offer some tips, by all means, let us know!

For now we will do some research on poses and things of that nature. We have until the middle of October to come up with a solid game plan!

Our trip to downtown Indianapolis

Amber and I decided to take Rolen and go to downtown Indianapolis to take some pictures yesterday evening. You know, just to change things up a little and to try to get some sweet pictures! We began our trip by going to Holliday Park and Nature Center. We had searched for places to take pictures and decided that this would be a good place to start.

Holliday Park is the home of The Races of Man statues. These statues are made out of Indiana limestone and were used on the first skyscraper built in New York City back in 1898, the St. Paul building. In the 1950's the building was to be torn down to make room for a newer more modern building. The Western Electric Corporation decided to hold a competition for the statues, which were worth an estimated $150,000.00! Indianapolis won the competition and the limestone statues made their way home to Indiana and were placed at Holliday Park!





After taking several pictures at Holliday Park we decided to make our way towards the circle. We decided to take a break from taking pictures so we could eat some dinner. We ate at Acapulco Joe's; one of our favorite places to eat downtown. After leaving Joe's we circled the block to get some pictures of the Scottish Rite Cathedral. This place is gorgeous! During the day it is an impressive building...but at night:





They turn the lights on in the evening. You will see pink to red to purple to blue to green to orange! Now I just need a wide angle lens to fit more of the building in one shot!

Indianapolis Indians baseball - Rolen's first baseball game

While we were at the Indians game on Thursday evening we decided then that we would be returning Friday evening and we would be taking Rolen (our son) with us. Friday night's weather wasn't cooperating with us like Thursday's had. It was a little bit colder and rainy, but that didn't stop us from going to the game! We were definitely prepared for it this time.

Bob, Amber, Rolen and I arrived early at Victory Field to try to get the best seats we could on the night of the game. We got good seats in section 113. The unfortunate part was section 113 is directly behind home plate which means we had a net in front of us. This doesn't really make for nice pictures. I did manage to get a few decent shots through the net, but focusing quickly was an issue. Here is a picture of Rolen...one that I didn't have to worry about the netting!





Before the game started we made our way down towards the Bats' dugout to try to get Scott Rolen's autograph again. We stood there for several minutes while Scott sat in the dugout talking to one of the coaches. We were beginning to think he wasn't going to come out to sign before the game. But about 10 minutes before the game was supposed to start Scott made his way out and began signing. He signed for everyone that was standing down near the dugout. He signed a mini Cardinals batting helmet for me, our son's Cincinnati hat and a mini Blue Jays batting helmet for Bob. Before Rolen signed my mini helmet a guy came up to the autograph line with a baseball bat that has Scott Rolen's name on it and under Scott's name it said Anaheim Angels. Scott looked at the bat and said "I don't think so," and continued to sign everyone else's items. It was pretty funny! Once we got our items signed and thanked Scott, we headed back to our seats.

While sitting in our seats during the game I attempted to take pictures of the players, while focusing past the net. I managed to get several "passable" shots like the one below.





After the first inning I moved to a vacant seat just behind the first base dugout to get some better pictures. One thing I love about AAA baseball is how close the seats are to the field. It allows the fans to be that much closer to the players. I was able to get several nice pictures from my borrowed seat behind the Bats' dugout. Here is one of my favorite ones of Scott:





Then the rain started coming down and we took shelter on the concourse. We pretty much stayed around there until Rowdie came out to sign autographs in the middle of the 7th inning. We wanted to get a picture of Rowdie and Rolen together; but the combination of Rowdie being a large red bear/dog with a baseball nose and the fact that it was WELL past Rolen's bed time resulted in a not-so-good meeting.





The Indians ended up losing the game 15-6. But we did get some good things from that night. We got some more Scott Rolen autographs and Rolen learned a new word - BASEBALL!

Indianapolis Indians baseball - meeting Scott Rolen

So the other day my buddy Zach called and asked me if I wanted some free tickets to the Indianapolis Indians game on Thursday. Being the baseball fan I am I couldn't turn down tickets, especially FREE tickets! I told Zach that I would definitely take the tickets. I asked another one of my friends, Scott, if he wanted to go see the Indians for free...and he did. So it was all set, Scott and I were going to go watch the Indianapolis Indians take on the Louisville Bats on Thursday evening. Amber had to work at 10pm that evening, so she went with us but drove separate so she could leave early to get back to work.

So we drive down to Indianapolis to Victory Field. Once we enter the gates we head over to the lineup board to see the starting lineup for both teams. I start reading the Indians board to see if I recognize any names from last year...there were a couple of familiar names. Then all of a sudden Amber was like "Rolen...Scott Rolen?" I thought to myself, "Couldn't be, Scott is with the Cincinnati Reds." I was totally unaware of the fact that he was going to be playing a couple of rehab games with the Louisville Bats after he received a concussion from getting hit in the head by Jason Marquis during a Reds vs Rockies game about a week or so ago. I looked at the Louisville Bats lineup board and sure enough...right there in black and white...Rolen 3B for the Bats! I can't even put into words how excited I was at that point. I was so excited first of all that Scott Rolen was back in Indiana and that we were going to get to see him play against the Indians right here in our back yard!

Amber came up with a great idea; to trade our first base side seats for third base side seats so we could get better pictures of Scott Rolen. Luckily the guy at the ticket window was super cool and exchanged our seats for ones identical to it on the opposite baseline. After we exchanged our seats we headed down to them to see what the view was like...PERFECT! After we sat in our seats and took in the view for a couple of minutes we decided that we needed to at least try to get Scott Rolen's autograph.

