~ August 28th 2008 ~

~ Welcome to the new online home of Bill Cawley Photography ~

There is a lot of new content here, so please pour a glass of your favorite beverage and have a look around. :~)

Today’s Note:

check out the new website at www.ModePortraits.com it’s cool!~ ;-)

(: Scroll down to see what’s new :)

NW Fight Challenge VI

Brian and Dani, owners of AOBJ, put on another great event at the Tumwater High School on Saturday night. I always enjoy watching and taking the pictures at these events. And I’m always glad it’s not me in the ring!

Check out the full set of images in our new gallery system here: NW Fight Challenge VI

Editorial shot of a fighter getting ready for the event

unique angle - the action is about to begin!

hard hitting action - low angle - ringside

For the camera geeks out there: it’s amazing to me that these are all taken at ISO 2500 with the Canon 1DmkIII and I’m actually adding grain to them in photoshop to get the gritty feeling I want in the final images. crazy (good crazy!)

kick to the head - gritty black and white

MMA action shot - hard kick

I was glad to see my friend Joel win his match, his was the grand finale title fight of the night - good job man!

Can you tell he’s happy about in? :)

basking in the glow - well deserved win

Be sure and check out the rest from all 15 matches.

~Bill


One more from Vegas

One more image from the desert outside of Las Vegas. ;-)

EDIT: This image was included in the promo video from the Leaving Las Vegas shoot where I took it.  You  can watch the video in HD here: LLV Video   Cool! :)

stiking a pose with a bright blue sky and rugged red rocks
:-)

~Bill


Jesse

I spent most of the last week in Las Vegas at the WPPI’s yearly convention. Lots of classes, trade show browsing and hanging out with the best wedding and portrait photographers in the world. In other words, FUN. :) The convention ended Wednesday and on Thursday I had the opportunity to shoot some portraits with some amazing and fun photographers and models. I especially enjoyed working with Jesse, a California native relocated to Las Vegas. We only had a few minutes to create these before we had to head back to town.

These shots were all created in the desert outside of Vegas using bright mid-day sun and my little portable off camera strobe:

a pretty girl headshot

over the shoulder smile

posing in the tree, peering around the tree at me

amazing sun flare shot of a beautiful young woman

walking away into the desert, high heels in hand.

I had such a great time at WPPI and at the shoot on Thursday, I can’t wait till next year!

~Bill


New Family Member :)

Meet ______… she doesn’t have a name yet. ;)

dog portrait artistic impression

new puppy portrait - bull mastif

She’s a 14 week old bull mastiff and she’s a lot smaller than we expected, the collar we got at Pet Smart today wouldn’t stay on, so I had to run and get another one, along with some high end puppy food too. ;-)

We took Cody to the park across the street to intoduce them, they say it’s better to introduce dogs on neutral turf, I think they’re going to get along famously, :) Cody has been lonely since his sister Savita passed away….

Here’s one for size comparison… I imagine she’ll get at least as big as Cody is now ;)

One for size comparison

A wide lens closeup for fun :)

wide lens dog portrait closeup

She’s sleeping in the corner between a chair and a cabinet, the new world is big and scary…

sleeping dog portrait

Time for dinner.. for them and us. :)

~Bill


Trisha + Benjie ♥ we will!

I had a great time a couple nights ago with Trisha and Benjie, we met at the boardwalk next to the Oyster House in Olympia and walked all over downtown. They’re getting married in June at the Lake Quinalt Lodge (an amazing place!). Here are a few of my favorite images from the shoot (and the slideshow’s at the bottom of the post). These images are going to look great in their custom signing book. :)

engagement image - fun downtown waterfront

spontanious laughter - candid image

In Love at the fountain in downtown Olympia - capital background

Click to see the rest ~ more pics and the slideshow:

Continue reading this entry »


Rugby - Budd Bay vs Eugene

Last year I made it to just one rugby game when the Budd Bay Buffaloes (adult men’s team) played Eugene. I kept saying I’d like to come to another game, but they’re always on Saturdays and I’m always busy with weddings and portraits on Saturday, so I never made it. So… I DID make it to another game, exactly a year later when they played Eugene again! lol. ;)

The whole set of images and print ordering can be found here: Budd Bay vs Eugene (last years are still available too)

They have a new sponsor, Ballyhoo Pub and Restaurant, so the jerseys are new this year.

Sports action - Rugby player makes a break for it

the pitch, the players strenuously reach for the ball

turning the corner and heading for the goal

I also shot 10 games at a middle school aged girls basketball tournament. The gallery is here.

A couple of my favorites:

girl passionate about getting the ball

two girls collide with the ball in between

driving to the hoop with the ball - toungue stuck out :)

primal yell on the way to score

My calendar is filling up and things are starting to get busy for the new year, and I like that :)

Have a great afternoon ~ Bill


Pictures in the newspaper ~ Mohoric Fundraiser

On Sunday Erin and I went to a fundraiser for the family of Dennis Mohoric. Dennis’s sister Shelly and Erin have been friends since high school. We donated a portrait package to the auction and I also brought my camera to take a few pictures of the event. It was an amazing turnout, they had 1000+ people in attendance and raised over $90,000. The Centralia newspaper, The Chronicle, ran a story about the event yesterday and included some of my pictures.

Pictures of fundraising event published in the newspaper

I don’t know much about pancreatic cancer, other than it’s tough to fight. Our thoughts and prayers are with Dennis and his family ~

wrist band in support of pancreatic cancer awareness

~Bill and Erin


Basketball District Finals and a new camera!

A couple days ago I took delivery of my new favorite camera of all time!! This thing is amazing, I won’t bore you with a lot of geeky tech talk (unless you ask…) ;) But suffice to say I would have a hard even imagining a better camera than Canon’s latest and greatest 1D MkIII (techy review here). I haven’t been this excited about a camera in years, maybe ever. :)

On to the pictures. I don’t know anything harder to test new equipment than fast moving subjects in the dim fluorescent lights of a high school gym, so I went to the first couple games of the girls basketball district finals in Tumwater last night. These were all taken at either ISO 2000 or 2500, and they are very clean files.

The full set is here: Evergreen 2A district finals

Update: I just posted the galleries for the GU16 Soccer game, South Sound Futbol Club (SSFC) vs Synergy and also for the  Boys 2A basketball district tournament.

I started out at Tumwater High School for the Black Hills Wolves vs the Mark Morris Monarchs and then went over to the Black Hills High School for the Tumwater Thunderbirds vs the Elma Eagles.

Coach giving instructions during a time out

Cheerleader at the basketball game

driving for a layup - girls basketball Olympia WA

layup closup action shot

Elma pride!!

getting ready to shoot a free throw

driving the lane for a basket

pick and roll

driving around the apponent towards the basket

moving in for the score

That’s all for now, I’ll add some more later from the boy’s games I’m going to today (their tournament starts tonight). :)

Tomorrow Erin and I are going to a fund raising auction for a friend of her’s that has cancer and needs the community’s help with all the huge medical bills, we’re donating a little something to the cause.

“What’s that? What’s that you say? You say it’s Saturday? Goodbye, I’m going out to play!”

~Bill