Last week I posted about the new canvas print company I am using and then I turned 33 and then I decided to give one of those prints away to celebrate my birthday.

Overall, I would say it was a pretty good week.

Well, guess what? Last night I put all of the entries from my little birthday giveaway into the super awesome random number generator and found a winner!

Patrick Hayes Hunt come on down!

 

You, good sir, have just one a free canvas gallery wrap compliments of WACphotography.

Patrick is currently in law school at LSU and Patrick just bought his first DSLR a few weeks ago. Patrick is top notch in my book because, well, anyone who is into photography is top notch in my book and it is always good to have a lawyer on your side. Right?

Congratulations Patrick!

 

I think you will love your new canvas gallery wrap. And, I hope that one day I can have the honor of buying a print or gallery wrap of one of your images.

Today is earth day. Turn off the computer and go hug a tree. And play outside.

It is one o’clock in the morning. Maybe a little later. I can never remember if the clock in my car is right or not.

As I near the top of Oak Creek Canyon, the moon is dancing with the clouds. Trying to shine through.

The drive up the canyon from Sedona is twists and turns and steep canyon on every side. At the top, though, before the road turns to continue towards Flagstaff there is a guardrail and a view. There is actually an overlook with parking and indian crafts for sale but the gate is closed. So, I pull over to the side of the road and set up my tripod and shoot. 30-second exposures. One at a time. For fifteen minutes or so.

It is cold and dark and the clouds are moving fast, still flirting with the moon. A car drives by mid-exposure, heading down into the canyon, and lights up the ground in front of me. And, with that car and its headlights I found this image. I kind of like it.

***

Doing those exposures the other night inspired me to do a few more. This time I walked around downtown Williams. Along historic Route 66. Capturing scenes that during the day, especially during the summer, see countless numbers of tourists. Thousands of tourists flock to Williams every day during the summer. Like I said before- Historic Route 66 and the Gateway to the Grand Canyon. Welcome to Williams, Arizona.

Tonight, though, the streets are mine. And so I shoot…

***

Today is my birthday. Today I am thirty-three. Happy Birthday to me!

Anyone who wants to give me a birthday present may do so. I won’t complain. I think, though, that even though it is my birthday and I should be the one receiving presents and prizes I am actually going to give away a prize.

How does that sound?

Since I introduced the canvas gallery wraps this week from Simply Canvas I am going to give one away to a lucky reader!

Here is how you enter. It is a TWO STEP process so make sure you do both to be eligible:

1. Leave a comment below and tell me about your favorite birthday memory. Then,
2. Tweet or Like this post using the, well, Tweet or Like button below.

It is that easy. Really.

Next Friday, April 22, I will use my super awesome random number generator to pick a winner from the comments. Someone is winning a beautiful canvas gallery wrap. Remember, you must follow steps One and Two to be eligible. So, good luck and happy birthday! To me.

A couple of months ago I made the three hour drive to Las Vegas for the WPPI Convention. I’d never been to Vegas before. Went to the airport once when Bert and I made a whirlwind New Years trip to Colorado once, but that’s another story all together.

So, WPPI is a convention for photographers and people within the photo community. Lots of industry peers were there. As in, 14,000 industry peers. The convention lasts a week and the days are filled with seminars and a huge trade show. If you are a photographer then you need to go. Seriously. It is like band camp for photographers. It is so much fun and so very informative. The seminars cover every aspect of the photo industry- business and marketing, posing, lighting, workflow, wedding, portrait. The trade show has vendors from every major company that has anything to do with the photographic industry, big and small.

On the first day of the trade show I came across a canvas printing company called Simply Canvas. They specialize in canvas prints, gallery wraps, and framed canvases. They also offer fine art books, press printed products, and prints. The canvases on display at their booth were beautiful! I was intrigued by their products right away. I have never offered or printed on canvas, but knew that was about to change.

I recently received my first order of canvas gallery wraps and was absolutely blown away. I ordered four canvases, all pretty big sizes. 24×36, 20×30, and 16×24.

The quality and detail was outstanding. One of my favorite images of all time, bradley gap at dusk, was printed as a 24×36 and looked better than I have ever seen it printed!

All of this to say, I am really excited about a future with Simply Canvas and am also excited to say that I will now be offering canvas prints for both my nature/landscape images and portrait sessions.

Look forward to more details on this in the very near future!

Click through the images below to see more details of the canvases.