I was invited to take some photos at DePere High School Volleyball’s Senior Night on Tuesday, October 2nd. This was my first time at a high school volleyball game and I really enjoyed myself! These girls are fearless and obviously truly love playing. I’ll be back again next week for some more photos!

Students and parents, please head over to my Pixieset site and take a look at all of the photos, which are available for purchase. Thank you!

I had the opportunity to spend some time and take photos with some of the men, women and dogs of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office in Green Bay, WI. I offered to take the photos to provide them with material for social media, promo, etc. and to expand my portfolio. We spent time with various groups, including patrol, dive team, SWAT and DTF and I was beyond pleased with the overall cooperation and how the photos turned out. Special thanks to John Reed and my son Cade for all their help! Enjoy!

As some of you may know, I work for Brown County Public Safety Communications as a 911 Dispatcher. Each day, we have the opportunity to help people in our community and an increasing number of those people need special attention due to a disability or special need.

One of our dispatchers and a deputy from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office worked together to put on an open house event that catered to kids and adults with autism and those who have a reaction to bright lights and loud noises. There were no sirens, no flashing lights and plenty of things for everyone to explore. Check out WBAY TV-2’s story here.

I am a huge motorcycle enthusiast and have almost always owned one, riding any chance I get. Unfortunately, living in Wisconsin means our riding season is considerably shorter than I’d like, so I have to get in the miles while I can! My fiance loves to ride with me, but over the previous few years, I had motorcycles that weren’t ideal for long trips. Last year, I was fortunate enough to have purchased a 2011 Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited touring, which made life a whole lot better for both of us. Every year, we try to plan at least one summer vacation for the family and one for the two of us. This year, we decided on a motorcycle trip around Lake Michigan, as neither of us had never experienced this.

On Monday morning, we left Green Bay for the S.S. Badger Ferry in Manitowoc. This is a 4 hour trip across Lake Michigan that docks in Ludington, MI. Beautiful weather and calm waters made this a very smooth and enjoyable trip, albeit a tad long. We spent the extra $50 on a stateroom which I would recommend to anyone, as there is really no private space on the boat and you can only wander for so long.

From Ludington, we headed north to Traverse City, where we spent the night and the following day. We toured a 19th Century mental hospital, ate some great food and enjoyed a local winery and microbrewery, of which there were many.

We spent the next 2 days working our way north through Northern Michigan, across the Mackinac Bridge, through the Upper Peninsula and back down to Green Bay, putting on a total of right around 675 miles. If you ever have the chance to visit this area, I urge you to do so. There was so much to see and do, we could easily have spent several more days taking it all in.

 

I recently had the chance to hang out with this guy, who just turned two. His mom and dad tagged along to help and we spent some time throwing rocks and exploring a trail at Pamperin Park in Green Bay.

I asked one of my seniors to come into the studio so we could play with some different lighting styles and just do a casual shoot. She was a trooper, as I clicked my shutter 200+ times over the course of about 90 minutes! These are some of my favorites. Thanks, Morgan!

I have forever been fascinated with everything about New York City and every time I see an image of anything related, it stirs something inside of me. My first visit to the Big Apple was in May of 2016. My fiance Sara and I flew in to LaGuardia Airport and as soon as we cleared the jetway, I could immediately feel the vibrant and fast paced atmosphere in the air. The taxi ride from the airport took us across the Williamsburg Bridge, through lower Manhattan and through the Holland Tunnel to our Airbnb in Jersey City. The sights along the way were so amazing, I could barely contain my excitement. As soon as we got settled into our comfy loft, we tackled the 8-10 blocks on foot to take in the lower Manhattan skyline just opposite the Hudson River. As we got closer to the Jersey side of the river, we could see the World Trade Center poking through the trees and extending toward the night sky. Reaching the bank of the river and experiencing this for the first time was nothing short of incredible; so much so that I actually misted up a little.

Over the next few days, we visited as many attractions as possible including Central Park, The Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, Times Square, 9/11 Memorial, Brooklyn Bridge and tons more. The first day, we started our day at the American Museum of Natural History and afterwards put on close to 17 miles on foot, which resulted in some pretty nasty blisters on my feet and meant we relied a little more heavily on Uber, Lyft and Taxis for the rest of our visit. Dinner in a revolving restaurant, lunch at Bubba Gump and some pizza at Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn were just a few of our culinary experiences.

Three things I took away from our trip for certain:

1. On my next visit, I will spend less time looking through the viewfinder of my camera. Being a photographer, this is difficult to say, but I feel like I missed out on some of the natural first-person beauty by concentrating so much on getting the next great shot (of which there were many).
2. WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES! This is definitely a situation where function > style! I tried my best not to let the pain from the huge blisters on my feet ruin a single minute of our trip, but it wasn’t easy.
3. One 4-day trip is not nearly enough to take in the sights. There is SO much to see and the size of the city is deceiving. When looking at a building, you get the feeling it’s only a few blocks away because it’s so tall when in reality, it’s probably more like 1/2 mile away.

I will be back soon! Thanks for reading!