Luckily I'm always prepared when I go to baseball games and I had packed a couple of baseballs in the backpack. You know, just in case something crazy like this happens! So my buddy Scott and I go to the first base shop so he can purchase something to try to get Scott Rolen to sign. After Scott bought a Cincinnati Reds t-shirt we headed back to our seats to meet up with Amber. We decided we should walk down towards the Louisville Bats dugout to try to get Scott Rolen's signature. After standing there for several minutes we spotted Rolen in the dugout. There were several people sitting in a section just behind us that were wearing Jasper High School baseball hats. Presumably friends of Scott Rolen's considering that's where he went to high school. One of the guys walked over towards the dugout and started talking to Scott and pointing back to his seats. After a couple more minutes Rolen came out of the dugout. He started walking past several people that were attempting to get his autograph. That's when I decided that I needed to say something to get his attention. I stuck out the baseball and pen that I was holding and asked "Scott, will you sign?" Rolen then came over and signed my baseball. He then signed the baseball Amber had, for our son (Rolen.) He then signed Scott's Cincinnati Reds t-shirt then he walked over and talked to his friends.

The ball I had Scott Rolen sign

After getting our items signed we decided to move along. I took some pictures of Scott Rolen warming up before the game. After that we went to our seats to enjoy the game. Several more pictures were taken...some of which can be seen by clicking on the picture below:





Another fun thing happened...Amber was selected to participate in the on field activities! She was chosen to be blind folded and spun around then set free to try to find an over sized inflatable Corona bottle!





Luckily for her, she found the Corona bottle and won a little Corona prize package! I think she may have cheated though by looking under the blindfold!

The Indians went on to win the game against their division rivals. All in all it was an excellent evening!

With football season comes Cheerleaders!

While John was busy taking pictures of the 6th grade football team I decided to take some of the cheerleaders! I was a cheerleader for almost 7 years and watching the girls last night reminded me how much I miss those days!





These girls did a fantastic job cheering on their Lebanon Tigers! Between the jumps, flips and lifts all the girls did a great job!

Football season is upon us!

'Tis the season for football!

Amber and I went to her cousins first middle school football "game." It was a scrimmage with the 6th grade football team; Black vs Gold. Ryon was on the Black team and he did really well for this being his first year playing organized football. Ryon will be playing wide receiver and free safety for the Lebanon Tigers' 6th grade football team this year. He will be sporting jersey #25.





I'm hoping that we have many more opportunities to get out to the games this season. I would love to get a lot more great pictures of these guys, whipping up on teams like Western Boone! It's going to be a fun season with a line like this:

Shue Photos - what we've learned today about family photography.

Throughout the past few months we've learned something new during each photo session we've done - today was no different.

Today we had our first opportunity to photograph a large group of people. We took family pictures with the largest group consisting of fourteen people. The lesson we learned today was, taking a picture of so many people at one time is an arduous task. But, it's not a task Shue Photos can't handle!

The family we worked with was very patient and understanding with knowing that this was our first session of this size. Amber's Aunt Heather was a huge help with getting everyone in one location and having an idea of what she wanted the final images to look like. She was also a big help with getting everyone posed for the pictures!

We would like to thank everyone that was involved with this family photo session!

What a difference nearly 50 years makes!

Working at the Sheriff's Office in Clinton County I get to see new and different things from time to time. The squad cars the deputies drive on a daily basis are one of those things. I wasn't around in the 60's but deputies still had to patrol the county in something. Here is what that would have looked like back then:




1960 Chevy Bel Air


Now it's 2009 and the deputies still need to patrol the county. They also need a vehicle that will be able to get them anywhere in the county quickly and safely when an emergency arises. Here is what some of them are driving around in today:




2008 Dodge Charger

Like I said; there is a pretty significant difference isn't there? Times have changed but one thing remains the same - we need law enforcement, and they need transportation. It will be exciting to see what the future brings!

Thank you Sheriff Mitchell for allowing me to share these images with everyone!

Austin's Senior Pictures by Shue Photos

We finally got a chance to finish Austin's Senior pictures yesterday. We found some awesome (secret) locations to shoot at and the pictures turned out very well! There were some short hikes to get to the locations we used but in the end it all worked out! We are hoping to photograph more Senior pictures for others soon, we enjoy finding new places to shoot them!

Newest feature added to Shue Photos!

We've finally joined the rest of the world and added a blogging feature to our site. This will be updated after every photo session we do. It may even have a few random thoughts posted from time to time.

Let me introduce Shue Photos and let you know what we have to offer. Shue Photos was started by my wife, Amber, and myself because of our love for photography. We wanted to do something that would help people capture their memories in a way that could be printed and shared for many years to come.

Shue Photos of Lebanon, IN offers all kinds of different photography. We offer wedding photography, engagement sessions, maternity photography, newborn portraits, senior portraits, family portraits, boudoir photography, all kinds of sports photography and pet portraits. We are also available for your birthday parties and family reunions as well as any other occasion you would like to have photographed.

While Shue Photos is based out of Lebanon, IN in Boone County, we service all of Central Indiana. We've taken pictures in most major towns in Boone County including; Lebanon, Thorntown, Zionsville, Whitestown, Advance and Jamestown. Shue Photos has also traveled outside of Boone County for photography needs. We've been to Lafayette and Indianapolis most recently for photo shoots. Shue Photos has also shot wedding pictures in Westfield, IN and Frankfort, IN.

So regardless of your location, let Shue Photos come to you to help you capture those memories that will last a lifetime!