The Great American Cattle Drive

I'm at the Great American Cattle Drive in Ellsworth, Kansas!

My friend and my first photo editor in college, Jeff Cooper asked me to assist him with photographing the drive. I jumped at the chance for a real "city slicker" adventure.

I arrived a day early so we could scout locations and so I could meet the longhorns. We drove over the hill, and my jaw dropped. I've never seen so many longhorn in my life (there are 140 longhorns on the drive). The above photo was taken during the scouting trip.



Day one of the drive involved Jeff on horseback and me on "truckback" as I've said all week. I took his truck and drove county roads and pastures, accessing the route where possible. This was made after jumping a creek and a little climbing.


The first night, the participants camped near Haystack Mound. The scenery on the trail is breathtaking! I eyed the water and thought I should hike around the pond to see how the view was from across the water — and it was worth it!


After a fantastic meal, the campfire started up and guitars and stories abounded.

They'll drive all 140 head of longhorn down Douglas (the main street in Ellsworth) at 2 p.m. Saturday, so once I recover from all the festivities, I'll post a slideshow, so please check back!

I'm also assisting with interviews so Jeff can produce a DVD slideshow for the event coordinators. I'll post a link to the DVD clip once it's ready, so be sure to check back!

Jeff is also hard at work uploading the photos to his online lab, so please be sure to check here to see the photos ... they're in the process of being uploaded this week!

Happy Anniversary, Mary + Andy!

Last year, Mike and I documented Mary & Andy's wedding at St. Vincent de Paul in Andover. They had so many fun details that showed their personality and made the day so much fun! Happy one year anniversary, you guys!

I also hear you're having a baby in February, so we're excited to watch your family grow! We can't wait to see you at Robin and Chris' wedding in December!

It was also the first wedding for Mike, as the newest member of the Heartland team! We'd both photographed weddings and portraits individually before deciding we could offer clients better service by a dual approach to wedding documentary photography. Mike has brought SO MUCH to Heartland, including our rockin' graphic designer who created our logo. Thanks Mike! I'm looking forward to a bright future!

Kristin + Matt Slideshow

At last .... here is Kristin and Matt's slideshow of our Trash the Dress session from a few weeks ago.

After the session, we went to her matron of honor's house for a gathering with friends and family. We DID shake off the dress at the lake, but there was sand EVERYWHERE, so Kristin headed into the bathroom (more specifically, the bathtub) to try to shake off more of the sand!


ALL that darkness in the tub is sand from the beach! The tub was immaculate when Kristin got in to shake off the sand!

I've been in bed with mono, so I REALLY appreciate your patience in waiting for the slideshow and photos.

You two are the best!

Baby Cayden is on the way!

My wife and I are really good friends with Brian and Emily. We met them at K-State and got together often when we lived in Topeka. I photographed their wedding in 2005 and both were in our wedding in 2006. We don't get to see them nearly as often since moving to Wichita, probably about three or four times a year instead of three or four times a month. So when they announced earlier this year that they would be having their first baby in October, I knew we'd be in Manhattan at some point for a baby shower. The best part about it? They went along with my idea to shoot some portraits, too!


We planned to shoot Saturday night as the sun went down but the weather didn't cooperate. We agreed to get up Sunday morning at 6:30 instead to catch the sunrise on the Konza Prairie. We were blessed to have about an hour of really nice light before another front moved through. Though you can't tell in this image that Emily is about to have a baby, it's one of my favorite photographs from our time together. Those two ... they really love each other and they are going to make wonderful parents.

Click here to see a brief slideshow.

Congratulations, guys! And let us know when the baby gets here. -Mike

Lovin' the red!

Before we did Kristin and Matt's awesome portraits, I grabbed a quick shot of their rings. I'm in LOVE with this photo and just HAD to share it! I love the rich red of the dining room wall and mysterious reflections in the dark dining room table.

Kristin shared this with me over the weekend:

"The photos are amazing so far, and I have to tell you this — I love this and I think it's so cute — Matt keeps asking me, every day, if I've gotten any more pictures from you yet. He's like a little kid- he's so excited to see them, and since you sent those first two, I think he keeps thinking maybe you'll send a few more... Anyway, I love photos and that kind of thing, it just really makes me happy that he seems just as excited as I am about this. :)"

Hang in there, Matt! I'm finishing up toning and uploading Robin and Chris' engagement session and then I'll get your slideshow rockin' and rollin'!

The Brown Brothers

The Brown Brothers – senior linebacker Arthur and junior running back Bryce – are a pair of football studs. Depending on who you talk to, they are each ranked the top recruit nationally in their respective classes. What makes them so special is that they play on the same team – Wichita East. And they are brothers.

I photographed them in a west Wichita field for USA Today about three weeks ago to accompany with a story that Steve Wieberg wrote for this weekend's edition. You can read the story here. Sean Dougherty, a sports photo editor at the paper's office in Virginia, called in early August to check my availability and interest. He was interested in something that showed what most people outside of Kansas think of our state: wide-open, rural space. Unfortunately, a big rain the night before soaked a lot of potential sites. I settled for a plowed field near 119th West and Kellogg.

This is my favorite image from the assignment but it wasn't chosen for publication. I put an artisitc flare on it, more than most newspapers would probably ever accept, accentuating the cool color palette and the silhouetted tree line in the background, a true Kansas signature.

As for the Brown Brothers, they helped the East High Blue Aces defeat Dodge City 21-0 last night in a game that was televised nationally on ESPN-U.

Kristin & Matt TRASHED THE DRESS!!!!!!!!!

I knew Kristin was the perfect candidate for a Trash the Dress portrait session because she called me last Tuesday and her wedding was last Friday! She and Matt had a small, quiet ceremony and dinner with family and friends in Topeka before we headed to Lake Shawnee to get down and dirty!

Over emails, I learned that the lake is special to them because it's where they went on their first date (which lasted for TEN HOURS! Like the longest date I've EVER heard of!). Matt is a rower and is teaching the sport to Kristin.



After we went to the dock and they popped open a bottle of bubblies, it was beach time! Kristin was completely excited about this, which made them so great to photograph. She wanted to roll around and have some fun in the sand, which was fantastic!


Following the romping in the sand, the duo took a stroll by the water, and found their way into the lake, which was fun! Since it was pretty much dark, they didn't go swimming (I was concerned they'd be too chilled since it was getting dark fast), but it was still fun!


The lake activities concluded with their first dance as a couple on the dock .... something I hope is memorable, because it made for stunning photos.

Some of our brides are a little hesitant to "Trash the Dress" and that's perfectly OK. But just because the word "trash" is in it doesn't mean we attack it with scissors. Far from that! The spirit of these portrait sessions is to get a little dirty in the wedding gown. Once the wedding is over, you'll clean and preserve the dress ... so why not get it a little sandy or wet before hand? It'll get cleaned anyway!

Thanks for the wonderful memories, Kristin and Matt!

Be sure to check back soon for a slideshow!

Robin & Chris' Engagement — slideshow

As promised, we went to K-State Salina for the remainder of Robin and Chris' engagement session.

Please ***Click Here*** to view the slideshow.