Last week I had the honor of photographing the homecoming of Marines in Galveston. I was asked by a fellow photographer to help document the moment that her husband held their son for the first time. It was an incredibly emotional event and I don’t think Shawna had any idea it would be such a big-deal with the media! I think she now knows how celebrities feel. The Marines were escorted to Galveston by a local chapter of Patriot Guard. My heart was pounding when heard the motorcycle engines rev’d as they drove down Ferry Rd. I know that all of the wives, fiancees, girlfriends, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters were overcome with emotion. It was truly an amazing experience. I cannot image how the Marines on that bus felt as they pulled onto base…
 

The local Patriot Guard chapter met the busses in Texas City and escorted them through the island to the base.
It is always such an amazing site to see, and hear. I highly recommend riding with this fine organization if you ever the the opportunity!

This site reduced me to tears. Even among all of the chaos and the barrage of press photographers I stood there and cried. This little lady was thrilled to see her daddy. But even more exciting was watching this GnySgt hold his prescious newborn son for the first time. It was a very emotional reunion for the entire family!

To the entire family of Gunny Sgt Lockwood, thank you so much for allowing me to capture this amazing moment for you. It was truly an honor. This was my first Homecoming and now I cannot wait to do more. The joy and excitment is truly overwhelming! I hope you have enjoyed your first week together as a family of 4. And Matt, I hope that Shawna has been easy on you and that you’ve had a slow transition into diaper-duty and night-time feedings. May God bless you all!

Want to see more? (I think all three of these contain video clips as well)
KHOU.com
Galveston Daily News
Chron.com

I began my life as a Wildcat and when I was just 11 years old, my parents threw a wrench into my life! We were MOVING! In my limited mind, it was the end of the world. The worst thing ever. I soon came to grips with the move, made friends, made memories and even graduated from High School as a Perryton Ranger. Now, 16 years later, my parents have sold our home and moved back to Canadian! Yah, it’s another wrench! I still considered Perryton to be my home, even though I moved to Houston almost 5 years ago. I guess it kinda grew on me! When we first moved to Perryton, there was always one Friday night in September when we didn’t know where we belonged? Were we Wildcats or were we Rangers? After time, we became tried and true Rangers. I was a cheerleader and I had a brother that played with Big Red deep into the playoffs! I bled RED! Actually, my parents graduated 3 Rangers! And now… we’re back to the “not belonging” You see, tonight both my homes meet up to battle it out on the big green field. I’m actually glad I’m not able to be home this weekend! For one, I wouldn’t know where to sit and secondly, I think I’d be too emotional when it came time to leave. I haven’t been back since my parents sold their home, and I know it would have been difficult to have to drive 45 minutes home, instead of just around the wheat fields!! So, tonight I will have my radio on and I will Cheer for both teams! After all, no matter who wins or who looses, Wildcats will always boil at 212 degrees and Ranger Pride Will Never Die….

And the final outcome?? The Wildcats just didn’t boil tonight. The Rangers managed a huge upset and sent the cats home with their tails between their legs… 51-35

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a Fix-it Friday! I decided that I need a little ‘me time’ before I hit my pharmacology books hard this weekend! Hopefully I can start to do these more often since I really enjoy being able to edit other peoples pictures!!

Here is the before. Great potential, just a bit blue, and a bit dark

And here’s my fix -

I had originally thought that I’d get rid of the slight sunflare at the top of the head. But after playing with it for a while, I decided to just Vamp up that Flare! I love getting that flare in my images, but it was fun to be able to fake it too!
Steps:
1. Curves adjustment to brighten up the image
2. Ran Skin Cast Blast by MCP to get rid of the blue cast
3. Child’s Play Warm Up because I like sunflare images to be nice and cozy
4. Slight dodge and sharpen on the eyes, as well as lighten on the left eye.
5. Filter-Render-Lensflare on a separate layer. I believe I did the 30mm at 110%
6. Ran my sponge tool around the flare at about 15%
7. Sharpened for web

I’m a little late getting this posted, but better late than never, right? I cannot believe my sweet little boy is 3! I know it is so cliche, but it really did happen in just the blink of an eye! He’s such a sweetie -and very much a mama’s boy! I love it! When we move back in after the toilet incident, he got a new twin bed - he’s still so excited to go to sleep everynight in his new firetruck bed (he got a firetruck tent for his birthday!) He adores “school”, even asks every night if he can go back tomorrow! I love hearing him talk about his little sister - he refers to her as “my madeline” - it’s adorable! We had his party at the Hotel where he caused us to live for 3 months, only fitting we thought! It was an Elmo swimming party and even one month later he’s still talking about “Big Elmo” that came to his party! Some kids loved Elmo and some, not so much! Aiden sure did (and special thanks to Christopher for helping out at the last minute and donning the oven suite when the original character couldn’t stay!!) Jennifer of Cakes By Jennifer did the awesome cake! In this area and need a great baker? I can hook ya up! I need to get back to my books, I just wanted to make a quick post! Enjoy!

He was cute then, but look at this ham Now! Such a cutie patootie!

The cake was adorable, but even better, it was chocolate AND melted in your mouth! Cakes by Jennifer rock!

 The party favors!
I made the suckers using a mold from Ebay and then melted over 70 crayons to make the characters to go with the coloring books. Again, used molds from Ebay!

Aiden loved “Big Elmo” but poor MJ wasn’t as crazy!

Mike made the Birthday Street sign, it was too cute!

All in all, Aiden had a great time! He is now loaded down with Elmo stuff I really do wish time would slow down a bit though, before I know it I’ll be walking him into Kindergarden!!